Vanfest has drawn to a close for another year, proving itself as one of the best regional festivals Australia has to offer. Taking place in Forbes, a five-hour drive west of Sydney, the festival is a hike to get to but well worth the effort. This year, the line-up included some of Australia’s finest talent…
Earlier this month rising Australian hip hop artist Birdz released his highly anticipated EP, Place of Dreams. Released on Bad Apples Music, the EP sees the NT-raised and Melbourne-based rapper explore some hard-hitting themes and personal experiences, and collaborating with some quality Australian vocalists along the way. Following the release of the EP, we caught up…
To those in North America, Mother Mother need little introduction. The Canadian group, over the course of 7 full length records and almost 15 years, have amassed a passionate fanbase in both the US and at home in Canada. But to those overseas, they’re still a relatively unknown outfit – largely due to the fact…
Straight out of Victoria, upcoming R&B artist Maya Rose is now ready to showcase her melodic, 90’s-flavoured work off on a national platform as she releases her debut single “See You Again”. The song, an inviting and warm sway towards R&B’s heyday is driven largely by Rose’s dextrous vocal chops, so we thought it best…
Last Friday, Belgian artist Warhola (real name Oliver Symons) released his long awaited debut album Young Loving – his first release since his 2016 EP Aura. The night before the album was due to drop, Warhola was playing The Great Escape in Brighton, England – so I sat down with Oliver to chat about the…
Kian Brownfield had already begun making a name for himself before entering the Triple J Unearthed High competition in 2018. He’d featured on a track with Baker Boy, landing a spot in the Hottest 100 and appeared at his Splendour In The Grass set. However, the sixteen-year-old is now a solo artist in his own right,…
Australian pop icon, Vanessa Amorosi, was launched into fame as a teenager with her debut album, The Power, which featured hits such as “Have A Look” and “Absolutely Everybody”. After a decade in the spotlight, Vanessa took a music hiatus to Los Angeles where she worked tirelessly breaking into a new gospel scene, starting a family and…
Ahead of The Great Escape, which takes over Brighton in the UK next week, I caught up with the festival’s programmer Adam Ryan to talk about the growth of the festival, the involvement of Australian acts at it, working with Sounds Australia, and what it means for Australia to be the feature country in 2019….
Alex Lahey was nominated for Breakthrough Artist of the Year at the 2018 ARIAs, after her debut studio album I Love You Like A Brother reached the number 15 spot on the Album Charts. The Melbourne-local is following up her phenomenal success with her next studio album, The Best of Luck Club, which is described as an…
Haiku Hands almost set the stage alight with their fiery energy at Bad Friday Festival. The Sydney-Melbourne collective is most well-known for their infectiously tireless performances filled with fun choreography and an array of masks. We got to catch up with them after their packed-out set to talk about how these artists came together to create Haiku Hands…
Sydney-band Lime Cordiale have just treated their Aussie fans to an epic regional tour, topping it all off with a performance at Bad Friday over the Easter long weekend. With their own festival The Squeeze and a European tour on the horizon, we caught up with them to get the low-down on their busy lives. Check out the chat…
Brisbane band Ball Park Music dropped their fifth studio album Good Mood last year, peaking at number five on the ARIA Australian Albums Charts. The band is back on the road and hitting up Spin Off Festival with the likes of Childish Gambino, Wolf Alice, Mallrat, Ocean Alley and more, for what should be an epic day in Adelaide. We got to catch…
The Veils’ frontman Finn Andrews is in a “rickety little house” in Auckland, New Zealand. “There was a storm last night and the whole thing nearly blew over,” he says. It’s the city where he first formed The Veils as a teenager, but now he has returned home a different person after spending over a…
Sydney singer-songwriter, musician and producer Holiday Sidewinder is officially back in Australia following a long London stint, opening the action at the tenth anniversary edition of Bad Friday Festival, which took place in Marrickville at the start of the Easter Long Weekend. We caught up with the indie-pop artist on the day to chat about…
Last month, I sat down with Mirek Stiles, the head of Audio Products at Abbey Road, and Karim Fanous, Innovation Manager at Abbey Road Red, to learn more about the way the iconic British studio is embracing and helping develop the next generation of technologies, from spatial audio – which aims or the audio experience better…
