The Spotted Mallard on Sydney Road was an interesting choice of venue, I initially thought, when Kele Okereke announced a special acoustic show in support of his new album Fatherland. Sitting in the venue on Saturday night, though, it made sense. The shows that had brought Kele to The Old Museum in Brisbane and The Basement in…
Despite only re-announcing himself last September, artist Jack Grace has built himself an impressive support base, garnering praise from across Australia. Now, he has graced his presence to us once again with his latest single, “downstate”. The track comes fresh off his forthcoming EP If I Tremble, a 7 track collection set to be released on April…
London, 1946. Juliet (Lily James, Cinderella), a charismatic and free-spirited writer receives a letter from a member of a mysterious literary club started in Nazi-occupied Guernsey. Her curiosity piqued, Juliet decides to visit the island. There she meets the delightfully eccentric members of the Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society, including Dawsey (Michiel Huisman,…
When it comes to gaming headphones, Razer’s cans have never been my favourites. They’ve always been clunky, heavy things with sound that rarely came close to meeting my expectations. I wanted to put all that on front street because, if the Electra V2 is any indication, Razer’s headset efforts might have finally found their groove…
The 180-room DoubleTree by Hilton, situated in the heart of Melbourne CBD, quickly became an institution for both locals and visitors shortly after it debuted in 2014. Reflecting design inspiration from its location opposite the historic Flinders Street Station, the boutique-minded property is a perfect example of soaking up the surrounds with subtle, charming flourishes…
Canberra’s highly prized National Gallery of Australia has been quite the destination as of late and the buzz isn’t going anywhere soon, especially when the recent opening of Cartier: The Exhibition. From now until July 22nd, one of the most significant and comprehensive collections of jewellery to ever be displayed in Australia will be presented…
Opened in 2016, the on site restaurant at the InterContinental Hotel in Century City, Los Angeles, Mari Restaurant blends together Japanese and Californian flavours for a truly original menu offering. They serve an evolving menu throughout the day, from breakfast, through to lunch and dinner – every menu getting slightly more Japanese flavoured than the…
Less than an hour and a half south of the Gold Coast, where the Commonwealth Games are about to be held, and the home of Bluesfest, is a hotbed for innovative gastronomy and creative enterprises in and around Byron Bay. The landscape is constantly evolving and flourishing, yet within the much loved laid-back coastal and…
Armageddon Expo, New Zealand’s largest pop culture convention was held in Wellington over the Easter weekend. Seeing large numbers of fans of film, television, anime, video games and comics converge on Westpac Stadium in Wellington to revel in all things nerdy and geeky. One of the big draw cards for conventions is the film and…
Dear Blue, Queer cinema has came through quite well back in 2017. We’ve had great examples like Call Me By Your Name, Battle of the Sexes and Moonlight; foreign entries like BPM (Beats Per Minute), Oscar-winning A Fantastic Woman and BAFTA-winning The Handmaiden and hidden indie gems like Princess Cyd, Beach Rats and God’s Own…
Melbourne-based Director Lester Francois and a team of highly creative individuals are putting together an interactive VR docuseries that’ll highlight individuals artists in some very interesting ways. The planned series, titled Kinetic, begins with Rone, the first episode which recently premiered at SXSW in Austin, Texas and showcased an incredibly immersive, interactive VR experience examining…
Update: Happy April Fool’s Day! A sequel to the critically-acclaimed film The Disaster Artist is in the early planning stages at A24, The Iris can exclusively reveal. The news was confirmed via a leaked press release from the New York-based distribution firm early this morning. According to said press release, the sequel – tentatively titled…
Here’s something to soothe you this long weekend – the latest from Melbourne psych rocker, Moonlover. “Lazy Daisy”, from the debut Moonlover album Thou Shall Be Free, is a cut of gorgeous pop steeped in psych traditions that oozes romanticism and rich musical quality. The music video matches up with the tone of the song, as we…
Shelby J is an American singer, songwriter, entrepreneur and social activist, who has toured nationally and internationally with her band Blackgypsy and as leading backing vocalist in Prince’s The New Power Generation. In Australia next month for the World Premiere of Nothing Compares 2 Prince, she will be one of the twelve performers involved in…
Arkansas musician Ben Dickey is no stranger to the stage; releasing a solo record, performing in bands like Amen Booze Rooster, Blood Feathers and featuring as the vocalist and guitarist in Post-Hardcore group Shake Ray Turbine. But now the accomplished, if widely unknown, artist is taking the stage in a new role: artfully portraying singer/songwriter…
