2016 AU Awards : A look at the “Male Artist of the Year” nominees

This Friday, we announce the winners of the third annual AU Awards – a celebration of what has been a rich and diverse year of Australian music, delivered both on stage and in studio on record. Ahead of the ultimate reveal, we’re taking a look at some of the categories and those up for awards,…

Read more

Single of the Day: Bleached Bones “I Want To Know” (2016)

Bleached Bones are an electro trio out of the UK who have dangled a tasty morsel in “I Want To Know” in front of us today and…we’ve bitten. The single isn’t officially released until next month but we’ve been streaming this one all day and it’s been a perfect soundtrack to getting through that classic…

Read more

Balance and Composure set for largest Aussie headline tour to date next March

Balance and Composure are hitting up Australian venues in March 2017, their biggest tour yet. Touring their latest album Light We Made, the band is set to show off an experimental sound for the fans who have been rocking with them for some time. In place of ferocious guitars and drums are synths and slicker, smoother…

Read more

HÆLOS’ Dom Goldsmith checks in ahead of a summer trip to Australia for the Falls Festival

In just a few weeks, HÆLOS will be out in Australia for a run of highly anticipated festival appearances for the Falls Festival, as well as some cheeky headline dates on the east coast with BUOY, Yeo and Christopher Port. For the London-based trio, their music has continued to captivate audiences around the world through 2016, hooking…

Read more

Live Review: E^ST + Bel + MANE – Fat Controller, Adelaide (09.12.16)

Unless you’ve been living in a secluded cave far, far away from anything good you will know that this past year has been an absolute celebration of female musicians making their mark. From the stadium-ready Ngaiire to punk-rock heroes Camp Cope, we’ve been watching in awe the rapid rise of female talent take to the spotlight. One…

Read more

La La Land tops Golden Globes nominations as Edgerton, Kidman and Hacksaw Ridge lead Australian presence

Earlier this morning, Don Cheadle, Laura Dern and Anna Kendrick announced the nominees of the 2017 Golden Globe Awards, with the musical La La Land – fresh from winning Best Film at the Critics Choice Awards – leading the pack with seven nominations, including Best Picture, Director and acting nods for Stone and Gosling. Barry…

Read more

Spider-Man Homecoming epic debut trailer has our Spidey senses tingling

“This is my chance to prove myself”, says Spider-Man (Tom Holland), as the first official trailer for the upcoming entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe – Spider-Man: Homecoming – makes its debut. Though Holland’s Spider-Man debuted to praise in Captain America: Civil War, this third incarnation of a live action Spidey in less than ten…

Read more

The Iris’ Weekly Australian TV Picks: 13 – 19 December

The festive season is approaching, so our picks for this week are a little festive, from a comedy to a classic, sit back and enjoy them. Tuesday, 13th December Jane the Virgin, Fox8, 8:30pm AEST Jane’s life spirals down when she discovers that Michael has been shot. Wednesday, 14th December The Yearly with Charlie Pickering,…

Read more

Hotel Review: QT Sydney is a subversive and unique five-star experience

Those fiery red wigs on the chic-outfitted “Directors of Chaos” who wait on busy Market Street to welcome you into QT Sydney should tell all you need to know about the property: this is a five-star hotel that does things differently. For over four years, QT’s very first Sydney venture (they opened a QT Bondi…

Read more

Music Video of the Day: Towne “The One I Love” (2016)

Are they folk-pop? Are they country-pop? Regardless, Towne come packing with a lot of soul that’s irresistible. Debut EP Games We Play is an impressive outing for the US duo, with single “The One I Love” standing out from the jump. Melodic and strongly led by Steevie Steeves‘ vocal, the song now has a music video, securing its international…

Read more

It’s not a game anymore… the brand new BBC Sherlock trailer has landed

If you can hear a faint screaming or wailing in the distance, don’t be alarmed, it’s just the collective sound of Cumberbabes and BBC Sherlock fans all collectively freaking out over the new trailer that has arrived for Season 4. BBC One has officially dropped the full length trailer for Series 4 of Sherlock and…

Read more

TV Review: Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency (USA, 2016) first season is too mad to miss

Among the landscape of the dark and ever-grim golden age of TV, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency deserves to be called nothing short of a caper. Based on the books by Douglas Adams (which I regretfully have not read) and brought to life by showrunner Max Landis, the series is a riff on the classic…

Read more

26th annual Flickerfest International Short Film Festival to feature 60 Australian shorts

Australia’s legendary Flickerfest International Short Film Festival will be returning for its 26th year come January 2017, kicking off under the stars as it once again sets up on Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach. What has become the country’s largest short film competition, and the only one with Academy accreditation and BAFTA recognition, has announced that…

Read more

New ABC iview dramedy series F*cking Adelaide begins shooting

F*cking Adelaide, a new comedy-drama web series by Closer Productions (52 Tuesdays) has commenced shooting in – no surprises here – Adelaide. Starring Australian TV icons including Wentworth star Pamela Rabe, Tilda Cobham-Hervey (The Kettering Incident) and Kate Box (Rake), each episode will look through the eyes of one of three sisters, who reunite to learn their childhood…

Read more

Film Review: Office Christmas Party (USA, 2016) delivers chaos but no comedy

Subplots run amok in Office Christmas Party, an overwraught holiday comedy that marks a return to the big screen for directors Josh Gordon and Will Speck, who are best known for the Will Ferrell and Jon Heder mishap Blades of Glory. Though unlike the 2007 sports comedy, the team’s latest feature doesn’t have the thick…

Read more

Sydney’s second airport is (finally) given the all clear for construction

Since 1946, there have been plans to build a second airport in Badgerys Creek, about 50 km west of Sydney. In typical political fashion, any progress was continually put on hold, as those in power continued to look for cheaper alternatives (like expanding existing airports in places like Bankstown or Canberra), or simply downgraded its…

