Year: 2019

Photo Gallery: Yungblud + AViVA – Croxton Bandroom, Melbourne (08.02.19)

Yungblud tore up the Croxton Bandroom to a sold out crowd on Friday night, with support coming from AViVA. Photo gallery by Rebecca Houlden.

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Track of the Day: The Teskey Brothers “Right For Me” (2019)

The Teskey Brothers have kicked off their 2019 in fine form with the delightfully funky and hook-laden new single, “Right For Me”, a track that is already a well established fan favourite thanks to position in the band’s acclaimed live set.  The band, for me, were one of the big take aways from Xavier Rudd’s…

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Anti-Valentines 3-course offal culinary experience coming to Sydney

Bondi restaurant Rocker will host a 3-course offal showcase this February thanks to a transformation by The Kraken Black Spiced Rum. Titled ‘Eat Your Heart Out’, the menu has been developed by head chef Stuart Toon, as well as celebrity chef and restaurateur Darren Robertson who is co-owner of Three Blue Ducks, Rocker & Locura…

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Live Review: Party In The Paddock Day One ft. Luca Brasi + Middle Kids + More! White Hills, Tasmania (07.02.19)

Moving into another year, Party In The Paddock kicked off it’s first day with it’s classic pre-party. With the main paddock stage cordoned off, ‘Vibestown; the food and second stage district was fired up for some of Australia’s premiere growing talents to show off their talents as breakout 2018 artists GFlip, Middle Kids and Slowly…

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Album Review: Mavis Staples – Live in London (2019 LP)

As a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Kennedy Centre Honoree and with seventy years of performing under her belt Mavis Staples has in my opinion well and truly reached ‘National Treasure’ status in the United States. She is also one of the few remaining living links to the Civil Rights Movement, and a period…

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Inteview: Ultra Australia headliner Martin Garrix talks Anima, STMPD and the importance of his team

We’re just a couple of weeks away from the debut of the international EDM festival Ultra Australia; with the event taking place in Melbourne and Sydney on the 23rd and 24th of February, respectively. We recently had the chance to catch up with one of the event’s headliners, the Dutch DJ and Record Producer Martin Garrix….

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Here are the best Valentine’s Day events in Sydney for 2019

Valentine’s Day is upon us, and as we rush towards the middle of February and into an overly commercialised bouquet of roses, chocolate and declarations of love (or, you know, single awareness), Sydney’s best are coming out to play. Let’s not get too cynical about it though, especially when venues across the city put their…

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NYC gets a new pre-SXSW Festival “The New Colossus”; we meet one of the founders

For bands coming to America for SXSW, to say it’s a massive cost and a huge effort is an understatement. And few bands arrive in Austin as their first port of call. Many come through Los Angeles and New York. So why not try and play some shows before . Well this is the exact…

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Hotel Review: Shangri-La wears the ’boutique’ label well in Vancouver

One would reasonably expect that Shangri-La Hotel, Vancouver is entirely worthy of the opulent luxury brand and its reliable reputation. It is, after all, Shangri-La’s North American flagship and – so far – only one of two on the continent, with the other being in Toronto. In 2008, it was the first to open; slightly…

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Blu-Ray Review: Bad Times at the El Royale (USA, 2018) is cinematic fun, with some beautiful set design

Bad Times at El Royale hit cinemas last year to mixed reviews, though I found it an engaging film, with a clever plot stemmed in the traditions of film noir and crime fiction. The set design was phenomenal and the characters were just the right amount of over-the-top to make them feel right at home…

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Photo Gallery: Stevie Jean – Golden Age Cinema and Bar – Sydney (07.02.19)

Stevie Jean passed through Sydney last night on her way through to Launceston for the Party in the Paddock festival. We were treated to an intimate show at the Golden Age Cinema and Bar in Surry Hills. Stevie is a treat to see live – effortlessly charming, joyful and with a strong versatile voice. She…

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Film Review: Cold Pursuit (USA, 2019) is peak Neeson Season material

It’s hard to believe but at this present time, whenever you ask young people who Liam Neeson is, they often tend to quote his action films and then not know or forget about his critically acclaimed films like Schindler’s List, Michael Collins, Rob Roy and others. But ever since the 2008 action film Taken, Neeson…

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Premium Japanese restaurant to open at Sydney’s new Campbell’s Stores precinct

What is being described as an “exceptional and inimitable Japanese dining experience” is making its way to Sydney Harbour’s Campbell’s Stores, set to open later this year and set a new benchmark for the city. Titled Ura San, the ambitious restaurant is one of the first announced for The Rocks’ restored harbour-side precinct, an adaptive…

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Jenny Ackland, Bri Lee, and Melissa Lucashenko head up 2019 Stella Prize longlist

The $50,000 Stella Prize celebrates literature penned by Australian women. First awarded in 2013, the Stella Prize is named for My Brilliant Career author Stella Maria Sarah ‘Miles’ Franklin, and has become a landmark prize in the Australian literary scene. This year, some 170 entries were narrowed down to just twelve, with every longlisted author…

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Games Review: Kingdom Hearts 3 is the wave of wholesome joy we all need in our lives right now

The day has finally arrived. Almost 14 years after Kingdom Hearts II was released to critical acclaim on the PS2, its long awaited follow up Kingdom Hearts III is here. But fans of the series — which melded the Final Fantasy and Disney universes a decade before the company acquired the Marvel Cinematic Universe —…

