Xbox has announced the addition of 70 new games to the growing Xbox Series X|S FPS Boost backwards compatibility roster. FPS Boost is a function of the Xbox Series X|S hardware that can double frame rates on many older games, The program partners with the original developers on each title to ensure stability and a…
The International Songwriting Competition (ISC) has announced its 2020 winners, and this year marks a high point for Australian artists and songwriters, racking up the most Aussie First Place wins in the competition’s history,. Australian writers have taken home six First Places (including Mia Rodriguez, pictured), three Second Places, one Third Place, and 35 Honorable…
PlayStation has made a minority investment into Discord. It becomes the first of the Big Three console makers to begin a relationship with the popular online comms app. PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan announced the partnership overnight with a short post on the official SIE blog. Beyond the disclosure that PlayStation had acquired a minority stake…
The tagline for Nick Hornby’s ninth novel should be “Love happens you least expect it.” On, Just Like You he’s fashioned together an interracial and intergenerational romance between two unlikely individuals. The result is a very sweet and realistic book that could offer a breezy form of escapism for readers during the world’s continued Covid madness. Hornby…
US and Brazilian indie duo Kid Le Chat are all set to release their brand new EP, Luck Comes Too Late this week. Ahead of its official release on Wednesday, May 5th we bring you this exclusive first listen, and a track by track walk through from the band. Luck Comes Too Late, the group’s…
An 80s-lover’s neon-filled fantasy, come to life! After selling out performances across Broadway and the UK, The Wedding Singer brings its neon lights, flashy perms and dazzling choreography to Melbourne – filling the Athenaeum Theatre with a sense of resounding joy and classic 80s nostalgia. Based on the beloved Adam Sandler/Drew Barrymore romantic comedy, The…
This May, Sydney’s Seymour Centre will be introducing a new weekly event to its annual calendar: Seymour Nights. The night is part of the venue’s contemporary music program, and will kick off this Friday – May 7th – with two sets from beloved alt-bluegrass outfit The Morrisons. The night kicks off just after sunset, at…
Set in Northern China in 1931, Cliff Walkers follows the story of four Soviet-trained Chinese agents who are tasked to find an informer who has escaped from a location that was occupied by the Japanese, who used it for nefarious purposes like torture. Their mission is to evade capture and make it to Harbin so…
Tash Sultana is set to perform on MTV Unplugged Melbourne on May 4th, following in the footsteps of some of Australia’s greatest artists. Joining the ranks alongside Amy Shark, DMA’s, Gang of Youths and Courtney Barnett, Tash gearing up for their first performance of their Terra Firma chapter, teasing that the performance will be littered with…
Hot on the heals of the release of his debut EP in early April, EJ Worland hit up Mary’s Underground in Sydney on Saturday night to showcase the best of the EP to a keen and loyal home town crowd. With the release of No One Left to Blame still fresh in the mind, and…
Brisbane Writers Festival is just a few days away, and with a huge range of events both online and at the BWF hub at the State Library of Queensland, we’ve decided to do a bit of the hard work for you! To help you out, we’ve compiled a list of eight unmissable events – though…
You could be forgiven for having never heard of a French sculptor named Camille Claudel. Like many talented and brilliant women history forgot, she existed in the shadow of a man and within the confines of a society that feared the ambitions of women. Growing up with a father who encouraged her and a mother…
Lime Cordiale seem to be everywhere since the release of their debut album 14 Steps To A Better You. And through October, they quite literally will be as they embark on their biggest tour yet around the country. 2020 saw the band score the most nominations at the ARIA Awards, taking home the Breakthrough Artist…
Written by David Henry Hwang, Yellow Face at Kings Cross Theatre is a semi-autobiographical play that features the playwright himself as the protagonist. Set in America over the course of the 1990s, Yellow Face focuses particularly on the inception, creation, release and subsequent failure of Hwang’s 1993 play Face Value, and everything that follows. When…
Famed on Instagram for his 6’7 frame and popularisation of the “man-bun”, California native Brock O’Hurn has traded in influencing for entertainment, transitioning from the phone screen to the big screen. Having made his film debut in Tyler Perry’s Boo! A Madea Halloween, and its subsequent sequel, before earning television roles in drama series such…
There’s nothing particularly original about The Resort. In some manner hoping to be a type of The Shining-in-Hawaii set-up, Taylor Chien‘s supernatural scarer at least doesn’t tread on the expected genre trope of the found footage angle – something that this type of narrative could easily have adopted. A film that unfortunately lets itself down…
We are thrilled to close out the week with the video premiere of “Grateful” from singer/songwriter Patrick James. A song born perhaps from the bleakness of Covid, it is a positive reflection of all those things we are grateful for. James has been carving out a name for himself for the last decade or so….