Read more

Direct flights between Australia and London to arrive in 2018

In what is game changing news for the Australian travel industry, Qantas has revealed its plans to provide Australian passengers with the first ever direct service to the United Kingdom. The non-stop service will take place exclusively on Qantas’ 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft, which will travel 14,498 kilometres from Perth on the West Coast of Australia,…

Read more

An underwater smartphone photography exhibition pops up in Sydney this week

A special pop-up exhibition will hit Surry Hills this week to highlight the works of ocean photographer and social media influencer Mark Fitz (@_markfitz) and the possibilities of works shot exclusively on a smartphone (in this case the iPhone 7 Plus). The exhibition, which has been created by impact protection pros Tech21 has been designed…

Read more

Book Review: The Woman on the Stairs by Bernhard Schlink runs the gamut of emotions

Bernhard Schlink is a German lawyer and writer. His internationally best selling novel ‘The Reader’ became an Oscar winning film staring Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes. He lives in Berlin and New York and he takes us from Germany to Australia in his current novel The Woman on the Stairs. The nameless narrator of this book…

Read more

Review: Hurricane’s Grill new Circular Quay location mixes classic charcoal with carnivorous delight (Sydney)

Floor to ceiling panes of glass permits natural light to fill the large, open space of the new Hurricane’s Grill location in Circular Quay’s The Gateway precinct. As well as allowing to people-watch as Sydney Harbour and the Ferry terminal lie in view, it brightens up the new restaurant from the popular meat-focused brand. A…

Read more

Anna Polyviou’s epic gingerbread house and festive high tea take over Shangri-La Hotel (Sydney)

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas at Sydney’s Shangri-La Hotel. Executive Pastry Chef, Anna Polyviou and her team of elves have outdone themselves this year with a life-sized gingerbread house full of lolly decorations on display, as well as a Christmas-themed carousel. The introduction of these annual decorations have transformed the atmosphere in…

Read more

Reynold Poernomo offers special Ferrero Rocher dessert for Christmas at KOI (Sydney)

In just a few weeks renowned dessert chef and new Christmas ambassador for Ferrero Rocher, Reynold Poernomo will be celebrating his Sydney based KOI Dessert Bar being open for a year. What has now become a Kensington Street staple opened late last year and has since become a platform for Poernomo’s inventive approach to desserts,…

Read more

GPO Dessert Bar returns to Martin Place with Nutella donuts and chocolate truffle baby cakes (Sydney)

The GPO Grand have brought back their pop-up dessert bar ahead of the holidays, setting up right by Martin Place’s enormous Christmas tree to offer exclusive outdoor seating and a huge range of festive desserts. Under those Bulgari Christmas LED lights Sydneysiders will find the likes of Nutella donuts, loacker gelato, chocolate ricotta cannoli, salted…

Read more

Belvedere Ice-Pop cocktails have popped up in Zeta Bar (Sydney)

With summer heating up the words “popsicle cocktails” are two of the sweetest things you can hear, and luckily for Sydneysiders the icy concoctions are currently being offered by a Belvedere Ice-Pop Bar which has been set up Hilton Sydney’s famed Zeta Bar. The well established rooftop bar will be pushing back against the relentless…

Read more

Burger Watch: Burgers by Josh pays homage to a classic Maccas special with “The McRibby” (Sydney)

Welcome to Burger Watch, where we acknowledge the constant creativity bursting from all sides of the epic burger wave that sweeps Australia every week. The highest of high demand is reserved for this timeless food staple and just about every interpretation of it, whether it to be an over-the-top glutton-fest or a focus on simple…

Read more

Review: Tinker – Northcote (Melbourne)

Forget Port Melbourne, forget Brunswick… things are happening in the little suburb of Northcote that will challenge the most established of Melbourne food hubs. The area now boasts high end restaurants like Estelle by Scott Pickett, St Kilda sweethearts Radio Mexico’s second spot, Norte,  and now the brand new, totally chic, must-visit brunch spot, Tinker….

Read more

Live Review: Coldplay + Jess Kent + Lianne La Havas – Etihad Stadium, Melbourne (09.12.16)

Fireworks. Lasers. Bird shaped confetti. Fire. Glowing wrist bands. Multiple stage changes. Weird but mesmerising images circulating on the big screens. Massive crowds. Massive singalongs… all the things you’d expect from a commercially popular band performing a stadium concert. And yet, even though you expect, even though you know it’s going to be obnoxiously over…

Read more

The State of Affairs (9th December 2016): SAFIA sign with BMG, Lucky Entertainment win Musica Copa 2016, QLD Music Awards extend submissions deadline

In this week’s industry wrap up, we give props to SAFIA and their new worldwide publishing deal, the submissions deadline for the 2017 Queensland Music Awards have been extended, congrats go to Lucky Entertainment for their Musica Copa win and more! SAFIA signs with BMG Huge news for Canberra’s SAFIA, who’ve been announced as having…

Read more

Single of the Day: Grammar “Michigan” (2016)

Massachusetts-based artist Grammar has hooked us with their latest single, “Michigan” this week: a slow building and intricate alt-pop composition that no doubt will continue to generate momentum for the band as the last few weeks of 2016 roll out. Vocalist Barrie Lindsay has a delicate charm that reminds me of Oh Wonder’s Josephine Vander Gucht and…

Read more

Illy announces Two Degrees Australian tour dates for March and April

While fans on the east coast were treated to a taste of Illy‘s new album Two Degrees, those shows were mere precursors for something bigger on the horizon. Today, more tour news was unveiled from Team Illy, with new dates being announced for March and April 2017 – his biggest shows yet. Joining Illy on the road…

Read more