Music

the AU review is proud to present this special guest post from Andrew Smith, Destination NSW’s Chief Funster. In this piece, Andrew reports exclusively for the AU from the annual Country Music Festival in Tamworth, NSW, which takes place from the 17th until the 26th of January… I’ve just spent a few days discovering why…

Larry Heath sits down with acclaimed UK singer/songwriter/guitarist Ryan Keen to talk about his tour around Australia with Busby Marou, the journey of his debut album Room For Light, his subsequent journeys around the world as well as what’s planned for the rest of 2014. We find out if he writes music on the road…

Larry Heath sits down in a Sydney park with Sarah McLeod to talk about upcoming shows with The Superjesus and the anticipated collaborative tour with the one and only Jeff Martin (The Tea Party). Plus, we find out the latest on her solo material and new music with The Superjesus! Don’t miss The Superjesus when…

Ahead of this weekend’s Australia Day fundraiser at the Reverence Hotel in Footscray, Melbourne, supporting Oxfam and The Refugee Council, we’re catching up with a bunch of the bands playing at the event! First up is Chris from Melbourne’s own punk rockers Anchors. Tell us who you are, what band you’re from and where your…

Ahead of this weekend’s Australia Day fundraiser at the Reverence Hotel in Footscray, Melbourne, supporting Oxfam and The Refugee Council, we’re catching up with a bunch of the bands playing at the event! Next up is Brad, the guitarist from Melbourne’s punk/metal outfit Outright. Tell us who you are, what band you’re from and where…

Last month we revealed our top 40 albums of 2013, which included 13 albums from Australia. Since then, we’ve received a few e-mails, asking for more recommendations from the world of Australian music in 2013, from readers both at home and abroad. So, we’ve gone back to our list of votes from AU’s fine contributors…

Larry Heath sits down with Michael Lira from Sydney group Darth Vegas to talk about their upcoming “last show in Australia”, taking place at The Jam Gallery in Bondi Junction on the 8th of February. We find out what we can expect from the show, talk about the debut of Neill Duncan’s one-handed Saxophone and…

Earlier today on Twitter and Facebook, the internationally renowned EDM event Ultra Music Festival opened up accounts that indicated they’ll be heading to Australia very soon. For those not in the know, Ultra occurs every March, just after SXSW, in Miami, Florida. In 2013 alone, 330,000 people headed to Bayfront Park for the mammoth event….

There’s so much incredible music on the horizon this year, it’s hard to know where to begin. But these 14 records – in alphabetical order – from Australia and around the world are a good place to start. Let’s get excited for another amazing year of music… kicking off with a local group who have…

As we approach SXSW for another year, things start to take shape for some of the country’s younger bands, and we start to get some indication of the band’s we should all be keeping an eye on. As we did last year and the year before, here now, in no particular order, are 14 Australian…

the AU review and Hello Asia!’s Larry Heath sits down with Japanese instrumental funk band Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro in January 2014, while touring in Australia. We talk about their new album Perfect Times, their writing process, plans for the rest of 2014 and more!

Ahead of the Soundwave tour in March 2014, Greg Puciatio, lead singer of The Dillinger Escape Plan talks to AU review reporter John Goodridge about life on the road and behind the scenes of the making of their latest album. Hey Greg how’s it going? John! What’s up man? How are you? Yeah good thanks….

Before their last show of their most recent Australian tour with Paramore, the AU Review caught up with Max Helyer, guitarist for You Me At Six to see what the band has been up to since their last trip to our shores and what fans can expect from their new release, Cavalier Youth. Hi Max…

One of the most intriguing additions to the Sydney Festival’s “About an Hour” series for 2014 is Bullet Catch. Part theatre, part magic show, part interactive experience, the production is Rob Drummond’s one man show as magician William Wonder, who tells the story of a magician who died 100 years ago performing the infamous “Bullet…

Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo returned to Australia last week to perform his new composition Hurricane Transcriptions at the Sydney Festival. Jamie Williams from the Festival brings us these photos from the one off concert at the City Recital Hall.

