The 11th Australian Music Prize (AMP) has today announced the final additions to its longlist for its award this year, with 56 albums being given the greenlight by its panel of judges. It’s been a tough process for the judges this year, sorting through the multitude of submissions from Australian artists but as the final…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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 –…
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…
In news that has shocked fans all over,
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Fresh off previewing their new album Hymns at Sydney’s Oxford Art Factory, UK band Bloc Party have announced that they will be playing a special benefit concert, organised by the team behind Southbound, this weekend in Perth in an effort to raise funds for those affected by the horrible bushfires in the South West. Annual…
Lyrical master Kendrick Lamar has once again premiered a new “untitled” track on one of the world’s most viewed talk show programs, appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to showcase the previously unreleased song, which doesn’t appear on his most recent project, the universally praised To Pimp a Butterfly. With the working title…
As the music icon turns 69, David Bowie has now released his hugely anticipated 25th full-length album ★ (Blackstar), allowing his fans to stream all seven tracks online via Vevo and Spotify. First previewed by the haunting 10-minute opener “Blackstar”, this new album seeks to further Bowie’s range with a fresh approach pulling in all…
While wrapping up their current Australian tour Bloc Party took to one of Sydney’s most intimate live music venues, Oxford Art Factory, in an exclusive showcase for their upcoming fifth album Hymns, a project which has had much speculation surrounding it given the band’s new incarnation. Taking place last night, on Friday 8th January, the…
Aussie acts continue to climb row by row on American festival lineup posters, with a great example being the massive new program for this year’s Governors Ball, which takes place in June on Randall’s Island Park in New York City. Headlined by the likes of Chicago rapper-producer Kanye West, indie rock gods The Strokes and…
Leon Bridges‘ debut run of Australian shows have been wildly praised, just as the 26 year old’s debut album Coming Home has through 2015. Arriving in Australia at the end of last year to perform at both the Falls Festival events down the east coast and in Tasmania, as well as his own headline shows,…
Dubbed “the next great Canadian singer-songwriter”, The Weather Station is the project of Toronto’s Tamara Lindema, whose delicate and beautiful yet precise and complex music has been acclaimed all over the world. And last night she had the pleasure of showcasing it in the first Sydney Festival performance for 2016; opening The Famous Spiegeltent in the festival’s…
Brisbane-based The Creases arrived on stage with no fuss or introduction and set to warming up the crowd at 170 Russell prior to The Maccabees‘ Falls Festival sideshow. Despite a litany of technical glitches – including microphones attempting to electrocute them to the point they needed to protect themselves with shirts from their merchandise line,…
New Zealand band Ghost Wave are getting ready to release a new album, Radio Norfolk, via Flying Nun and have perked interest with the project’s first single “Blues Signal ’79”, presenting with a heavily psychedelic sound. “Everybody’s missing the countdown to the meltdown” is the refrain here, crafting a hook that fits in perfectly with…
Sydney Festival officially kicks off tonight, and with it are hundreds of incredible performances across some three weeks. Here are the nine shows we think you can’t miss… 9. Girlpool When? January 26th Where? The Famous Spiegeltent, Hyde Park Cost? $39 (plus booking fees) What? The LA duo bring a dynamic blend of instrumentation, raw…
