It hasn’t been easy to choose as a Game of the Year for 2019. This has been a pivotal year for the games industry. With new consoles on the horizon, and several high profile AAA titles delaying into early 2020, independent games have been able to take the spotlight in a big way. The games…
It’s a pretty amazing thing to see an artist who’s been around for 35 years continually reinvent themselves while managing to engage both the newest and oldest of fans. Returning for the third year of his Making Gravy tour, Paul Kelly brought along a heap of musical friends to well and truly welcome in the…
Paul Kelly and friends enriched our lives again at the Domain in Sydney, for the latest edition of Making Gravy. It was a quality line-up, with Thelma Plum, Kate Miller-Heidke, Marlon Williams and Courtney Barnett lighting up the stage. This event is the pre-cursor to Christmas in Sydney, with Paul Kelly giving us an uplifting…
A film like Just Mercy lays all cards on the table before it even starts. On the surface, it’s another entry in the long-line of righteous fury pointed at miscarried justice and a system unashamed by its own historical wrongdoings. And yes, that’s pretty much what it is, adapting the true story from a 2014…
Elton John and photographer Terry O’Neill first collaborated in 1972. Since then, O’Neill has taken around five thousand photographs of the star across the decades that followed. Recently, when going through his collection, O’Neill recognised the special nature of these photographs and wanted to share them with Elton’s legion of fans. Elton John: The Definitive…
Candide, or absolute nihilism? Eastern European cinema has always had a nail-biting bleakness about it, but The Painted Bird may have just upended all others. This is a brutal hellscape somehow stretched into an adventure epic; as hard to look away from, as it is to watch in the first place. There’s little wonder as…
Mary Costello’s first novel, Academy Street, was shortlisted for a number of awards, and won the Irish Book of the Year Award in 2014. It also shares a lot thematically with her latest work. However, in her second novel, The River Capture, Costello has used a very different narrative style, and although providing some real…
When director Michael Bay gets handed $150 million from Netflix to make a movie you can be guaranteed that he’s going to make something pretty insane. Where in the past he has felt a little hamstrung by studio expectations or interference, his latest effort feels like a return to form. For Netflix, 6 Underground is…
Last month Melbourne indie-rockers Kilns released their beautiful debut album “You Can Bet Your House on Me”. It’s an album that regularly visits themes of relationships, their fragility but is also joyous. Guitars riff and vocals soar with some sweet harmonies. There is also some sweet humour in there as well. It’s hard to believe these…
Sincere motivational rhymes about veganism and leading a healthy lifestyle may have been the last thing you would have expected from a dead prez concert. That is, if you thought the anthemic chant of their signature hit, “Hip Hop”, was nothing more than an infectious hook. The now veteran duo of stic.man and M1 don’t…
Assuming you have enough disposable income left over after building up the modern DIY smart home, security should be the next consideration. We’ve already seen what Arlo are capable of when they play around in their ultra premium security space. Now that they’ve steadily built up a rich ecosystem of devices, it’s time they finesse…
Want to experience something truly surreal? We’re talking genuinely life-affirming, awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping sights that will forever be etched into your memory. See everything you possibly can in the Canadian Rockies. Hike it, drive it, sit on a solitary pier tearing up at the profound beauty of it all; fear this immense pocket of untamed nature…
Hyde Hacienda Sydney Bar + Lounge is Sydney’s answer to a hybrid dinner, drinks and dancing venue. The South American-inspired vista bar is opening its third Australian location, in the former Hacienda venue within Pullman Quay Grand Sydney Harbour. It’s an exciting new iteration for one of Sydney’s most iconic harbourfront bars. While the brand…
Released in 1974 and oft considered the original slasher film, Bob Clark’s Black Christmas has rightfully earned cult status over the years after initially being passed over for that other genre staple, John Carpenter’s Halloween. Clark’s film is a unique take on the stalk-and-kill mentality that the slasher subsect is known for given that it…
Brisbane / Sunshine Coast trio Fragile Animals have released their latest single “Waiting”, and we are pumped to have it as our track of the day. It’s a wonderful amalgam of genres. Shoegazing is front and centre, but there’s a splash of indie rock and a smidgin of 80’s Manchester. The song was written by frontwoman Victoria…
