Music

Last night, the third annual SMAC Awards were announced at Darlinghurst’s National Art School. The event celebrates the best in arts and music in Sydney, thanks to FBi Radio. Cloud Control swept the awards with three wins (if you include best on screen), but the guys from GoodGod Small Club took out the major award……

It’s that time of year again… Golden Voice have announced their epic 3 day lineup for the iconic Coachella music festival in Indio, California. A few familiar Australian names help make up the pack: Empire of the Sun, Tame Impala, Cut Copy, The Presets and Gypsy and the Cat will all be making appearances at…

The past twelve months have been a hell of a ride for Sydney’s Bliss N Eso. Their latest album, Running on Air, which debuted at #1 on the ARIA Album Chart, has reached platinum status after 24 straight weeks in the Top 50. It was the 7th highest-selling Australian album of the year, and the…

“Habits is filled with Eighties pop meshed with bombastic alt-rock choruses — like the Killers playing backup for Duran Duran” Rolling Stone “Melding pop-punk riffs with a tinge of electro, alternative rock act Neon Trees bring the fist-pumps to the dance floor” Billboard Neon Trees are heading to Australia for the first time from February…

Amanda Palmer is back with a new album “…Goes Down Under” – featuring a selection of tracks dedicated to Australia and New Zealand. She’s released a music video for “Map of Tasmania” with The Young Punx. Check it out here!

There are an awful lot of indie bands cropping up out of the wood work who are cranking out the lo-fi dream pop or ’80s synth soundscapes like their synthesisers are about to be put out to pasture. These bands all seem to find their home at The Workers Club and their Summer Series, which…

One of electronic music’s most eclectic artists, Sascha Ring (aka Apparat), has been DJing and producing for more than a decade. Aside from his own productions, the Berlin-based musician has worked on albums with Modeselektor, Ellen Allien, and even a rock opera with Gianna Nannini. Experimental by nature, his style is notoriously difficult to pinpoint,…

The wait is over for tens of thousands of fans of WOMADelaide – Australia’s premier music festival – as organisers today announced another seven groups to complete an incredible line-up of over 550 artists from 34 countries for the March 2011 event. WOMADelaide will for the second time only be staged as a four-day event…

Mr Bob Dylan – celebrated poet, artist, singer, writer, actor and radio announcer – will send legions of fans back once more to all those wonderful songs and albums, as he returns after close to four years for a tour taking in Australian capital cities and festival appearances in Byron Bay for Bluesfest and Fremantle…

The Big Day Out is disappointed to announce that The Black Keys will be unable to perform on any of the 2011 Big Day Out events in Australia or New Zealand due to exhaustion. The band have provided the following information as explanation to event patrons and fans: “The Black Keys are sorry to announce…

Gareth Liddiard Strange Tour With Special Guest Dan Kelly Tix on Sale Now Gareth Liddiard’s solo album Strange Tourist was released last October. The album and the shows that followed left audiences enthralled. Songs like wrecking balls bookended with hilarious observations and repartee prompted one critic to note, “…the genuine applause that follows each song…

The Kills have an announcement for you….

The 5th Red Bull Award for Best Debut Release has been awarded to Sydney’s The Holidays as part of the 6th Australian Music Prize. The Red Bull Award has long recognised outstanding potential, with the 2010 prize renewing its focus to concentrate on debut albums only. The Holiday’s “Post Paradise” earned a raft of critic’s…

Before wowing crowds with one of his first ever solo performances (which just so happened to be at Peats Ridge), Larry caught up with Evil Eddie, best known for his work as the lead of Butterfingers. They chat about his solo project, his Triple J hit “Queensland”, YouTube, what happened to Butterfingers and much more…

We first heard this track a couple of months back on the interwebs – and now, finally, after waking up to Triple J playing it just about every morning since then, we have the music video! It’s retro psychedelic fantastic. Enjoy! Song by Crystal Castles and Robert Smith Video by Video Marsh Cinematography and editing…

