Bad Times at El Royale hit cinemas last year to mixed reviews, though I found it an engaging film, with a clever plot stemmed in the traditions of film noir and crime fiction. The set design was phenomenal and the characters were just the right amount of over-the-top to make them feel right at home…

Stevie Jean passed through Sydney last night on her way through to Launceston for the Party in the Paddock festival. We were treated to an intimate show at the Golden Age Cinema and Bar in Surry Hills. Stevie is a treat to see live – effortlessly charming, joyful and with a strong versatile voice. She…

It’s hard to believe but at this present time, whenever you ask young people who Liam Neeson is, they often tend to quote his action films and then not know or forget about his critically acclaimed films like Schindler’s List, Michael Collins, Rob Roy and others. But ever since the 2008 action film Taken, Neeson…

What is being described as an “exceptional and inimitable Japanese dining experience” is making its way to Sydney Harbour’s Campbell’s Stores, set to open later this year and set a new benchmark for the city. Titled Ura San, the ambitious restaurant is one of the first announced for The Rocks’ restored harbour-side precinct, an adaptive…

The $50,000 Stella Prize celebrates literature penned by Australian women. First awarded in 2013, the Stella Prize is named for My Brilliant Career author Stella Maria Sarah ‘Miles’ Franklin, and has become a landmark prize in the Australian literary scene. This year, some 170 entries were narrowed down to just twelve, with every longlisted author…

The day has finally arrived. Almost 14 years after Kingdom Hearts II was released to critical acclaim on the PS2, its long awaited follow up Kingdom Hearts III is here. But fans of the series — which melded the Final Fantasy and Disney universes a decade before the company acquired the Marvel Cinematic Universe —…

You’d have to look pretty far and wide to find a serious streamer that doesn’t use one of Elgato’s Stream Deck devices. The desk-mounted broadcast enhancement device allows users to bind custom functions to its face buttons, making certain tasks like activating overlays or switching between cameras while streaming that much easier. One of the…

Now at the ripe old age of 70, Larry Sloman, better known around the industry as Ratso, is gearing to release his debut album. The New York author has been a key player for some of the biggest names in history over the past few decades, from working with both Anthony Kiedis and Peter Criss…

American rapper, singer, songwriter and music producer Smino hit up the Metro Theatre in Sydney last night as part of his current Australian tour, one which has him also appearing at Laneway Festival. Joining Smino for the evening was Melbourne rising star Kaiit. Our photographer Belinda Hedges was there to capture all the action.

One of our favourite artists over the last five years or so has been Detroit’s Flint Eastwood, who has finally started breaking into the big time, with her EP This Is A Coping Mechanism for A Broken Heart, making waves alongside the single “Chapter 4 Sober”. Her latest single, “Hurt”, taken from the same EP,…

No one is really sure how it started. Random attacks. Censored news reports. Curfews and evacuations. The internet stopping. And then there’s Rhea and Jojo’s mother going missing. Band members Dee, Poppy, Zufan, and Jack’s creative retreat cut short by power outages. And an unnamed teen facing down her own family, who are literally about…

Last month the genre bending Australian musician Laura Imbruglia dropped “The Creeps”, a taste of her impending fourth album Scared Of You. Today, we’re excited to be premiering the accompanying hilarious music video, which was co-conceived with director and renowned photographer Nick Mckinlay. With the track taking a significantly different musical route to previous singles…

Way back in 2011, when I was flying home from my second SXSW, I jumped on a Southwest flight flying from Austin, Texas to Los Angeles. En route, I enjoyed a brief stop over in El Paso – a common stop with this airline (for whom El Paso is a hub) – an airport which…

Over the last week, I’ve been playing God Eater 3. It’s a snappy, mayhem-filled romp where you take down titanic beasts called Aragami with your team of fellow God Eaters. The game is filled with cool swords, cool guns and cool combat. One might say it just oozes cool. But, I’m not actually here to…

Changelings, or babies swapped with supernatural beings in their infancy, permeate the mythology of a number of cultures throughout Europe. Often, it was believed that fairies had taken the child and left one of their own behind- a sign of bad luck for the family. The idea of a changeling may have been used to…

