The Mantra on Jolimont is a true gem nestled on the outskirts of Melbourne City, and a prime location for those looking to stay a comfortable and affordable distance away from the bright lights of the CBD. The hotel is a short tram ride from Flinders St Station, or a 15-minute walk for the intrepid…

Just last week I was saying to one of the guys at my local record store that it’d been a while since Steve Gunn had released anything. The very next day, we get an album announcement and an opening taste of what’s to come with new single “New Moon”.  For the past eleven years the…

Chophouse, Sydney CBD’s beloved contemporary steakhouse which turns 10 years year, has officially expanded to Parramatta with their second restaurant. It marks the first ever expansion for the stylish restaurant, bringing their quality cuts of meat to Parra’s Centenary Square, gutting out the former digs of Jamie’s Italian. Recreating their sleek, moody atmosphere with a…

Much like how actors and actresses have trouble getting out of a typecast roles, musicians are often unable to get out from under the music of their previous bands. This is especially true for artists who have been involved in massive bands, bands say for example, like Powderfinger. Yet, Darren Middleton is one artist who…

For the second time in a row, PAX Aus 2018 has managed to blow me away yet again with the overwhelming presence of indie titles on display. With so many fantastic ideas coming to fruition and the increasing number of titles being made within Melbourne, I couldn’t help but jump back into the madness and…

Sydneysiders can look forward to Australian Exclusive season of the searing, suspenseful new release First Reformed, from the director of the iconic Taxi Driver, Paul Schrader. Set to hit Golden Age Cinema from 8th November, the film stars Ethan Hawke (Dead Poets Society, Predestination, The Purge), and Amanda Seyfried (Mean Girls, Mamma Mia!, In Time), and since its premiere at the Venice…

Now in its twenty-fifth year, WAMFest is WA’s favourite annual celebration of emerging homegrown artists, bands and producers. Devoted to celebrating and showcasing local talent, the festival is the largest of its kind in the world, and will culminate this week, with a weekend filled with outdoor performances, venue showcases, workshops, and industry events all centred…

Dubbed Japan’s “first true Low-Cost Carrier”, chances are, unless you’ve been to Japan, you’ve never heard of the carrier Peach. The airline started flights in 2012 with All Nippon Airways (ANA) the largest shareholder. ANA’s other budget carrier, Vanilla Air, which was a rebrand for what once was AirAsia Japan in 2013, has recently started a merger…

Sydney electronic pop trio Glades are releasing their long awaited debut album, To Love You. Featuring singles “Eyes Wide Shut”, “Not About You”, “Drive” and “Do Right”, the album is out this Friday. With a remarkable 150 million streams under their belt already, this trio clearly aren’t messing around. To Love You opens with a track called “Nervous…

Earlier this month, I was flying around Canada with WestJet and Air Canada, long the only Commercial players in the Canadian domestic market. Now there are finally budget (or “ultra low-cost”) airlines entering the country, with Westjet’s Swoop (like Jetstar to Australia’s Qantas) having commenced flights in June, Jetlines commencing flights next year and Flair…

2018 really has been the year for Jazz treasure hunters, with the release of not one, but two, previously unreleased recordings from jazz’s most influential artists – John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk. Back in June we saw the release of Coltrane’s Both Direction at Once: The Lost Album; and now we have Mønk – a…

For those old enough to have played Resident Evil 2 the first time around (or perhaps later in one of its numerous ports), there will be a lot about Capcom’s ground-up remaster that will feel familiar. There will also be a lot that is wholly new. In updating a twenty year old game for a…

The wonderful Darren Middleton was joined over the weekend by Ashley Naylor and Taylah Carroll at the Northcote Social Club in Melbourne. Daniel Hanssen was there and brings us these photos from the night.

