Year: 2020

Sydney indie-rockers Gaspar Sanz are back with, “On My Mind”, their second single of the year. Written back in 2019, the single’s message of utilising your own oppression as a form of power has become all the more poignant and timely in the increasing mess of uncertainty that is 2020.  Recorded in Sydney with producer…

Isaiah Firebrace rose to national prominence after taking out the top spot on The X Factor Australia in 2016. The following year, he broke onto the global stage representing Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final with his single “Don’t Come Easy”, placing ninth. At just 20-years-old, this certified-Platinum singer has accomplishments under his belt that…

Seagrass Boutique Hospitality Group has officially confirmed an exclusive master franchise agreement with Five Guys. This will involve the iconic US burger chain opening stores across Australia and New Zealand, starting with multiple venues in Sydney CBD. “Our commitment is to open approx. 20 stores nationwide in the right locations and with the right staff,”…

PlayStation have confirmed their August 2020 line up of free games for PlayStation Plus subscribers. August will bring a little single-player action in Activision’s recently released Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Remastered. For those looking for multiplayer fun, the excellent battle royale indie Fall Guys will be your new favourite after-work game. Modern Warfare…

If your current Android phone isn’t powerful enough for you, the latest from Asus is going to delight. By the end of August, Asus will have brought its new ROG Phone 3 to Australia, blasting away all over Android phones with sheer power, if this eye watering spec sheet is anything to go by. Obviously…

Gold Coast’s impactful Home of the Arts (HOTA) has now confirmed the 20 Australian artists that will make up the inaugural exhibition program for the venue’s new $60.5 million HOTA Gallery in April 2021. Although it feels like forever away right now, the energetic cultural precinct is looking forward to next year [as we all…

Some of Sydney’s top restaurants have come together under the “Plates For Good” initiative, established to help industry staff who have been impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Eight of the city’s favourite eateries have committed to donating the purchase price of every Westholme Wagyu dish ordered to that venue’s staff who have lost income…

After the great news that Carriageworks had been saved with the support of a group of donors, the Sydney art institution has officially announced Friday 7th August as a reopening date. And with the space once again being open to the public, comes new commissions that’ll take over the space as part of the ongoing…

Australian-born but New York-resident Sir Winston has a pumping new tune out for you, “Holywood Hills”. The song references a rather gnarly party where his girlfriend has taken some pills at a party in the Hollywood Hills, and the mayhem associated with that. Thankfully that’s a crisis not many of us have to endure. This…

The 2020 Longlist for the Booker Prize has today been unveiled, bringing with it its fair share of surprises. Though the inclusion of one title, Hilary Mantel‘s The Mirror & The Light, will likely shock no-one. That said this year’s longlist looks to be an eclectic mixture of established talents and debut authors. That the majority…

The guest performers for this year’s National Indigenous Music Awards have been announced today. The awards, which will be broadcast on across TV, Radio and online on August 8th, will feature performances from national treasure Archie Roach, Gamilaraay singer Thelma Plum, Pitjantjatjara and Torres Strait Island R&B star Miiesha and more.  The evening will also…

Sydney’s pop-punk outfit Ride For Rain are about to drop their latest EP, Never Magenta, and we are thrilled to be able to give you a listen to it in full today, prior to its release on Friday. We are also premiering today the video for the third track on the EP, “Let Go”. This is…

The teen sex comedy isn’t a rarity within the studio system, but they are often quite outlandish enough that they never entirely ring true regarding the situations they’d like teenagers to relate to.  Weighing down the high concept mentality so often adopted by the genre, Yes, God, Yes is that rare beast that hopes to…

This November, Australian fans of JBL’s vibrant Pulse speakers will be able to get their hands on the fourth-generation of the beloved LED music box. Promising a step up from its predecessor in every way, the Pulse 4 will literally shine with a battery life of 12 hours, a sturdy IPX7 waterproof design, and an…

As truffle season is here, it’s no surprise that our favourite restaurants have begun showcasing the winter fungus on their menus. As New Shanghai returns with their new winter truffle menu, the AU Review caught up with New Shanghai’s Head Chef Sam Wu, who spoke about all things truffle and the inspiration behind the new…

