August Burns Red have returned with their twelfth studio album, Season of Surrender, and it’s proving be one of the strongest releases of their career. Their 2023 record Death Below was generally well-received by critics and fans, but Season of Surrender feels like a far more confident piece of work. So far, the response has…
Sixteen-year-old pop powerhouse Freya Skye performed her first-ever arena show in Melbourne on Thursday, wrapping up the Australian leg of the Stars Align Tour. With one EP under her belt and having only started performing live shows within the last year, Skye’s performance was nothing short of impressive. The Cosmic VIP experience was well worth…
Every now and then, a band comes along that feels like a secret too good to keep, and Dexter and The Moonrocks are one of those bands. For years, they’ve had a small but loyal fanbase made up of listeners who stumbled across them along the way. Now, thanks to one song, that’s changing in…
WIRED is Basement’s first album in eight years. The result of a band who knows exactly who they are, WIRED pushes Basement’s signature sound to new landscapes, while still retaining their essence. WIRED understandably received an incredibly positive reception, both from critics and long-time fans. Upon the album’s release, I caught up with guitarists Alex…
Last night, Audrey Hobert packed out Melbourne’s Forum for her first of two sold-out headline shows on her first proper Australian tour, Staircase To Stardom. There’s been a recent trend of international acts not having an opener, and while this is definitely disappointing, it felt fitting for a midweek concert on a freezing night. The…
The easiest thing Basement could have done after eight years away was make another Colourmeinkindness. Instead of chasing nostalgia and recreating their past sound, they’ve come back with WIRED, their first studio album since 2018. It definitely still sounds like Basement, but entirely different at the same time- it’s sharper, more self-assured and serves as…
2026 has us all feeling a little nostalgic, and there’s something particularly surreal about realising that a significant album is now ten years old. For Luca Brasi, that album is If This Is All We’re Going To Be, their beloved 2016 record that still holds up today. A decade on, Luca Brasi are heading out…
Californian Indie rock band Young The Giant return with their fifth studio album, Victory Garden, and it feels like they’re deliberately revisiting their roots. Following their ambitious 2022 concept album, American Bollywood, this record trades conceptual scope for a more familiar sound. Across the 11 tracks, they lean fully into the breezy indie rock sound…
Frank Turner has built a longstanding career on relentless touring and honest storytelling. Over 25 years on, he’s returning to Australia to join Bowling For Soup on a coheadline run starting this week. The Bowl My Bones Tour pairs two acts who’ve taken very different paths through the pink and alternative landscape, yet have landed…
The first night of a tour always carries a bit of chaos and curiosity, and for Mumford and Sons kicking off the Prizefighter world tour in Melbourne, you could feel that buzz in the room before anyone even walked on stage. Hudson Freeman opened things solo with just a guitar and a voice that did…
Violent Soho announced their return to music this week, with a tour to commemorate 10 years of their hit album WACO. The announcement comes weeks after members James Tidswell and Luke Boerdam reunited to join Blink 182’s Mark Hoppus for a cover of “Dammit” on his An Evening Of Storytelling tour in Sydney. After the…
Vermont-born singer-songwriter Noah Kahan is heading back to Australia later this year, locking in four arena shows as part of his upcoming The Great Divide Tour and fans are already gearing up to win the Ticketek war. The announcement comes just over two weeks before his highly-anticipated fourth studio album, The Great Divide– out April…
Don Broco aren’t figuring it out anymore. That part’s done. With their fifth studio album, Nightmare Tripping, you get a band that knows exactly what it is and is running with it. Since they started out back in 2008, they’ve bounced all over the place stylistically, pulling from alt rock, pop, electronic and heavier, but…
As a Victorian-based girl with a pretty strong pop music bias, attending WOMADelaide was always going to be an interesting experience. I’d never been to South Australia before, and I’ve never attended anything quite like this. Known for its global music programming, sprawling site and a deeply loyal crowd, WOMADelaide has built quite a reputation-…
Story Of The Year are rediscovering their prime, having just released their best record in recent times, A.R.S.O.N. Serving as a real return to form with an obvious natural progression of sound and talent, A.R.S.O.N is the result of a band with no agendas and nothing to prove, making the music that they want to…
