Music

Though the next Record Store Day may be a while away yet (16th April 2016! Not that we’re counting…), believe it or not but for the rest of the year Record Stores continue to be amazing. They deliver incredible product, unique experiences for their customers, often run their own labels and even showcase artists themselves….

FINALLY, Bring Me The Horizon will be returning to Australia for a headline tour that fans have been hanging out for since 2013. ‘This is not a drill. Please try to remain calm.’ urges the announcement. Yeah, right. The band has been catapulted to a calibre of band selling out shows globally and smashing arena…

If you were able to catch Bully performing their first Australian shows late last year, chances are you will have been introduced to Melbourne’s Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever at those shows. The band has quickly been whipping up the momentum and praise for their breezy surfy rock-punk stylings and their latest single “Write Back” is…

Little May‘s debut album For the Company has seen the girls reap in the praise and after performing some excellently received shows overseas, the girls are looking ahead to their largest headline Australian shows to date this May, following their run around the country supporting City and Colour through March and April! The love and…

Arizona’s Calexico will be heading down to Australia again next month to play a number of dates around the country, including a night at Sydney’s Spectrum Now Festival. I caught up with frontman and guitarist Joey Burns ahead of the tour to discuss the recent record, Edge of the Sun and the impending tour amongst…

London four piece Beach Baby look set to have a strong 2016 ahead with the Great Escape Festival and Euro tour dates still on the horizon. For now though, the band have released a new music video for current single “Sleeperhead” to keep us all tantalised and it’s done nothing but bolster the hype swelling…

Pandora have unveiled a good chunk of their 2016 program for the popular Pandora Discovery Den set to put up shop at SXSW this year! An incredibly popular fixture of SXSW Music in 2015, Pandora have once again come through with a diverse range of artists programmed to bring the party over four nights, showcasing…

Culture Collide have always remained at the head of the pack when it comes to putting on SXSW parties to be remembered and it’s looking like 2016 will be no different. Over 150 bands and presenters will be involved in their program for SXSW Music this year and as of today, Culture Collide have begun…

It has been argued, with varying levels of success, that Simple Plan deviated too far over the past couple of albums. Truth be told, they’ve always clung to the pop flank of pop-punk. Yet when irreverent lyrics and copious amounts of tomfoolery were replaced with love songs and seriousness, punk purists abandoned ship. But Simple…

Melbourne turned on a perfect summer’s day as a sold out Laneway Festival crowd descended on the banks of the Maribyrnong River for what was nothing less than a spectacular day of music. With a lineup on show sporting the likes of Flume, CHVRCHES, and Purity Ring to name only a few, there was little…

Sydney may be locked out, but we continue to create some of the best music in the country, as proven by the three bands who took to the stage at the Newtown Social Club on Saturday night. The night celebrated the release of Cold Cold Heart, the debut EP from Gideon Bensen, a local artist who is best…

Every year, Easter in Australia means one thing for music fans: Bluesfest. The annual Byron Bay festival bringing some of the finest acts from around Australia and the world to the Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm just outside of Byron – and this year the lineup is without question their finest in years. From the contemporary…

DMA’s are one of those bands who can do so much without looking like they’ve done much at all. In their lyricism, some brilliant narratives are crafted yet a no bells and whistles/smoke and mirrors approach to their brand of Britpop-licked indie music has made the Sydney group relatable to everyone in some way or…

It is one thing to sell out your first headline gig down under and it’s another to play to a room where you have the crowd’s full, phone-free attention. Canadian duo Majical Cloudz brought their Laneway 2016 set to the intimate Newtown Social Club for what proved to be a reflection on sombre emotions dispersed…

This years Groovin the Moo (GTM) is looking for local legends to get involved for the 2016 festival. The festival wants to further engage local legends, artists, volunteers, providers, students, community groups, sporting clubs and much more to highlight each local regions talents. This year holds even more  initiatives for locals to get involved and be…

As we head into the third installment of this year’s Courtyard Sessions down at the Seymour Centre in Sydney, we steal some of Jordan Millar‘s time to find out more about what to be expecting from his set on Friday and what he’s currently working on. Having spent much of 2015 bringing his music to…