Meet Laura Jean Anderson. We absolutely love her new sounds in “Silence Won’t Help Me Now” – thankfully, Cooking Vinyl Australia are representing Anderson, so we hope to be seeing more from this LA artist out this way soon. The first thing to notice about this track is Anderson’s vocals; smoky and hypnotic, Anderson gets personal…
Focused almost exclusively on discovery, Sunaana is certainly aiming to be a huge platform for rising talent across multiple genres. In it’s second year, The Portland, Maine festival grew substantially from it’s humble beginnings in 2017, stretching across two official days at Thompson’s Point. The plan is to pull the festival into downtown Portland and…
UK artist Nilüfer Yanya sat with Larry at SXSW this year, her debut performances in Texas for the massive music festival. Here, they discuss introducing her music to larger crowds, how her local scene differs to ones elsewhere internationally, and more. Listen to the full interview, below! ———- This content has recently been ported from its…
Love, Simon has quickly become something of a phenomenon. Before it officially hits Australian cinemas, its critical response worldwide has been unanimously positive (its Rotten Tomatoes score currently sits at 91%), and celebrities such as Neil Patrick Harris and Kristen Bell, neither of whom have had anything to do with the film personally, have bought…
Hip hop, now considered the dominant and most popular style of contemporary music in the world, is one of the most powerful and important forms of art to emerge in the past few decades, and that can be an incredibly hard notion for many to wrap their head around. The fascination with the art and…
Mild-mannered Sam (Jon Bernthal) is a retired rodeo champ living a quiet existence as a motel manager in a quiet Alaskan town. We get the impression that he’s not asking for much – just a space to live out his days as peacefully as he can, perhaps get to know Bernadette (Rosemarie DeWitt) a little…
While at SXSW earlier this month, we caught up with Japanese actor Kunichi Nomura, who appears in the new Wes Anderson film Isle of Dogs. He also helped write the film. Watch the full chat here as we talk about working with Wes, playing the “villain” in the film, and he also tells us about partying…
During our time at SXSW Film Festival this year, we got to sit with director Timur Bekmambetov and actor Shazad Latif to chat about their new film, Profile. Adapted from Anna Erelle‘s In the Skin of a Jihadist, the film looks at the complex online relationship that develops between an “undercover” reporter and a jihadist, shot entirely through the reporters computer (and social…
Directed by Australia’s own Sarah Daggar-Nickson and starring Olivia Wilde, A Vigilante is a powerful drama that sees Wilde play the titular role – Sadie, a vigilante who helps domestic abuse survivors get out of their situation by literally bringing the abusers to their knees. Spurred on by her own experiences and a tragedy, the…
Sydney’s Central station is currently undergoing a massive transformation, and soon the thriving Central precinct will welcome an IHG boutique hotel, Hotel Indigo. It’s a few years in the making with an opening date of 2021, but when the 168-room hotel does arrive, it will be adding a hint of contemporary style to Central’s rich…
It’s had an extensive history in only 100 years; from office building to WWII VA hospital to a nightclub, but now the Fulton Building in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is home to a hotel that not only allows guests to recharge in contemporary luxury but also detox and unplug from the digital world. Renaissance Hotel is located…
Come April 3rd, Uber will be launching their super budget-conscious UberPOOL service in Australia, specifically the inner-city suburbs of Sydney ahead of a planned nationwide roll out. The service has proven to be incredibly popular in cities like L.A, Austin and New York, with savings of up to half the price of a usual UberX….
This one is a bit of a cool piece of news to get around today. Between some of the city’s most talented artists and one of Melbourne’s most iconic brands – Melbourne Bitter, of course – a new exhibition has been formed, to celebrate the Aussie Esky and to raise funds for Support Act. The initiative…
Songwriter Amy Pes is really coming through with some great music under her Quails project. The latest single “Powerless” is anything but; navigating between moody pop and darker electro-R&B, Quails is no doubt lining up a big 2018 for herself. We’re here for it. With her sophomore EP Worlds already spawning another solid release in “We Don’t Need Entertainment”,…
It was Country Music’s night-of-nights on Thursday, March 15th, with the biggest local and international acts flocking to The Star on the Gold Coast to celebrate the biggest fan-voted awards in the southern hemisphere.
