Year: 2020

Byron Bay sibling trio The Buckleys have just put out their debut album Daydream, an identity-forming project spanning country, pop, Americana and indie, all wrapped up in what is one of the most summer-appropriate sounds from a young Aussie band right now. It’s hard to choose a highlight from the piece, given no less than…

Last night, Phil Stack, legendary double bassman, jazz and rock maestro, and founding member of Thirsty Merc launched his latest solo album, Colourful Noisy at Marys Underground in Sydney. It was a triumphant night, and an absolute treat to see a band which can seamlessly transition from jazz to rock and be so freaking great…

New Zealand’s sextet, The Phoenix Foundation have just released their first album in five years, Friend Ship.  The album includes recent singles, including “Decision Dollars”, “Hounds of Hell” and “Landline”. It features some incredible guest vocals – including Nadia Reid, Hollie Fullbrook (Tiny Ruins) and Anita Clark (Motte). It’s a wonderfully diverse album, an indie-folk…

Xbox has announced a list of 30 games, optimised for Xbox Series X and Series S hardware, that will be playable on launch day. The Xbox Series X and Series S launch windows are a bit bereft of exclusives. This is no secret and, while certainly a bummer, there’s still plenty to play the day…

There’s been a high level of anticipation about the album drop for the collaboration of drum and bass royalty Sub Focus And Wilkinson and they haven’t failed to deliver with Portals; a journeying 11-track that has moves downtempo and orchestral, but sticks with their D&B signature style. After the pair released single “Take It Up”…

One of the biggest remaining questions for Sony ahead of its next big console launch was “What does the PS5 UI look like?” Sony finally got around to answering it last night during the latest State of Play broadcast. Respect the classics Visually, the PS5 UI bears quite a few similarities to the PS4’s menu,…

Auckland based indie-pop trip LA Women aren’t letting 2020, or social clout chasing (a very, very common thing) slow them down as they slink of the wobbly pop of “Falling In Love”. Musing on a status-obsessed society, the Kiwi outfit turn in another strong offering following over R&B-indebted funk-pop numbers like “Love Me” and 2019…

If you live and work in a destination considered a “tourist attraction”, 2020 has unquestionably been a difficult year for your city. With international air travel grinding to a halt and even domestic travel either discouraged or blocked by ever changing border rules, tourism sectors have seen unthinkable downturn. Some have had to shut their…

Sydney band The Finalists have released the gorgeous and lush track “Learn To Live Without You”. This is the second single off their debut album, First, due to be released on the 6th November. It features some sweet harmonies, reminiscent of the music of the 1960’s.  Today we have the first look at the video…

The 5th Annual National Live Music Awards (#NLMAs) – which will be held digitally this year – has just announced the lineup for the live stream, which is happening at 8.30pm AEDT on Tuesday, 20th October 2020. The award stream will feature performances from The Beamish Brothers (pictured), ARIA award winner Tyrone Noonan in a special tribute…

Like most in the music industry, the past seven months since COVID-19 hit has heavily impacted DJ Tom Lowndes, aka Hot Dub Time Machine or DJ Tom Loud. But this weekend he’ll finally return to the live scene with two shows in Perth. Tom is currently quarantining in an Airbnb house in Perth’s outer suburbs,…

The full program for this year’s BAD Sydney Crime Writers Festival has been announced. Despite concerns over COVID restrictions, the Festival will take place in-person at the State Library of NSW over the weekend of November 7-8th.  The  BAD Writers Festival is an opportunity for fans of crime fiction and true crime to come together…

For many people, their music tastes come about in one of two ways: through friends and lived experiences or through their parents and siblings. More recently you could even add the internet to that list. For me, the majority of my musical taste came directly from my dad and brother, while being part of the…

To the End of the World: Travels with Oscar Wilde is the latest memoir from actor, author, and now director Rupert Everett. In the book Everett, recounts the story of how he set out to make the film of Oscar Wilde’s last days, 2018’s The Happy Prince. The book, then, is part memoir, part travelogue,…

Next month Australia’s largest performing writer’s program, Word Travels’ Story Week returns. Running from November 6th to 14th, this year’s program will be entirely virtual and feature a range of international and Australian guests and performers.  This year’s line-up explores themes of race, ancestry, identity and more. “The global pandemic has had a large impact…

