Year: 2020

English synth-pop act Hot Chip are set to perform an exclusive live-streamed set from Dreamland Margate, one of the UK’s most adored amusement parks.  The event will be streamed in Australia on Sunday, 6th September, kicking off at 8pm AEST. The band, whose hits include Ready for the Floor, Hungry Child and I Feel Better,…

COVID-safe gigs are starting to pop up all around Sydney, but the latest batch is something else. In partnership with Sailor Jerry Spice Rum, a new gig series supporting independent live music is spreading several intimate gigs over the next few weeks, all taking place in some of Sydney’s most beloved venues. The unique series…

It’s hard to place Johnny Hunter, the four piece from Sydney’s Inner West. With a slew of singles already released, their sound changes from dirty and heavy, to anthemic and poetic; from unruly and messy to clean cut and hopeful. One thing that is easier to work out is that Johnny Hunter are a band…

Perth psych-rock juggernauts Psychedelic Porn Crumpets have just the hard-hitting tune to rev up your day. With its relentless rhythm, distorted guitars and unpredictable arrangement, “Mr. Prism”, the group’s first release of 2020, is a wild ride from start to finish. Songwriter Jack McEwan says the track was inspired by a nasty case of pneumonia he…

Sydney pop-punk act Yours Truly have just released a gorgeous music video for their latest single “Undersize”. The track is from their upcoming debut album Self Care, out September 18th.  While most tracks on Self Care are deeply introspective and discuss personal struggles, singer Mikaila Delgado describes “Undersize” as an outward “letter to a close…

Perth-based singer-songwriter Ben Catley is back with a new single, and this time has company. On “For The Life Of Me” Catley has enlisted the guitar slinging skills of none other than Australian blues legend Ash Grunwald. Officially released tomorrow, we’re stoked to bring you this sneaky first listen of the empowering new single.  Recorded…

Ten years ago, New Zealand’s The Naked and Famous were getting ready to release their debut album, Passive Me, Aggressive You. It had no less than four singles, “All of This”, “Young Blood”, “Punching in a Dream” and “Girls Like You”, with “Young Blood” hitting number one on the New Zealand charts. It achieved critical…

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 are the video game equivalent of The Beatles. Even if you’ve never actively played them before, you still know a lot about them by pure cultural osmosis. I could ask you about Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and, if you care about video games at all, you could likely tell me something…

There are some films you just can’t quite pick. As much as Lawrence Michael Levine‘s Black Bear stays relatively true to its basic plot logline – “A filmmaker at a creative impasse seeks solace from her tumultuous past at a rural retreat, only to find that the woods summon her inner demons in intense and…

Melbourne-based emcee KVNYL (Kuh-Vinyl) has got something special on his hands with “Running”, the fiery bass-heavy single taken from EP The Worst of Me. And its influences are clear. Kendrick Lamar, Saba, Denzel Curry – those three individual styles stomp all over this track, but KVNYL is certainly carving his own identity in the midst…

The need for a Wi-Fi mesh system has never been greater. Even if one’s home isn’t the size of a footy field, with home offices becoming a norm, smart homes more demanding, and Australia moving towards an NBN, having something to maintain a consistent, fast connection in a household or office is invaluable. That router…

Microsoft has narrowed down the Xbox Series X launch window from Holiday 2020 to November. The news comes as 343 Industries confirmed Halo Infinite will miss the console’s launch date, and Xbox works to get its house in order. Though Halo Infinite‘s delay is a substantial blow to its launch fortunes, Microsoft quickly took to…

343 Industries have delayed the release of Halo Infinite into 2021. The delay means it will no longer be a launch title for the Xbox Series X in November. The announcement came via the official Halo Twitter account. 343 were not specific about when in 2021 they intend to launch, citing the difficulty of developing the…

UK-born and bred, but now a local of Byron Bay, Meg Hitchcock is launching her debut single and video, and we are thrilled to be able to offer the first view and listen of “Hello Moon”, a soulful shimmering love song to the moon. It’s also an affirmation on living the life she wants to…

APRA AMCOS and the Australian Music Centre have unveiled the finalists for the 2020 Art Music Awards, streaming live on Tuesday 8 September.   The annual event recognises distinctions in the fields of composition, performance, education and presentation of Australian art music. In light of the current COVID restrictions, this year’s Awards will be streamed as…

