Month: September 2020

1819, Manchester. Sarah McCaffrey and her mother Emily attend a talk at St Peter’s Field by the renowned orator and reformist Harold Hartford (a fictional character based on Henry Hunt). The establishment, wary of the revolutionary sentiments growing among the poorer working classes in the shadow of the French Revolution some twenty years earlier, have…

Central Coast trio Un-Ti are back with another pop banger, the catchy AF “Stay“. With influences ranging from Ed Sheeran to The Weeknd, the latest from high school mates Lachie, Reid, and Ben is polished pop perfection, and a great follow-up to previous single “Love Me Like Yesterday“. With gorgeous vocals and some seriously good…

EB Games just put their PS5 preorders live. This is not a drill. You can preorder either the standard or digital-only consoles via the EB Games website right now, with a $200 deposit. EB are also pulling in some sweet trade deals if you don’t have enough cash lying around to pay full fare. The…

The PlayStation 5 Showcase is here. The last big show-and-tell of 2020. A slew of brand new trailers and, as the curtain falls, the long awaited release date and pricing details. To say Sony left it all out on the court with this one is to undersell it. There’s a LOT to unpack here, so…

  The PlayStation 5 finally has pricing and a release date. With only two months to go before launch, we now know that both models of PlayStation 5 will launch in Australia and New Zealand on November 12. So how much should you expect one of these bad boys to set you back? Well, for…

In the wide, wonderful world of gaming, what does victory truly sound like? For starters, it’s incredibly detailed with high-audio fidelity, acoustic clarity and exceptional realism. Getting the sound of winning exactly right is the challenge gaming headphones seek to fix, fighting their own battle when it comes to delivering gamers the best possible sonic…

I reckon Super Mario 3D All-Stars will give video game preservationists a lot to think about. I find myself thinking about video game preservation a lot lately. I imagine this is because I’ve reviewed a lot of remasters and remakes in the last few years. Super Mario 3D All-Stars is neither a remake nor a…

Last week Nintendo revealed the next long-awaited release in the Zelda series – Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. The upcoming title was announced in a 6-minute video, presented by its developers, including Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma and Hyrule Warriors series producer Yosuke Hayashi. Age of Calamity follows the gameplay of 2014’s Hyrule Warriors; however,…

  News coming out of the House of Mouse has been coming pretty thick and fast as we near closer and closer to the end of the year. So we’re going to distil down some of the key things to keep a lookout for as we edge closer to 2021. We’ve picked out a handful…

We are thrilled to have the exclusive premiere of “Mess!”, the latest single from Sydney-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mihka Chee. This is the title track off her forthcoming EP which will be the follow-up to her 2017 debut EP, Both. It’s a great fun upbeat tune, with a driving beat, vocals with just the right amount…

Whilst Yuval Adler‘s The Secrets We Keep has quite a nasty temperament, it’s a testament to his and Ryan Covington‘s script that it never overindulges in its wince-worthy material. Set in a post-WWII America where the horrors of Nazi camps and prisoner brutality are a distant though still painful memory, Maja (Noomi Rapace), a Romani…

Multi-instrumentalist and composer Josh Johnson continues to tease his forthcoming debut album Freedom Exercise. The LA via Chicago musician, who has toured and recorded with Makaya McCraven, Leon Bridges and more, dropped the album’s first single “Western Ave” earlier this month.  Johnson moved to Los Angeles eight years ago. It was only supposed to be…

Since 2016, Sydney-based smartphone app The Burger Collective has collated and showcased the best burger joints in the city. And that’s no easy feat, given that Sydney has what is arguably one of the absolute greatest collection of burger restaurants in the world. Burger Head, BL Burgers, Happy Ending, Mister Gee, Superior Burger – need…

To celebrate its 21st birthday in Australia, eBay has partnered up with those dessert mad scientists over at Gelato Messina to bring back one of their most famous creations. Available for a limited time exclusively through eBay Australia, with all proceeds going to Beyond Blue, the treat is a refined take on the brand’s classic…

Today the Booker Prize judges announced the six books that make up their 2020 Shortlist. The shortlist was selected from the 162 books submitted for the award. Those 162 were whittled down to an eclectic longlist of thirteen titles back in July, and now the field has been tightened further.  What was already shaping up to…

