Year: 2020

English rock group Everything Everything have announced an exclusive VR event to launch their forthcoming album Re-Animator. Everything Everything: Virtual RE-ANIMATOR has been dubbed the first-ever “release show held in virtual reality”. Hosted in partnership with Sansar, the event sees the band push their creativity to new heights, building upon the album campaign that began…

Much of the foundation EA’s UFC series that was laid back in 2014 has developed nicely, but each sequel, while an improvement, felt like an authentic experience that frustrated fans, and alienated others. Solid mechanics and slick visuals impressed, but a clunky ground game left fans like myself, sticking to strikes and knockouts to avoid…

Van Gogh Alive is a large-scale, multi-sensory experience that has been seen by over 6 million people across 50 cities around the world including Rome, Milan, Berlin, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Moscow and many more. Finally, it comes to Sydney as a massive socially distanced, COVID-safe event. Van Gogh Alive will be held at Royal Hall…

We’re Bad Juju – a five-piece grunge rock band from Melbourne. Our new single “Let’s Talk” is premiering today over on the AU review’s Instagram, and it’s great to finally share it with the world ahead of its official release on Wednesday 2nd September. We are so thankful for this opportunity and hope you enjoy…

We’ve been totally hooked on the tune “King Size Bed” which KIT dropped last month. Today we have the exclusive first look at the video for this enchanting song. In case you missed it, KIT is the solo-project for Katie Wighton (All Our Exes Live In Texas) and this is just her second single under…

Melbourne songwriter Gretta Ziller has released her first song of 2020 with her latest single “Unlikely Believer”. The track bears an optimistic look on life, stridently led by Ziller’s heartfelt songwriting. To reflect the personal nature of the song, the music video for “Unlikely Believer” sees Ziller with her live band performing in a desolate…

If you love burgers and your name isn’t Ben Shapiro, then get the hell on down to BL Burgers this week. The ever-creative burger-slingers have created an unholy ode to your dirtiest, most salacious food fantasies with “WAP (Wet Ass Patty)” and its bound to weirdly offend unaffected conservatives the world over. As overwhelmingly large…

The pandemic may have shut down more than a few 2020 plans, but that doesn’t mean some of Australia’s finest distilleries, breweries and wineries have stopped pushing their liquid gold onto shelves around the country. We’re willing to bet that dad is going to need a good drink or two come Father’s Day, at least…

Atlanta’s Teddy Swims dropped latest track “Broke” a few days ago, and we’re excited to be naming it as today’s Track of the Day. Otherwise known as Jaten Dimsdale, the surname ‘Swims’ is actually an anagram, standing for Someone Who Isn’t Me Sometimes, a reference to the struggles the Atlanta artist had fitting in throughout…

We’re twenty minutes into Hu Guan‘s epic The Eight Hundred before the credits cease on screen.  Then the film informs us that we are on Day 1 of what is to be a four-day siege – not to mention a further 2 hours in its running time. The titular Eight Hundred refers to the 400…

Amazon Prime Video decided to take a leap last year into the superhero genre with The Boys, an adaptation of the comic book series by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson. The series is set in a universe where superheroes are capitalized and monetized by the shady corporation Vought International, and led by the unstable and…

The iconic Barangaroo House is finally re-opening its doors and recommencing dine-in operations for their three venues, House Bar, BEA, and Smoke. In light of Coronavirus restrictions gradually easing, Matt Moran and Solotel Group have shifted their gears to cater towards smaller groups and will be consistent with government mandated health and safety regulations. “The…

Pretty much every OLED is going to be compared to LG’s CX this year. It’s just what happens when consumers land on a favourite each year, and for 2020 the buck stops with this exceptional workhorse of a TV. Lavish praise? Sure, but LG deserve it right now. Not only has the company picked up…

Sydney’s lavish, perfectly located Pier One Sydney Harbour has now started taking private bookings for one of the luxury hotel’s most coveted corners, for groups of up to 10. With hotels still finding their place in the ongoing pandemic, the “Harbour Bridge Balcony Party” is an attractive option for groups that feel like something special…

