Spacey Jane tore through a sold-out show at Melbourne’s PICA on Wednesday night, showing the warehouse exactly why they’ve earned their place as one of Australia’s biggest live bands. From the moment they launched into “Through My Teeth,” the crowd was all in, singing, sweating, fully locked. They moved through a new set with ease,…
Tara Calaby’s second novel The Spirit Circle came out in January of this year and has followed hot on the heels of her debut, The House of Longing, which came out in 2023 – an impressive turnaround for historical fiction, which often requires extensive research. The result is an assured and atmospheric read featuring headstrong heroines, forbidden…
Sharon Van Etten returns to Australia this November, with her band The Attachment Theory showcasing their recently released self-titled debut album plus a selection of Sharon’s classic solo work. Sharon Van Etten’s music, known for its emotional rawness and lyrical vulnerability, often mirrors the psychological principles of Attachment Theory, a framework in psychology that explores…
The Fremantle indie rock band Spacey Jane have had huge success in their careers over the last five years; selling out shows, finding international acclaim, touring around the world, and debuting at number 2 on the ARIA charts with their third album If That Makes Sense. They are by far one of the most popular Aussie…
Over two decades ago, The Beautiful Girls were the soundtrack to salt-sprayed road trips, lazy Sunday afternoons and sun-soaked summers along the Aussie coast. This year marks the twentieth anniversary of their second studio album We’re Already Gone, and The Beautiful Girls have hit the road to celebrate. I had the pleasure of catching up…
Headstrong women and vibrant imagery take centre stage in Nadia Mahjouri’s debut novel, Half Truth, in which themes of belonging and identity meld with those of motherhood and family to create a rich and powerful story of a grandmother and granddaughter united in their uncertainty by the absence of one man. In 1999, Zahra begins…
Whilst there’s a certain unevenness to how writer/director Emily Abt presents her story in Thirsty, there’s no denying it manages to maintain a sense of interest as it navigates the world of politics, domesticity, and the woman trying to perfect both. That woman is Audrey (Jamie Neumann), a sharp, some may say ruthless, defense attorney…
In the immortal words of Jennifer Love Hewitt, “What are you waiting for?” Well, it’s not the latest trailer for I Know What You Did Last Summer, as the Jennifer Kaytin Robinson-directed slasher legacy sequel dropped its brand new visuals ahead of the film’s release this July. Hewitt and fellow series subsister Freddie Prinze Jr….
Delighting in the type of self-centred behaviour that more of us are guilty of than not, the character at the core of The Travel Companion, Alex Mallis and Travis Wood’s debut feature, sprouts lyrical to anyone who’ll listen (or tolerate) about his forthcoming directorial feature – an experimental, hybrid docu-fiction-travelogue about the cultural bridges and…
Lenny Kravitz is set to ignite stages across Australia with the long awaited return of his high-voltage live show, announcing the Blue Electric Light Australian Tour this November. Following the global success of his twelfth studio album, Blue Electric Light, Kravitz will bring his signature fusion of rock, funk, soul, and psychedelia to Australian shores…
Genre-defying alt-pop provocateur SOFIA ISELLA is heading to Australia this December for the highly anticipated YOU’LL UNDERSTAND, DICK tour, bringing her raw lyricism, cinematic sonics, and fearless stage presence to Australian audiences for the first time. Following a string of electric performances across North America and Europe and a support slot with Taylor Swift, the…
An education is viewed as an important thing. Former British PM, Tony Blair once ran on a platform where his party’s top three priorities were “Education, Education, Education.” The Shadow Scholars is a documentary that looks at the true cost of education and opportunity. First-time director Eloïse King shines a spotlight on the contract cheating…
If you’re a fan of sci fi/fantasy novels that are more on the cosy end of the scale, you’ve probably heard of TJ Klune – or at least heard of his novel The House in the Cerulean Sea and its highly anticipated sequel. But you probably haven’t heard of The Bones Beneath My Skin, which…
There are some of us who have been fortunate enough to eat at a fine dining restaurant. But at a place like Japan’s Tokito, this experience is elevated so high it’s almost like a religious experience. The documentary Tokito: The 540-Day Journey of a Culinary Maverick plays out like a real-life example of the TV…
The age-old question around if a tree falling in the forest makes a sound is asked in quite a compelling, pressure-cooker type of way in A Tree Fell in the Woods, Nora Kirkpatrick‘s debut dramedy about the implosion of relationships between two couples across a New Year’s Eve getaway in the snowy forests of Utah….
