Music

Last week you may have seen our interview with Ross Leighton of emerging Scottish trio Fatherson from our SXSW pop-up venue! Now, we’re pleased to bring you the special intimate, acoustic performance Ross gave us with the beautiful song “Foreign Waters”. The stunning track comes off their debut album I Am an Island. Be careful,…

We’re excited to present today the exclusive premiere of “Big World”, the second single to be taken from The Dawn Chorus‘ upcoming album, set for release late 2015. Front man Mitch Davis shines on the release, and the track features Kyla Van Mason. Produced at Pix Studios, in their hometown of the Sunshine Coast, it’s…

At this point, I feel I’ve said everything there is to say about the great Gary Clark Jr, yet once again I find myself at one of his concerts in absolute awe of his talent. The way he makes everything look so effortless, the way he moves along that guitar and makes us move in…

In our 38th installment of “Stumbled Upon”, we meet Reading’s alt rockers Sundara Karma, and chat about their eclectic influences and upcoming shows. We find out how the band got started, how they’d best describe their live show and learn more about their latest music. Plus, we get to have a listen ourselves! Band Name:…

We’re excited to be heading over to Ottawa Bluesfest for the first time this July, and in the last couple of weeks the festival has announced its massive lineup, with Kanye West among the many, many major names to grace the event’s stages from July 8th to the 19th. The festival, as you can tell…

It’s hard to capture really what SXSW is like without you actually attending yourself. There really is nothing else like it. Just the pure variety of people you meet and things you get to do… there’s no equal. I took my camera along to the festival – which ended a couple of weeks ago now…

Central Coast duo Microwave Jenny perform their track “Shine Like New”, taken from their latest EP, Microwave Jenny and the Six Song EP, available now! The track was performed in a park in Sydney – kazoo and all – as part of the AU sessions – a series of intimate, exclusive acoustic performances in locations…

As part of our live sessions series at SXSW, Canadian artist Lucette joined us at our pop up venue to perform a special acoustic version of her track “Able May”. The track, which pours out a beautiful flavour of Americana, comes off her debut record Black Is the Color, which came out last year. Watch…

While in Austin for the annual SXSW music festival and conference, Melbourne based singer/songwriter Hamish Anderson stopped by our pop up venue to perform a solo and acoustic version of the track “Little Lies”, taken from his sophomore EP Restless, which is out now. Since popping into our studio he’s been announced for Ottawa Bluesfest…

Australia is getting its first ever “electronic music festival at sea” next year, with Alison Wonderland, Hot Dub Time Machine, SAFIA, The Kite String Tangle, Touch Sensitive and more ready to play the massive event that will see 2000 revellers transported from Brisbane to a mystery island for what is destined to be a four…

In our 37th installment of “Stumbled Upon”, we meet Sydney’s pop rockers Why We Run and chat about their debut single ‘Comfortable Lie’. We get o know the artists that inspire them, learn how the band got started and find out more about what they’ve got coming up – including a show in Wollongong tonight!…

Ahead of his appearance at the Melbourne branch of The School of Life to give a talk on the history and philosophy of disco we caught up with ARIA award winning author, broadcaster and radio producer Craig Schuftan to get a crash course on all things Disco; and to find out why the much mocked…

Perth based artist Ruby Boots performs her single “Wrap Me in a Fever” in a park in Sydney as part of the AU sessions series: Live, exclusive and acoustic. The track comes from her new record Solitude, which comes out on April 24th.

In our 36th installment of “Stumbled Upon”, we meet Parisians Likewolf and chat about their upcoming EP Classic Ideals, learn how the band got started and find out how we can get our hands on their music… Band Name: Likewolf Website / Social Media: www.likewolf.com Facebook / Soundcloud / Twitter Genre: Rock Blues Electronica Soundtrack…

There’s something about the way Ronny Chieng yells at you that’s so endearing. The multi-award winning comedian has a knack for picking on the flaws of a generation who don’t know what they’re talking about, in a way that makes you feel both guilty and amused. His stage persona of a faux egotistical comic is…

As part of our On The Rocks feature, the AU review’s Alex Houle caught up with Max Kerman, frontman of award-winning Canadian rock band, Arkells. Kerman shared with us his insightful opinion on the “death of Rock and Roll,” chatted about his musical influences and latest album, High Noon, and explained why he might never…

