Today, rising Australian singer, songwriter and actress Charlotte MacInnes steps into the spotlight with the release of her debut single “Struck,” an electrifying and emotionally charged first offering out now via Atlantic Records, accompanied by a striking visualiser. The track marks the beginning of a new chapter for MacInnes, and the first release under her…
When people talk about pop reinvention, the conversation almost always circles back to names like Madonna or Kylie Minogue. Artists who continually reshape their sound, their image, and their relationship with the dance floor. But there’s another pop icon who deserves to be part of that conversation: Melanie C. As she releases “Undefeated Champion”, the…
It’s not every Tuesday that you get to see a one-man blues band and a captivating soul performance from a few feet away in your hometown, but that’s exactly what a handful of Fantastic Negrito fans were treated to at the Crowbar in Brisbane on Tuesday night. This was the first headline show on his…
North Carolina alt-rockers, Wednesday has announced a perfect return to Australian shores attached to Melbourne’s Rising Festival. Touring with music from Bleeds, songs like “Elderberry Wine”, an ode to pickled eggs and the scorned “Townies”, secured the 2025 album a place on many ‘best of the year’ lists. The band made a huge impact with…
Ten new tracks land in the the AU review playlist this week, with the pick of the bunch coming from Naarm outfit Jeane and their punchy new single “Cash”. Featuring Jazz Johnston (Butternut Sweetheart) alongside Luke Moseley and a rotating cast of collaborators, Jeane brings together some familiar faces from the Naarm scene — and…
It’s official: the Pussycat Dolls have returned. After years of speculation, legal drama, and solo projects, Nicole Scherzinger, Kimberly Wyatt, and Ashley Roberts are reunited, and they’re kicking things off in style with a new single, “Club Song“, and a massive international tour. “Club Song” is everything you’d hope for from a PCD comeback: brassy,…
Every May, Liverpool — one of the UK’s most historic music cities — becomes a launchpad for the next generation of artists as Liverpool Sound City returns with another stacked lineup of rising talent. Now firmly established as one of the UK’s most important new-music festivals, Sound City transforms venues across Liverpool into a buzzing…
Tucked away in the beautiful woodland surrounds of Larmer Tree Gardens in Dorset, the End of the Road Festival has quietly built a reputation as one of the UK’s most beloved boutique festivals. Returning from 3–6 September 2026, the event caps off the European festival season with a carefully curated lineup spanning indie, folk, Americana…
Many feel that 2026 has already been a difficult year, with global tensions on the rise. This affected even WOMADelaide with some acts not able to attend this year due to travel disruptions and other issues. However, a feeling of hope and resilience was front and foremost for this year’s event. Celebrating cultural diversity, honouring…
Melbourne has always been a city where bands quietly evolve out of long musical histories. Musicians move between projects, scenes shift, venues come and go, but the through-line is the players who keep writing songs. The Droptails are very much part of that tradition. This incarnation, formed during Melbourne’s extended COVID lockdowns, brings together musicians…
The fact that women are such a big part of the WOMADelaide Festival is no accident. With women on the management team, and as decision makers, artists and presenters, made celebrating International Women’s Day such a natural and beautiful thing. The mood of the day was one of nurturing and celebrating the beauty inside whilst…
It was a glorious autumn day in Adelaide’s Botanic Park for the second day of WOMADelaide, the world’s music, arts and dance festival. Families have set up picnic rugs, whilst roving performers, Born in a Taxi pranced around as zebras and kids exercised their creativity in Studio Ruby Chew‘s pop-up wonderland. The event hosts a…
When Jennifer Lopez released Rebirth in March 2005, expectations were enormous – perhaps impossibly so. The album arrived in the long shadow of two pop-cultural juggernauts: J.Lo (2001) and This Is Me… Then (2002), records that helped define early-2000s pop and R&B. Both albums produced major hits, iconic imagery, and a public persona that blurred…
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…