Directed by Alexander Ullom, It Ends was originally a short film that turned into a feature (87 minutes, to be precise), which debuted at SXSW 2025. It tells the story of a group of college kids embarking on a road trip. However, when they miss a turn-off, they realise they are driving directly through a…
“Are you here for the boat or the tooth?” And with that sentence, writer/director Olivia Accardo welcomes us into the bizarre reality of Baby Tooth, a wild five minute short film screening as part of this year’s Tribeca Film Festival; it’s set to play before the feature The Trainer, as well as being included in…
Australia was introduced to Kisschasy in 2005, after the release of their debut record United Paper People, and the Aussie music scene was never quite the same again. The release of their sophomore album Hymns for the Nonbeliever had fans in a chokehold, and with two certified gold records under the belt, Kisschasy were on…
Whilst Everything’s Going to Be Great starts out a bit more eccentric and comedically minded than how it ends, the performances at the core of Jon S. Baird‘s dramedy, and the sense that it celebrates art and those that have always felt a little different in doing so, keeps it continually moving at an enjoyable…
One of the great things about documentaries such as The Rose: Come Back to Me is that it both provides further insight into a rock outfit for the legions of fans, as well as introducing uninitiated viewers into a world that proves endlessly fascinating. I am personally of the latter, as going into this film,…
Intentionally testing audience patience across its increasingly bizarre, tension-laced 100 minutes, Lorcan Finnegan‘s Australian thriller The Surfer is more about breaking points than Point Break as it mashes surfing culture localism and toxic masculinity. Thomas Martin‘s script doesn’t give specific names to the majority of its players, instead referring to the film’s protagonist as simply…
We’ve reached the midpoint in June, and we’ve added ten more tracks to our Discovery playlist on Spotify and Apple Music, including one track that we premiered earlier in the week. Yes indeed, Friday the 13th can be lucky for some. Our track of the week goes to Meanjin’s Full Flower Moon Band, with their new…
As a genre, hardcore is having a serious moment right now. Bands like Turnstile and SPEED are pushing boundaries and bringing a raw intensity to global stages, shining a newfound spotlight on a genre that’s long thrived in the underground. With over twenty years in the game, Melbourne hardcore veterans Iron Mind have returned with…
If hearing the title I Was Born This Way immediately brings to mind the Lady Gaga song “Born This Way”, the coincidence is intentional. Gaga, one of the few interviewees featured in Daniel Junge and Sam Pollard‘s beautiful, insightful documentary, talks about how Carl Bean‘s legacy influenced her songwriting, as he did for the likes…
The female matchmaker. The handsome singleton. And her familiar ex-boyfriend. The set-up feels ripe for the most standard of romantic comedy practices, and perhaps in the hands of a more traditionally-minded writer/director that’s what we would have received. But under Celine Song (Past Lives), Materialists defies genre expectation with a meditation on love and its…
Set in the heart of the San Gabriel Valley and based on a harrowing true story, Rosemead is a gripping, emotionally charged portrait of a mother’s love pushed to its limits. Lucy Liu delivers a transformative performance as a terminally ill Chinese immigrant who uncovers her teenage son’s disturbing fixation with mass shootings. As her health deteriorates, she takes…
A self-awareness regarding certain specifications in getting his film made along with a universality in conjunction with its narrative, writer/director Alireza Khatami goes beyond genre conventions with The Things You Kill, a twisted thriller that breaks apart what it is to transform. At one point in the film, the language professor at the centre of…
OPPO is no stranger to a wide variety of entry-level, mid-range, and even premium phones for various users and budgets. Their newest entry-level option, the A5 Pro 5G, proves to be a decent choice in certain areas. For A$399, you’re getting fantastic battery life, 45W SUPERVOOC fast charging, and plenty of software support for added…
Melbourne artist Jacuqi Lumsden has today released her second single of the year, the evocative “Pretending Season”. The track follows “I Love Me” which was released in February. We are buzzed today to be premiering the video, ahead of its release tomorrow. The track journeys through themes of relationships, and the fears we often have…
Kendrick Lamar is touching down this December, bringing the acclaimed Grand National Tour to select Australian stadiums. After a string of sold-out shows across North America and a massive run through Europe and the UK with SZA, Kendrick will play only two solo headline dates in Melbourne and Sydney. In addition to these shows, he’ll…