Karnivool played their 2nd show at the UNSW Roundhouse on Saturday night with support from Dead Letter Circus and Sleepmakeswaves. Photos by Gwendolyn Lee.

One of the unique advantages of playing a successful and respected annual event like Sydney Festival is that artists who may otherwise perform to half full rooms around the country are given the chance to sit in front of large, (usually) packed venues. This is thanks to the mix of fans and the curious who…

After seeing Limbo, I felt it would be hard to witness another acrobatic circus so soon. Surely it couldn’t top all the wonderful array of party tricks they had up their sleeves. Indeed, Limbo is a high-tech, over-the-top masterpiece of the circus. So I went into Scotch and Soda, Sydney festival’s other house circus, with…

Renowned for her boundless visual imagination, Berlin choreographer Sasha Waltz has come together with celebrated baroque orchestra Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin to present her first opera: a majestic reimagining of one of the world’s great romantic tragedies, Dido & Aeneas, with performances at Sydney Festival until the 21st of January. Find out more HERE…

Larry Heath sits down with Columbus, Ohio duo twenty | one | pilots, currently in Australia touring with Paramore and You Me at Six. We talk about the tour, coming down under for the first time, what 2014 has in store for them, their live show aspirations and more!

the AU review presents the AU sessions with The Superjesus’ Sarah McLeod performing the classic track “Second Sun” LIVE, solo and acoustic in a Sydney park! Don’t miss The Superjesus when they perform three very special shows over the Australia Day long weekend: Waves in Wollongong on the 24th of January, Bateau Bay Hotel on…

Ahead of Gwar‘s return to (and potential annihilation of) Australia for Soundwave, AU review reporter John Goodridge chat’s to lead singer Dave Brockie about the evolution of Gwar and heavy metal. Warning – bad language within… but we think you’ll like it. Hello. I’m looking for Oderus Ungerus from Antarctica. Well you found him. You…

You often hear an AU contributor rate a gig as a highlight of the year, but by the time the year is over, what still sits on that top 5 list? Well, we asked our contributors just that and from all those responses we bring you the AU’s top thirteen local touring artists of 2013!…

Over the weekend, Fairfax Media published an article entitled “Calling The Tune” (read it here), which captured this moment in the Australian music industry. A moment that sees the government funded radio station triple j as the leading national voice (musically) for 18-24 year olds. With essentially no competition, no one else has the ability…

If you could mix together a blend of emo, pop punk, fast paced alternative rock and a dash of rap you would be pretty close to summarising the different genres and sounds you’d hear at tonight’s concert. All of this would be delivered in large high energy doses courtesy of all three acts.

The 2014 Sydney Festival has well and truly set the standard for high quality gatherings of artistic types once again! The opening weekend saw many stellar performers, from Ben Caplan to Amanda Palmer, there was something for everyone. Jamie Williams brings you some highlights in this gallery.

Sometimes on very rare occasions an artist is so mesmerising and captivating, that all you can hear is their performance and nothing else. It’s not often that I get to be a part of shows like that, but tonight was one of those nights.

the AU review presents Canadian artist Mo Kenney performing the unreleased track “Wind Will Blow” (Working Title) LIVE, exclusive and acoustic on the AU sessions. Filmed in Sydney, Australia at AU HQ on 8th January 2014. Mo Kenney is currently touring Australia with the following dates remaining: Friday 10th January at Caravan Music Club, Melbourne

Make the most of everyday – Summer is more than just a reason, it’s the feeling that something awesome could happen at any moment. Summertime has well and truly begun, being right in the midst of the festival season, summer and music go hand in hand. Guvera has created a Summertime playlist featuring international artists…

Ever since they were announced on the Big Day Out lineup, fans have been waiting for announcements on their sideshows. And now that time has arrived. Playing Sydney are the Deftones, Melbourne will get a The Hives sideshow while Ghost will play both Sydney and Melbourne. Check out the dates and details here: DEFTONES +…