One of the coolest parts of the Sydney Festival this year has been seeing the transformation of Sydney Town Hall – for the LIVE video installation as well as the Trocadero Dance Palace, an ode to the famed Sydney Trocadero, a venue popular in the 1940s and 50s. In the late hours of the evening,…

While backstage at Peats Ridge Festival, we caught up with Pete and Matt from Sydney’s Decoder Ring, before they played a rare live performance for the festival. We talk about what’s coming up for the band and look back to events past…

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……

Iconic Brisbane music venue RIC’S is proud to present their inaugural BIG BACKYARD FESTIVAL. Utilizing the courtyard behind RG’s and the upstairs and downstairs stages at RIC’S, the BIG BACKYARD is a brilliant space sure to create an intimate and unique festival experience. 3 stages. Outside, upstairs and downstairs. 21 bands for $75. Plenty of…

Paste-Modernism Charity Auction – all proceeds from the online auction of panels from the exhibition ‘Pastemodernism 2’ will be donated to the Qld Premier’s Flood Relief Appeal. Paste-Modernism 2 was held at Lo-Fi Gallery in Darlinghurst on October 7th 2010 and featured the ‘paste-up’ works of over 50 Australian and International artists. Presented by StupidKrap.com…

Following much conjecture, re scheduling and about a thousand phone calls we’re very pleased to advise that Grammy Award-nominated rapper, actor and poet Mos Def’s Australian tour is all systems go! At the time of this release, Mos Def is on a plane from LA to Melbourne. The majority of his touring party arrived here…

When Simba’s father, Mufasa, died in The Lion King, I remember burying my head in my grandmas lap wondering what the hell was going on. Why would a movie be going out of its way to depress me? What it showed though was that the idea of loss is translatable and relatable to a child,…

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…

“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…

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…

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,…

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…

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!

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…

The Kills have an announcement for you….

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 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…

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 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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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,…

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…

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…