Year: 2018

Port Fairy Folk Festival announces 2019 line up, celebrates 50th anniversary of Woodstock

Victorian seaside town Port Fairy will welcome will welcome the 43rd Port Fairy Folk Festival to its shores in March. Boasting an unmissable lineup of folk artists from around the world, Port Fairy will include a special celebration of the 50th anniversary of the legendary 1969 Woodstock festival. This homage to the mother of all…

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Games Interview: Heroes of the Storm‘s Matthew Cooper talks Mephisto, Hanamura and more

Mephisto, Diablo‘s Lord of Hatred himself, has entered the Nexus. We spoke to Heroes of the Storm Lead Content Designer Matthew Cooper to find out what it takes to successfully weave a character like Mephisto into a game like HotS, and we pick his brain on the recent Hanamura map rework, one of the comprehensive in…

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Games Review: Phantom Doctrine (PS4, 2018) shows a lot of promise, but is a little too complex for the casual gamer

Phantom Doctrine is a turn-based strategy game set during the Cold War. You play as either a retired KGB, rogue CIA, or an unlockable secret identity, in charge of a secret operation to stop a world-ending conspiracy. Basically, it’s X-COM set in the Cold War, but with an enticing spy twist. The game itself has…

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Here’s every announcement from this morning’s Nintendo Direct

There’s a sense of excitement that runs through the entire industry in the moments before a new Nintendo Direct broadcast. What will they talk about? What crazy new titles and ports will they announce for the Switch? Today’s broadcast, ahead of the launch of the new Nintendo Switch Online service, was a rapid fire streak…

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Track of the Day: JVLY “milk&honey” (2018)

Back in June, producer JVLY treated us to complex and trippy single “Blue Pill” heavily influenced by Shlohmo & Flying Lotus. Spending almost all his time in his room trying to recreate these sounds, his extremely productive period led him to become increasingly distant to reality . Three months later Kayle Butler aka JVLY’s most…

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Star-studded tribute concert announced for late Sydney musician Luke Liang

At the end of August, tragic news surfaced that Sydney muso Luke Liang lost his battle with depression at just 28 years of age. Known for his keyboard and guitarist roles in Sydney based band Papa vs Pretty, he was one of Australia’s most active guns-for-hire, working with industry heavy weights, Alex the Astronaut, Jack…

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116 live acts added to WAMFest in Perth: Here’s 6 to get excited about

Being the most isolated city in the world, Perth has always fostered its own local music scene, recently sharing successes Slumberjack, Ruby Fields and San Cisco with the rest of the country and world. WAMFest is an annual celebration of emerging homegrown artists, bands and producers spread across multiple venues and on November 2nd and…

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Melbourne Fringe Review: The sounds of Woodstock explode in the tremendous Yasgur’s Farm

The year is 1969. It’s the middle of August, summer is coming to a close but as you descend on the property of Max Yasgur for one of the single biggest events in music history, the air is notably warm with the throng of 400,000 bodies. With one of the most prolific musical lineups known,…

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Melbourne Fringe Review: Darwent & Gray’s The Rest is Drag is a divine, feel good production to make you think

I called my boyfriend just after four o’clock. He was leaving his boring office to get on the boring train with the potential of taking a squiz at the boring financial review before eating a boring dinner and you get the gist. His flamboyancy was lacking, but lets not tell him that just yet. “How…

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Horror producer Jason Blum to visit Australia for Halloween retcon

Known for producing a-grade, horror packed films Paranormal Activity and The Purge, Universal Pictures is bringing Jason Blum, one of Hollywood’s greatest producers and founder of Blumhouse Productions, to discuss his upcoming release Halloween.  Blum is a two-time Academy Award®-nominated and two-time Emmy and Peabody Award-winning producer. His multi-media company is known for pioneering a new model…

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Huxtaburger is making its Sydney debut with $1 burgers this week

I guess you can call Huxtaburger a pioneering business. The Melbourne-born burger joint first popped onto the scene in 2011, long before the burger boom that has since seen – in particular – Sydney and Melbourne become two of the best cities in the world for burger lovers. Though unlike some others, Huxtaburger’s popularity has…

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Hotel Review: The Cullen remains one of Melbourne’s most unique hotels

It all started here for Art Series Hotel Group, the boutique hotel brand renowned for dedicating each of their properties to an individual Australian artist. Opened in 2009, The Cullen was the first for the group, and has arguably remained one of their finest achievements, thanks to the late great Adam Cullen and his grungy…

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Games Review: F1 2018 (PS4, 2018): The Best in the Business

Ok, first things first? Do you like going fast? I mean really, really, really fast? Well then F1 2018 may just be suited to you. The latest iteration of developer Codemasters’ premiere Formula 1 franchise may just be the best we’ve seen so far, thanks to some handy improvements presentation and controls, all while holding…

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Exclusive Album Premiere: Nice Biscuit – Digital Mountain (2018 LP)

Brisbane DIY enthusiasts and psych-rockers Nice Biscuit were one of our favourite acts at BIGSOUND last week – and now this Friday they’re releasing their debut LP Digital Mountain. But today we’re giving you your exclusive first taste of the release ahead of their album launch show in Melbourne tonight. Their name references the most…

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Tech Review: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV is a Great All-Rounder But…

Canon’s EOS 5D Mark IV is now two years old, but it’s still holding its own in the professional photography world as a high performance stills camera for the discerning stills shooter. With a 30.4 megapixel sensor, ISO range 100-32000, 4K video, 61-point autofocus, wifi and NFC to work with the Canon Camera Connect App, and…

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Exclusive Music Video Premiere: Áine Tyrrell “In This House” (2018)