We have the exclusive single premiere of “As I Go” from singer/songwriter Little Fox.  Little Fox is the moniker for Sydney singer-songwriter Simone Macarounas. Little Fox has recently started to release music again, after making a splash in the local scene back in 2012 with the release of her debut single “Blood and Dust”. It’s…

My first few days with Project Cars 3 proved to be an incredibly polarising experience. I consider myself a true fan of racing sims, and while Project Cars 2 stands out as one of my favourites, Project Cars 3 does not; but not in the way you would think. It’s safe to say that Project…

No one needs to spell out why the market for air purifiers is growing in 2020. With more countries increasingly concerned about personal air quality in the home, its certainly a good time to start thinking about modern, advanced ways of maintaining healthy homes with these smart devices. It’s then the perfect time for Samsung…

The Smashing Pumpkins are back with new music, and “Cyr” is our Track of the Day today. The band has also announced that there is a new studio album in the works which is exciting news for fans. The vocals of frontman Billy Corgan are of course unmistakable. “Cyr” is a little more electronic than…

Welcome to “the new normal”! United Cinemas at Sydney’s Circular Quay hosted Australia’s first socially distance Red Carpet movie premiere with the screening of Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster TENET. Imogen Anthony walked the Red Carpet with local celebrities from Married At First Sight, Love Island and The Bachelor. Nathan Atkins was there to capture the guests.

With Huawei’s P30 series representing a significant leap forward for smartphones in general, besting competition with pure muscle and a superlative camera system, the P40 series was set to be a big statement from the Chinese tech giants. Politics came into play though, resulting no Google Mobile Services (importantly, no Google Store or associated apps)…

With the next generation of consoles looming, developer Visual Concepts has decided to shed some light on the current generation’s version of NBA 2K21, highlighting some new and improved features, updated modes and revamped locations. While much of the next-gen version is still under wraps, our sneak peak has given us a positive feeling about…

From our desks and workspaces to the overall comfort of our home, we’re all making changes to our homes at the moment to improve our homelife and well.. keep our sanity whilst we spend so much time inside. With one of JBL’s latest releases, the brand is hoping we upgrade our living rooms and turn…

Following the announcement of their new vegan restaurant Safiya, the team behind Salt Meats Cheese are introducing a plant-based banquet menu for their Italian restaurants in NSW and QLD. The ‘Soul Meets Cheers Vegan Series’ will take place across all venues (except Southbank) on Tuesday 8th September at 6pm. A strictly vegan approach to classic…

Attica’s Ben Shewry has hooked up with the founding members of eternally acclaimed music wizards The Avalanches to throw “A Party for Melbourne”, a virtual house party taking place on Saturday 12th September. “The idea for A Party for Melbourne grew out of our friendship with Ben and Kylie Staddon from Attica,” said The Avalanches’…

We are so excited to have the exclusive premiere of Matt Hsu’s Obscure Orchestra‘s new single “Welcome To The Neighbourhood”. The song addresses significant social issues which need urgent attention – refugee rights, black lives and racial injustice. “Welcome To The Neighbourhood” demonstrates that songs with big topics don’t need to be solemn. This has…

London’s Ezra Collective are back with new music. The first since the release of their debut album Can’t Steal My Joy last year. The release, a special double A-side single, also follows the band’s first visit to Australia earlier this year, beating the pandemic upheaval to play Golden Plains and Womadeliade.  The group are releasing…

Back in May COVID-19 forced the inaugural Yarra Valley Writers Festival online. At the time organisers promised a jam-packed day of author live streams for the main festival day in May. But, there was also the promise of continued events into the future, in the form of virtual book clubs and author chats.  Four months…

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…

In my review of the Find X2 Pro from Oppo, I was confident in writing that Oppo has presented what is one of the best Android phones to date. It is, and months later I’m still finding new things to love about the high-end flagship. With the Lite version, Oppo has cut down the price…

Though still in production at the time of writing, the Mafia: Definitive Edition remaster feels like it’s stretched between two extremes. It wants to pay homage to a well-liked yarn, ensuring players in the modern era can still experience Tommy Angelo’s rise to power. But it also has to translate game design and mechanics from…