Quick bites.  Big stories. Designed specifically to engage the masses in the smallest of time frames, Quibi produces fresh, original content in bite-sized portions so you’re entertained at any given second. After successfully launching across the US, where their short-form, mobile-specific content proved a viable alternative to the predominant lounge-room streaming of Netflix and Amazon Prime…

Cyberpunk 2077 is now only three months away. The second episode of Night City Wire, a periodic web series by developer CD Projekt Red, debuted overnight. In this episode: Lifepaths, the music of Cyberpunk 2077 and getting to grips with weaponry. You can watch the full broadcast right here, or hit the embed below. Lifepaths…

After the successful launch of restaurants in the Wynyard Precinct with Bopp & Tone and June’s Shoppe, the Applejack group is launching its third CBD venue, Hester’s Cafe and Bar. The cafe and bar will offer a dine-in and takeaway menu designed by Bopp & Tone Head Chef, Sa Va’afusuaga. Expect some classic breakfast dishes,…

It’s been a week or so since Kathleen Jennings released her debut novella Flyaway into the world. You can read our review of the book here! We caught up with the Brisbane based writer and illustrator to chat about the release of Flyaway! First of all, can you tell us a little about Flyaway? What’s it…

Midnight Oil are back with their first new song in close to twenty years. “Gadigal Land” sees the veteran rockers team up with vocalists Kaleena Briggs, Bunna Lawrie, Dan Sultan and Gadigal poet Joel Davison. The fiery slice of rock is part of The Makarrata Project, a themed mini-album of collaborations with Indigenous artists, which…

After proving their bona fides with The Golf Club series, developer HB Studios has gone all in. PGA Tour 2K21 aims to return the humble golf sim to the glory days of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14, with real-life courses and real-life golfers in the mix. Unline any of these real-life golfers, I am not very…

Alexia Avina is an ambient folk artist based in rural Massachusetts in America. She’s a recent addition to the wonderful Scottish label Lost Map Records, who will be releasing her new album Unearth in October. “Fit Into” is the first taste of that forthcoming album, and it is absolutely stunning.  It’s a striking piece of…

Brisbane psych-pop outfit These Guy released their new album, These Guy House, on Friday. Premiered by us on Thursday, the album was conceived, written, recorded and mixed during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic and shut down. As such the album has taken on something of a ‘cabin fever song cycle’ feel. To help us, and you…

Ubisoft has released a second EP of select tracks from the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. The EP, called The Ravens Saga, features music from composers Jesper Kyd, Sarah Schachner, and two originals by Einar Selvik. Packed full of hard-edged strings, thunderous percussion and strident, chanting choirs, it is every inch a viking symphony. Kyd is…

With the way Marvel’s MCU has come to dominate the movie landscape, and AAA superhero games such as Marvel’s Spider-Man breaking sales records, there’s been a lot of interest in Square Enix’s take on Marvel’s Avengers. We got our hands on roughly three hours of gameplay in this week’s Closed Beta, and while there’s plenty…

Seeing as Australia is likely to be pouring with rain all weekend, the return of Movie Frenzy couldn’t have come at a more perfect time. Participating services like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, PlayStation Store and Microsoft Store will be dropping rental prices for some big-ticket new releases to $3 or less from now until…

Update 3:00pm AEST Here is the (rather oddly written) section that indicates the order is targeted at Tencent’s WeChat app and not their broader portfolio. Update 2:45pm AEST Sources have reportedly confirmed to the LA Times that the executive order itself pertains only to Bytedance’s TikTok and Tencent’s WeChat and was written to specifically exclude…

KIT, the solo-project for Katie Wighton (All Our Exes Live In Texas) has just released her second single, and this is one hell of a tune. It kicks off with punchy guitars, sultry vocals and cute backing vocals, and from that point on you are hooked. It’s a joyous emotional rollercoaster about falling hard for…

A brand new PlayStation State of Play broadcast has arrived, this time focusing on forthcoming third party titles. From Crash Bandicoot 4 to forthcoming PS5 releases like Godfall, there was a little something for players of every stripe. Good to their word, Sony had no news on PlayStation 5 hardware, pricing or release dates —…

Glass Animals are making their return with their third studio album, Dreamland, which presents an unusually personal collection of songs for frontman Dave Bayley. Previously, Bailey focused on other people’s narratives – How To Be A Human Being was inspired by interviews he conducted with strangers along their ZABA tour.  This time Bayley turned the…