In news that’s certain to have the nation’s groove-minded connoisseurs in raptures, Future Entertainment is pleased to announce that ultra-hip musical luminary Mark Ronson and his new band The Business International will be playing two ‘one night only’ affairs in Melbourne and Sydney in March 2011. With Mark and the band already confirmed to top…

Instrumental ensemble Bombazine Black have released a music video for their track “Dark Kellys”. If you like the music of Explosions in the Sky, Godspeed You! Black Emperor or Decoder Ring, this is very much up your alley. Beautiful, beautiful, cinematic music. It’s always great to finally see these sorts of tracks with some visual…

For MGMT’s loyal legion of local fans, news that the band were headlining the massive Future Music Festival 2011 was the best news they’d had all year … until now, that is … because Future Entertainment is pleased to announce that the dynamic psychedelic-pop duo band will be playing two intimate headline shows in Melbourne…

It was a quiet night of laid back minimalist pop as punters spread out on the floor of the band room to take in the sounds of US natives Mountain Man. Supporting the girls on their first Australian tour were New Zealand duo Wet Wings. I’m yet to decide whether I liked Wet Wings or…

It’s not often you have the oppertunity to see an artist you truly admire and respect. Philip Glass is one such artist, whose film compositions have been my favourite of the last decade or two. From The Truman Show to Fog of War, Koyaanisqatsi to Kundun, The Illusionist to The Hours, this is one man…

It felt as though it were a hundred million degrees inside the Tote band room as the sold out crowd packed themselves in for a night of garage, punk mayhem with Californian rockers Thee Oh Sees. Supports for the night were local noise duo Super Wild Horses with their short, sparse tunes. Amy Franz and…

Sydney Festival continued rolling out the hits last night as the anticipated LIVE video installation opened up at the Lower Town Hall. We’ll have some contributors heading along to the installation over the weekend who will fill you in properly, but let me just say that it’s a fabulous feature of the festival. On entry,…

It’s been a devastating week for Queenslanders, so New York and local Hip Hop artists have rallied together with Mistrust Music to raise money for the flood victims. Just recently on our shores, Pharoahe Monch is back with his mind blowing technical skills and lyrical mastery. Joining him is Boogie Blind from the legendary X-Ecutioners…

Due to a few unavoidable reasons ranging from the illness of his DJ to floods in Brisbane, the upcoming Australian tour by Grammy Award-nominated rapper, actor and poet Mos Def has had to have all dates rescheduled. The good news is that ‘The Ecstatic Tour’ is going ahead in full. Final rescheduled dates have now…

Over the next 2 months, we’ll be providing you with news and a pile of articles about the upcoming Canadian Music Week event in Toronto. Why? Because for the first time ever, the AU review will be reporting live from the event in March! We’ll be touching base with the Australians performing at the event…

XSW Music 2011 is pleased to announce Bob Geldof will be Keynote Speaker and Showcase Performer. At the end of last year, Bob Geldof was described as “one of Ireland’s greatest lyricists ever.” In a lifetime spent using rock music to change things, Geldof now comes to SXSW with his band to play music from…

Last January, the Australian branch of Rolling Stone magazine launch the 1st Annual Rolling Stone awards – with artists like Dave Grohl and Sarah Blasko among those taking out the top honours. The magazine recently announced the awards would be returning later this month, and so I caught up with Rolling Stone’s Editor-in-Chief, Matt Coyte,…

Deep Sea Arcade are pleased to announce they’ll be hitting both the road and the beach this summer in a co-headline tour with fellow surficianados Surf City from New Zealand. The two bands will duel it up along the east coast throughout February 2011 and with both bands drawing inspiration from classic surf music it’s…

Due to the catastrophe that has struck her friends and fans up in Queensland, Kasey Chambers shows scheduled for Queensland will be postponed until further notice. ‘My heart goes out to you all. I can’t imagine what you guys are going through and I was very happy to be a part of the telethon on…

Due to the impending flooding & evacuation of Brisbane and closure of both the Pacific and New England highways, Jason Collett, Zeus, and Dead Letter Chorus have to regrettably withdraw from the south-east Queensland and northern NSW tour dates this week. Please contact the venues for all information. Tonight’s show (Wednesday the 12th) we will…