Welcome back to our monthly feature article, the AU crew poll! When I put the call out to our contributors about their favourite venue in Australia, I was struck by the diversity of the responses. Almost every answer was a different location, provided with a different reason. Unfortunately none of our contributors in Brisbane added…
We’re back with another Music Video Monday – this week falling on a long weekend! So we’re hoping you’re having an amazing day off. We’ll kick things off with Brisbane’s Evil Eddie and his catchy track “(Somebody Say) Evil”. Sydney band The Preachers, are next, who have brought us their new video for “Pale Rider”…
One of the early highlights of the Sydney Film Festival has been The Guard. Directed by John Michael McDonagh and starring Brendan Gleeson (above) and Don Cheadle, this unassuming Irish film is in many respects a modern day western. With McDonagh keeping the audience guessing as to where the allegiances of our ‘hero’ (Gleeson) lies,…
As part of Vivid Creative Sydney and in conjunction with the third day of the Sydney Film Festival, Friday night at the MCA celebrated the relationship between film and music with the Australian premiere screening of the Pop Art film LBF (Living Between Fucks), followed by the live stylings of Kids at Risk and Fergus…
One of the more unique events to hit the Australian touring circuit of late are the upcoming Storm in a Teacup shows. We chatted to one player of the event in advance of the tour, the lovely Jen Cloher. Head to the end of the article to find out more about what the event is…
Locals New War had the difficult task of warming the stage for the latest hipster buzz band to explode across the blogosphere Teeth & Tongue. They were slow to warm up with their first track being a dull, long drone of monotonous bass and sketchy vocals that seemed to suffer from some bad sound mixing….
I entered the doors to the sounds of Melbourne via Munich trio Verdaine, who had deep dark tones and ploughed through their set like no-one’s business. I was standing there with drink in hand trying to think whether or not the band were giving off some sort of shoegaze vibe, but at the same time,…
Earlier this month, Melbourne’s Eagle and the Worm impressed a packed out Oxford Art Factory in Sydney, celebrating the release of their debut record Good Times (in stores now). Larry Heath sat down with the band’s enigmatic front man Mr. Jarrad Brown a couple of days after that performance to talk about the road that’s…
As I was heading to this gig I started to think about weird existential issues about the Australian music scene: why isn’t soul and funk given the attention it well deserves? Hell, there are bands and singers who sweat and work to the bone to deliver great gigs each week in and around Australia, yet…
NME has released its annual top 50 list of ‘Best New Bands’ for the year. No doubt collated from the last few months scouring the world’s music conferences – in particular SXSW in Texas and The Great Escape in the UK – this is a list of relative unknowns who NME reckons will hit the…
GB3 – the collaborative musical project from Underground Lovers’ Glenn Bennie – announce a new single ‘How Do You Glow?’ on June 4 from the acclaimed album Damaged/Controlled, and will launch the single at an exclusive June 10 live show at The East Brunswick Club in Melbourne. The digital single will also feature an alternate…
It’s always interesting when you get to see a performer for a second or third time. Tonight was my second chance to spend the evening in the company of Joan As Police Woman, the first having been on her last Australian tour: a gig that was standing room only at Jive, while she was touring…
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With a massive day of Vivid behind me, I moved onto FBi Social at Kings Cross Hotel to close out my night, catching an acclaimed Vivid artist who I unfortunately missed earlier in the week: Manchester’s Wu Lyf. Having sat down with Ellery and Tom of the group a few days prior (you’ll be able…
With Dom finishing earlier than expected, I was able to make my next performance – Chicago’s Hypnotic Brass Ensemble at the Sydney Opera House Theatre – with plenty of time to kill. So, I grabbed a glass of wine, took my seat, and proceeded to enjoy an amazing hour and a half or so of…
A few brave souls battled Melbourne’s icy weather to make it down to the Northcote early enough to catch local act Absolute Boys doing their thing. I was rather disappointed that I only arrived in time to catch their last two songs, as their sound was very good and left me craving more. Having been…
