Watsons Bay Boutique Hotel plan cider street festival for October (Sydney)

Now that Spring is here and (hopefully) planning to play nice that team over at chirpy bay-side mansion-like Watsons Bay Boutique Hotel are planning a big cider street festival. Towards the end of October rows of stalls will be set up right along the foreshore to offer food and cider lovers a special one-day showcase…

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Pei Modern switches up dessert menu for spring (Sydney)

Mark Best’s acclaimed Pei Modern Sydney, that stylish open restaurant by the lobby of the Four Seasons Hotel, has welcomed a new dessert chef into the kitchen. Josephine Pignolet Award recipient Lauren Eldridge, fresh from the kitchen of World’s Best Restaurant Osteria Francescana in Italy, brings her youthful energy to a team that already consists…

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Sir Chapel Bistro and Brewery to open at Tramsheds (Sydney)

Craft beer will be brewed on-site at Sir Chapel, the latest food providore to join the line up for the highly anticipated Tramsheds Harold Park precinct. The new heritage-listed dining destination is just over a week away from finally becoming a reality, ready to offer the likes of Sir Chapel which will be standing alongside…

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Single of the Day: Maefire “Crawling” (2016)

Melbourne group Maefire are currently in Singapore showcasing at Music Matters but back here on the homefront, we’ve been digging their latest tune in “Crawling”. Continuing to flesh out their alt-rock stylings off the back of the successful release of “Without You” earlier this year, Maefire have crafted another catchy single that’s bound to stick with you after…

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Music Video of the Day: Petrol Girls “Phallocentric” (2016)

Meet Petrol Girls. The South East London four piece have been making waves with their own brand of feminist post-hardcore music and in their latest single, “Phallocentric”, they’ve gone and laid it all out on the table once more. The music video features bodies and paint – hooked yet? The song, taking the symbol of the…

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State Library Victoria unveiled as 2016 Melbourne Music Week Hub; headliners announced!

Melbourne Music Week has begun teasing us with some gems ahead of the event’s full program announcement in October with news of key headliners and the new festival hub today. Melbourne’s Lord Mayor, Robert Doyle, has announced that one of the city’s iconic sites, the historic State Library Victoria, will be the Hub for MMW this year, the…

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Live Review: The Whitlams + Ben Wright Smith – The Gov, Adelaide (09.09.16)

A large part of me feels like there’s little point in writing a review like this. Tim Freedman and The Whitlams have had a command of live music in Australia for so long now that I do sometimes wonder, “why bother?” I mean people don’t read reviews of Whitlams shows to find out if they’re…

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Alex Lahey on BIGSOUND, SXSW & making new music off the back of B-Grade University!

Alex Lahey went into BIGSOUND this year as one of the festival’s most talked about artists and came away from it as one of the acts people continued to buzz about. Understandably, the hype is justified – after her B-Grade University EP brought her widespread acclaim, not to mention shows around the country and Splendour in recent…

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Illumination’s new animated film Sing celebrates its premiere in Toronto

Sing, the latest film from Illumination Studios (Despicable Me, The Secret Life of Pets) had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday, ahead of its Boxing Day release. The animated film sees Buster, a koala, holding a singing competition in his home town in order to save his theatre. Sing stars Matthew McConaughey, Reese…

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Review: Oz Comic-Con delivers once again at its 2016 event in Sydney

It’s the start of Spring, and the Sydney weather turned on some spectacular blue skies over the weekend past but quite a lot of people were going to miss it.Oz Comic Con Sydney was back for 2016 and this time it would be bigger and better than last year. Whilst the Sydney International Convention Centre…

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Lavazza Italian Film Festival Review: The Confessions (Italy, 2016) is a refreshing suspense thriller

Directed by Roberto Andò, The Confessions (Le confessioni) is a refreshing suspense thriller. The film centres on a global summit where the world’s powerful and influential leaders attend. Among them is Salus (Toni Servillo), a monk, who is called over by Director of International Monetary Funds Daniel Roché (Daniel Auteuil) so he could make a…

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Video Games Review: Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (PS4, 2016)

I honestly don’t know what Deus Ex fans would have done without Eidos Montreal. After a debut outing that became a modern classic, a poorly-received sequel in Deus Ex: Invisible War and whatever the hell Project: Snowblind was supposed to be, the series languished until Eidos Montreal came along to rescue it in 2011’s Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Now, with that…

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Film Review: Pete’s Dragon (PG) (USA, 2016) brings the feels

Do you remember the 1977 Disney film Pete’s Dragon? No? Good, neither do most. But Disney’s new string of live action remakes is now having a crack at the original – which has become something of a cult favourite in the Disney archives – in an attempt to replicate their success with The Jungle Book…

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And then there were 6! – Man Booker Prize shortlist revealed

The 2016 Shortlist for the Man Booker Prize has been unveiled, and once again it makes for some interesting reading. Past winners, and literary heavyweights have found themselves dispensed with as the judges have agonisingly whittled down the long list to a mere six titles. The six authors and books that made the shortlist then…

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Comedy Review: The Best Medicine: Hannah Boland – Factory Theatre (10.09.16)

Promoting herself as a fresh face in ‘clean comedy,’ Hannah Boland presents a refreshing and unique one–woman stand up show as part of Sydney Fringe Comedy. There is something instantly likeable about Boland as she finds her stride on stage. While clearly pre-planned there is a natural flow to the performance as she jumps from anecdotes…