There was a time when point-and-click adventures ruled the roost, with companies like LucasArts churning out hit after hit between Maniac Mansion, The Secret of Monkey Island Grim Fandango and Full Throttle. Since the 1980s, video game technologies have advanced unbelievably, opening up a diverse range of options for gameplay, allowing sprawling open world adventures…

I really like HyperX’s keyboards. I’m on record as a fan of their gear. The thing is, I’ve really only had experience with their top-of-the-line mechanical boards. The HyperX Alloy Core RGB gaming keyboard is not one of these top-of-the-line boards. But just because it isn’t a mechanical board doesn’t mean it isn’t worth your…

Melbourne based singer Harmony Byrne’s debut recording “Demise” is a sensitive and stirring track that clocks in at seven and a half minutes. Part gospel, soul, blues and psychedelic, the ex-Mormon church singer wails and cries before transitioning to spoken word poetry before returning to soaring and powerful peaks. It isn’t hard to imagine a…

Salt Meats Cheese has long been a stalwart of reliable Italian produce and dining in Australia. The group have been expanding rapidly over the past few years, so it was only a matter of time before Sydney’s Northern Beaches got their first taste of Edoardo Perlo and Stefano de Blasi’s lively concept. Following their most…

I’ve been a country music fan for over ten years and I’d never attended the legendary Tamworth Country Music Festival until this year. Blasphemy, you say! But better late than never, right? I didn’t know what to expect; I thought I’d hate it (at least subconsciously anyway) but I was pleasantly surprised to love every…

This year, like any other, sees the Adelaide Fringe Festival produce some of the most worthwhile shows to go see all year,. So many in fact, it’s hard to know where to begin! But we have found you the five shows you’ll not want to miss, when the festival takes over the South Australian city…

The entire time that I was reading Markus Zusak’s new novel, Bridge of Clay, I had Josh Pyke’s song “Feet of Clay” going around and around in my head. Perhaps, this has only strengthened my belief that the entire novel is really some sort of extended metaphor, although for what exactly I couldn’t say. One…

Last month, LPX traversed the country playing Falls Festival and a couple of sideshows in what was the New York artist’s Australian debut under that guise. Real name Lizzy Plapinger, she had previously visited our shores as part of the genre-bending, indie-pop duo MS MR. Now she’s smashing it on her own, with a completely independent…

Maria Callas is a legendary opera singer whose life often resembled a Greek tragedy. The documentary, Maria by Callas, captures some of this sadness and heartbreak in its two-hour runtime. This film is a complex and detailed one about an infamous prima donna that should appeal to opera aficionados. This documentary is directed by Tom…

The classic “if it ain’t broke” phrase will always apply to The Prodigy and their exemplary live experience. The genre-bending rave that the UK trio have been tweaking and perfecting for decades makes for one of the most explosive, frenetic and intense live music experiences one can have. That’s always been the case. And it’s…

Whelp, this year’s Super Bowl could have definitely turned out better. The game’s finishing score unfortunately became the lowest overall points scored in Super Bowl history (13-3) since 1948’s game between The Philadelphia Eagles and Chicago Cardinals (7-0), even surpassing that of Miami’s win over Washington (14-7) in 1973. At halftime, the New England Patriots were leading…

The Laneway Festival hit Sydney for the 14th time on Sunday, and it was a triumphant day. Brilliant sunshine and outstanding performances from the local and overseas acts graced Callan Park. Amongst the many highlights were Mitski, Courtney Barnett, The Smith Street Band, Parquet Courts, Camp Cope, Middle Kids and bringing home the finale for…

It is no secret that music and travel go hand in hand. The concept of place is the perfect muse for musicians, since a real depth of emotion can be linked to a geographical location or experience. English singer-songwriter George Ezra, who is no stranger to travelling, gave a truly memorable performance to a buzzing audience…

If you’ve been following the UK and London jazz scene at all over the last couple of years, you’ll already be familiar with Theon Cross, having made a name for himself as part of the Mercury Award nominated, and award-winning quartet Sons of Kemet. He’s also a permanent fixture in South London-based collective Steam Down. …

It was bound to happen some day, and there’s no surprise that Sydney’s Milky Lane, harbingers of ridiculously over-the-top and indulgent foods, were the ones to do it. The five-store chain (Parramatta, Cronulla, Gold Coast, Coogee and flagship Bondi) has decided to go full “broke millennial” and spray rounds of Mi-Goreng inspired goodness on top…