Twenty years ago, Helen Franklin did a terrible thing. Unable to forgive herself, she lives a life of self-imposed penance, scraping together a living as a translator in Prague and denying herself the simplest of pleasures. But when her friend Karel hands her a strange manuscript, detailing sightings of a tall woman in black haunting…
Emerging retro soul singer-songwriter Curtis Harding has followed up last year’s Face Your Fear album with brand new single, “Where We Are”, an eight minute beauty that is packed with nostalgia for 60’s soul. Harding, the son of a gospel singer (an influence you can still hear today), kicked off his career as a background singer…
Chatswood burger joint Royal Stacks is celebrating a whole two years since it’s first shop in Sydney, moving up from Melbourne to great acclaim with a total of 130,00 burgers and 3000 liters of frozen custards sold to date. On Saturday 27th October, those celebration will hit their peak with a huge party, featuring a…
Developers being chewed up and spat out by the global video games industry is a topic that’s been cropping up a lot over the past months. As news of renowned studios closing their doors, sky-high developer turnover and, just as of this week, employees working 100 hour weeks in an effort to get major releases…
Unless you’re heading there on business, chances are the riverina city of Albury isn’t too far up the bucketlist when it comes to those essential Aussie road trip destinations. Although, the major regional city, located on the banks of the Murray River, is a convenient and completely worthwhile stop-off on the way to (or from)…
We sat down with RÜFÜS DU SOL in Sydney recently to chat about their new album Solace and get exclusive details about their upcoming Australian tour in 2019. From feeling the pressures of touring life and becoming estranged from affairs back at home in Australia, the band says the new album is infused with a shared experience…
Melbourne’s favourite gritty garage rocker’s The Pretty Littles are back and providing the goods with an epic show, an epic line-up and a bloody good album to go along with it. The Corner Hotel crowd was churning for opening night and the bloke beside me chimed in to let everyone know that “The Pretty Littles…
It appears that Sean Bean has spilled…the beans? The former Game of Thrones cast member, who portrayed patriarch Ned Stark in the show’s first season, has let slip that HBO has been busy filming a reunion special ahead of the final run of episodes. The one-off special, which was reportedly hosted by Conan O’Brien, was…
On a Thursday night at 7:45, the almost century-old venue in Kreuzberg, Berlin, starts filling up. Some laid back rock tunes play in the background as I watch an audience pour into Huxley’s that could not be any more diverse. Ten-year-old kids with their parents mingle amongst hipsters in their late 20s, and a couple…
On November 2nd and 3rd, more than one hundred local Western Australian bands will play at multiple venues across the city for FREE as part of the annual WAMFest. And this year, as part of the AU review’s national run of 10th birthday celebrations, we’re taking over no less than four stages at the Amplifier Capitol on…
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets returned to Perth after their European and East Coast adventures to put on an awesome show at the Rosemount Hotel. Joining in on the fun were Southern River Band and Spacey Jane. Our photographer Stuart Sevastos brings us the highlights of the night.
Tasman Keith is using his hip hop platform to raise awareness for more than just the stereotypical “sex, drugs and money” mantra that contemporary hip hop often flaunts. His previous single “My Pelopolees” was a harsh, fast paced rap held together with a strong beat. His most recent single, “Divided”, sees the rapper taking a…
Best known as one sixth of legendary comedy troupe Monty Python, Eric Idle never rested on his laurels – though he was quite happy to make a bit of cash from them when the opportunity arose. Covering it all, from his working class childhood and the rise of the Pythons, to the creation of the…
We always hurt the ones we love the most. This is certainly the case with Beautiful Boy. The film is an emotional drama about a father who is grappling with his son’s drug addiction. It’s a very human and poignant story. This film is the English language debut for director, Felix Van Groeningen. The plot…
I’m going to open this review with a comparison that may lose some of you right away. Sometimes, in order to learn and grow in a meaningful way, we have to cut a significant part of ourselves off. It may take us a while to work up the courage to make that change, it may…
Last week, something occurred in the AAA gaming space that you don’t see every day. Players who pre-order their games digitally across Xbox, PC and PS4 are often extended the luxury of preloading games. Preloading is the process of downloading a game prior to its street date. You can’t play a pre-loaded game right away, the…
With only a week remaining until the launch of what is arguably the year’s biggest game, Rockstar Games have released the launch trailer for Red Dead Redemption 2. It’s another more cinematic glimpse at the game, hinting at trouble within Dutch’s gang and the game’s broader story. From train robberies (and Arthur complaining that…
Lady Gaga is not the first singer to embark on the transition from music to film (J. Lo, I’m looking at you), and I doubt she will be the last. However, never before have I seen a musician take this leap with such skill, such talent and such raw emotion reminiscent of a seasoned actor….
