Month: July 2017

APRA announces nominees for the 2017 Arts Music Awards

The 2017 Arts Music Awards have been announced, with some of Australia’s best composers and performers in classical, jazz and contemporary music joining the list of diverse finalists acknowledged across 11 categories. Presented every year by APRA AMCOS and the Australian Music Centre, the Awards recognize achievement in the composition, performance, education and presentation of…

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Luxe pop-up igloo bars have taken over Walsh Bay (Sydney)

With the middle of winter upon us Sydneysiders are able to strut their stuff on pop-up skating rinks and happen upon mulled wine served up in the city’s best bars. This latest winter-exclusive really takes things to the next level though. The ever-creative minds over at Pier One Sydney Harbour have hooked up with G.H…

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Australia’s top chefs are cooking up free lunches across the country next week

Food rescue charity OzHarvest will once again be hosting their annual Think.Eat.Save campaign across the country on Monday 24th July. What does this mean? Well it calls upon some of the country’s top chefs to take the very simple task of using commonly wasted ingredients into free meals, highlighting the value of rescued food and…

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Made by the Hill is Western Sydney’s new dining and social precinct (Sydney)

Rooty Hill RSL is ready to launch its new multi-million-dollar venture Made By The Hill. This new social space will open later this month, in hopes to become a local haven for foodies in Western Sydney. An official launch party, set for Made By the Hill will celebrate the opening with an official launch party…

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James Street Food & Wine Trail returns to Brisbane this month

The sixth annual James Street Food & Wine Trail is back for a four-day long takeover of the well-known Brisbane precinct. The popular food and drink event will return Thursday 27 through to Sunday 30 July, with a full schedule of in-venue collaborations, tastings and master classes. Those heading along to the immersive festival can…

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Future Islands set to return to Australia later this year

Currently in the country in advance of their exclusive performance at Splendour in the Grass this weekend, we sat down with Future Islands today to talk about their long awaited return off the back of their new LP The Far Field. While talking about the Splendour show, the band let slip that they’d be back…

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Music Video of the Day: Vic Mensa “Rage” (2017)

If there’s one highly anticipate hip hop release of this year, it’d have to be Vic Mensa‘s debut studio effort, The Autobiography. It has been a long time in the making but finally, we’ve been teased with what’s to come, particularly with new single “Rage”. With a special launch/listening party heralding Mensa’s new sounds in New York…

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The inaugural Sydney Film Music Festival takes off this October

A one of a kind event series is coming to Sydney in October, celebrating both film and music. The inaugural Sydney Film Music Festival is set to take place across three nights in October at the ICC Sydney Theatre, offering punters the chance to experience the iconic soundtracks of some classic films in a unique setting. Tickets…

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Hideous Sun Demon, Straight Arrows & more added to this year’s Volumes Festival

For another year, the Volumes Festival is set to celebrate some of the country’s best across a range of Sydney’s best loved venues this August. Featured on the latest artist announcement are the likes of Perth’s Hideous Sun Demon, Sydney’s own Straight Arrows and Melbourne’s Huntly. Already on the line up for Volumes this year are some of our…

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Single of the Day: Cosmo’s Midnight ft. Kudu Blue “Mind Off” (2017)

Cosmo’s Midnight have come on through with another solid new tune in their latest, “Mind Off”. Bringing in the talented Clementine Douglas of Kudu Blue, the UK vocalist fit like a glove in amongst the Aussie twins’ latest wild beat foray. What we like best about “Mind Off” is its warped, addictive quality – Cosmo’s Midnight…

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Interview: Jon Stevens opens up about recent shows in London & his Starlight tour

Hot on the heels of his UK tour, Jon Stevens is hitting the road around Australia for a national tour to celebrate his latest album release, Starlight. The tour, which will see him rock into six states and territories, will also feature very special guest and Jon’s long-time friend Kate Ceberano. He has fronted some…

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Album Review: Arcade Fire – Everything Now (2017 EP)

In 2013, Reflektor cemented Arcade Fire as a band to watch. Headlining festivals around the world, their groovy-techno-logic sound, crossed with spacey love stories and anarchic idealism, heightened their already bubbling commercial success. Four years later, with studio album number five rearing its head (titled Everything Now, due July 28th), two questions arise: has the popularity…

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Will Smith set to play the Genie as the cast of Disney’s live action Aladdin is announced

It was a huge weekend for Disney fans over the weekend as the D23 Expo revealed all things from the Star Wars, Marvel Studios and Pixar camps. One tidbit that has got tongues wagging (for better or worse) is the casting of Aladdin, Jasmine and the Genie for the live-action remake of Aladdin. Disney have…

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Robert Braiden sci-fi thriller 1 enters production in Queensland; Dan Ewing joins cast

With an eye locked on a 2018 release, the latest project from Australian director Robert Braiden, a science-fiction thriller entitled 1, has commenced principal photography. The film has been acquired by Truant Productions, and now as filming commences in South East Queensland, further details regarding cast and story have now surfaced. Home & Away and…

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Australian Box Office Report: Spider-Man: Homecoming sticks to the top of the chart

It’s been a good fortnight for Spider-Man: Homecoming.  Debuting in cinemas last week, it remains at the top of the box office ladder for the 2nd week in a row.  This week it has posted $4.92m in earnings.  Although it’s about half of what it opened with last week (a little over $10m), it still screened…

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Shadowhunters actor Dominic Sherwood on Jace’s difficult second season and his first visit to Australia

