Having only become an Anberlin fan in the past year thanks to the recommendation of a close friend, I wasn’t sure what to expect from their live show. Yes, they made rock music, but how would the energy transfer to the stage? However, with such a strong line up, it wasn’t hard for my friend…
For Tonight Alive, the past two years have been dedicated to the promotion of their debut album — an effort that has been a huge success. But their recent show at The Hi Fi marked the last show in that era. With the release of their second album awaiting them the next day, our Aussie…
British singer-songwriter Tom Odell is the talk of the UK music scene. After two EPs and nominations with BBC Sound of 2013 award and winning the Brit Awards Critics Choice, Sydney was treated to an intimate showcase ahead of his performances at Falls Festival over New Years.
On a day when a “Fuck Abbott” t-shirt was causing controversy in the music industry thanks to The Preatures’ Isabella Pitway – who won the Vanda and Young Songwriting competition, accompanied a slew of other amazing female singer/songwriters, including the wonderful Thelma Plum – it felt appropriate to be at a rock show with three…
Giraffage a.k.a. Charlie Yin took to the stage, still and unassuming, until he began playing and grooving along to his own music. He is no macbook act – working the board in real time and constructing his own soundscape. Donned in black t-shirt and gold chain, he suggests an illusion of simplicity, while dipping into…
Logan (Hugh Jackman) is back in a decidedly darker take on the iconic X-Men character, marking Jackman’s sixth appearance as the steel-clawed “mutant”. The film takes place primarily in Japan and sees Logan reconnect with a man he saved during WWII, Yashida. The plot from there, for the most part, focuses on Logan protecting Mariko…
Wax Witches is the solo project of Alex Wall, one half of garage poppers Bleeding Knees Club. It’s got a similar sound to BKC but with even grittier guitar work and bratty lyrics. Wax Witches has an online stream of weird and wacky mash-ups linked to pop culture and 90s high life but in the…
Femme Locale’s momentum has been increasing at a rapid rate. Not only have there been three showcases in the last four months, but the crowds and artists have both been getting bigger. The most recent touchdown was at The Camelot Lounge, featuring the talent of Rachael Zella and the Blackbirds, Inês and Brotherfunk. As an…
“Thanks for having me back.” Oh, James. You are so welcome. I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect from a James Blake show. I’d mistakenly relegated his second album Overgrown to my personal list of atmospheric background music. That’s not to say I didn’t think he was a stunning vocalist and his hypnotic, electronic soul…
Winter festivals are far from an easy exercise to put yourself through, especially ones that run multi-days. When you think about it, it’s quite remarkable Splendour in the Grass has become the popular event it has, line-ups irrespective. I guess people are just gluttons for punishment. I feel this way after every Splendour. So what…
The sun was out as more than 17,500 punters descended on North Byron Parklands, the permanent Splendour in the Grass site for the first time, for a day headlined by past festival favourites Mumford and Sons. Situated about 20 minutes north of Byron Bay, this is the site the Splendour organisers bought to be the…
Hot off the heels of the release of her fourth record, Once I Was An Eagle, Laura Marling has returned to Australia to play Splendour in the Grass and a series of sold out concerts around the country as part of the Heavenly Sounds “tour of churches and cathedrals”. Tonight was her second performance of…
On Friday and Saturday afternoons, as part of the King Street Wharf Festival in Sydney, the restaurants that live on the wharf took part in a two day event called “On The Wharf”. It was a chance to enjoy tasting plates from restaurants like The Malaya (soon to celebrate their fiftieth birthday!), Kobe Jones, Georges…
It’s always a pleasure to go out for a night of soulful, (mostly) acoustic music when it seems that many are swamped by the electronic. Never mind the knowledge that attending a sideshow (this one for Splendour In The Grass) means that you get up close and personal to the act with the time and…
With horror films these days, it’s difficult to avoid either the “torture-porn” sort of films – Saw, Hostel etc. – or the “found footage” stylings of the surprisingly never-ending Paramormal Activity series. But for those who hold the genre close to their heart, it’s hard not to look back to films like The Excorcist or…