BIGSOUND has announced the first lineup of keynote speakers for this year’s virtual edition of the annual festival. American legend Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine, Audioslave, Prophets Of Rage, The Nightwatchman) leads the charge with an insightful presentation on his life as a musician and activist. “Join me at BIGSOUND to talk music, activism,…

Our track of the day is “Life is Crazy (Like That)”, a rollicking tune from OK Hotel, a fresh new alt-rock band out of Wollongong. This is only their second single, following on from “Swim” which was released in February. For a three-piece, they create a big sound, and are making plenty of waves. It’s…

Bose’s highly regarded QuietComfort series is about to get slimmed down and transposed from over-head headphones to truly wireless earbuds. The company first teased the arrival when it put out the excellent but ambitiously priced NC700 headphones last year, but delays presented themselves. And now here we are. Those promised QuietComfort Earbuds are due to…

Keeping travel dreams alive and setting goals has never felt more important. We can all agree that 2020 has been an unfortunate year so far, and almost every facet of daily life has been wrought by this ongoing global pandemic, the start of which now feels like forever ago. The arts has been one of…

We have the exclusive single premiere of “Bad Thoughts” from Melbourne singer-songwriter Meghna. This track follows on from “Night” which was released back in February. The song opens with some moody synths, leading into the vocals and beats which drive the emotion throughout this honest exploration of how we deal with the anxiety of comparison. No…

Caitlin Moran is back with new memoir (and a new silver streak). Opening with modern day Moran travelling back in time to visit her thirty something self, who is fresh off saving the final draft of 2011’s How To Be A Woman. But the Moran of More Than A Woman has distressing news for her…

The PlayStation 5 Showcase, an epic 40-minute show-and-tell, is set to be Sony’s last big livestream ahead of the PS5 launch in November. This is good news. 2020 being what it is, fans have had to wait much longer than usual for details on the hardware. At this point, we know what it looks like…

Rachel Sennott stars as Danielle, a young bisexual Jewish woman, traipsing through life going through a phase of self-defeat as she essentially performs sex work for money; all under the guise of sexual empowerment excused by her gender studies degree. The mindset of Danielle is set up in a succinctly and hilariously tired fashion as she has sex with her…

Working From Home has made maintaining a faster, more stable Wi-Fi connection one of the most important things to consider in 2020. That necessitates a leap from the current standard of 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5) to 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6) in order to cope with the burgeoning number and diversity of smart devices vying for that signal,…

Beloved Sydney restaurant Nomad will shift back to its original Foster Street location as of Tuesday 20th October, reopening doors to reveal extensive renovations following a fire last September. The new-look Nomad will sport a larger kitchen, opened up and surrounded by twice as much seating, a larger charcoal grill, and the new addition of…

After success last year, Jameson have officially brought back “Australia’s Biggest Shout”, committing 15,000 free Jameson, Dry & Limes for Aussies at participating venues. Initially, this will include venues in NSW, QLD and SA, but Jameson has also promised to extend the shout and resume it when its safe for Victorians to head on out…

Under a new customer policy announced recently, Virgin Australia will now be offering unlimited booking changes without any change fees for reservations with travel between now and 31st January 2021. The announcement comes as the airline refines their “Passenger Promise” concept, remaining hopeful for the uptick in domestic travel as we near the end of…

LG Electronics Australia is officially bringing the company’s newest wireless earbuds, the LG Tone Free FN6, down under this month. And in an attempt to stand far apart from the massively overstuffed market, the designers have surprisingly focused on health as a paramount feature, equipping the accompanying charging case with a built-in ultraviolent light that…

Following the initial rollout of Android 11 to Google’s Pixel devices, Oppo has now lifted the lid on its own operating system, ColorOS 11. As one of the first OEM’s to bring the latest Android 11 update to its users, Oppo is moving fast to ensure a total of 28 phones receive the huge update…

Prior to COVID-19 taking a hold of the industry in a capacity the world was unprepared for, Trolls World Tour was primed for a first quarter release – hell, Sydney was even planning a premiere with director Walt Dohrn and star Anna Kendrick in attendance – ready to capitalise on the somewhat-unexpected success of the…