Music

Considering all the maligned reports I had heard of Cat Power’s performances in the past, I wasn’t sure what to expect on this overcast Saturday in Sydney. Reflecting upon my appreciation for her recorded material, I went along regardless, with expectations at a high. Despite the scathing review this lack of fulfillment may have given…

Future Music Festival, we meet again. Although this year, it is on different turf, as I headed over from Adelaide to Perth to spend a hot summer day at Joondalup Arena due to scheduling conflicts I have with the Adelaide Festival, and my determination not to miss seeing both Bloc Party and The Stone Roses….

Lots of pretty young things started queuing up early to make their way into the Enmore Theatre tonight. London dance/pop songstress Rita Ora is currently hopping around our continent as part of the Future Music festival and this was her Sydney debut sideshow.

Tuesday night saw Cat Power stop in at the Perth Festival Gardens for the first of two shows. It was her second show of the tour in Australia, following a run of two shows in New Zealand. I can’t say it was the best performance I have seen from Chan Marshall, but was by no…

For a little while now I’ve found myself falling under the spell of the music coming out of New Orleans. So I jumped at the chance of seeing one of the cities renowned brass bands, The Soul Rebels, when they stopped off in Perth for the arts festival. Expectations were high and exceeded in a…

Last night, the legendary Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds kicked off the first of three nights at the iconic Sydney Opera House, accompanied by members of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra string section and a youth choir from Annandale. The resulting two hour performance was one of such high calibre that this run of shows…

There’s a lot more to Duff McKagan than being an ex-member of Guns and Roses, but I’m sure this status helps when promoting his solo projects. Nonetheless, his very own Loaded lives up to all expectations on record as well as live. In fact, in some ways they outshine the past with an uncompromising sound…

London four piece Deaf Club, one of our favourite new finds here at the AU, are preparing for their first shows in the USA at SXSW (that you better believe we’re going to try and check out). To celebrate, they’re sharing with the world a free download of a four track EP that features the…

This was big. This was bigger than big. This was without question the biggest rock music festival ever to hit Australia. Over 70,000 rock fans made way to Sydney Olympic Park on Sunday for the annual Soundwave Festival, this year headlined by Metallica and featuring a lineup as impressive as any one day event you’d…

Saturday night saw the Basement do away with its usual setup of catering to the forty plus “dinner and show” audience, and enter into “dance-floor mode” to provide ample room for the predominantly younger audience who had braved the ferocious weather to attend a sold-out performance by New Orleans’ Tuba Skinny. Ragtime, Dixieland, Jazz, and…

Every now and then I like to step outside of my comfort zone when it comes to gigs. The Raah Project’s show at the Perth Festival on Friday proved to me that this can only lead to good things. Theirs was a performance that was entertaining and at times nothing short of exquisite, a captivating…

When I expressed a desire to see Brisbane based band Gung Ho last month I was unemployed and suffering from a severe case of post holiday blues with nothing but spare time with a need for free entertainment. By the time the 22nd had finally rolled around I’d just finished my first week of full…

In less than a month, the city of Austin, Texas will be throwing open its doors to tens of thousands of music fans, industry officials and musicians for the annual SXSW music festival and conference. Amongst that number are over thirty Australian artists. Over the course of the next couple of weeks we’ll be profiling…

Blink 182 played the Allphones Arena in Sydney with The Vandals, and Gwendolyn Lee was there to capture it all.

Draped in light and sounding solid for their first Australian gigs in five years, The Morning After Girls returned to Sydney in fine form, supporting the legendary My Bloody Valentine. The set included the phenomenal “The General Public”, the now classic “Shadows Evolve” and “Part of your Nature”. It was a loud set, fitting for…

Playing to a (fairly adoring) home crowd, Darwin’s Green Stone Garden are back on stage for their first gig of the year, fresh from the studio and channeling a new sound. Most importantly, they come armed with some much anticipated new songs, including ‘The Island’, pegged to be the single when the EP North is…

Friday night saw former Fleet Foxes drummer J Tillman take to the stage of the Perth International Arts Festival, for the first show of his latest Australian tour as Father John Misty. Opening proceedings were local Alt. Country band Ruby Boots, fresh from a month long tour over East in support of new single “Kellie…

When Leonard Cohen launched his revival concerts earlier in the decade, his stature ensured he would tour the world with the finest musicians in the industry; the sort who have instruments named after them. But he’s far from the only legend to accumulate such talent. Since the mid-90s, The Beatles’ drummer Ringo Starr has been…

The brand new video from The Weeknd is for the single “twenty eight”, which was one of three new recordings featured on his Trilogy release (out now through Universal). Directed by Nabil Elderkin (who has worked with Kanye, Bon Iver and Frank Ocean), the beautiful song is accompanied by a NSFW video. In other words,…

You know that moment when you find your new favourite song? This is one of those moments. Big Black Delta is the project of Los Angeles’ Jonathan Bates, who has toured with M83 and is now ready to deliver his own taste of electronic bliss. “Side of the Road” is your favourite song you haven’t…

The legendary Joan Armatrading is returning to Australia for Bluesfest, and she took some time out of her busy schedule to talk to Larry Heath about the upcoming trip, supporting younger talent and much more. I admire performers who come to Australia because it’s the worse jet lag. You know, I actually don’t get that….

The St Kilda Festival is a relevant piece of history as well as merriment and pleasure. Each year sparkles newsworthy debates that it will end but these scares disappear in a blink of an eye and any wonder, the festival attracted 400,000 revelers in 2013 alone. Bottle shops no doubt do a roaring trade (although…