Live Review: Pearl Jam deliver something special to Sydney – Engie Stadium (21.11.24)

If you’d arrived at Sydney Olympic Park’s showground early enough (and 6pm is very early) , you’d have seen Eddie Vedder introducing the Cosmic Psychos to the crowd as one of his favourite bands. The seminal Melbourne punk band really don’t need much introduction, just a small bit of stage and a mic. What they…

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Interview: Director Pierre Perifel and producer Damon Ross on The Bad Guys 2 and escaping the pratfalls of a sequel; “You don’t want to take yourself too seriously.”

Who’s badder than The Bad Guys? The Bad Girls. In the new chapter from DreamWorks Animation’s acclaimed 2022 action-comedy hit about a crackerjack criminal crew of animal outlaws, The Bad Guys are struggling to find trust and acceptance in their newly minted lives as Good Guys, when they are pulled out of retirement and forced…

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LEGO Horizon Adventures packs in a decent amount of charm and fun

LEGO Horizon Adventures promised a captivating reimagining of the PlayStation modern classic, Horizon Zero Dawn. Infused with the beloved, lighthearted charm of the classic LEGO games, complete with their trademark sense of humour, collecting LEGO studs, bricks and unlocking characters. As a lifelong fan of Traveller’s Tales’ LEGO games, I eagerly anticipated reliving Aloy’s somewhat…

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New Music Discoveries 22nd November: The Delines, Jet City Sports Club, Tiny Habits, and more

It’s just shy of five weeks until Christmas (sorry!) and we’re not into holiday mode at AU Towers quite yet. This week we’ve added another ten tracks to our Discovery playlist on Spotify and Apple Music. Included amongst them are two tracks we exclusively premiered earlier in the week. Portland-based country-soul group The Delines take…

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Interview: Lucy Lawless on her directorial debut with documentary Never Look Away; “If I can make you feel something, I want to do it while revealing human nature.”

When first introduced to the story of CNN war cameraperson, Margaret Moth, Lucy Lawless immediately jumped at the chance. In local lore, Moth was a rockstar and an enigma. Having long eschewed directing, finally here was a story that Lawless could not resist. “It felt like destiny that I should be asked to tell the…

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Film Review: Never Look Away is an at once unflinching and entertaining portrait of wild-hearted iconoclast Margaret Moth

Given her career achievements, and that name alone, it’s quite a surprise that Margaret Moth isn’t more of a well known figure.  Working as a full-time camera operator in 1970s New Zealand at a time when no other women held such a position in her homeland, nor Australia, Moth – born Margaret Wilson (she was…

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The BlueAnt X5i Bluetooth Party Speaker brings the versatility to any setting

We’ve tested a few BlueAnt speakers over the past couple of years and can safely say that they’ve established a presence in the Australian market by providing versatility and value across their range of products. I’m still using the larger BlueAnt X6 speaker to this day. The BlueAnt X5i feels like a repackaged version of…

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Jack White to perform two shows in Sydney & four in Victoria with more shows revealed [UPDATED]

The lineup for Always Live is here, with the brainchild of Australian music icon Michael Gudinski continuing to be a game-changer for Victoria’s live music scene. This year’s roster is no exception, with the addition of American rock icon Jack White, who is set to deliver two unforgettable shows in December. Since we first posted…

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Photo Gallery: Pearl Jam + Pixies – Engie Stadium, Sydney (21.11.24)

Rock and Roll legends Pearl Jam from Seattle, USA totally blew the crowd away with a performance for the ages. It was full of emotion and pure energy to a sold out Sydney crowd. Supported beautifully by icons Pixies from Boston, USA. Peter Dovgan brings you the images.      

