Music

We continue our top 40 albums of 2012 countdown with the third part of our journey to the number one spot… Lana Del Rey – Born To Die When I first heard the song “Born To Die” I was blown away. I felt liked I was hearing something different, something I had been craving to…

Upon entering a gig where The Living End are playing, you will notice one thing initially – there is always a huge crowd drinking and then you will notice throughout the night the passion that leaks into each punter about this band that reigns above all else and you will find it electrifying. Fans just…

While at Clockenflap in Hong Kong, Johnny Au caught up with Nick from !!! (Chk Chk Chk) to talk about their plans for the next record, the festival, Primal Scream, what he hears other people think about his band, past experiences at Laneway Festival in Australia and much more…

As it’s been previously reported, the Big Day Out is going to be joining the world’s elite festivals this Summer by introducing Chow Town to their festivals – a celebration of some of Sydney’s finest food. These are the sort of restaurants you couldn’t get bookings to even if you tried (and believe me, I…

We continue our Top 40 Albums of 2012 list with 30 to 21… These albums were voted by 42 of our fine contributors and the list that has resulted is an eclectic mix; from local indie, to international chart toppers, Australian Black Metal and all the way back again. We hope you enjoy our annual…

Having just finished up a tour around the country supporting Gotye, the wonderful Bertie Blackman is definitely on our minds at the moment. She has just released a new music video for her track “Stella”, which was directed by Andrew Kavanagh, the 2012 Qantas Spirit of Youth Awards winner of the Film Category. It’s a…

It may be hard to believe that Tales From The Thames Delta is actually the debut album from The Milk. The album can mistake you into thinking it came from a band who have been releasing music for years. Opening track ‘Broke Up The Family’ has hints of The Black Keys about it, then follows…

My favourite showcase returned for round two the other night, bringing with it the music of Ivi, Jenna Murphy and Zana Rose, and Rascals & Runaways. Once again, it was a great night of female talent — the kind of event that doesn’t happen anywhere near often enough.

As we launch our Best of 2012 series, we begin as we usually do with the first ten albums of our Top 40 Albums of 2012 list. These albums were voted by 42 of our fine contributors and the list that has resulted is an eclectic mix; from local indie, to international chart toppers, Australian…

While at Clockenflap in Hong Kong we caught up with Nic Offer of !!! (Chk Chk Chk) and he let us in on what his favourite record of 2012 was… so let’s learn a little more about Big Day Out bound Death Grips from the man himself…

Larry had a chat with Laneway Festival and Sydney Festival bound artist Nite Jewel to talk about what we can expect from the shows, what’s coming next and much much more… Where about are you at the moment? Just at home! How’s the weather this time of year, you’re based in LA aren’t you? Yeah,…

Just before he was taking the stage at his own show in New York, and a couple of days away from performing with the legendary The Rolling Stones, Larry Heath caught up with a man who’s becoming a bit of a legend himself – Austin’s Gary Clark Jr., who’ll be returning to the country this…

PVT are back with a new single in “Nightfall”, and for its music video they’ve teamed up with Jennifer Juniper Stratford. The result is a colourful, trippy, possibly Tron inspired journey. Enjoy it below! The track is currently available for download from PVT’s Soundcloud page: http://soundcloud.com/pvt/nightfall

Claire Knight catches up with Melbourne’s Daniel Merriweather backstage at Homebake Festival to talk about living in LA, working on new material, with new artists, his latest live show and more…

Jamie Cockburn had the chance to speak to Scottish lad Mike Scott of The Waterboys who will be down under next month for a national tour. Here’s what went down… You will be touring Australia for the first time as a band next month – what has taken you so long to get down here!?…

Part ¡Dos! in Green Day’s trilogy of rock albums could easily be seen as nothing more than a sequel to the drunken debut by their short-lived side-project, The Foxboro Hot Tubs. This, however, would be the wrong way to look at it. While the album is most certainly soaked with the hedonism of Stop, Drop,…

In the first of our 2012 backstage at Homebake series, Larry catches up with Husky and Gideon from Husky to talk about the year past (which included no less than five trips to America!) and the year ahead… which looks to include the recording of their next album! Interview: Larry Heath Sound: Claire Knight Cameras:…

Californian psyche-rockers Spindrift took time out of their schedule to catch up with the AU review about their work in movie soundtracks, their new album and the accompanying documentary film. How would you describe your sound? Spindrift is a cinematically driven psychedelic spaghetti western rock band. Who would you say are your main influences? Our…

the AU review recently caught up with Laetitia Sadier, formerly of Stereolab, to chat about her recent appearance at the Culture Collide Festival, her latest album Silencio and balancing raising her family with her music career. How does touring as a solo artist compare to touring in a band like Stereolab? The 2 are so…

Friday night saw Perth’s Amplifier Bar play host to a collection of local talent, the majority of whom I was seeing for the first time, for the launch of Our Man In Berlin’s video for latest single “Bled Dry” off forthcoming EP Paint The Lies. I unfortunately missed a good portion of opening act Lanark’s…

Tiny little streetside hole in the wall, The Newsagency, prides itself on being a venue for songwriters. A place where music fans can come and enjoy grassroots artists; performing in a lounge room style setting. Even the gig itself was touted as Brendan Maclean’s own personal birthday extravaganza; with a line-up consisting of Maclean’s own friends from…

On my first visit to The Forum (being from Adelaide and all) I walked in and was struck by two things. Firstly, the incredible view of the Roman-style theatre complete with naked statues and a bright, faux-star sky. Secondly, the effortlessly booming, deep, blues beats of support band The Growl. Their name conspicuously missing from…

Now here’s something you wouldn’t have ever expected to see. Lars Ulrich from Metallica and Sean Parker pictured together, all smiles. After all that fighting over Napster, Spotify has brought them together, photographed here at a special event today in New York to announce that Metallica would now be featured on the streaming platform. Meanwhile,…

Fresh off winning Best Album for A is for Alpine (for which they also received an ARIA nomination) at the 2012 The Age EG Awards, Melbourne’s Alpine have released a new music video for the track “Seeing Red” which sees the band getting their spacesuit on…

Your bright, red lips makes my blood bright red… Welcome to my new feature column “Larry Likes!” in which I share recent musical discoveries with you – both local and international. We start with a Sydney four piece called Yetis. “Bright Red” is the second track off their just released sophomore EP Hear Me Now,…

Birds of Tokyo have been around for quite a few years now. Since their debut in Perth in 2004 and after releasing two EP’s, they released their first full length album in 2006 titled Day One. After extensive touring they released a second titled album, Universes, which was recorded in LA and has won many…

While at Clockenflap over the weekend, Johnny Au talks to the gorgeous UK singer/songwriter Lucy Rose about her time in Hong Kong, plans for 2013, desires to tour Australia, work with Bombay Bicycle Club, her new album (in stores now) and much more… Camera/Interview: Johnny Au Edit: Larry Heath

I love music documentaries. If my annual Sydney Film Festival coverage is anything to go by, by and large I’m first in line for the latest release. Lemmy definitely ranks high on the list of Sydney Film Festival favourites, a man who would count himself as good mates with another man named Mr. Dave Grohl…

It was a beautiful night down at Bondi last night with lots of fabulous film faces making it down to Icebergs to kick off the much loved festival FLiCKERFEST. The glamorous crowd were also the first to hear of an exciting development in the Australian film industry – Gillian Armstrong was thrilled to announce that…

Co-founder of Big Day Out Ken West took the time to talk to Larry Heath about the latest developments in the iconic festival, the genre-crossing approach that it was established upon, and his new partnership with Lollapalooza-promoters C3.