Despite some last-minute changes with artist travel plans disrupted by the sudden unrest in the Middle East, the show must go on. Inside the Botanic Gardens, it was like a sanctuary, fruit bats overhead and seven stages all playing a variety of world music. Day one of WOMADelaide 2026 kicked off in fine style. As…
Welcome back to the jungle! Celebrated rock icons Guns N’ Roses have officially confirmed their world tour is heading Down Under to a stadium near you. That’s right, it’s time to dig out your red bandana and aviators, and dry clean those tight leather pants! What can fans expect? High energy, massive riffs and the…
What a week for music at the world-famous Sydney Opera House! Complementing the already iconic line-up of Grace Jones, The Streets and Basement Jaxx, was Britpop legends, Pulp. At arguably the best outdoor venue on the circuit, the ‘On the Steps’ series welcomed Cocker and friends for two nights of playing the hits. However, this…
British rock band Pulp performed under the iconic sails of the Sydney Opera House Forecourt playing new and old songs including the classics “Disco 2000”, “This Is Hardcore”, “Do You Remember The First Time” and their biggest hit “Common People”. Frontman Jarvis Cocker prowled the stage with wry charm and the fans enjoyed a night…
Somehow it’s March already, but we’re still here with ten more new releases to add to our Discovery playlist on Spotify and Apple Music – including two singles we exclusively premiered earlier in the week. Adelaide indie rockers Sunsick Daisy take Track of the Week with their brand new single “Waiting For”. Following on from…
More than two decades after bursting onto the pop scene, Willa Ford returns with amanda, a record that feels less like a comeback and more like a personal exhale. Ford has been open about the fact that the album “was never supposed to happen,” describing how music unexpectedly resurfaced in her life during a period…
Each May, the seaside city of Brighton becomes the global meeting point for the next wave of music discovery as The Great Escape Festival returns, bringing together hundreds of emerging artists, industry delegates and music fans from around the world. The 2026 edition promises another packed programme of live showcases and conference events, reinforcing the…
Cries of hip hop being “dead” have been around for over ten years, but they’ve never rang more true than in 2026. Last year, hip hop, for the first time since 1990, had failed to crack the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. That’s not the death-knell some claimed, but it marked a…
Hailing from the vibrant streets of Gadigal Land, Social Strangers are a four-piece alternative rock outfit blazing their own trail in Sydney’s heavy underground. Drawing from grunge, punk, emo rock, post-grunge and nu-metal, the band fuses raw intensity with immersive storytelling — anchored by a powerhouse female vocalist, electrifying guitar riffs and a heavy-hitting rhythm…
On Monday night, American folk artist Sam Beam (better known by his moniker Iron & Wine) arrived in Brisbane to a sold-out Princess Theatre as part of his first Australian tour since 2018. The folk troubadour delivered his inimitable brand of lo-fi acoustic song writing, this time in its most exposed form. Performing completely solo,…
We’re heading to North America for this one — stepping outside our usual Australian orbit to bring you a slice of folk/Americana from singer-songwriter Odd Marshall. Today, the AU review premieres his pulsing and hypnotic new single “Somebody New,” a moody, swag-rock make-out anthem lifted from his forthcoming sophomore album Seconds, out March 6. Built…
You could be forgiven for thinking that Hands Like Houses never take a moment to catch their breath. The Canberra alt-rockers are back again with the brooding banger “Flowers”, which dropped 19 February via Civilians with an accompanying video. It comes just a year after their 16-track album ATMOSPHERICS – the deluxe version of which…
It’s hard to imagine something so beautiful can come from something so… ugly. And yet freedom is an ecosystem that rarely functions without friction. It’s the endpoint of a long, arduous and often cruel journey, and the beginning of a life so wonderfully and exclusively yours that it’s impossible not to take the good with…
Punk. What is punk? Is it just loud music? Nope. Authenticity? yes! Activism? yes! Self-advocacy? yes! Being labelled as ‘difficult’? well apparently! Think Grace Tame, Eileen Gu, Malala Yousafazi – women supporting women, smashing glass ceilings, expectations, and absolutely the patriarchy. Relentlessly. Tirelessly. One critical, loud message at a time. They are punks, role modelling…
