While Sydney’s been getting plenty of new bars this year, building up a strong post-2020 scene that feels refreshing and exciting, not much new has popped up outside of the typical haunts. Cronulla muscles into the scene with the launch of a new art deco bar called Papa J’s. Part of a small family that…

One of this year’s most highly anticipated releases, Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid hit stores this month. Loosely linked to both of TJR’s previous smash hits, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones and the Six, Malibu Rising continues her theme of exploring the inner lives of the rich and famous; showing us what is really going…

As melodramatic and as nonsensical as one would expect from a series that defies the laws of physics as freely as it does whilst waxing lyrical on the importance of family, Fast & Furious 9 (or F9 as it’s being marketed) is the type of ludicrous, high-octane fluff designed for the biggest of screens. Another…

Less than 18 months since releasing the exemplary The Piss, The Perfume EP, Hayley Mary has returned with The Drip, a seven-track EP that will continue to assert her place as one of the leading Australian vocalists and musicians. More than a decade since first breaking through as the leader of The Jezabels, Hayley Mary’s…

Sydney outfit Inklines are enjoying a strong start to 2021, with the release of singles “Blossom” and more recently “All Gone”. Both are from a forthcoming EP due later this year.  With new music comes shows, and with the re-opening of Sydney post-COVID still ongoing, the band have put together a choice list of their…

The 2021 edition of the Barunga Festival was run over the June long weekend seemingly against all the odds. For those unfamiliar, Barunga is a small indigenous community approximately eighty km southeast of Katherine in the Northern Territory. It’s about four hours drive from Darwin. The festival weekend is the only time in the year…

To claim nothing is as it seems in Rob Schroder‘s Ultrasound would be a vast understatement.  Requiring significant patience and understanding of its components, this horror/science-fiction hybrid begins on one disturbing note before unravelling into something far more psychologically mysterious. It all opens rather straightforward, however off-kilter, with Glen (Vincent Kartheiser) driving home one night…

JBL have redefined big, booming Bluetooth speakers with the PartyBox 310. That much is clear as you can turn on this mammoth, booming device which is now one of the most powerful Bluetooth speakers on the market, and justifies the huge asking price with a similar sized performance. Design If you’re familiar with the still-young…

The Chris Commerford Band hails from the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria. This five-piece soul-infused band is about to launch another heart-grabbing tune, this time in the form of “Sugar” and we are thrilled to have the first listen before its release on Friday. This single deals with infatuation, falling hard for someone and trying to…

Australia is a true nation of immigrants. According to data collected by the Australian Parliament, an estimated 28.2 percent of the country’s population was overseas-born in 2015. That is very nearly one in three Australians. With approximately 27.4 percent of its population born overseas in 2018, according to Stats NZ, New Zealand is nearly as…

Despite supposedly meeting his maker at the end of The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Sung Kang‘s fan favourite character Han Lue is back in action for Fast & Furious 9.  Reuniting with director Justin Lin and Fast family patriarch Vin Diesel, Kang’s return to the franchise has been shrouded in mystery. As the…

At long last Gang Of Youths are making their highly and hotly anticipated return with their new single “the angel of 8th ave.” Released today, the single is the first taste of new music from the band since their successful 2017 album Go Farther In Lightness.  The band have undergone a few changes in those…

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2. The trailer Nintendo’s E3 Direct audience held their breath for, hoping to see. After its Zelda Direct earlier in the year left the community cold, Nintendo’s E3 drop couldn’t disappoint. And it didn’t. Franchise lead Eiji Aonuma appeared to introduce a number of Zelda products —…

Perhaps the second biggest surprise of Nintendo’s E3 Direct presentation was Advance Wars is coming to the Switch. Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp is not a new title, but instead a ground-up remake of the classic Game Boy Advance strategy titles. It will be the first new title in the series since 2008’s Advance Wars: Dark…

One of the biggest surprise announcements during this morning’s E3 Nintendo Direct was Metroid Dread. It’s a brand new, 2D Metroid game starring series heroine Samus Aran that leans into the series’ original horror roots. Dread by name and dread by nature, the game sees Samus working her way through a facility patrolled by hunter-killer robots….