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Pixies bring two hours of nonstop rock & roll to Sydney’s Liberty Hall

Black Francis doesn’t like talking, and he isn’t afraid to let you know that. “We’re happy to be here. Many people think we aren’t because we don’t talk much, but we are,” he says casually into the microphone before his band, Pixies, give us two nonstop hours of snub-nosed rock & roll. “When you talk,…

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Photo Gallery: Mother Mother + Ūla – The Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane (19.11.24)

Mother Mother took the stage at The Fortitude Music Hall on Tuesday as part of the world tour for their new album, Grief Chapter, released in February this year. This unforgettable evening of indie-rock tunes was perfectly paired with support from Ūla, who had previously supported Mother Mother on their ‘INSIDE’ tour of AUS last…

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Australia is Leading the Charge for Heavy Music

November is Ausmusic Month, and with Ausmusic T-shirt Day – Thursday 28th – just around the corner, Support Act is raising money for this country’s abundant creative talent and giving back to the precarious sector with our help. ABC have announced a packed programme of television and radio events in support of the cause and…

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Norby the Robot: The Personal Touch You Need in Language Learning

With AI making headlines everywhere, robots have had their biggest growth spurt in years, fueled by rapid advancements in machine learning, deep learning, and large language models. Countless AI developments have allowed us to accelerate the wider applications of what robots can do sometimes to uncanny effectiveness. Of course, our capitalist overlords want a piece…

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Photo Gallery: Pixies – Liberty Hall, Sydney (20.11.24)

American influential alternative rock band Pixies played a special intimate sideshow at Sydney’s Liberty Hall. Currently on tour around Australia supporting Pearl Jam. Pixies delighted fans kicking off with their classics “Where Is My Mind?”, “Monkey Gone To Heaven”, “Wave Of Mutilation”, “Debaser” also including new songs “Chicken” and “Oyster Beds” off their latest 2024…

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Troye Sivan

Troye Sivan blows the roof off The Drive for the start of his Something to Give Each Other tour (19.11.24)

It was a beautifully balmy Tuesday evening at The Drive for Troye Sivan‘s  Something to Give Each Other Adelaide stopover. The Drive as a venue has come a long way since it was Memorial Drive back in the day, hosting the likes of Rod Stewart and Midnight Oil. Since the Adelaide Oval modernisation, the Drive’s subsequent…

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Howlite

Exclusive Single Premiere: Howlite “Everything Will Happen” (2024)

AU favourites Howlite return this week with their sublime new single “Everything Will Happen”, the title track of the alt-pop trio’s forthcoming third EP. Set for release tomorrow, we’re excited to bring you this exclusive premiere of the single a day early. “Everything Will Happen” follows on from the release of singles “Still I Find”…

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Film Review: Wicked is a musical extravaganza worth celebrating

At 2 hours and 40 minutes, there’s a lot of Wicked. And this is only the first part of the story.  Yes, despite the advertisements simply marketing this as “Wicked”, the opening credits inform us that this is the first half of the mammoth Broadway adaptation that expanded the wonderful world of Oz by letting…

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Clap Your Hands Say Yeah announce Australian tour, performing debut album in full for 20th anniversary

Today it was announced that Philadelphia’s Clap Your Hands Say Yeah are coming back to Australia & New Zealand next year as part of the 20th anniversary tour for their 2005 debut, self-titled LP. While the band – which these days is essentially a solo project of its singer/songwriter founder Alec Ounsworth – have released…

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Speak Truth, Practice Kindness: Ubud Writers & Readers Festival opens hearts & minds in Bali

Studies show that those who become fully immersed in works of fiction are naturally more empathetic. How crazy to think that the art of getting lost in a fantasy world can help you show up in life with more compassion. But that’s the immense power of words, right? These tiny letters arranged into shapes and…

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6 tours you need to see in Australia this December: From Jamie XX to Jack White

The silly season has already started. With work winding down, Christmas parties loading up, and all those Xmas lights starting to sparkle, it’s beginning to look a lot like freedom. No doubt you’ll be planning an epic December to let loose from a chaotic 2024. We’re willing to bet that live music is a big…

