Music

It seems Australian audiences can’t get enough of Texan darlings Okkervil River, as the band make their fifth journey to our shores this October. The five-piece come armed with a swag of new songs from their recently released sixth album, I Am Very Far, which is a startling break from anything the band has ever…

It’s not entirely surprising that music with a sly hint of surf would come out of the wilds of Geelong. Nor does it confound that a little motor city mayhem should infuse the sounds emanating from that particular city. Melbourne’s little sister, resplendent with sand, sea and home of the Ford factory, has given us…

About to hit Australia are Californian band Zebrahead. They’re playing Soundwave Revolution this September. Larry Heath caught up with lead singer Ali Tabatabaee to chat about their new record, touring Australia for the first time, the nature of the radio business, Dave Grohl and more! Are you at home at the moment? I am at…

After a long journey up from Sydney, it was finally time to embrace the sweet sounds of Splendour in the Grass for 2011, which had returned to Woodford for the 2nd consecutive year. Unfortunately, the usual logistical delays of picking up our campervan kept us from enjoying some of the early sounds of the day,…

For the sixth consecutive week, Adele dominates both the ARIA Singles & Album Charts. Eclipsing last week’s effort with it’s strongest sales week to date, “21” chalks up eight straight and twelve non-consecutive weeks at the ARIA Album Chart summit, as her debut record “19” drops just one spot to number four. “Someone Like You”…

Hot news for all you punk-pop aficionados; Canadian quintet SIMPLE PLAN are returning to Australia this September for a string of shows in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne following the success of their latest album Get Your Heart On! (out now through Warner Music Australia). In the 12 years since their inception in 1999, with multiplatinum…

Two new acts will join the line-up of incredible indigenous talent to perform at the National Indigenous Music Awards in Darwin on Friday August 19 . Emerging from the desert of Indulkana Community, APY Lands is the much talked about newcomers Iwantja. Iwantja has performed at the Dreaming Festival, the Woodford Folk Festival, the Bush…

The first day of live music at Splendour in the Grass continues with Boy & Bear, DJ Shadow, The Hives, Gotye, Modest Mouse, Mogwai, The Black Seeds, Bluejuice, Kanye West and many more!

A small crowd gathered early to watch New Zealand natives Cut Off Your Hands kick off the evening, opening with “Down & Out” from their recently released LP Hollow. The boys started off slow and were lacking their usual charismatic energy as they played through their new material to an unreceptive audience. The set was…

We arrive at Splendour in the Grass for the first full day of festivities! In the first half of the day, we check out Sydney’s Jinja Safari, up-and-coming artist Marques Toliver, Illy, The Kills, James Blake and more.

The bellowing Jack Ladder seems to be one of those guys quietly working hard to sound more mature every time I see him live. His swagger on stage is really refined, and you’d be mistaken if you had transported yourself to the early new wave scenes of the 1970’s and 80’s. Jack’s guitarist – Kirin…

What was all this talk about Modest Mouse only playing new songs at On The Bright Side? I just saw the setlist then and it was pretty much ONLY old stuff. Just because it’s super old and you don’t know what it is, doesn’t a new song make! Pfft. Anyway, for one reason or another…

Pnau have finally made it back on Australian shores this year, touring with the Big Day Out festival and playing their first run of headlining side shows since Nick Littlemore ‘vanished’ from the spotlight back in 2009. The atmosphere in the band room was electric as the lights dimmed and the audience was bathed in…

It’s been one hell of a year for Australian hip hop artist DRAPHT, with his fourth album “The Life of Riley” debuting at number 1 on the ARIA charts (still the only Australian artist to do so this year!). With tracks “Rapunzel” and “Sing It (The Life of Riley)” getting a smashing on radio and…

On the eve of the release of their first full-length effort, the freshly minted Moonfire, Boy & Bear will hold a free performance as part of the iTunes Live from Sydney series. On Wednesday 3rd August, Sydney fans will have an opportunity to attend a live, acoustic and intimate performance by Boy & Bear as…

It’s official. The Boroughs – the boutique New York-inspired arts and culture festival – will bring the highly influential punk band the New York Dolls to Australia this October! For the first time since 2007, the 70s icons will reach Australian shores in all their glamour and glory. This time, it’ll be as spokespeople and…

Artists from around Australia are encouraged to apply to perform at the annual Peats Ridge Arts and Music Festival. Musicians, artists and theatre groups will have an opportunity to unlock their door to stardom by appearing in front of more than 10,000 people over New Years from Thursday 29 December to Sunday 01 January 2011….