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is a game named for the grand hall of the slain in Norse mythology, a beautiful place where fallen warriors arrive after death. Perhaps as a contrast, the game is set in the rainy, muddy, utterly miserable north of Britain in the year 873 CE. At the time the Vikings crossed into…

If there’s anyone who would be secure enough to make a film based around politics, Jon Stewart would arguably be one of the most well suited.  Whilst not quite as politically savvy as one might expect, given his penchant for satire, Irresistible is nonetheless a sly, consistently witty affair that wisely doesn’t exactly choose a…

The formidable indie-punk Sydney band, Good Pash are back with a new single, “Delete Me”, the first off their upcoming EP. This band knows how to put together a kick-arse guitar-driven song, with catchy hooks and sharp lyrics. Even with a song such as “Delete Me” which broaches a difficult relationship, they manage to leave…

Look at this tasteful Blue Yeti X mic designed around World of Warcraft: Shadowlands. Seriously, look at it. The subdued palette in Battle Grey with gold accents. The artful runes around the mic’s base. The smooth, elegant shape of the mic itself. We don’t get a lot of peripherals in the games sphere that are…

With today’s announcement of the 2020 ARIA Awards nominees, there were several curveball nominations thrown into the mix. One such surprise was the nomination in the Original Soundtrack/Original Cast Album category for the soundtrack to Untitled Goose Game. Composed by Dan Golding, the soundtrack for the smash hit Melbourne-made video game is a work of…

2020 has delivered a tough blow to the music industry, with live music put on hold and the cancellation of festivals. Despite the struggles brought on by the pandemic, this year’s ARIA Awards Ceremony promises to be something to look forward to. The nominees were announced today via a YouTube premiere, showcasing the diverse talent…

If you’re having a bit of a drowsy Tuesday, you might need this angsty number to get you fired up. Today’s track of the day is UK “slacker-pop” artist Lauran Hibberd with her latest single “Boy Bye”. Exuding a strong ‘90s indie rock vibe, fans of Liz Phair or The Breeders should enjoy this one….

Domestic travel is on the cusp of a resurgence with states across Australia beginning to relax lockdown measures. International travel? That’s a different story. With many countries around the world struggling in the fight against COVID-19, we’ve been given conflicting information on when international travel will resume to a sense of normalcy anytime soon. Some…

Melbourne duo Eternal Crush are about to release the title track off their upcoming EP, Heavenly Body. The band consists of singer/songwriter Joey Jean and guitarist/producer Jackson Holliday (Northeast Party House). Meeting at a party, discovering a shared love of New Order and The Stone Roses as well as being neighbours, led to them starting…

It seems last year’s collaboration between Gelato Messina and Peters Ice Cream was only the start of something delicious and beautiful, releasing limited edition drumsticks to supermarkets across the nation to much fan-fare. Now, the partnership has resulted in three new gelato bars, permanently hitting Coles, Woolworths and independent grocers in Australia. The new range…

Get your clicking fingers ready because Amazon’s highly anticipated Prime Day is now live, bringing massive savings on a bunch of big name brands so you don’t have to wait for any Christmas sales. For the next 48 hours, all Australian deals will be running up until Wednesday 14th October 11:59pm (AEDT), although Prime Day…

UK grunge-rock four-piece Scarlet, have just released their latest single “Bring Me Down”. It’s a rocking kick-arse tune laden with hooks and cascading guitars. It’s the perfect song to kick-start the week as our Track of the Day. Fans of bands such as Hole are going to find plenty to love here. Front woman, Jessie…

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…

Baby Bulldog, aka Steph Barker, is an LA resident and a whirlwind on the drums and vocals. Her latest release is an ode to her car, “Rodney”, and we are thrilled today to have the video premiere for this affectionate homage. As is often the case, the ownership of a car can signpost a significant…

DJI is once again positioned as the go-to brand for smartphone-friendly gimbals with the OM4. Sure, it’s largely an iterative improvement over its highly successful predecessor, but the small changes bring a few neat design tricks and a refined feature set, attempting to not only attract new fans, but justify the bump up for those…