The Comedy Zone is made up of five of Australia most promising comedians each coming from different parts of the country to deliver a varied palette of humour. Matt Ford (QLD), Jacob Lingard (QLD), Ciaran Lyons (WA), Nina Oyama (NSW) and Matt Stewart (VIC) are a collective of young comedians who has already started to…

As part of our On The Rocks feature yesterday, the AU review’s, Alex Houle, recently caught up with Elliott Hammond, the opinionated singer of The Delta Riggs, to chat about their recent Foo Fighters tour, their latest album, Dipz Zebazios, and the current state of Rock and Roll. In this no holds barred interview, we…

the AU review captures Julio Tavarez – the lead vocalist and guitarist of Los Angeles group The Black and The White – in the AU’s pop up venue at SXSW performing their latest single “Torn Up” as part of their SXSW AU Sessions series. Follow the band on Facebook to hear more: https://www.facebook.com/theblackandthewhitemusic

the AU review caught up with Canadian bluesy garage rockers July Talk at SXSW in Austin to chat about writing songs for their second album, playing new material at SXSW and what they love about Australia’s music scene – all while holding our two balloons in the shape of an ‘A’ and ‘U’. We should frame that…

“Don’t worry, you’ll get home in one piece” Corey White assures, as he delves into things he could have possibly said to put a woman’s mind at ease after he realized he had accidentally been following her for several kilometers late one night. Ultimately he knows there’s nothing he could have said, he knows even…

Gwendolyn Lee brings us these fantastic photos from Switchfoot and Breakaway at The Hi-Fi in Sydney on Wednesday night. Check them out here:

Photo Credit: Andrew Wade No one ever asks if Hip-Hop is dead, if Pop is dead. Rarely, if ever, does any one bother to pit Country and Rap music against each other. Yet for the last 60+ years, as each decade comes to a close, there has always seemingly been an advocate for the death…

London artist PILLARS has released her second beautifully haunting single, “Woman Without Her Love.” The single sits comfortably between a dark brooding number and the lightness of a dream-pop one, something true to the singer’s aesthetic. PILLARS combines the best of ethereal electronic sounds and sultry layered vocals, as samples of her voice are mixed into different hypnotic arrangements. Woman Without Her Love comes as a strong follow up to her first release “Attacker,” which caught the eyes of BBC Introducing, Amazing Radio and various Hype Machine blogs.

Sydney post-rock band sleepmakeswaves have announced more dates for their extensive ‘Great Northern’ tour, which stretches across Australia, New Zealand and 20 other countries this March to June.

the AU review’s Larry Heath caught up with Hiatus Kaiyote while at Austin’s SXSW festival. In amidst the chaos, band members Nai Palm, Paul Bender, Perrin Moss and Simon Mavin were able to take time out to chat about what it’s like playing SXSW again. “It’s almost just like there’s a bunch of industry people there to see if you can hack just trying to deal with the horrible bullshit,” Bender said. “But it’s not always bad!” Separating the boys from the men, as the old saying goes.

Pictured: The Triffid, Brisbane

Ah live music, our temperamental friend! The past few years have seen Australia hit some serious highs and disastrous lows in our music scene, ranging from the growing number of niche festivals popping up to the unfortunate closer of some beloved pubs and clubs. But as much as we love festivals, not many people have the time, money or stamina to make this a regular outing. The good news is the AU review have found some of the best local venues for you to get your weekly fix from, without having to pay big dollars for big ticket events.

In our 35th installment of “Stumbled Upon”, we meet Belfast’s LORIS, and chat about being feature on BBC Introducing’s and get to listen to their latest track ‘Yeah’. Enjoy this one as much as we do: Band Name: LORIS Website / Social Media: www.lorisofficial.com Facebook / Soundcloud / Youtube / Twitter Genre: Electropop Members &…

Having a strong catalogue of albums and reigning success in the indie/alternative rock scene, Death Cab For Cutie are clearly great at what they do. With their eighth studio album, Kintsugi just released, we chat to bassist player, Nick Harmer about the meaning of the term “Kintsugi”, the details behindChris Walla‘s departure and how the band have evolved using both experimentation…

There’s something about Fictionist that is promising and to have that potential makes their music something to look forward to. Unfortunately, their self-titled album doesn’t highlight their best work as some songs are of mediocre quality. The band have succeeded on their own terms by being part of the SXSW festival and for them to get that kind of…