Music

De La Soul, Asha Bhosle, Alpine, Sarah Blasko feature on latest WOMADelaide announcement!

One of the best festivals on the Australian calendar is undoubtedly WOMADelaide and today, the crew behind the annual world music and dance celebration have revealed another bunch of diverse and stellar artists joining the bill in 2016! The music line up already featured the likes of Ibeyi, Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Violent Femmes, but…

Read more

Single of the Day: Dylan Joel ft. REMI & Maribelle “Crew Pt. 2” (2016)

Here’s a bright slice of hip-hop for you today, get around this remix of Dylan Joel‘s tune “Crew”, featuring Remi and Maribelle on vox and the talents of Sensible J and Stuart B on percussion and synths respectively. It’s a meeting of some of the brightest talents coming out of the hip-hop scene flourishing on…

Read more

City Calm Down at Falls Festival on taking their time with In a Restless House & a busy year ahead!

Jack and Lee from City Calm Down catch up with us at the Falls Festival at Mt. Duneed ahead of what’s going to be a huge summer, especially with the release of In a Restless House. “It was a long process, getting the album done.” Jack says of the album’s release. “Now it’s out, things…

Read more

Kamasi Washington confirms much-anticipated Australian dates for March!

If you haven’t gotten tickets to Bluesfest this year, don’t fret, as one of the surefire highlight artists on the festival bill for 2016 has announced some headline dates of his own. Kamasi Washington, US avant-garde jazz musician and composer recently in the spotlight for his work with Kendrick Lamar on To Pimp a Butterfly,…

Read more

Woodford Folk Festival’s 30th Anniversary saw record breaking attendance

Woodford Folk Festival celebrated its 30th year in late December marking its biggest turn out yet, hailed by organisers and loyal patrons alike as the ‘best ever’. The festival received a record attendance of 126,996 translating to $6.15M in box office sales and a growth of 8% from the previous years. “Our expectations were definitely exceeded” said…

Read more

Music Video of the Day: Tindersticks “Were We Once Lovers?” (2016)

A stunning new tune from Tindersticks has seen the group release the official music video for “Were We Once Lovers?” through Inertia this week. The single itself is taken from the band’s new album The Waiting Room (out January 22nd) and we love the deep energy and flow of the music’s progression over the song’s…

Read more

Single of the Day: St Lucia “Love Somebody” (2016)

A preview of their forthcoming album MATTER, one of the many albums we couldn’t be more excited about due early this year, is St. Lucia‘s new track “Love Somebody”. The single brings the 80’s vibes, filled out with lush synths, huge drums and anthemic vocals. Check it out here: St Lucia’s Matter is due for release on…

Read more

Sydney Festival will host a David Bowie tribute tonight

As people all over the world continue to pay tribute to David Bowie following his tragic passing earlier this week, most are coming together to celebrate the vast, various, and vital music that the singular artist has been gifting his fans for decades. We’ve already seen large-scale sing-a-longs in places like Brixton (where Bowie was…

Read more

Kita Alexander, Gang of Youths, Harts & more featured on huge SXSW Music announcement!

SXSW Music has announced a massive third artist announcement for the showcase festival this March, with a solid number of emerging and well established names from all over the world revealed as being invited to play in Austin. SXSW Music, running from March 15th – 20th this year, unveiled the new list of performers overnight,…

Read more

Tinashe announces Australian tour for new album Joyride this May!

Tinashe will be making her Australian return this May with a new album in Joyride and a killer new live show! She made her debut out this way last year, taking in shows down the east coast plus an appearance in WA as part of the Perth Festival, but Tinashe’s next trip out to Australia…

Read more

Live Review: Halsey + BØRNS – Palais Theatre, Melbourne (06.01.16)

Hitting Melbourne’s Palais Theatre for her first Australian headline show, Halsey, with LA singer/songwriter BØRNS in tow, put on a show of great control, yet brimming with untapped potential. However, the easily 95% female crowd didn’t seem to mind, spending the entire hour-long performance screaming and singing along to every word, a testament to the…

Read more

Stumbled Upon #101 – Vallee (Melbourne)

In our 101st installment of “Stumbled Upon”, we meet Vallee from Melbourne, and chat to bassist Brendan about their love of indie rock, getting ready to play some new shows and get a sneak peak at their latest track “Jungle”. Band Name: Vallee Website / Social Media: Facebook / Bandcamp / Twitter Genre: Indie Rock…

Read more

Jarryd James reflects on his breakthrough 2015 & making new music this year!

Jarryd James. A talent of 2015 who has swept many off their feet for sure. The ARIA Award winner spent much of 2015 building up an impressive amount of chatter, delivered upon with some brilliant live shows (both headline and alongside the likes of Meg Mac and others) and of course, capped it off with…

Read more

Holy Holy revisit a huge year of touring and releasing music with us at the Falls Festival!