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One Jump Ahead – Aladdin’s Ainsley Melham on playing the lead role at Capitol Theatre

Newcomer into the theatre world Ainsley Melham has had a whirlwind time in theatre lately. After staring in Hayes Theatre Co’s production of Xanadu, he grabs the Aladdin lead role currently playing at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre. Ainsley was kind enough to answer a few questions for us after we had chats with both Genie, Michael James Scott and Jasmine, who…

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Melbourne to host world’s first espresso martini festival in November

Just when you thought Sydney getting a bar dedicated to espresso martinis was the peak of Australia’s obsession with caffeinated cocktails, Mr Black Spirits Co have revealed that they are bringing the world’s first espresso martini festival at Melbourne’s Meat Market come November. The Mr Black Festival of the Espresso Martini will be taking over…

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Sake Jr to debut on Bourke St with hundreds of free DIY Korean-Japanese bowls this week (Melbourne)

After a successful debut week in Sydney, Saké Jr, the so fresh, so clean spin-off of Saké Restaurant & Bar, will open in Melbourne at 555 Bourke Street today (Wednesday 14th September). Fashioned as a Korean influenced little sister to the famed Japanese restaurant brand, this health-focused venture will be driven by build-your-own rice, noodle,…

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Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band touring Australia & NZ in January and February 2017!

Brilliant. Just brilliant. To ensure that our 2017 is off to a well and truly prosperous start, The Boss is coming back. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will be back in Australia and New Zealand next January and February for a huge summer tour that will see them joined by the likes of Jet, Diesel and Marlon Williams and The Yarra…

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Music Video of the Day: Maribelle “Shout” (2016)

Directed by Grey Ghost, 21 year old dynamo performer Maribelle indulges in some brilliant 90’s throwback vibes on her new music video for “Shout”. The tune, taken from her debut EP Overtake (out now!), is catchy as hell and the visuals are equally as engaging. From the choreography to the set design itself which is a delight for the…

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Coda Conduct on the development of their live shows, their first BIGSOUND & more!

BIGSOUND brought some great names to Brisbane last week and we were stoked to have scored some time ahead of the showcases with them! Erica and Sally aka one of our new favourite hip hop acts in Coda Conduct, sat down with Larry on Wednesday to chat about how far they’ve come since their first show in a warehouse, to being…

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Single of the Day: Running Touch ft. Ira Horace “Aubrey” (2016)

Running Touch, mate. His new single “Aubrey” has seen the Melbourne producer link up with Ira Horace for a pounding dance jam that’s been rattling around in my ahead since I was directed to it only a few days ago. The addition of Horace’s raps in amongst Running Touch’s fast-paced beats and production doesn’t drop in energy…

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Julia Jacklin announces Don’t Let The Kids Win album tour for November & December!

Julia Jacklin isn’t planning on stopping when she returns home from an impressive round of international tour dates this November. The Blue Mountains native has already had a stellar 2016 off the back of single releases and showcase festival dates at both SXSW and The Great Escape that had then led to the inking of…

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SAFIA chat Internal and their huge Australian tour!

While in Sydney recently, Larry caught up with Ben and Harry ahead of SAFIA‘s debut album release of Internal. Chatting about the album and it’s creation, particularly the material that had been road tested live already, the boys open up about some of the challenges they were met with. “There’s one song that we’ve been playing for a long time, which…

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From Brisbane with Love: Larry Heath’s musical highlights from the best BIGSOUND ever

The few days we spend at BIGSOUND in Brisbane is best described as an annual escapade into a fine slice of the best in Australian music – a sample of what’s been round the traps recently, what’s returned after some time away and what’s coming next. Across the three nights of live music – two official…

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The Top 10 On Ground at BIGSOUND 2016!

Now that the BIGSOUND dust has settled and the industry has returned to some sense of normal; our on-ground team have been going back through notes jotted down on phones, ‘Definitely check out…’ style messages sent back and forth, in determining the selection of bands who stood out as strong winners across the board. With many of these…

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Bruce Foxton of From The Jam on their Australian tour, new album & working with Paul Weller again

The Jam was a band of immense talent which did something most others never manage: splitting at the height of its power and fame and leaving fans wanting more. Quintessentially English, yet able to find audiences far beyond its native shores, the band’s singles list reads like a best-of of English rock from the last…

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HBO, FX and Netflix among the big winners at the 2016 Creative Arts Emmys

The winners for the 68th annual Creative Arts Emmys have been announced. The first ever two night awards show, which was held on the 10 – 11th of September, recognises achievements in cinematography, make-up, costume design, casting, and sound. HBO lead the way on day one, with popular fantasy series Game of Thrones picking up…

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Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past hits the Nintendo 3DS this weekend

Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past is set to make its debut in Australia and New Zealand on the Nintendo 3DS handheld console on September 17th. The newest game in Square Enix’s long-running Dragon Quest RPG series has been completely rebuilt and re-imagined for the Nintendo 3DS. Fragments of the Forgotten Past is…

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Square Enix’s mobile RPG Guardian Codex opens pre-registration

Square Enix have announced that pre-registration for their RPG mobile title Guardian Codex is now open. The multiplayer game is free-to-play on iOS and Android devices, and certainly looks promising. Created by the team behind the battle card games Guardian Cross and Deadman’s Cross, the game is said to feature a deep story mode, with…

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