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Dave Murphy

Exclusive Single Premiere: Dave Murphy “Josephine” (2024)

Letting go of a relationship that is at its inevitable endpoint is challenging. New Jersey Americana artist Dave Murphy masterfully captures the trauma and conflicting emotions in his folk-country single “Josephine,” which we have the pleasure of premiering ahead of its release on Thursday, November 21st. “Josephine” is steeped in melancholy, with vivid imagery and a wave of…

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Interview: Riley Nottingham and Johnny Carr on navigating the nuances and opposing personalities of their characters in Strange Creatures

Two estranged brothers are forced back into each others lives when they’re tasked with scattering the ashes of their recently deceased mother in the country town where she grew up. Such is the logline for Australian director Henry Boffin’s directorial debut, Strange Creatures, starring Riley Nottingham and Johnny Carr as the aforementioned brothers who reevaluate…

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Film Review: Strange Creatures is an effective character drama in the guise of a road comedy

An Australian road movie that wisely operates beyond such genre simplicities, Henry Boffin‘s Strange Creatures finds organic humour in the tragic circumstances of its two main characters – estranged brothers Nate and Ged Taylor (Riley Nottingham and Johnny Carr, respectively) – as they respect the dying wish of their recently deceased mother. The opposing personalities…

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From Absinthe to DiscoShow – Spiegelworld is an Australian success story in Las Vegas

If you’ve been to a variety show in a Spiegeltent in the last decade or so, chances are you’ve been lucky enough to see a production from the cirque ensemble Spiegelworld. The organisation emerged in 2006, with their show Absinthe making a splash in a travelling Spiegeltent at Pier 17 in New York City. While…

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DUST: Dusting the Cobwebs Off Post-Punk

In the age of the internet, where over-consumption reigns supreme, finding authenticity can feel like trying to find a unicorn. Where Temu offers knock-off Matisse art for $2.99, mainstream music offers algorithmic, surface-level tunes designed not to inspire but to sell. According to IDLES mouthpiece Joe Talbot, “art and music are the only way anyone…

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The Acer Predator Triton Neo 16 is the ultimate gaming laptop

The Acer Predator Triton Neo 16 is a standout gaming laptop with high-end specifications and a sleek and portable design. Its slim profile and lightweight, under 2.5 kg, make it a top choice for gamers who need mobility without sacrificing extreme performance while on the go. The laptop boasts Intel’s 13th-gen processors along with NVIDIA’s…

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NPU in Snapdragon: Powering the ARM-Based Dell Latitude 7455

Steve Jobs once said, “People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware.” That very well became the case with the quantum leap advent of the ARM-based Apple M silicon that now, in its latest 4th generation, has its architecture built for Apple’s own AI cheekily named Apple Intelligence. But on the…

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Kasabian

Kasabian announce 2025 Australian tour dates

Scarcely taking a breath after finishing their massive UK tour, Kasabian has just dropped the news that we’ll finally be seeing them back in Australia again.  Having not visited our shores for a headline tour since way back in 2014 it’s very welcome news for fans of the rockers. The tour will feature three East…

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Interview: Daniel Reisinger on finding the humour in grief with his unexpected “rom com” And Mrs; “You want to make something that connects with human beings and can help in some small way.”

Gemma’s life is about to take a dramatic turn. Living in London, she faces the sudden loss of her American fiancé, Nathan, just before their wedding day. Nathan’s passing forces Gemma, who has always been skeptical of modern marriage, to reassess the meaning of a lifelong commitment. With a push from Nathan’s free-spirited and unpredictable…

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And Mrs subverts the expectations of its romantic comedy packaging with an emotional beat at its core: British Film Festival Review

It’s too easy for any British romantic comedy of sorts to be likened to the works of Richard Curtis.  With Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Bridget Jones’s Diary and About Time amongst his credits, we can see why he’s often something of a benchmark for the genre, but whatever formula he established, director…

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