Watching Holy Holy develop and go from strength to strength throughout 2015 was an absolute joy and as we look ahead to what is undoubtedly going to be another big year for Tim Carroll and Oscar Dawson, the AU was stoked to be able to sit down with the lads on New Year’s Eve to…

Read more

Music Video of the Day: The Last Shadow Puppets “Bad Habits” (2016)

For fans of the Alex Turner/Miles Kane fronted, James Ford-produced outfit, The Last Shadow Puppets, the boys have gifted us with something special this Monday. Their first new piece of material since 2008, the British duo have dropped the film clip for new single “Bad Habits” and the verdict? A great return from the creators…

Read more

Live Review: Gary Clark Jr. + Spookyland – Sydney Opera House (04.01.16)

Delivering an electrifying and varied blend of blues, rock, soul and R&B, Gary Clark Jr. put on a brilliant show at the Sydney Opera House on Monday, 4th January. By no means holding back on the more amped up numbers due to the choice of venue, Gary Clark Jr. was well and truly in fine…

Read more

Live Review: The Flaming Lips + FM Belfast + Royal Headache – The Domain, Sydney (09.01.16)

An annual piece in Sydney’s calendar, the Sydney Festival’s opening Domain concert has replaced the city-wide Festival First Night with the focus on one big act at The Domain. With previous years sporting artists such as Brian Wilson, Chaka Khan, Grace Jones and Manu Chau, it was a somewhat odd but welcome choice to this…

Read more

Single of the Day: Fascinator “Time to Go” (2016)

The new tune from Johnny Mackay‘s solo project Fascinator has continued to reflect the New York-based songwriter’s continued dive into the cool waters of electro dream pop, twisting it up and doing some deliciously funky things with it. “Time To Go” is a slow burner, but you’ll find yourself enjoying the little bits and textures…

Read more

Mac DeMarco on touring Another One, making new tunes & more!

We’ve gone and done to Mac DeMarco what we Australians like to do when we see something we like – we claim it. Though our link to the Canadian doesn’t extend to any type of shared heritage or close proximity geographically, all you need to do is witness the response to DeMarco’s live shows –…

Read more

The Cairos & Jinja Safari both call time on respective careers today via social media

Well, talk about a double-whammy for fans of both The Cairos and Jinja Safari, with both Aussie bands announcing the end of their respective time together online. From the statements released, the reason for both splits have come down to a natural reaching of crossroads, something understandable when you’ve got groups of creatives who will…

Read more

Dr Dre shares unreleased Compton track featuring T.I, Justus, and Victoria Monét

2015 smash hit Compton was a successful return outing from Dr Dre, bringing in a bevy of old, new, and future legends to craft one of the year’s best hip hop releases. We’ve already heard a few tracks from the cutting room floor, but now it seems Dre has more in his bag, debuting one…

Read more

Kanye West releases new track “Real Friends” and previews a Kendrick Lamar collaboration

It’s looking like the rumours of Kanye West bringing back his “GOOD Fridays” series are true, meaning that the superstar rapper-producer will be putting out new material every week in the lead up to his forthcoming album SWISH, which is scheduled for a release on February 11th, 2016. This week, that new material comes in…

Read more

Tuka, Melbourne Ska Orchestra, Jinja Safari, and more to play The Rocks’ free Australia Day festival

Sydney’s historic harbour-side precinct The Rocks is always one of the most popular locations for public Australia Day celebrations year after year, and 2016 will be no exception as organisers of the suburb’s annual festival have curated a huge music program to go along with the (hopefully) sun-charged atmosphere of eclectic market stalls and delicious…

Read more

Southbound 2016 sees cancellation due to bushfires – refund information to follow next week

Overnight, news broke of the cancellation of the 2016 Southbound Festival in WA due to recent bushfires threatening surrounding areas. Where the Lorne leg of the Falls Festival was able to be moved elsewhere in Victoria, it was not possible to enact a similar contingency move for the Busselton festival, with the statement being released…

Read more

The Best Gigs of 2015: AU Contributor’s Picks

As we look toward another top year of live shows and musical discovery, our contributors have been ruminating on the best shows of last year, the ones that have stuck out and have set a standard for the following year to come. Dan Turner (Photographer) #1 Gig of 2015: Ben Frost at the Sydney Opera…

Read more

Meg Mac (Melbourne) on touring with D’Angelo, breaking out as a headliner in Australia & more!

She’s been dominating stages both in Australia and recently, internationally, so to be able to snag a slice of Meg Mac‘s time recently was exciting for us. Before her set at Mt. Duneed Estate for the Falls Festival, Meg sat down with us to chat about what has been such a huge year for the…

Read more

Single of the Day: Rosie Lowe “Woman” (2016)

2016 looks to be a huge year for British vocalist Rosie Lowe, especially if her latest tune is anything to go by. With a vocal quality evoking a sharpness and warmth akin to Yukimi Nagano and Jessie Ware, Lowe’s new single “Woman” is a great slice of R&B served up with minimal production. The arrangement…

Read more

“Enthusiasm is contagious…” Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips (USA) talks to the AU ahead of their free Sydney Festival performance

Tomorrow night, US legends The Flaming Lips are set to unleash their incredible live performances in front of some 60,000 punters as they perform a free set for Sydney Festival’s annual “Summer Sounds in the Domain” series. Ahead of the performance, I caught up with the band’s iconic frontman Wayne Coyne just after he’d touched down…

Read more