Mario Party Superstars is a collection of the franchise’s greatest hits. Nintendo says the game stacked full of fan-favourite boards and minigames. What does that truly mean? We’ll tell you. It means this game has undergone rigorous community testing to ensure every minigame is a friendship ender, guaranteed. The Mario Party series is a competitive…

The first announcement off the rank at this morning’s Nintendo E3 Direct was that Tekken mainstay Kazuya is coming to Super Smash Bros Ultimate. Tekken developer Bandai Namco was one of the primary devs on Smash Ultimate, and hasn’t had many of its own characters in the game so far. Kazuya joins Pacman as the…

As part of Hilton’s boutique-minded Curio Collection, West Hotel comes to Sydney off the back of a strong and prodigious history of hotelling. Although unlike the Hilton chain, Curio clearly skews more designer, and focuses on more than just a few details to echo that ethos. Does Sydney’s property really fit into the brand’s identity?…

Thanks to Rialto Distribution we have five family passes (Admit 4) to give away to the upcoming release of the animated adventure Cranston Academy: Monster Zone, featuring the voices of Jamie Bell and our own Ruby Rose, in Australian cinemas from June 24th, 2021, just in time for school holidays. Bullied for his intelligence and struggling…

Melbourne band Blackbirds FC recently released their latest single, “Island of the Dogs”, and we are thrilled to be premiering today the video for this beautiful lush track. “Island of the Dogs” features is a tantalising mix of gorgeous harmonies, sweet guitars, strings and a nostalgic feel for Australian music of the ’80s and ’90s….

A musical about 9/11 might feel a bit risky, so it’s fortunate that Come From Away has a particularly refreshing angle on the subject. With airspaces locked immediately after the tragedy, 38 planes were forced to land on the island of Newfoundland, Canada. Over 7,000 stranded passengers were sent to nearby towns including Gander, where…

Toronto’s renforshort cracked the big time with her independent release “mind games” in 2019, off her debut EP Teenage Angst. The collection’s release through the early pandemic captured listeners again with singles “i drive me mad” and “fuck, i luv my friends“, solidifying the young singer-songwriter as one of the most exciting to watch. It’s been a…

Check out our gallery from opening night of Come from Away at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre. The hit musical is based on real life events, when 38 planes carrying nearly 7,000 people from over 100 countries were redirected to Newfoundland, in the wake of 9/11. Set in Gander, a remote Canadian town that saw it’s population…

With a title like No Future and a narrative detailing the recovery of addicts and the potential grief and fear of relapsing that comes with that territory, Andrew Irvine and Mark Smoot‘s drama isn’t exactly reaching for subtlety. It’s a simplistic script that takes few risks in straying from the expected, but superb, committed performances…

Promising epic art installations, fascinating panels, and incredible performances, we’re so excited to see Vivid Sydney reappearing on our calendars later this year. The lights may have gone out in 2020, but the self-styled “playground of the unexpected” will return this August, for three weeks of celebrating light, music, ideas, and the city of Sydney…

Does your home benefit from the use of astronaut technology? No. Let’s change that shall we. Airgarden, Australia’s very first vertical soilless gardening system, is making use of the technology for the benefit of anyone obsessed with sustainable design – or for those who just want access to more home-grown produce, faster. The game-changing gardening…

Invoking notes of revenge thrillers like Death Wish and Taken, but adhering to a female edge that lends the film a more calculating temperament, Catch The Fair One is a gritty thriller that survives more on its emotional mindset rather than gratuitous violence. Headlined and anchored by real-life boxer Kali Reis (who also serves as…

There’s some magnetic performances and a dirty immersion to God’s Waiting Room that, at times, are strong enough for the film to overcome its narrative cliches and ultimate contrivance that put much of its good work at risk. As easy as it is to roll your eyes at the outline of the film being that…

Obsidian Entertainment has confirmed development is underway on The Outer Worlds 2. It is the sequel to the studio’s Game of the Year winning Fallout-style RPG. The trailer walks the viewer through a litany of tropes associated with trailers seen at E3, usually for games not that far into development. It’s a great time. You…

Forza Horizon 5, the Xbox Series X|S’s graphical showpiece, has arrived. This fifth instalment in the popular open-world racing title takes Horizon Festival to Mexico. This will be the first time the Horizon series has returned to the Americas since the original game. According to developer Playground Games, “(f)un, freedom, and beauty” are the watchwords…