The latest PlayStation State of Play broadcast spotlit Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, the PS5’s first truly huge exclusive. The 16-minute gameplay trailer gives a clear idea of what Insomniac’s vision for the game is, who Rivet the mysterious female Lombax is, and how the game uses the PS5’s hardware to best effect. Spectacle seems…
“Action-capable hero seeks revenge following the murder of his wife” is one generic genre outline that many an action film has adhered to. And whilst Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse (as it’s being touted) is a film stocked with considerable talent who all deserve better than such a configuration afforded, their combined efforts can’t exactly lift…
Charlie Collins has today released the video for her emotive new single, “Fuck It”. The track deals with a difficult break-up that has become public. More about the background to the track later, as Charlie has given the AU an exclusive insight into the story behind the song. The video was directed by Madeline Purdy…
It’s every parent’s desire for their children to start reading from an early age. The number of literate children aged 5-24 has been increasing since 1985. A lot of headway has been made since then and to continue with this trend, we need to encourage children to read more. In a world filled with gadgets…
Julia Stone‘s keenly anticipated latest studio album Sixty Summers is out on Friday, teaming up with producer Thomas Bartlett and St Vincent aka Annie Clark, along with cameos from The National‘s Matt Berninger plus Hollywood stars Susan Sarandon and Danny Glover. Stone’s latest LP, which comes nine years after her previous solo album – 2012’s…
Singer-songwriter, campaigner, and national treasure Archie Roach has re-packaged his acclaimed memoir Tell Me Why for a young adult readership. Whilst it’s an abridged version, it’s no less inspirational, and contained not only his voice and story, but the stories and voices of many other Elders, as well as young people. Roach was taken away from his family…
After making a name for himself in the late 90’s/early 2000’s with his distinct brand of British gangster villainy, writer/director Guy Ritchie seemed to trade in authenticity for capital. The success of such studio projects as Sherlock Holmes and Aladdin seemed to gradually distance Ritchie from his more unkempt beginnings, before 2019’s The Gentlemen seemingly…
Set in 1820’s Northwest, First Cow tells the story of two travellers. The first being Otis “Cookie” Figowitz (John Magaro), a taciturn chef who is travelling with a group of fur trappers. The second being King-Lu (Orion Lee), a Chinese immigrant on the run for killing a Russian man. The two eventually become friends over…
SAYAH has returned after a two-year hiatus with her latest single, “Fruit” – a collaboration with Sydney producer Taka Perry about a toxic ‘situationship’ she found herself in a few years back. The track is a pop bop that plays on the duality of wanting someone and getting them out of her life. Taka brings an…
Every good road trip needs a playlist that tracks the highs and lows of the trip. From those opening hours where excitement reigns, to the middle hours where the enthusiasm ebbs and flows, before picking itself up again just as the trip reaches its culmination. For girl in red, it’s these road trips that helped…
The 2021 shortlist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction has been announced at a virtual event overnight. This year’s shortlist is one for the newcomers, with none of the six shortlisted authors having been previously shortlisted for the Prize. The six strong shortlist, which was selected by Chair of judges, Bernardine Evaristo and her judging panel…
The winners of this year’s ABIAs (Australian Book Industry Awards) were announced at Carriageworks in Sydney as part of the Sydney Writers’ Festival this evening in a hybrid online and in-person event. Julia Baird took out the top award for Book of the Year for her non-fiction release Phosphorescence, described by guest presenter Cate Blanchett…
If you want to find out what the real Mississippi blues sounds like, take a listen to Cedric Burnside. He is the real deal, with a blue-blood pedigree behind him. The grandson of the great R.L. Burnside, Cedric is on the cusp of releasing a new album, I Be Trying, which is just the tonic after…