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Tech Review: Elgato Stream Deck Mini makes levelling up your Twitch stream a breeze

You’d have to look pretty far and wide to find a serious streamer that doesn’t use one of Elgato’s Stream Deck devices. The desk-mounted broadcast enhancement device allows users to bind custom functions to its face buttons, making certain tasks like activating overlays or switching between cameras while streaming that much easier. One of the…

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Track of the Day: Ratso & Nick Cave “Our Lady of Light” (2019)

Now at the ripe old age of 70, Larry Sloman, better known around the industry as Ratso, is gearing to release his debut album. The New York author has been a key player for some of the biggest names in history over the past few decades, from working with both Anthony Kiedis and Peter Criss…

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Photo Gallery: Smino + Kaiit – Metro Theatre, Sydney (06.02.19)

American rapper, singer, songwriter and music producer Smino hit up the Metro Theatre in Sydney last night as part of his current Australian tour, one which has him also appearing at Laneway Festival. Joining Smino for the evening was Melbourne rising star Kaiit. Our photographer Belinda Hedges was there to capture all the action.

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Track of the Day: Flint Eastwood feat. Siena Liggins “Hurt” (2018)

One of our favourite artists over the last five years or so has been Detroit’s Flint Eastwood, who has finally started breaking into the big time, with her EP This Is A Coping Mechanism for A Broken Heart, making waves alongside the single “Chapter 4 Sober”. Her latest single, “Hurt”, taken from the same EP,…

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Book Review: Alison Evans’ Highway Bodies brings the zombie apocalypse to Victoria

No one is really sure how it started. Random attacks. Censored news reports. Curfews and evacuations. The internet stopping. And then there’s Rhea and Jojo’s mother going missing. Band members Dee, Poppy, Zufan, and Jack’s creative retreat cut short by power outages. And an unnamed teen facing down her own family, who are literally about…

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Exclusive Music Video Premiere: Laura Imbruglia “The Creeps” (2019)

Last month the genre bending Australian musician Laura Imbruglia dropped “The Creeps”, a taste of her impending fourth album Scared Of You. Today, we’re excited to be premiering the accompanying hilarious music video, which was co-conceived with director and renowned photographer Nick Mckinlay. With the track taking a significantly different musical route to previous singles…

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Life on the Border: El Paso, Texas – Where to stay, what to eat & how to get to Mexico (and back again)

Way back in 2011, when I was flying home from my second SXSW, I jumped on a Southwest flight flying from Austin, Texas to Los Angeles. En route, I enjoyed a brief stop over in El Paso – a common stop with this airline (for whom El Paso is a hub) – an airport which…

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God Eater 3: Ranking The Cute Anime Boys of the Ashlands

Over the last week, I’ve been playing God Eater 3. It’s a snappy, mayhem-filled romp where you take down titanic beasts called Aragami with your team of fellow God Eaters. The game is filled with cool swords, cool guns and cool combat. One might say it just oozes cool. But, I’m not actually here to…

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Book Review: Forty Years on, Joy Williams’ The Changeling is finding a new audience

Changelings, or babies swapped with supernatural beings in their infancy, permeate the mythology of a number of cultures throughout Europe. Often, it was believed that fairies had taken the child and left one of their own behind- a sign of bad luck for the family. The idea of a changeling may have been used to…

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Games Review: 2064: Read Only Memories INTEGRAL is a clunky, modern twist on a classic formula

There was a time when point-and-click adventures ruled the roost, with companies like LucasArts churning out hit after hit between Maniac Mansion, The Secret of Monkey Island Grim Fandango and Full Throttle. Since the 1980s, video game technologies have advanced unbelievably, opening up a diverse range of options for gameplay, allowing sprawling open world adventures…

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Tech Review: The HyperX Alloy Core RGB is a great gaming keyboard under $100

I really like HyperX’s keyboards. I’m on record as a fan of their gear. The thing is, I’ve really only had experience with their top-of-the-line mechanical boards. The HyperX Alloy Core RGB gaming keyboard is not one of these top-of-the-line boards. But just because it isn’t a mechanical board doesn’t mean it isn’t worth your…

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Track of the Day: Harmony Byrne “Demise” (2019)

Melbourne based singer Harmony Byrne’s debut recording “Demise” is a sensitive and stirring track that clocks in at seven and a half minutes. Part gospel, soul, blues and psychedelic, the ex-Mormon church singer wails and cries before transitioning to spoken word poetry before returning to soaring and powerful peaks. It isn’t hard to imagine a…

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A massive Salts Meats Cheese has opened in Sydney’s Dee Why

Salt Meats Cheese has long been a stalwart of reliable Italian produce and dining in Australia. The group have been expanding rapidly over the past few years, so it was only a matter of time before Sydney’s Northern Beaches got their first taste of Edoardo Perlo and Stefano de Blasi’s lively concept. Following their most…

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A Survival Guide for the Tamworth Country Music Festival first timer

I’ve been a country music fan for over ten years and I’d never attended the legendary Tamworth Country Music Festival until this year. Blasphemy, you say! But better late than never, right? I didn’t know what to expect; I thought I’d hate it (at least subconsciously anyway) but I was pleasantly surprised to love every…

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Five shows not to miss at the 2019 Adelaide Fringe Festival

This year, like any other, sees the Adelaide Fringe Festival produce some of the most worthwhile shows to go see all year,. So many in fact, it’s hard to know where to begin! But we have found you the five shows you’ll not want to miss, when the festival takes over the South Australian city…

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