Author: Dylan Marshall

I’ve said it before, but mid-week shows are always outstanding. It’s not just mid-week gigs that go down a treat; it’s anything that breaks up the monotonous nature of work. While there would have been plenty of other reasons for people to have a cheeky night out on a Thursday night, for me, it was…

From the time you first heard the opening vocals on “Sweet Disposition”, you knew The Temper Trap had just that little something that was going to differentiate them from the rest of the pack. A legitimate force when they released their debut LP Conditions, the band lost their way with their experimental, breaking-from-the-mould self titled…

The Lumineers released one of the easiest listening albums in recent years with their self-titled debut LP and with it, they were essentially granted the choice of playing to whomever they wanted, wherever they wanted, whilst simultaneously owning the keys to cities all over the world. They released one of the most catchy tunes in…

If I were to ever offer any pieces of advice to the gig going public, there would be two bits. The first would be to try avoid living more than 50km from the venue you’re attending, while the second would be to make sure you don’t forget to N/A work the night of a show….

Making the way up the F3 on what’s become an annual pilgrimage to the Maitland Showground for the 2016 edition of Groovin The Moo, the weather and travel gods weren’t playing too nice as the convoy of punters hit unneeded rain, traffic and in my case a near empty petrol tank. As the only touring…

As a populace, Australia has known Violent Soho have been building towards stardom for the better part of this decade. While their first and sophomore records (We Don’t Belong Here and Violent Soho) received little praise and only minor success, 2013’s Hungry Ghost was the punch-in-the-face and kick-in-the-teeth that rightly put Violent Soho on the…

Kanye West once said, “I am flawed as a human being, but my music is perfect…You could go back to Beethoven and shit, but as far as this lifetime, though, this is all you got.” While I agree with most of this statement, the truest aspect is the comparison of the self-described biggest musician on…

If you were to judge the success of a band solely on their name, it would be safe to say a Cold War Kids gig would probably be quite a drawn out, relatively uneventful experience. Luckily you tend to judge a band on their music and live capabilities, so in this case, Cold War Kids…

Maybe I’m just a real music nerd but when I walk into a room, or in this case Sydney’s Metro Theatre, and see a full brass section, I know I’m going to be frothing later on in the night. Walking into the Metro and seeing the full stage set up of St. Paul & The…

‘Lay down, lay down. Give me someone new…’ is an extremely pertinent lyric to the entire entity and act that is DMA’s. While they’ve definitely drawn a few favourable comparisons during their rise over the past two years, there’s been plenty of conjecture over whether DMA’s are in fact ‘someone new’ or just something recycled…

Straight up, Hymns is as far removed from the Bloc Party that burst on to the scene in the mid 2000’s as possible. Hymns doesn’t have a “Banquet” or “Helicopter”, and slightly misses the mark with its balladry. But, the development and reincarnation of Bloc Party on Hymns obviously didn’t want the band to be…

In the country as a part of the touring St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival, Las Vegan Indie Dance Popper Shamir graced the stage of the Oxford Art Factory and rightly showed his Sydney fans a real good time. Opening up the balmy Thursday night was local artist Jess Kent. Having started the year with a debut…

Mystery Jets have been a slowly growing force ever since their debut in 2006. Since the release of debut LP Making Dens, the London act have continuously changed their style and scope, while maintaining the roots of who they were when it all began. From the young and earnest Twenty One, to the synth led…

Kate Tempest wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea. She raps, spits soliloquies and slams poetry. As an artist, she isn’t going to smash commercial radio. Even independent community radios mightn’t play her. And for an artist like her, I’m sure she’d be perfectly fine with that. But based on the performance I viewed as part…

Disaster, dilemma, gloom and an absolutely dreadful time: It’s what Daughter do. And to be frank, they do it way too well for you to not be at least a little bit concerned about the band members’ wellbeing. Daughter, the London based trio consisting of vocalist Elena Tonra, Swede Igor Haefeli, and Frenchman Remi Aguilella,…

Angsty pop-punk isn’t a new thing. It isn’t a bad thing. It will always have a place within the lives of adolescents trying to find something to connect with. And frankly, I’m not ashamed to admit that some of my favourite times listening to music now is when I revisit the music I listened to…

With Western Sydney home to the vast majority of Sydney’s population, it made plenty of sense to hold a festival, whose line up was predominantly Australian, in the heartland and near geographical centre of Sydney. Nestled in the centre of Parramatta’s CBD, The Plot festival took place on a deliciously picturesque Saturday afternoon at Parramatta…

‘Status is always ripe for satire; status is always good for comedy.’ These words by Stephen Colbert perfectly sum up the concept that is The 12th Man. As the writer of Austen Tayshus’ classic “Australiana”, Billy Birmingham has been the man behind many a laugh, parody, and satire that has resonated within the Australian comedy…

Wow, just wow. Man, Australian music is so on point at the moment, it’s hard to think there was or ever will be a time in which Australian music wasn’t a world leader. It is ridiculously stellar at the moment. It seems with every week there’s a new artist ready to take control of the…

Monday night gigs are a strange anomaly. Personally, I like them. They kind of take your mind off the working week to come, and allow you to ease yourself into the next four days of working for the man, or woman. One thing about this particular Monday night was that Matt Corby was gracing the…

It’s hard to imagine a more pristine and picturesque setting for a four-night run of shows, other than overlooking Sydney Harbour, the Harbour Bridge, and the world famous sails of the Opera House. For a select few thousand punter on a wet Friday night, this is exactly the view that was afforded to them, as…

Man, the Irish have something good going on. They’ve always seemed to be the little red engine that could; the little guy that produces quality goods for the rest. From Guinness, to Jameson Whiskey, to U2 and Ronan Keating, the country has always been on the money with what they do. And going by The…

Homecoming shows are always going to special for bands. But in the age of social media, with so many average videos uploaded to your choice of social media channel, the exclusivity of a live gig is slowly beginning to dwindle. With this in mind, for a band to sell out a medium sized venue without…

Over the past few years, the definition of each musical genre has become evermore blurred. No longer is it easy to pigeon-hole an artist into one specific genre, with the increasing rise of sub-genres within these previously defined genres becoming even more blurred. And the good thing about this, is that music, especially in Australia,…

Who’d have thought that a debut album released 10 years ago, with a lead single whose title was effectively just onomatopoeic syllables put together, would have spawned one of the sweatiest headline slots Sydney’s Metro Theatre would see this year? Definitely not me. But it’s exactly what Melbourne Indie-Pop-Punk quartet Kisschasy did. Acting as main…

2015 has been a great year for music. While it was almost universally agreed that 2014 was pretty light on ground-breaking releases and tactfully glorious tunes, 2015 has gone in the complete opposite direction and released banger after absolute banger; masterpiece after masterpiece. And Little May’s For The Company is another one you can add…