Irish pop-rock outfit Picture This are about to play their first ever headline Australian shows this May, and they’re bringing Perth artist Sam McGovern along with them. Having just recently released their latest single, “Giants”, which follows their 2025 single “Yours Forever”, Picture This are rediscovering their own sound while playing some of their biggest…
Since its beginning in 2013, Canadian teen dance drama The Next Step has become an iconic piece of pop culture history for the younger generation. The overly-soapy drama, cliché plot points and dance numbers are the perfect ingredients for an addictive, entertaining watch that is suitable for kids. For Australians, it came as the hype…
After a little over two decades together, The Horrors are still finding new ways to evolve. The British alt-rock band recently hit their 20-year milestone following the release of their latest album Night Life– a record that leans slightly into a darker, more intimate side of their sound. With recent lineup changes reshaping the creative…
The Sunday rain couldn’t keep eager concertgoers away from 170 Russell in Melbourne, where Broadside, This Wild life, Hot Chelle Rae, Cartel and Anberlin rolled into town for Destroy All Lines’ An Emo Extravaganza. Announced late last year, there was lots of hyper surrounding this event. Still, a last-minute venue downsize for Melbourne hinted that…
After a sold out USA and UK tour, Freya Skye is officially heading Down Under this June, bringing her Stars Align tour on the road. Hinting at Australian dates in a recent post, fans waited patiently for the official announcement, which came at 2am AEDT today. The stars align tour will hit Brisbane’s Fortitude Music…
New Found Glory have undeniably still got it. Their twelfth record, Listen Up! arrives as the band approaches their thirtieth anniversary, and it feels like them at their very best. Shaped by experiences such as guitarist Chad Gilbert’s ongoing battle with an aggressive cancer as well as their dynamic as a band all these years…
At just sixteen years old, UK pop star Freya Skye is hitting massive goals. Representing the United Kingdom in 2022’s Junior Eurovision was just the beginning- with a leading role in Disney’s Zombies franchise, a critically-loved debut EP and sold-out headline tour under her belt in the last 12 months, she’s showing no signs of…
Missouri outfit Story Of The Year have never been easy to pin down. Floating somewhere between post-hardcore, pop-punk and emo, they’ve spent over two decades bending genres. Through hiatuses and line-up changes, they’ve weathered plenty- but their seventh studio album A.R.S.O.N genuinely feels like they’ve settled into themselves. Short for All Rage Still Only Numb,…
At sixteen, most of us are just trying to survive school, friendships and our own feelings – not dropping a debut EP. For Freya Skye, though, this kind of early brilliance seems almost inevitable. The 16-year-old singer, songwriter and Zombies 4 star has officially stepped into her pop era with stardust– a five-track debut dripping…
If you’ve been anywhere near the pop punk side of the internet over the last decade, you’ll know that Hot Mulligan have quickly become one of the most beloved bands in the scene. From chaotic house shows and jokey song titles to selling out thousand-cap rooms, the Michigan five-piece have built their world on being…
At just 26 years old, Billie Marten already has five studio albums under her belt. Starting out by posting YouTube videos at a young age, she slowly gained attention and was able to release her first EP at 15. Fast forward to now, millions of streams and monthly listeners later, and Billie Marten has found…
Rain City Drive are on the brink of a long-awaited milestone. This March marks the band’s first-ever Australian tour under their current name- a significant moment for a group that has lived several musical lives. While all members previously toured Australia as part of Slaves, this run of shows further represents their fresh chapter and…
Anberlin’s rise was never part of a grand masterplan. Formed in Winter Haven, Florida in 2002, the band had signed to a label and released their debut record within a year, quietly laying the groundwork for what would become one of the most enduring catalogues in modern alternative rock. But it was 2005’s Never Take…
Cavetown has always felt like a project built on connection rather than spectacle. Over the years, Robin Skinner has quietly grown from uploading songs online to becoming one of the most trusted voices in indie music, all without losing the intimacy that made people gravitate towards his work in the first place. Now, with a…
At just 24, James Barry already sounds like an artist who’s lived a few musical lifetimes. Releasing music under his indie project link3 since late 2022, Barry’s journey has been shaped by instinct, curiosity and a very clear vision, rooted in a self-described ‘slowcore revival’. Growing up in Australia, he gravitated towards the quiet intensity…