There are many words one could use to describe an artist as compelling as Kirin J Callinan. The terms ‘controversial’ and ‘confronting’ seem to get thrown around a lot and after watching his show at Jive on Friday night I’m going to go with chameleon. Last time I saw Callinan he was playing to a…
Pop rock connoisseurs Lime Cordiale took over The Standard Friday night for the launch of their single ‘Bullshit Aside’ off pending EP Falling up the Stairs. The Sydney based quartet led by brothers Oli and Louis Leimbach are gaining some well-deserved attention, with their latest release picked up by the good folks over at Triple J. They’ve put out an…
Held in a Chain Factory on Friday night, Converse brought their national run of “GET LOUD” shows to Brisbane, featuring explosive performances from The Laurels, The Murlocs and Tiny Migrants. Here are a few photos from the night and if you’re in Auckland on the 18th of July you can heads along to the last…
Little larrikin Lawrence Greenwood AKA Whitley has been MIA from the Australian music scene for a while on an indefinite hiatus. For those not familiar with Whitley he was basically Australia’s answer to Scott Walker or Nick Drake, a troubadour with impeccably crafted heartachingly sweet songs. His hiatus resulted in a lot of travelling to some intriguing…
Michel Gondry has always been one of my favourite directors. His ability to take dreamlike concepts and turn them into something visually tangible has always been his strength, and a unifying quality between all his productions – be they feature length, short or music video format. Though perhaps we won’t consider The Green Hornet in…
Less than a month after taking over The Vanguard, the Femme Locale showcase made its return for round four on Friday night. This time, the crowd gathered in the cozy second floor of The Hive Bar to watch Christine Jane, Imogen Bel, and Rosie Catalano perform an intimate concert.
Some gigs fade into memory as nothing more than a fun night, others we try desperately to forget… and then there are the few that we know we’ll always remember. They’re the honest, personal, sometimes elaborate performances that sit apart from the rest. They’re usually put together by a band who are at the top…
I’ve always found David Gordon Green to be a surprising director. Who would have predicted the auteur of the acclaimed George Washington (released back in 2001 in limited theatres and given wider life on DVD thanks to the Criterion Collection) would end up collaborating with comedian Danny McBride on a series of films (Your Highness…
A smoky room with damp blue lighting and black leather sofas doesn’t seem the ideal spot for a dance gig where the stickiest floor on Oxford St was home to the Willow Beats EP launch. But the venue was strangely cosy and, despite their niche work, it was a sold out show for Sydney. Stoney…
The Way, Way Back was written and directed by Jim Rash and Nat Faxon, who are best known as the co-writers for the Alexander Payne helmed The Descendants, as well as playing the Dean in Community and Ben in the TV series Ben & Kate, respectively. The Way, Way Back, which premiered last Thursday night…
Lovelace is a film in two halves. The first is the story of Linda Lovelace – the iconic actress from the 70s porn film sensation Deep Throat – that everyone else had told, including Lovelace herself in her early cash-ins such as Inside Linda Lovelace. The second is the story that Linda revealed when she…
The location for this review has moved. You can read it HERE.
In my last article looking back on Digital & Music Matters in Singapore (there’s a pile of interviews still to come!), I’m going to take you back to the Beer Garden, the concept bar where we also spent our Wednesday evening for the annual Aussie BBQ. On Friday, the venue a showcase of bands from…
Baz Luhrmann has always been hit and miss for me. Though I can understand why his filmic style is detested by some, and loved by others, for me the success of his style comes down to the content. Sometimes it works, other times it doesn’t. Australia – average story equals an average film, though admittedly…
When I arrived at the HP Showcase at the New Zealand themed bar Fern & Kiwi, as part of the 2013 Music Matters LIVE event in Singapore, I was greeted to a band from India called Indus Creed (pictured above), members of whom I saw take part in the Bombay Metal Project at the NH7…