As you might have guessed we are big fans of BATTS here at the AU. With her debut album, The Grand Tour, released last week we sat down with the Melbourne singer-songwriter to find out a little bit more about the creation and recording of the album, how NASA got involved, and – just for good measure…
Over the last two Sundays, a songwriter night has been running at Giant Dwarf Theatre in Sydney under the helm of Georgia Mooney of All Our Exes Live in Texas. With two more shows left to go, we caught up with Georgia to learn more about the show, find out how it’s gone so far and…
New Zealand brother and sister duo, BROODS, have been jumping from strength to strength since releasing “Bridges” in 2014. Since then, they’ve supported the tours of international superstars such as Taylor Swift, Haim, Ellie Goulding and Sam Smith; collaborated with the likes of Lorde and Tove Lo; and have won numerous ARIA and NZMA awards. This year, their single,…
Aloe Blacc is on a mission to inspire positivity around the globe. The Grammy-nominated artist uses his upbeat tracks to “be the light” in the world and his latest single with Mathieu Koss, “Never Growing Up”, is no exception. Celebrating it’s release, Aloe gave us a glimpse into it’s creation and the other works that he has…
Grace Shaw, a.k.a. Mallrat, is in the middle of a sold-out Australian tour, only to continue her sprint straight into VANFEST in May. At twenty years old, she’s taken the Australian hip-hop scene by storm, garnering international fans such as Chloë Grace Moretz, Brooklyn Beckham, Lorde and Zane Lowe. We managed to steal a few minutes…
It’s now 25 years since iconic alternative metal titans Sevendust formed in Atlanta, Georgia, and they’re going stronger than ever. Following the release of their highly successful twelfth studio album “All I See Is War” last year, the band has gone full throttle in what feels like the dawning of a new era for the…
Eves Karydas has been taking the Australian indie-pop world by storm since re-emerging on to the scene in 2017. In the past year alone, she’s dropped her debut studio album summerskin, supported the likes of Dua Lipa and Cub Sport, and garnered national and international praise for tracks such as “Damn Loyal”, “Couch” and “Further Than The Planes Fly”….
Aussie Country star Catherine Britt has spent a lot of time in the USA over the years, but last month marked her first ever appearance at the iconic SXSW conference in Austin, Texas. While at Australia House, I sat down with Catherine to talk about playing the event, her experiences in the USA and what…
Melbourne musician Jo Schornikow has spent a big chunk of her professional musical life as a musician in Phosphorescent, the acclaimed project of her partner Matthew Houck – but that hasn’t stopped her from working on her own material. Though she’d be the first to admit it’s slowed it down. An impressive touring schedule and sneaking…
One of the many Australian artists making their debut at SXSW last month was Brisbane’s Max Byrne, who has spent the last few years producing some beautiful indie electronic music under the name Golden Vessel. Arriving in Texas off the back of his new single “Dizzy”, we sat down to talk about his experiences in Austin,…
Formed in 2014, Ducks! are the brainchild of singer-songwriter Lani Bagley, and the ARIA award-winning producer Craig Schuftan. The duo released their debut album Ding Ding Ding in 2016, which went on to be longlisted for the Australian Music Prize. Their second album, Nak Nak (the German equivalent of quack quack), was released in 2017. Ahead of…
One of the buzz acts at this year’s SXSW was rising star Cautious Clay, who also happened to be one of the best acts we saw at the annual Texas festival. While at the Vevo House, I caught up with the Brooklyn based artist – real name Joshua Karpeh – to find out more about his…
Caroline Smith is a Minneapolis-based songwriter who has been steadily building her career since 2006; first as a solo artist, then in a band (Caroline Smith and the Good Night Sleeps – releasing the record Little Wind in 2011), and then as a solo artist again – which saw her release the underrated 2013 record Half…
One of the unexpected Australian buzz artists at this year’s SXSW was one you may have not heard of – rising star in the Country world Rachael Fahim. She was listed as one of NPR’s artists to watch, and delivered a slew of impressive performances while in the Texas capital. We caught up with the…
The ringing sirens and looping jingles that echo through the arcade are maddening, even after a few minutes. They’re also the antithesis-soundtrack to the personality of Yorke. 20-year old Grace Hughes, who adopted the moniker “Yorke” last year in homage to her love of New York City, is calm, chilled and charming as we spent…