I kicked off an epic day of Vivid early, catching Yo Gabba Gabba! ahead of some fascinating chats at Creative Sydney. Dubbed “Creative Futures”, today’s talks were streamed live online, so I hope you had a chance to catch it too! The segment “Building the Brand” was of particular mention, with intriguing insight into the…
The Grates (or at least two out of three of them…) are back! They have delivered a brilliant new music video for “Turn Me On”, taken from their new album Secret Rituals, out June 17. The clip was directed by Dimitri Basil, who has provided a little bit of extra info: “The main concept was…
Just after their Sophomore album Puzzle was released in Austraila, I had the opportunity to talk with violist Edda Rún Ólafsdóttir of the Icelandic band Amiina, perhaps best known for their collaborations with Sigur Ros. We chat briefly about the new album, working on a soundtrack to Lotte Reiniger’s animations and what’s coming next for…
Emma Louise is a Brisbane based chanteuse who has a voice so beautiful that it would melt the hardest of hearts. She writes eloquent songs that speak of love and longing with such clarity and grace that their maturity belies her tender years. Her debut release Full Hearts & Empty Rooms showcases a collection of…
“Thank you for staying with us. This is very much the weirdest gig we’ve ever played. Sorry that it wasn’t loud enough.” I almost feel like DZ Deathrays, who are quoted here as they brought their show to an end, summed up the night better than I ever could. As the night hit 1am, the…
In an AU review exclusive, we’re proud to present the world premiere of “It’s a Beautiful Day” – a wonderful track and entrancing music video from NSW based producer, DJ, vocalist & multi-instrumentalist Karuna. It comes off his self-titled EP which is available now through Young Mine (who put out the brilliant Jinja Safari debut…
There’s nothing like a good mix tape, the old school labour of love that involved hours of bootlegging to compile a selection of tracks designed to woo the object of your affection (or impress your friends with your obscenely good taste in music). The digital age has taken the wind out of the mix tape’s…
Melbourne four piece The Mercy Kills make all the gritty, dirty things in life seem gloriously attractive with their sleazy rock and roll. It’s something that was made for brandishing devil’s horns in the mosh pit. Their hard rock sound isn’t reinventing the wheel, but they play with such a furious energy that it’s impossible…
White Denim are a band that are difficult to categorise using the plethora of buzz words available to describe sound. Psychedelic, spazz-jazz, alternative, blues-jazz, country, pop, garage, exercise, post-rock, and party jams are a few of the more popular terms associated with the four piece from Austin, and none of them really do justice to…
Brooklyn based trio The Antlers wrent the world in two with their heartbreaking LP Hospice. The ambient noise and beautiful arrangements that were punctuated by the devastating narrative that ran throughout the record resulted in one of the most intense and haunting releases of 2009 that somehow managed to be both melancholic and emotionally draining…
There’s nothing quite like a Sunday night where you’re serenaded by some truly beautiful performances, in the relaxing atmosphere of a venue like The Vanguard. This particular Sunday night in question featured the talents of Georgia Fields, Brian Campeau and Tara Simmons – three wonderful performers who gave me the sort of end to a…
Back in February, I received the following e-mail. While many “riff offs” are a mutual, cordial affair – just as many have completely ripped off the original. For this installment of Song Riff Offs, I’ll leave it in the capable hands of Kevin Saunderson, to explain why the following is such a perfect example of…
Katie Noonan’s voice is so powerful, yet so delicate it’s hard to think about anything else than what is happening on stage. Elixir is a trio who have been one of Katie’s many musical projects in the jazz world ever since the festival rollicking days of george. Her voice is perfect to this style of…
Born from the ashes of The Afghan Whigs, Greg Dulli and his musical vehicle The Twilight Singers have been making a racket since 1997. The band have recently released their fifth long player Dynamite Steps, and this being my first experience with their sound, I found it to be quite the heady trip into their…