With PAX Australia done and dusted, there comes time for introspection and assessment. Dozens of games from across the industry made appearances on the show floor, with some leaving far more of an impression than others. What follows is a run down of the best that PAX had to offer, and the games that shone…

It’s no secret that PAX Aus is one of the most talked about events in Australian games industry calendar. With that being said, you can imagine it’s quite busy, with three days of non-stop action for fans from across the nation and the world. With an overwhelming amount of AAA titles, indie marvels and everything…

In the world of art, sculptures are fascinating works that can be viewed and placed as wonderful masterpieces. This year, that was proved by Victorian artist James Parrett, who was the recipient of the $70,000 Aqualand Sculpture Land award or M-fortysix at the 22nd annual Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi. This is a series of exhibitions…

The latest track “Jungle” from Vancouver based band Hotel Mira is a bright, triumphant exploration of young love and adolescence and you are bound to adore it. With an energetic and unmatchably exuberant introduction, the song tells an incredibly heartfelt story about someone’s high school experiences that was written after watching Greta Gerwig’s film Ladybird. On…

You have to be careful when promised a luxury festival experience nowadays. One minute you’re proudly uploading Instagram stories and living your #bestlife, the next minute you’re stranded in The Bahamas being chased by rabid dogs, desperately downing questionable ham sandwiches, and watching through tears as your tent is used as fire fuel. Okay, maybe…

In just a few months, passengers flying Delta Air Lines between Sydney and Los Angeles will notice some big upgrades to the service’s Boeing 777 fleet. Landing on April 18th 2019, the American airline will retrofit the aircrafts with their highly lauded “Delta One”, which is the world’s first all-suite business class, as well as…

With ticket prices from Australia to Hong Kong at record lows, now would be as good a time as any to look into tickets to Hong Kong for the city’s long-running outdoor music and arts festival, Clockenflap. As one of Hong Kong’s signature music events, the festival features about one hundred different acts and will…

Every January, Sydney Festival helps kick off the new year with a massive cultural celebration, and 2019 is looking to be no different. The 2019 instalment of the festival includes eighteen world premieres, five Australian premieres, and eight Australian exclusives, and features a programme which runs the gamut of cutting edge contemporary theatre, visual arts and…

Part of the AccorHotels group, 25hours Hotels are a unique run of hotels around Europe; currently boasting 12 hotels across 8 cities. The brand runs on the slogan “Come As You Are”, in reference to the iconic Nirvana song, a sentiment amplified by the fact that no hotel in the brand is like the next….

Earlier this month, I travelled to the US for the weekend with Delta Air Lines to cover the Foo Fighters’ Cal Jam Festival in Los Angeles. You know, the one that “Nirvana” reformed at. Yes, with flights to the US more affordable and more frequent than ever, the idea of a weekend getaway to the…

The lush scenery of Cairns is about to welcome a new luxury resort from Crystalbrook Collection with the five-star Riley. The very central resort is the result of an expansive new development at the northern end of Cairns’ iconic waterfront Esplanade, distinguishing itself with a philosophy that claims to be “all about living in the…

Merivale have stepped into the widely underutilised (in Sydney) realm of Cambodian cooking with the new Kingdom of Rice, the group’s latest pop-up packed with flavour and colour. It follows the widely acclaimed Dirty Italian Disco as Merivale’s second pop-up at their Tennyson Hotel in Mascot, helmed by the same culinary minds behind ACME –…

Back in late September, Ken Levine, one of the driving forces behind the Bioshock series posted this to Twitter during Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Attonement. Today is the Jewish day of atonement, it seems. So I’m here to apologize for the naked Atlas boss battle at the end of BioShock. pic.twitter.com/UeaEWV717Q — Ken Levine (@levine) September…

In the Mood is a revue show celebrating the music, fashion and dance from the 1940s. Younger audiences may be unfamiliar with the big band tunes and jazz era songs. But for the older crowd, this music is a part of the fabric of their childhoods and the stuff their parents used to listen to….

Groucho Marx once said he wouldn’t want to belong to a club that would have him as a member. For us mere mortals, the world’s most famous nightclub remains elusive territory. It only existed for 33 months and if you were lucky enough to be there, chances are the velvet rope held you back. Studio…

It was only a week or so ago that their latest album Rue was released, and already the pillar of modern Australian punk that is Hellions have hit the road, playing three intimate album release shows along the East Coast this last week. Melbourne was a major stop on the tour, and the packed out band room…

Located “just three kilometres from downtown Toronto”, the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport sits on an island off the city’s centre; accessible by ferry or a relatively new underground walkway. And it may just be the world’s most conveniently located airport, as they go out of their way to make sure every passenger feels like a…