Melbourne’s foremost purveyors of surf ‘n’ western sounds, Mikelangelo and the Tin Star return to the Vanguard for one night only Friday 5 August. The group launched their debut album, The Surf ‘n’ Western Sounds Of Mikelangelo and the Tin Star, to a sell out show at the Vanguard in June, and are bringing their…

Musicians from every metro, regional and rural high school across Australia are being given an opportunity like never before, the chance of scoring a recording deal with Sony Music Entertainment to the value of $50,000 as well as being included in the lineup at Australia’s biggest touring music festival the Big Day Out 2012 all…

Dear friends, We’d like to put paid to some rumours you may have been hearing around town. St Jerome’s is not re-opening. It can’t. The building got pulled down. However, we’re opening up a venue named The Resurrection in Lygon Street East Brunswick, which pays homage to the glorious institution that was St Jerome’s in…

The new album is the anticipated follow up to the 2008 album by The Nightwatchman ‘The Fabled City’ and was produced by Morello. The first single ‘Save The Hammer For The Man’ was co-written with Ben Harper and features Harper on vocals and guitar. While Morello’s solo albums as The Nightwatchman have primarily been acoustic…

Björk continues to unveil Biophilia, her most interdisciplinary project to date, with today’s release of the Biophilia App for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch and first two album singles “Cosmogony” and “Crystalline” on the iTunes Store. The full Biophilia album will be released on September 23 through One Little Indian/Universal. The groundbreaking director and longtime…

The better part of 2011 so far has seen Sydney 4-piece GO/NO-GO writing and recording their highly anticipated sophomore album. The release is due out this Summer, but there’s plenty of action to keep fans sated before then! The first single from the yet-to-be-titled album #2 is Phase Out, and will be released on 13th…

Four years after the release of her Grammy-nominated, Juno Award-winning, best selling album The Reminder, Feist returns in 2011 with Metals. Recorded in Big Sur, California and co-produced by longtime collaborators Chilly Gonzales and Mocky, as well as newcomer Valgeir Sigurðsson (Bjork, Bonnie “Prince” Billy), Metals will be released on Polydor/Interscope/Universal/Arts & Crafts on October…

Where does the time go? It feels like only yesterday that we were ringing in 2011 after three magical days of music festival frivolity on Phillip Island and already the time has come to look ahead to 2012. Well we here at PYRAMID ROCK FESTIVAL have been looking ahead for quite some time now, putting…

ED KUEPPER, founding member of Australian proto-punks, The Saints, musical pioneer with the equally incendiary Laughing Clowns, owner of some 18+ solo albums and the newest member of Nick Cave’s Bad Seeds hits the road again this August/September to present ‘Re-Arranged’. A show in two (human) parts. Loosely described as “ambient-rockabilly”, the two-piece show sees…

Fresh off the back of the WAMIs festival and a brief east coast run, Perth’s The Panda Band brace themselves for their national ‘Charisma Weapon’ Album Tour. Recently returning to the touring circuit after an extended break from the Australian spotlight, The Panda Band were received back with open arms at this years 2011 WAMIS……

Northeast Party House are a six piece psychedelic dance rock band from Melbourne, Australia. In early 2010 the band began playing warehouse parties and local venues and quickly gained a following based on their reputation for delivering high energy live shows. A demo version of the band’s track ‘Dusk’ gained blog attention and local airplay,…

For this project, music icons and pop culture visionaries JAY-Z and Kanye West have joined their extraordinary talents to deliver the most anticipated album of the year, WATCH THE THRONE. The longtime friends and music innovators inspired each other to new heights with their collaboration on WATCH THE THRONE recorded in person at various locations…

I remember being so impressed when I heard my first post rock song – “Sleep” by Godspeed You! Black Emperor. It changed my musical life and brought a whole new perspective on listening. Music was more than just a 3 piece band and a vocalist. This new genre was an exciting and uncharted area for…