Tasmanian producer Akouo has followed up last year’s incredible “Feel That” (featuring Montaigne) and his recent collaboration with LANKS (the dreamy “Yours”) with head-nodding new track “So Long” co-written by and featuring friend and vocalist Janeva. Seamlessly blending electronic production with his Akouo’s background in underground hip hop, the track is a festival-ready banger that…
Melbourne’s watery rooftop oasis is almost here, ushered in with the launch of Reunion Island Pool Club, re-shaping the former open-air digs of St Jerome’s – The Hotel into a breezy mecca of swish plunge pools, pop-ups from local hospitality heroes, and more. The sprawling and highly anticipated venue, a first for the Australia, officially…
Australia’s beloved Art Series Hotels have just introduced a slick new concept for hotel guests looking for a little participatory art project for dabble in. From now until December 30th, Melbourne gems The Blackman and The Olsen, and Brisbane’s The Johnson, will offer a “Colour Your Stay” package where guests can grab a spray can,…
South By Southwest (SXSW) Music Festival is an annual conference held in Austin, Texas, and is the number one hot spot for eyeing down your fav new artists. Mixed with a bunch of industry legends and newbies from around the world, artists perform in front of industry professionals, media and fans at venues ranging from…
If any domestic service calls for a slight upgrade, it’s the coast-to-coast flight from Sydney to Perth. While not exactly a gruelling long-haul, the five hour service is testing enough that a little bit of extra comfort goes a long way. We tested Virgin Australia’s Economy X product on the service to see if the…
In 2010, Gabe Newell joined Sony at E3, in one of the most controversial crossovers of all time, to announce cross platform play between PS3 and PC for their then-forthcoming title, Portal 2. Newell also noted that he and the gathered throng were seeing a shift in the games industry. Video: Kahleb Olsson “Entertainment-as-a-product to…
Craft beer rockstars Young Henrys have hooked up with Byron Bay clothing brand and hemp advocates Afends to release one of the first legal hemp beers in Australia, and the first to use brand new water soluble hemp oil technology. Simply dubbed the Hemp IPA, the beer was brewed to reinforce Afends’ initiative of promoting…
Thought that ‘toys to life’ video game fad was over? That the days of collecting Skylanders and Disney Infinity figures were behind you? Guess again. Starlink: Battle for Atlas marks developer Ubisoft Toronto’s first attempt at creating a fun, friendly, accessible spaceship combat-based experience for the young and old alike. While it’s not perfect, Starlink: Battle for…
Australia’s first premium online cocktail subscription service has launched, paving the way for Cocktail Porter to deliver bartender-designed cocktail kits directly to front doors across the country. A concept birthed in Sydney, Cocktail Porter was founded by Cameron Northway of Sweet&Chilli and Bondi restaurant Rocker, aimed at pushing a modern, on-demand product for those wanting…
Sculpture by the Sea , one of the world’s largest annual free-to-the-public outdoor sculpture exhibitions, has now opened for another year across Sydney’s spectacular Bondi to Tamarama coastal walk. The exhibition, which each year sees the coastline transformed into a 2km long sculpture park over three weeks, features 107 sculptures by artists from 21 countries…
Veteran character actor Sean Bean has died a lot on-screen. Known for roles like Boromir in The Lord of the Rings and Ned Stark on Game of Thrones, old mate Sean always seems to bite it in the end. He’s died on film so many times that it’s become a bit of a running joke….
In its 31st year, the annual Folk Alliance International Conference announces their offical showcase lineup, being held from February 13-17, 2019, in Montréal, Québec, Canada. The conference is a gathering of the folk music industry and community. It crosses a diverse array of genres including Appalachian, Americana, Blues, Bluegrass, Celtic, Cajun, Francophone, Global Roots, Indigenous,…
