Once upon a time, circa 2019, four young musicians, Ned, Ethan, Bec, and Van, headed out to a Twin Peaks concert in Melbourne. They met unexpectedly and decided to start a band, right there and then. Thus, Stimpies was born. “We were very refreshed to see and meet other people that were interested in the…
Thirty years after the release of If You’re Feeling Sinister, Belle and Sebastian proved that some albums become woven into the fabric of your life. You might not have listened to it for 20 years, but somehow you still know every word, the tracklisting and, as frontperson Stuart Murdoch delighted in testing the audience, exactly…
Charm can be its own form of menace in God Bless You, Mr Kopu, the feature debut of Tongan Kiwi writer-director Alex Liu, a darkly funny, increasingly sinister thriller that uses the seductive promise of success to explore power, race and belonging. Mafu (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) is a struggling Tongan immigrant whose fortunes seemingly change when…
Eora/Sydney indie-rock outfit The Tambourine Girls have returned with their fourth album, Hold Your Horses, a beautifully melodic record shaped by loss, friendship and the process of finding a way forward. At its emotional core is the death of much-loved band member and close friend Nick Weaver, but Hold Your Horses never feels weighed down…