Feature-rich, highly intelligent and design-forward, Sennheiser have put a great deal of love into the 2019 iteration of their reputation MOMENTUM Wireless range. The over-ear headphones not only outperform most rivals, but consider the entire sonic experience. This includes Tile technology to address the possibility of misplacing the set. Although you’ll be paying a premium…
PlayStation have dropped the latest State of Play broadcast overnight. The broadcast, PlayStation’s first since October, covered PS4 and PSVR titles launching in 2020. So what was on the docket? Untitled Goose Game Untitled Goose Game by Melbourne developer House House will make its PlayStation 4 debut next week, December 17, just in time for…
Novelty things are happening around Sydney all the time, as restaurants – the creative ones at least – strive to compete in a fickle scene. Take, the recently launched Parlour Cucina for example. When they first opened, the team behind it made the wise choice to let nonnas eat for free – it’s obviously an…
You might have come across Tyde Levi as “Troye Sivan’s younger brother” – a distinguisher synonymously attached to most of Tyde’s work. However, that tagline is quickly becoming irrelevant as he solidifies himself as his own accomplished artist, having released a handful of alt-RnB tracks with a cumulation of over 2 million streams on Spotify. His…
A triple-lens camera and a reliable battery are usually features you’d find in high-end flagship smartphones, but thankfully the growing trend of refining mid-range phones is changing all that. After dominating smartphone photography this year with the brilliant Huawei P30 Pro, the company wasted very little time at offering a cost effective option that focuses…
Sydney’s Bootleg Rascal are bringing the party to regional Australia! The Booty Camp: Summer Vacay Tour will hit metro and regional venues from January next year, featuring 17 emerging artists and their very own sideshow alley, packed with crowd participation games. “Touring in more remote areas has always been something close to our hearts,” says guitarist Jimmy Young. “We…
Fresh from resurrecting their popular Borderlands property this year, 2K Games has announced the return of another fan favourite — BioShock. 2K believes newly created 2K studio, Cloud Chamber, are the team to make it. Cloud Chamber will be based at 2K’s headquarters in San Francisco, California and Montreal, Quebec. The move to Quebec marks…
There’s some big news for Qantas Frequent Flyers as the Australian airline has been announced as the latest partner of Flying Blue, the loyalty program of KLM and Air France. This of course means that passengers can and spend QFF points and receive tier benefits on both major airlines. The announcement builds upon a previous…
They might not be bringing the wild landscapes and unparalleled whiskies (although there will be some of that) with them, but the great country of Scotland will be sending some of their best musicians and creatives over to Australia for “The Year of Scotland”. Charmingly abbreviated to (#)YOSA2020, the year-long 2020 program will build a…
Fresh from another life over in Europe, Klue has zipped back to Sydney for the summer and is celebrating with the celebratory “Coming Home”. The Aussie-born producer, also known as one third of True Vibenation, has caught our attention numerous times with his slinky, summery productions and penchant for pulling in inflections of jazz, tropical…
The 2019 Fairgrounds Festival has come and gone and it was another cracking edition. This is truly a festival for all ages, catering to a wide variety of music tastes. Female artists were well represented at this festival. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case. The Friday night started strongly, with Clews and Hatchie up on…
Our track of the day comes from a rising star in Melbourne singer-songwriter Maz Green. With the country literally burning around us, Maz has addressed many of the issues facing us in her sophomore single, “Moving Slowly”. Her debut single was “Somewhere Else”and was released earlier this year. Maz explains the inspiration for the song:…
One of the pleasures of watching films is the feeling of surprise and enjoying the journey and not knowing where it will lead you. In other words, a little mystery goes a long way. In the case of Freaks by co-directors Adam B. Stein and Zach Lipovsky, it comes with an interesting premise that has…
Understandably, some fans were upset when it was announced that Pokémon Sword and Shield would severely limit which Pokémon could be caught across all eight generations. It was dubbed “dexit” (perhaps to keep with the UK theme), decried online (ad nauseam), and even led to a few grown adults crossing their arms, stomping their precious…
This week, Australians will be able to get their hands on what was originally an exclusive Japan release all the way back in 2002. Perhaps better known for its 2013 reissue, the Nike Dunk Low Pro B Viotech silhouette will be making its triumphant return. The vibrant tonal variation and rich materials used in this…