Currently screening in Australia week-by-week on Netflix, Shadowhunters is a fantasy series that has amassed a sizeable following. It’s based on the book The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare, which also inspired a film, City of Bones, back in 2013. Now in its second season, the Last week, I sat down with Dominic Sherwood, who…

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Review: Tedeschi and Bell deliver an enrapturing performance of Enoch Arden at the Adelaide Festival Theatre

Enoch Arden is a stirring tale written by Alfred, Lord Tennyson in 1884. It tells the story of three children growing up together in a seaside town and the complicated love triangle between them. Enoch Arden is the rough sailor’s son who wins Annie Lee’s heart over his rival Phillip Ray. The performance at the…

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Seedlip, the world’s first distilled non-alcoholic spirit, launches in Australia

Following successful launches across London and U.S.A, Seedlip have entered into the Australian market. Not familiar? It’s described as the world’s first distilled non-alcoholic spirit, and it already being stocked by luxury stores, Michelin starred restaurants and award-winning bars around the world, including current number one restaurant in the world, New York’s Eleven Madison Park….

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Live Review: Willow Beats + Blondebears + Oh Boy – The Chippo, Sydney (14.07.17)

Tucked under The Chippendale Hotel in Sydney there is a den. It is darkly lit to set the mood with music posters on the roof and graffiti sprawled all over the walls. On Friday night, it was filled with hippies, hipsters, goths and everyone in between. All to see the dynamic duo that is Willow…

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Music Video of the Day: Wafia (feat. Ben Abraham) “83 Days” (2017)

As we head into the later part of 2017, it seems that every single day, someone is pushing new boundaries with music videos. They are getting flashier, bigger, brighter, better and if you can name it, someone somewhere is doing it. But sometimes, there’s true beauty in the simplicity of the song itself, and that’s…

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New Music to Listen to This Week (w/c July 17th)

Finish your week off right with a round-up of all the best new music hand-selected by The AU Review team. We’ve got the spirited, pop-punk new single from Self Talk’s forthcoming EP, a gorgeous spare-electro release from Sydney’s Leftenent, a must-listen from a brilliant collaboration between Mount Kimbie and King Krule, plus plenty more. Get…

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Interview: Stevie Scott of Brisbane’s Deafcult on their debut album, Auras

Brisbane’s Deafcult have recently dropped debut album Auras, a shoegazy, reverb-drenched foray into the unknown. It’s euphoric yet morose, gregarious yet restrained, and might be one of the best albums released this year. I caught up with guitarist/vocalist Stevie Scott to chat about what the release means to him, ahead of their national (not Perth…

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ACMI announces celebration of Japanese animation company Studio Ghibli in August

A month-long film season dedicated to the studio behind some of the most beloved Japanese animations will be screening at ACMI from August. Celebrate! Studio Ghibli will screen 23 titles from the animation company, which ACMI states will “give audiences the chance to delve into the beautifully realised worlds and uniquely imaginative storytelling of Studio Ghibli”…

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TV Review: Game of Thrones Season 7 Episode 1 “Dragonstone” is nothing but power moves

That was one hell of a way to open up Game of Thrones’ seventh season premiere, wasn’t it? Rarely does the show dabble in cold openers, but an enormously satisfying ribbon-cutter was certainly the perfect way to usher in what is now the final 13 episodes (split into two seasons) of what has truly become…

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Five things to expect from the new BBC First series Taboo

Brought to our screens by producer Ridley Scott, writer and co-creator Stephen Knight of Peaky Blinders fame (read our interview HERE), actor Tom Hardy and his father Edward “Chips” Hardy, the new eight part series Taboo takes us back to 1814, where Hardy’s character James Keziah Delaney returns to his hometown after the death of his father to lay…

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Ansel Elgort & Lily James talk about the ending of Baby Driver

While in Australia, the stars of the new film Baby Driver, Ansel Elgort & Lily James sat down with The Iris’s Larry Heath to talk about the ending of their new film Baby Driver, directed by Edgar Wright. So: was the ending real or imagined? Naturally, there are some spoilers here, so only watch after you’ve…

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Interview: Tom Lenk talks Lenk Lewk For Less, Nerdgasm, and parodying Hollywood fashion with love

Tom Lenk may have been best known for starring in Buffy The Vampire Slayer as well as performing on Broadway and being a singer and playwright. But more recently Lenk has taken Instagram by storm with his Lenk Lewk For Less where he posts pictures parodying celebrity fashion looks and replicating them using basic household…

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Hotel Review: Travelodge Hobart stands tall in Tasmania’s seaside city

Location is everything when visiting a city for a quick weekend getaway. What I look for is convenience, ambience and comfortability. In the heart of Hobart’s gorgeous town centre towers a dusty-red brick building. In Melbourne, I actually live next door to the Travelodge in Southbank so it’s pretty fitting that I’ve had the chance…

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Theatre Review: Mauritius is hilarious, heartbreaking and thoroughly engaging (Sydney’s New Theatre until 29th July)

After the death of their Mother, two estranged half-sisters enter into a heated debate over which one of them owns a coveted stamp collection. Jackie (Kitty Hopwood) is the younger of the two and she sees the sale of the stamp collection as her ticket to a better life. Standing in her way is Mary…

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Theatre Review: This Much is True shines a light on Sydney’s underbelly (Performance at The Old Fitz until 12 August)

In a theatre hidden in the back of a pub in the depths of Wolloomooloo gather a motley cast of characters who look to have stepped straight onto the stage from the street outside. Throw in a hefty dose of humour, a smattering of nostalgia and a generous amount of alcohol and you have This…

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