Unless you somehow magically lose your fingerprint, you’ll never have to worry about misplacing the front door keys again. That is, if you pick up Samsung’s newly launched A30 Smart Lock, which is the latest in the ever-growing smart home security sector. Already racking up a nod at the International Design Excellence Awards, the A30…

Though Melbourne’s Palais Theatre may be begging for some life right now, a new music video from Aussie music royalty Something For Kate fills out the empty venue as the three-piece perform on stage to no one. A rush of energy courses through “Waste Our Breath”, the second single lifted from SFK’s first album in…

Occupying the conceptual space between a tablet and a laptop has always been Microsoft’s goal with the Surface Book series. And it’s been a success thus far, striking a swift balance that pulls some of the best parts from each world and welds it together with a premium build. The experience switching between the two…

Boba fans should be heading to their nearest Gelatissimo store this week to indulge in the chain’s latest limited edition flavour, “Brown Sugar Bubble Milk Tea”. Popping the flavour of natural brown sugar pearls into milk tea gelato, the new flavour gives a heady nod to the global bubble tea phenomenon. The profile is made…

Comfort food has never been more important during waves on (necessary) lockdown this year. And the gelato gods at Messina have been up to task over these past few months, with eye watering mash ups like Nutella Cookie Pie. Now, the cult ice creamery has doubled-down on the love of franken-food with a new ‘Fairy…

It’s become pretty much the norm these days, but WAM (West Australian Music) are taking the Awards Party for their 2020 Song of the Year competition online this year. The virtual awards party will be coming to you live from WAM’s Facebook page, this Wednesday, July 29th from 7:30pm (AWST). With Odette Mercy on MC duties,…

Carrion is a new Metroidvania game from indie developer Phobia Game Studio. You are fast-moving, utterly vicious monster on the loose in a remote science facility. Carrion delights in taking the tropes of the genre — power creep, exploration and backtracking — and turning them on their ear in ways that are surprisingly effective. One…

In the final episode of the season for our podcast series Jetlag: An Industry Grounded, we talk to Immanuel Debeer from the website Flight Hacks to talk about what the Covid-19 pandemic has meant for the airline industry, and the future of frequent flyer programs. You may also be surprised to learn that it remains possible to find…

Halo Infinite has gotten its first public demonstration at the Xbox Game Showcase overnight. The demo began with a sequence set on the titular ring world, one that looked very like the original before the player opened what appeared to be an open-world map. Whether this points to an actual, larger scale open world design…

Xbox has pulled back the curtain on what players can expect when the Xbox Series X launches later this year. From Halo Infinite to a brand new Fable, Xbox rolled out old favourites and new surprises to entertain the faithful. We’ve collected everything they had to talk about in one handy list. You can find…

Although summer seems far away, Canadian indie-pop band, Milq’s latest single “Summer Again” gives us those nostalgic feels for warmer weather and young love. Extracted from their self-produced debut EP, tired. this track is the quintessential tune for reminiscing on our youth and past experiences of infatuation and lost love. The tone of the song…

Parisian trio Oracle Sisters released their debut EP, Paris I earlier this month via New York independent label 22Twenty. Mixed by Noah Georgesen (The Strokes, Marlon Williams), the EP is an ode to their adoptive home and its imagined futures. Over the past twelve months, in the build up to the EP’s release, the band have worked to build…

The historic music city of Memphis isn’t just a beacon for artist’s the world over. The home of the Blues and the birthplace of Rock ‘n’ Roll also boasts a soulful food and drink scene that’s as much about lip-smacking comfort food as it is fresh seafood with a worldly outlook. Bluff City does boast…

Brisbane’s Sammm. has doubled-down on dreamy indie-rock with his latest single “Four Eyes”, a poignant track which unpacks a sense of bruised optimism. As elegant as it is angsty, the single channels the style of bands like The War On Drugs and Real Estate with ease. Sammm., otherwise known as Samuel Geddes, puts on one…

It opens with Erykah Badu rhyming over a beatbox from Rahzel, and closes with Missy Elliot threatening to slap you right across your melon. We’ve put together a 100-deep playlist for this month’s Hip Hop and R&B Retrospective, celebrating women in rap by spotlighting some of our favourites from the 80’s (Roxanne Shante, Queen Latifah,…