Music

The first full day and night of the Falls Festival in Victoria saw some familiar faces and some breakthrough international talent come to Mt Duneed Estate. With all the action happening on the newly constructed “Valley Stage”, punters caught Ainslie Wills perform an early but definitely impressive set, while both The Bennies and Dune Rats…

For Brisbane singer songwriter Ben Forbes, aka BANFF, 2015 has been a bit of a rollercoaster. From writing songs at home to progressing on to more stages down the east coast and the surrounds through this year as one of triple J Unearthed’s most exciting new artists of the year, he’s not had much time…

The first night of the Falls Festival was brought to a thrilling end with Art vs Science closing out what was Lorne’s scheduled night at Mt Duneed Estate, just outside Geelong. With just a few days to relocate an entire festival due to recent bushfires, the Falls crew wrangled something spectacular for their first night….

This year’s Falls Festival will be bringing a high number of people through the gates with eclectic music tastes and the desire to not only stumble on their new favourite bands, but also roll with the party that the New Year’s event is always guaranteed to provide. This year is no different, with the opening…

With devastating fires sweeping the Great Ocean Road area on Christmas Day, the Lorne leg of Falls Festival has been in question. Since then, festival organisers have been keeping the public updated on the status of Falls via social media, partaking in emergency services meetings to ensure that all angles are considered. Initially, it was…

Two new songs have sprung up for Christmas today, both from some very reliable names. First, LCD Soundsystem give us their first new material for years, adding fuel to the rumours of a reunion, crafting a hopeful Xmas tune that’s as poignant as one would expect from the title “Christmas Will Break Your Heart”. On…

Imagine that tentacle-heavy opening title for Spectre but with Sam Smith’s painfully average theme song replaced by a stirring, orchestral Radiohead original. Better, right? Thankfully, Thom Yorke was in the festive spirit this year, gifting us the band’s previously unreleased song, “Spectre”, which they had penned for this year’s blockbuster Bond only to be benched…

Christmas themed rap songs have been a part of hip hop culture since the early 80’s, and from The Treacherous Three and Kurtis Blow to Kanye West and Run the Jewels, there are actually some really good ones out there. To soundtrack your Christmas family get together we’ve gone through and counted down what we…

LA noise band HEALTH officially released their third studio album Death Magic earlier in the year. The hiatus between their previous album Get Color and the new Death Magic has paid off. These guys have been dipping their toes into numerous projects over the years, from game soundtracks to video collabs with greats like Eric…

Following on from our countdown of the 40 best records from around the world in 2015, we wanted to expand on that list and shine some light on some more of our favourite Australian records of the year. The top 15 albums on this list also appear in the same order in the international list…

If you’ve ever wondered what a Mexican Elvis-centric show would be like to attend, wonder no more – El Vez is in Australia to answer the call. A world renowned entertainer, the ‘real Rey Del Rock ‘n’ Roll’ has been bringing his eclectic hybrid of Americana and Mexicano music to crowds throughout the US, Europe…

It’s that time of the year again; we’ve already rounded up the full AU crew’s Top 40 Songs of 2015, but here’s something a bit different. The AU’s Chris Singh looks at the best hip-hop and R&B tracks of 2015 after countless hours (probably days; who knows) of picking apart the year’s best releases and…

As we welcome Summer and the New Year, we welcome the horrid sight of fake tans gone wrong, gym junkies parading the streets shirtless, long lines to use (much to our dismay) port-a-loos or to buy an overpriced beverage, sniffer dogs guarding entry gates and in the distance; a giant stage which will be home…

London’s Pure Youth have only been around since 2014 but they’ve wasted no time in building an impressive rep for themselves through this year. Demonstrating that the indie scene that flourished under the wing of bands like The Maccabees, The Wombats and more recently, The 1975 and Circa Waves, is certainly not done in unearthing…

Perth’s most nomadic festival returned to the city foreshore for the 2015 instalment over the weekend, bringing back previous innovations of the Teepee Village, that super casual boutique vibe and of course some killer artists. Though the weather felt like it was going to be a torturously windy day, the parameters of the festival seemed…

