Music

Well that’s it. The last Laneway Festival of the year has come and gone. The festivals run of shows came to a sweltering sold-out climax at Perth’s Cultural precinct. Looking at the line-up (Of Monsters and Men & The Reubens in particular) it’s hardly surprising that Perth along with a number of the other dates…

Even though I spent quite a bit of time growing up in the US, American Country music was never something I was raised with. In fact, with the more generic of the genre being all I was exposed to, I did my best to avoid it entirely. It’s only been in recent years through events…

Larry chats to Torquil Campbell and Pat McGee from Canadian band Stars while on their third trip to Australia. Recorded yesterday at the Factory Theatre just before they hit the stage on their first of four Australian shows! REMAINING TOUR DATES: The Corner Hotel, Melbourne, VIC February 10, 2013 The Zoo, Brisbane, QLD February 11,…

Larry Heath talks to Scott Hamilton, newly appointed General Manager of Guvera, an online music and streaming service, about competition, growth and constant challenges faced in the mobile music market. You’ve come into this position as GM of Guvera quite recently, What’s your background? I’ve been in this position a week, I came in last…

We’re proud to premiere the brand new track from QLD’s Wax Watches – the solo project of Alex Wall from Bleeding Knees Club. If you’re a fan of BKC, you’ll feel right at home here with the single “Nightmares”, which was recorded in Wall’s bedroom, and features Wall on all instruments. This is the case…

Michael Badger (Vocals/Guitar) and Troy Ramaekers (Drums) of Melbourne’s psychedelic group The Demon Parade talk about the current tour for their latest EP Chameleon with the AU review. VIDEO CREDITS: Interview: Larry Heath Camera/Edit: Nathan Atkins This interview was recorded at the Brighton Up Bar in Sydney. More Interviews! Subscribe here: http://www.youtube.com/user/theaureview

This past week in the US marked the end of yet another fantastic series, 30 Rock, which finished up its 7th season with a fantastic series finale – ahead of the premiere of Community next week for its final season! Ah, it’s the end of an era. We thought we’d take a moment and commemorate…

Far from the laneways it originated in, the boutique St Jerome’s Laneway Festival is now a three country, seven city touring juggernaut, with huge crowds and unthinkable logistics. And though it still attracts the fringe acts that gave it its idealic indie reputation in its early days, it also attracts (or, rather, predicts) bands who…

The ritual performances that The Necks perform at The Corner Hotel around about this time of year has always been something intriguing, considering the venue hardly ever gets people to sit down for a performance for any of the shows it puts on. It just seems as if there is this ‘block’ where an exception…

Sound City is a feature length documentary, directed by Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters), about the human element of music, the lost art of analogue recording, and the history of America’s greatest unsung recording studio, Sound City. It will screen at select cinemas in Australia tomorrow night (Thursday 31st January), with additional cinemas and times…

Australia Day at The Vic took place in The Vic’s empty car park otherwise known as The Projects. This year it featured the local kings of mega hectic psychedelic reggae Sticky Fingers and inner west’s hip hop heroes Daily Meds.

Nuns are a bunch of curly haired party boys from Wollongong who have decided to release some music. Their summer heartbreak anthem “Shotgun Girl” is the first taste off their upcoming debut EP. The track premieres today on the AU review and is available for download now off Bandcamp! Shotgun Girl by NUNS LINKS: http://www.facebook.com/nunsmusic…

Archie Roach has suffered than his fair share of hardships over the last three years. Following the passing of his partner and soul mate Ruby Hunter in 2010, Roach suffered a stroke and went on to lose a lung to cancer not long after that; both times seeing the beloved Aboriginal artist head into rehabilitation….