Today, Irish-Australian folk musician Áine Tyrrell drops the brand new music video for her single “In This House” exclusively on the AU review – the lead single from her new album Return To The Sea, due for release on September 25th. “In This House” was born from a sharing of stories between Tyrrell, and her frequent…

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Album of the Week: Emma Louise finds her voice in Lilac Everything (2018 LP)

Cairns-born singer/songwriter Emma Louise is unrecognisable on her third album, Lilac Everything. Fans expecting the delicate soprano heard on “Talk Baby Talk” and “Jungle” will be shocked to hear the digitally-manipulated low pitch she adopts across the entire album. That voice booms over the soft piano of opener “Wish You Well”. As the song continues,…

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Interview: Marlon Williams (NZ) discusses Make Way For Love, Roy Orbison ahead of Lost Picnic

Back in February, Marlon Williams released his second album Make Way For Love. A deeply personal record, Make Way For Love explored the breakup of his relationship with fellow songwriter Aldous Harding. Since its release, Williams’ has spent a bulk of time on the road, with a hugely successful tour of Australia back in May, and a run…

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Highlights from Day Two of All That Matters in Singapore: Sports, Music, Gaming, Sync and Twitter Converge

Day two of All That Matters kicked off in Singapore yesterday with Sports Matters, and a conversation with Chatri Sityodtong, founder and CEO of the ONE Championship, as the morning developed with enlivened chats about the new era of Football in Asia, future-proofing large scale sponsorship of events like the PGA Tour and the F1,…

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Live Review: Mylk ‘Unplugged’ with Jackson Howard and Stasi was an exploration of what makes Melbourne’s local scene so vital

At the historic Brunswick live music venue The Retreat Hotel, Melbourne-based band Mylk organised an acoustic performance along with some close friends for a great night of live music. The group of Melbourne boys amassed close friends and fans to fill out the classic live music venue for a night of soulful and polished alternative…

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Dean Lewis is taking over Australia and the world with his hit single “Be Alright”

Dean Lewis‘ chart topping single “Be Alright” has topped the ARIA Singles and TMN Hot 100 Airplay Charts for the fourth week in a row. Now certified Double Platinum in Australia, “Be Alright” has had over 100 million global streams, including 10 million video views. Phenomenally, Dean Lewis is the 103rd most listened to artist…

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King Princess to headline Spotify Australia’s live playlist event Front Left Live

This morning, Spotify announced King Princess as the international headliner for Australia’s first ever live playlist event, Front Left Live. Front Left Live is a unique, free event celebrating the flagship Front Left playlist (formerly Indie Mixtape), Australia’s go to destination for discovering the best new music that’s a little left-of-centre. Hosting previous live playlist…

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My Weekend with the Battlefield V Open Beta

Battlefield V looks to bring a ton back from its critically and commercially successful predecessor year’s Battlefield 1. The series’ current waiving of numbering convention confuses me a tad — Battlefield V is a sequel to Battlefield 1, but its official numbering means it technically comes after Battlefield 4, which was a modern warfare shooter. …

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Track of the Day: Dr Sinha’s Jazz Lobotomy “Invisible Kids” (2018)

Following the success of their debut single “Grown Man” in 2017, Melbourne jazz & soul ensemble Dr. Sinha’s Jazz Lobotomy return with a brand new single “Invisible Kids” and accompanying music video. Contrived by guitarist and vocalist Chinmay Sinha as a way of exploring his own identity and culture through music in Australia, the seven piece…

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Interview: Caiti Baker talks “Gimme” ahead of her National Tour

Ahead of her national tour, which kicks off in WA next week, we caught up with Darwin’s Caiti Baker to find out a little more about her new single “Gimme”, what to expect from the upcoming tour, and how music has helped her through some tough times. Congratulations on the release of your new track! You mentioned…

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Film Review: Beast (UK, 2017) is a ferocious character study with an outstanding performance from Jessie Buckley

According to a book by renowned author Christopher Booker, there are seven different plots in stories, which are: Overcoming the Monster Rags to Riches The Quest Voyage and Return Rebirth Comedy Tragedy And since we have so many stories that essentially are encapsulated in one of these plots, what would make a story stand out…

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Book Review: Ruby J. Murray’s The Biographer’s Lover is an elegant examination of the validity of memory

In the early 90’s, a struggling writer is given what turns out to be a life changing opportunity. The daughter of Edna Cramner, a long forgotten war artist, wants to catalogue and share her mother’s work. Convinced there’s a real story there, the biographer ignores her agent’s concerns that it’s a go-nowhere vanity job and…

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Film Review: A Simple Favour (USA, 2018) is an infectiously entertaining, naughty neo-noir, with two fantastic lead performances

If there’s one director that needs a true change of pace out there, it’s comedy director Paul Feig. He started off great making a successful string of comedies, starting from the romantic-comedy hit Bridesmaids to the buddy cop-comedy The Heat and the espionage-action comedy Spy. Then he hit a big of a snag with his…

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Phantastic Ferniture and the Blue Mountains origin story

If you haven’t already rinsed Phantastic Ferniture‘s eponymous 2018 debut LP so much that you know the exact length of each song, you absolutely need to get onto that NOW. It’s without a doubt one of the best debut releases this year. Fresh from the Sydney underground music scene, the three-piece bring that raw flavour straight…

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Track of the Day: The Buoys “Arm Wrestle” (2018)

Equal parts sweet and savoury, Sydney femme 4-piece The Buoys are gearing up to release their sophomore EP Split Lip with the release of their moving latest single “Arm Wrestle”.   Said to be “forged in the flames of a failed tinder date”, The Buoys origins are as unconventional as their feminine indie punk sound….

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