It’s that time of the year again; we’ve already rounded up the full AU crew’s Top 40 Songs of 2015, but here’s something a bit different. The AU’s Chris Singh looks at the best hip-hop and R&B tracks of 2015 after countless hours (probably days; who knows) of picking apart the year’s best releases and…

Taking on The Strands‘ 1997 original, Circa Waves have recently released their own version of “Something Like You”. The boys strip the music back and embrace an acoustic vibe for their cover and for fans of Circa Waves, it’s a real treat to see them operate in this way. Their version of “Something Like You”…

New York artist Elliot Moss recently released the music video for his single “Pattern Repeating” and if you haven’t been able to check it out (ditto for his debut album Highspeeds), now is your shot. Taking things down a bit, “Pattern Repeating” sits comfortably in alongside material released by your Bon Ivers, your James Blakes…

And here we have it: the top 10 albums of the year. We won’t waste any time and shall get right into proceedings – however if you want to look back at part one, head HERE, part two is HERE and part three from earlier today is HERE. 10. Florence And The Machine – How Big, How Blue,…

Today we continue our top 40 albums countdown, kicking off with an artist who’s just about to hit our shores for Falls Festival and some anticipated sideshows… If you’d like to look back on part one of our countdown, head HERE, and part two is HERE. 20. Leon Bridges – Coming Home “Leon Bridges has…

In our 99th installment of “Stumbled Upon”, we meet Mat Cammarano from Perth, and chat about his eclectic influences, growing up with music and check out his new track, “Ashes”. Musician: Mat Cammarano Website / Social Media: milkmanrecordings.com.au Facebook / Soundcloud Genre: Electronic, Indie, Pop Members & their roles: At the moment it’s a solo…

It’s an interesting concept. Release one song a month for a year via SoundCloud and see what happens. One would think that, given the amount of music currently floating about on the internet by independent, unsigned artists, it would be easy for content to fade out and not make a scratch on the consciousness on…

David Hobson is one of Australia’s most celebrated and accomplished opera singers, but he’s definitely not a rigid elitist, as is the popular stereotype for that genre of music. I had a chat to him recently about his experience with the 2015 Bravo! Cruise of the Performing Arts, which he’ll be part of again next…

Irish songwriter Zack Boone has only recently landed on my radar, following an email sent to me a few weeks ago with the subject line simply reading: Take five minutes to listen to this guy. I’m glad I did. The song is called “Beautiful”; a chill, delicate acoustic number, it’s a love letter that isn’t…

If you didn’t have a crush on Cam Avery before, chances are you’re going to now. “We’re Just Making it Worse” is the Perth musician’s latest single as a solo artist and we are…how do we say? Here. For. It. A bluesy, smoky ballad, the tune has Avery and Alexandra Savoir going toe to toe…

A new festival is coming to the stunning Barossa Valley region in South Australia next year and it brings with it a solid inaugural line up! The Silver Fern Festival was announced today to be headlined by Jason Isbell and will play host to the final ever show performed by The Audreys. To take place…

“Join us for a frolic in the forest”, reads the tagline for Gaytimes, a brand new Australian camping festival designed for the gay community by the team at Closet Party. Gaytimes will be going down in March 2016 at Kinglake in Victoria, with an impressive curated line-up headlined by the great Paul Mac and beefed…

As far as final local shows of the year go, I was happy to be spending mine with some artists I’ve loved getting to know more about through 2015. Wasted Wanderers headlined at Jive, braving the Adelaide heatwave in enticing friends and people keen for some live music out of their air-conditioned homes for a…

One of Detroit’s finest emcees Guilty Simpson is stepping back in the frame with Katalyst for a return Australian tour that will see the two artists team up again for four shows across the country. Kicking off late January in Canberra, Guilty and Katalyst will be showcasing their work to Australian fans with older material…

In This Issue: Just in, sad news for Soundwave. Triple J ends an era of podcasts. There are sign ups as well as the CMC Awards performers announced plus the latest ARIA charts. RIP Soundwave Soundwave festival has officially been cancelled due to poor ticket sales, confirmed as of today. The festival will not be returning…