In the country to play St Jerome’s Laneway Festival next weekend, Seattle based Mike Hadreas aka Perfume Genius first snuck in two intimate showcases, including one on the closing night of the 2013 Sydney Festival, at The Famous Spiegeltent. The tour comes almost a year after the artist released his acclaimed sophomore LP Put Your…

American noise pop duo Sleigh Bells are in the country to play The Big Day Out and tour their album Reign of Terror. Larry Heath sat down to talk with them about on-stage stuff ups and their next album. Welcome back to Australia. It’s been a long time. Derek: Yes, we’re psyched to be here….

I don’t think I’ve ever reviewed an explicitly classical music production before. Years ago I spoke about Run Lola Run‘s live presentation at Sydney Festival with The Bays, and at this year’s event I’ve already talked about a Jazz Orchestra, but in either case I’m very much out of my comfort zone here. At least…

Adelaide got some loving from the Sugar Mountain Festival sideshows with New Yorkers Woods putting on a grand performance at the hipster art space; Format. I descended the stairs into the pungent, sweltering basement midway through the Wild Oats set and was immediately put at ease by their beguiling tunes. The three-piece know their way…

Interview with Tim Levinson (a.k.a. Urthboy) backstage at the 2013 Big Day Out in Sydney. We talk about the year ahead, balancing working on the record label and producing his own music, playing the Big Day Out and more! Video Credits Interview: Larry Heath Camera: Yaya Stempler / Nathan Atkins Sound: Lucy Inglis Edit: Nathan…

As seems to be the trend of many bands playing Big Day Out this year (The Killers, Foals etc.), we’re getting a unique opportunity to catch some pretty big names in relatively intimate settings. Take last night’s Yeah Yeah Yeahs gig as a perfect example of this; the band played the 1200-or-so capacity Metro Theatre,…

In the midst of preparing himself for a journey to Australia, Ben Caplan talked to Larry, about the upcoming tour, his plans for new music, and his devotion to his music.

Podcast produced and hosted by Tiffany Britchford, featuring Claire Knight, Phil Perez and Larry Heath.

While we were in New York for CMJ, we headed down to Coney Island just before it was ravaged by Hurricane Sandy and happened to bump into Brisbane boys Dune Rats wreaking their own havoc on the Island, which happened to be celebrating the Halloween season at the time. They managed to get a music…

Two men. Two acoustic guitars. An hour and 15 minutes of music. It would be fair to say that this is the best way one might describe this weekend’s debut Australian performance of The New Mendicants, aka Norman Blake from Teenage Fanclub, among others, and Joe Pernice from The Pernice Brothers, among others. The pair,…

Ahead of their upcoming tour of Australia as part of Bluesfest, we caught up with Wilco’s long term bassist John Stirratt to discuss the bands most recent album The Whole Love, as well as the secret to the bands longevity, the weather and whether or not work has begun on a follow up. I suppose a…

While backstage at the Big Day Out in Sydney, we sat down with Sydney duo Toucan to talk about their new EP, playing the festival and much, much more… Video Credits Interview: Larry Heath Camera: Yaya Stempler / Nathan Atkins Sound: Lucy Inglis Edit: Nathan Atkins

Every now and then a show comes along where being a fan makes it rather difficult to write a review that isn’t full of hyperbole and inexplicable excitement. For me, Weezer was one of those shows. But don’t let my status as a “fan” belittle any praise bestowed upon this gig. I’ve seen Weezer before,…

I struggle with the indie music scene in the 21st century; mainly because it’s all starting to look and sound the same and I can’t for the life of me distinguish between one skinny jeaned, Jenny Kee jumper wearer and their synths from the next. Not everyone can write thirty minute mind blowing epics like…

Supported by a superb five piece band and some of the best songs in the history of music, it would be fair to say that Angélique Kidjo, Dianne Reeves and Lizz Wright should have had a fairly easy night winning over their Sydney Festival crowd for the “Sing The Truth” concert – an evening of…

One thing I love about events like Sydney Festival is that it gives you the chance to discover new artistic beings you probably should have already known about, but didn’t. Robert Wyatt was one such being, whose name I’d heard echo around the music ether over the years, but never really took the time to…