As part of Gold Coast’s Bleach* Festival, the streets of New Orleans will be recreated at Palm Beach on the 5th of March for the Feast Fiesta street party. The festival will see performances from The Unusual Suspects, The Bella Fontes,The Hanlon Brothers and Cheap Fakes. Along with music, the festival will feature international cuisine from local restaurants and pop-up dining…

On the back of their debut album, Hills End, set to be released February 26, DMA’s have announced the Australian dates for their worldwide Hills End Album Tour. The band will tour all major capital cities over May and June. Their highly anticipated album comes after several successful singles, including their debut single ‘Delete’. Check out the…

It was a night of tributes at the 58th Grammy Awards, with some of the biggest names in music paying homage to the likes of David Bowie, B.B King. Lionel Richie (who was named “MusiCares Person of the Year”) and Motörhead’s Lemmy Kilmister. The series of dazzling and heartfelt covers remained the most memorable of the…

Melbourne vocalist and producer Lisa Spencer has been crafting some special music under the moniker AURA and the next few months see this exciting talent being set up to reach more people than before. The release of her new single “Out Loud” (premiering today on the AU) is a great follow on to “New Thing”,…

Adelaide lads, the Grenadiers, are soon to be on the road for another blistering tour of Australian venues next month but before they warm back up for the gigs, they’ve given fans a new slice of heat in new single “Live Fast, Diabetes”. Self-recorded by the band and mixed by James Balderston, the newy is…

In our 106th installment of “Stumbled Upon”, we get to know a bit more about Byron Bay’s PLTS , chat about growing up in Byron and recording their latest single, “On & On”. Name: PLTS (pronounced Pilots) Website / Social Media: pltsmusic.com Facebook / Soundcloud / Instagram / Twitter Genre: Indie/Rock Members & their roles: Kit…

Straight up, Hymns is as far removed from the Bloc Party that burst on to the scene in the mid 2000’s as possible. Hymns doesn’t have a “Banquet” or “Helicopter”, and slightly misses the mark with its balladry. But, the development and reincarnation of Bloc Party on Hymns obviously didn’t want the band to be…

A gloriously warm, sunny Melbourne evening saw a sold out crowd descend upon Melbourne Zoo for Birds of Tokyo‘s gig as part of the Zoo Twilights series. The Zoo Twilights run for two weeks, with all proceeds going towards fighting the extinction of the Eastern Barred Bandicoot. As the sun slowly made its way to…

First off, who is this Pablo to whom Kanye West refers with his album title, The Life of Pablo? Picasso? Neruda? Escobar? Is he inexplicably trying to revive Petey Pablo’s career? Referencing Radiohead’s classic debut? Maybe he is likening himself San Pablo (St. Paul), another biblical reference following the religious megalomania of Yeezus. Most likely…

The Adelaide Fringe Festival kicked off in spectacular style over the weekend, with artists and the public taking to the streets of the city’s CBD for a parade that lit up the night. Second only to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the Adelaide event signals the beginning of the fringe/comedy circuit for many, while thousands upon…

Keep Sydney Open have come together with local musicians and speakers for a special public rally event to take place at Belmore Park next weekend on February 21st in response to the ever-mounting levels of discontent with the State Government’s lockout laws and the effect they’re having on businesses within Sydney’s CBD. The rally will…

Man, does this new Gypsy & The Cat tune feel fresh. I remember back a few years ago, the duo was everywhere off the back of Gilgamesh and it also felt like they drowned out every other indie-pop act pounding the pavement for a little while there. Then, Gypsy & The Cat went away. They…

In the country as a part of the touring St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival, Las Vegan Indie Dance Popper Shamir graced the stage of the Oxford Art Factory and rightly showed his Sydney fans a real good time. Opening up the balmy Thursday night was local artist Jess Kent. Having started the year with a debut…

There’s a new country supergroup in town – and they’re called the Outlaws. Well, Adam Brand and The Outlaws, to be correct. Made up of Brand, Travis Collins, Matt Cornell, Drew McAlister (of McAlister Kemp fame) and Mike Carr (the creative genius behind musical comedy character, Buddy Goode), they’ve been stirring up trouble all over…