Album Reviews

Brisbane singer-songwriter Austen has just dropped her debut EP and, honestly, I’m a little bit in love. Passenger Seat is a five strong collection of brooding electro-pop, featuring singles “Too High To Cry“, “Anthem“, and “Money“, and is filled with plenty of trademark killer hooks to get listeners in the mood for her upcoming support…

WAAX have just dropped debut album Big Grief, and we can confirm that it’s a cracker. Consisting of frontwoman Maz DeVita, Ewan Birtwell and James Gatling on guitars, Tom ‘Griff’ Griffin on bass, and drummer Tom Bloomfield, the Brisbane punks worked with Powderfinger‘s Bernard Fanning and Grammy winner Nick DiDia on the twelve track release, with things taking…

You can tell a lot about the quality of an act based on how contemporary and current their music sounds even when listening to it eight years after it was first released. “Even Though I’m A Woman” is still one of my favourite and timely tracks, while “We Will Know What It Is” will always…

The 6th most played artist on triple j Unearthed last year and with a slew of festival performances under her belt, Cairns art pop/electropop artist Greta Stanley is clearly doing something right. Sun In My Eyes is the latest EP from the singer-songwriter, and it’s a six song strong triumph, featuring exquisite vocals and hard-hitting…

When I first saw Angie McMahon about this time in 2017, you sensed there was something special about this unassuming artist standing behind her guitar and microphone. In support of The Jezabels at Sydney’s Lansdowne Hotel, Angie was fresh off the back of being crowned that year’s winner of the Josh Pyke Partnership for up…

London-based Australian musician Jordan Rakei has just dropped his new album, Origin, his third, and first since the release of Wallflower back in 2017.  Initially I came to this album on a bit of a whim, unfamiliar with Rakei’s past output, but drawn in by plaudits from the likes of Robert Glasper and Terrace Martin….

Hope can be a genuinely hard thing to find these days, but can often be found in the places we don’t think to look. Meg Mac’s new album offers us a quiet moment of hopeful reflection, and also brings with it a gentle reminder of her vocal and lyrical talent. Recently coming off the end of…

Here’s a fun fact: despite the commonly held belief that they can do it whenever they please, Iguana’s can only change colour when placed under stress or basking in the sun. Now that I’ve dazzled you with my Year Seven standard understanding of the animal kingdom, you must know that just like Iguana’s, Polish Club…

Enigmatic, ethereal and endearing AURORA, has at last released the response to her call, A Different Kind Of Human (Step II), following up her 2018 release Infections of a Different Kind (Step I). Like many artists of this moment, more and more performers are turning their lyrical focus towards ecological themes, and cries to save the Earth….

Psychedelic Porn Crumpets (PPC) walk a delicate line between some of the magnates of their genre, eliciting the Australian sounds of Tame Impala and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, while creating an unshakable reverence to early psychedelic king, Jimi Hendrix. And Now For The Whatchamacallit is a further exploration of this while allowing PPC…

Frank Iero is back with his third solo album, performing with new band The Future Violents. Barriers is a reinvention of sorts for the former My Chemical Romance guitarist, featuring fourteen tracks that all circle around the fundamental question of what it means to be human. Inspired in part by a 2016 Sydney car accident…

Since Crooked Colours‘ release of Vera back in 2017, the trio has become something of a ‘tour de force’ within Australia’s production scene. Vera, built around a profound introduction of their sound, was the perfect launching pad for the group; with outstanding singles such as “Come Back To You”, “Vera” and “I Hope You Get It”…

You know the old American show ‘Cheers’? The one set in the aptly named ‘Cheers’ bar, featuring Ted Danson, Kirstie Alley, Woody Harrelson and everyone’s favourite radio show hosting psychologist (well before he couldn’t work out what to do with those tossed salads and scrambled eggs). Anyway, the bar that is Cheers is the place you…

Even a week after the release of Kim Churchill’s new EP I Am, I still have positive, yet complicated, feelings about an EP that has provided me with a little solace in a life that has recently taken a turn for the busier. I’ve particularly enjoyed the juxtaposed nature of the collection, with its moments…

Three years since the release of their debut EP, Golden Guns in 2016, Brisbane blues rockers Fire and Whistle Theory, have released their sophomore EP Take Me Alive. Featuring a collection of tried and tested crowd favourites and new songs, the band took a live approach to the recording, hoping to capture a raw, genuine…

Although Nick Murphy (formerly known as Chet Faker) has been consistent in releasing new singles over the past few years, Friday saw the release of his first album, Run Fast Sleep Naked, since 2014. The Melbournian artist has spent four years travelling around the world, recording content in places where he felt the most creatively…

For those fans of growing Melbourne artist BATTS, the news of an album release was a quiet relief. The Grand Tour, draped in the magic of the stars, portrays the singer-songwriter as an artist and person, creating a wonderful fusion album that evokes her powerful storytelling in different ways. As a concept, BATTS’ The Grand Tour…

Devin Townsend is a mainstay in metal circles, with an almost three-decade long career spanning industrial, speed metal, rock, ambient and even novelty projects. Empath, his 25th album and the 13th under his own name, sees him solidify the presence he has built up in the progressive metal genre over his last few projects. Epic is often…

There’s something funny to me referring to Alexander Wolfe as “an unknown, unheard of artist”. Most definitely to almost all Australian audiences he would be, but the British folk singer-songwriter has been releasing music since 2009. And even though it would be impossible to find one of his physical CDs in a store, he’s quite…

Brendan Maclean has had a varied career in film and music, from starring alongside Marcia Hines in the cabaret show Velvet in the 2015 Adelaide Fringe, to well known Triple J radio presenter for many years and to having his sexually explicit 2015 video to “House of Air” being banned by Youtube. So after several…

With only 24 hours notice, veteran Flume dropped a 17 track mixtape with full accompanying visuals on Australian label, Future Classic.  Hi This Is Flume (Mixtape) will be one of the most important releases of the year and reminds us that Flume is an artist but also a visionary. Breaking his two year silence, Flume and…

I haven’t watched the movie School of Rock in maybe 10 years, but from memory there’s a scene where Jack Black’s character talks about sticking it to the man, as well as singing a song with lyrics “you’re not hard core, unless you live hardcore.” While Stella Donnelly may not be a middle aged man…

Night Lovell has remained an underground heavyweight in the trap scene, with dark and harrowing production, with booming bass and some emo-inspired elements. Lovell deploys quick flows over these gruesome instrumentals, with all the trace elements of typical flex rapping, but altered to fit a completely different mood. With this new album, Lovell is looking…

The bluesman appears to have become a rare and shy character in the age of synthesizers and auto tune. Still some loyal guitar heroes keep on carrying the torch for the moody genre. Among them is Texas born and raised guitarist and singer Gary Clark Jr. Even though he clearly has a passion for the…

Brisbane band Sweater Curse have been making many waves in the Australian music scene over the past few years, with support slots for major artists, Triple J Unearthed support and a growing list of performances. Now, with their new EP See You, the band offer up a full showcase of just why they’ve become so…

We’re a matter of days away from the release of Pond’s eighth studio album, Tasmania. Pond declares Tasmania something of a sister missive to their critically acclaimed 2017 album The Weather. The thematics of both albums are kindred in many respects. Tasmania explores place, history, hints of colonialism, and nature’s unfortunate submission towards humans – themes that…

For those who haven’t heard about Chicago rapper Lucki, the 22 year old is one of the most promising underground rap talents in recent memory. First achieving notoriety in 2012 with his critically acclaimed project Alternative Trap establishing the 16 year old as a formidable rapper with a unique delivery style that has developed and…

Triage, the third album from Methyl Ethel isn’t coincidentally named. Celebrating three albums, and lead singer Jake Webb’s 30th birthday, the album is a memorial and the capstone on a phase in the band’s journey. Whether that implies Methyl Ethel will be taking a different direction after this, we’re not sure. But what is constant right…

For those who expected time travel to be possible by now, Walk Through Fire, the debut album by British singer Yola, will not be a disappointment. Together with Black Keys front man Dan Auerbach, the vocal prodigy lets her voice glister on the twelve country soul tracks, transporting listeners straight back to the peak of…

It’s been a busy few years for Julia Jacklin. On the back of her all conquering debut album, Don’t Let the Kids Win, Jacklin has spent the better part of the past two years making her way round the globe, playing her tunes in just about every country and venue you could think of or…