Year: 2023

Adelaide is still Australia’s most underrated food city

Adelaide, and South Australia in general, are quite underrated destinations—as are many places that don’t benefit from famous attractions like the Sydney Harbour Bridge. With a city centre free from skyscrapers and a population of only 1.3 million, Adelaide has been labelled a ‘country town’ city—but maybe there’s a bit more to discover than meets…

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Live Review: The Chicks bring their A-game to Sydney (19.10.2023)

I couldn’t imagine The Chicks ever receiving a poor reception, so the band’s recent performance at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena, as part of a wider Australian tour, was as predictable as they come. And there’s nothing inherently wrong with that. 22 songs all delivered with seething wit and precision, nuanced by a tight band of…

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Film Review: Monolith is an intimate, isolated chiller that delights in its own ambiguity

As we have been told across filmic media for years, “The truth is out there”, and referencing the tagline for The X-Files feels more than appropriate when discussing Matt Vesely‘s science-fiction leaning chiller Monolith, an intimate, isolated feature that flirts with the notion of an alien invasion without complete penetration. Such a tease. An incredibly…

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Interview: Lily Sullivan on filming the isolated horror of Monolith; “It was just a very bizarre, anxiety-induced form of meditation.”

It’s been a horrific year for Australian actress Lily Sullivan – and she wouldn’t want it any other way! After surviving the bloody carnage of Evil Dead Rise earlier in 2023, the Queensland-born starlet is capping off the year with another horror entrant, Monolith, but to say it’s far removed from the “groovy” gore of…

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Interview: Robert Bennett on creating the animatronics for Five Nights at Freddy’s; “It can be a lot to wrangle.”

Can you survive five nights? The terrifying horror game phenomenon becomes a blood-chilling cinematic event, as Blumhouse, the producer of M3GAN, The Black Phone and The Invisible Man, brings Five Nights at Freddy’s to the big screen. The film follows a troubled security guard as he begins working at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. While spending his…

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Nightmarish folk horror film Saint Drogo is brutal, bleak and erotic: Nightmares Film Festival Review

After announcing themselves as a queer filmmaking collective that weren’t afraid to take risks with both the horror genre they clearly adore and certain dynamics within their own community with their campy, giallo-inspired slasher Death Drop Gorgeous (now streaming on Shudder), Monster Makeup, LLC have more proven they aren’t a flash in the pan –…

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AFF Review: True Crime documentary Speedway is a fascinating journey

True-crime docu-drama SPEEDWAY is based on the unsolved murders that claimed the lives of four teens working in a burger restaurant in 1978. The town of Speedway is the location of the famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This feature debut from Adelaide’s Luke Rynderman and co-director Adam Kamien tries to piece together the 40-year-old cold case…

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Interview: Lucas Woodland of Holding Absence talks unfinished art, tours and comic books

Welsh alt-rockers Holding Absence have gone from strength to strength and their third album The Noble Art of Self Destruction – released 25 August via SharpTone Records – is no exception. With a hectic tour schedule and exceptional live show, the band are turning heads and capturing hearts all over the world. Featuring the singles…

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Mayday Parade’s Jeremy Lenzo talks life on the road, family and their upcoming Aussie tour

Alternative rock legends Mayday Parade are gearing up to tour Down Under early next month, opening for All Time Low’s highly anticipated tour. I had the immense pleasure of chatting with bassist Jeremy Lenzo about life on the road, family and new music! You guys have had a really busy year! You’ve played a bunch…

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AFF Review: Housekeeping for Beginners explores queer family dynamics in a Macedonian household

Housekeeping for Beginners is set in a chaotic family home in Macedonia. However, this is no ordinary household. Dita lives with her girlfriend and her two daughters, tiny troublemaker Mia and rebellious teen Vanesa. The house is a sort of drop-in centre for the queer and homeless, with Toni, who tends to pick up younger guys…

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Film Review: Foe is a love story set in a dystopian future wasteland

Hen (Saoirse Ronan) and Junior (Paul Mescal) are farming a remote piece of land that has been in his family for generations. The land is under drought, and globally the environment is struggling. In the middle of the night, an uninvited government agent (Aaron Pierre) shows up at their door with a surprise. Junior has…

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Sturt Avenue release double single and announce forthcoming album

Ahead of their forthcoming sophomore album, Bury Me in the Garden, scheduled for release on November 23, indie family folk band Sturt Avenue have released two singles. The soul-stirring tracks “Against the World” and “Still in Love” are two quite different sounding tracks. “Against the World” is an evocative track that explores the importance of…

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Bottoms rises to the top with an uproarious nature: SXSW Sydney Screen Festival Review

There was something darkly, deliciously special about the way writer/director Emma Seligman and actress Rachel Sennott announced themselves with 2020’s Shiva Baby.  A claustrophobic black comedy that indulged in a spiralling, horrific temperament, their collaboration set a certain precedent for the boundary-pushing, topical humour that’s furthered in Bottoms, a wild, oft-violent, sexually liberated high-school comedy…

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Hot Potato: The Story of The Wiggles is a heartwarming documentary about Australia’s unlikeliest icons: SXSW Sydney Screen Festival Review

From the humblest of beginnings, where Australia’s ABC network weren’t sure on investing in their talent, to multi-million selling music artists that sold out Madison Square Garden and can count the likes of Jerry Seinfeld, John Travolta, and Sarah Jessica Parker as fans, The Wiggles defied the expectations of many to form a global brand…

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A man and a woman in period costume embrace on a lounge. His arm is around her waist as she tries to pull away.

Theatre Review: Legend Nancye Hayes AM steals the show in A Little Night Music at Hayes Theatre Co. in Sydney

With music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, the Tony Award winner, A Little Night Music at Hayes Theatre Co. encompasses love, desire and regret. Indeed, regret is the most poignant emotion of the production, touching everyone in different ways. Directed by Dean Bryant, we follow the story of two couples, each with their own secrets and…

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Live Review: Descendents – Torquay Hotel (19.10.23)

The Torquay Hotel bore witness to a night of punk rock nostalgia and exhilaration on Thursday night. Descendents, the legendary pioneers of the genre, graced the stage, leaving a trail of unforgettable memories in their wake. Even in a small venue, this show was not just about the music; it was a testament to the…

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Celia Stone

Book Review: Emma Young’s The Disorganisation of Celia Stone is a diary novel with a lot of heart

Emma Young’s second novel, The Disorganisation of Celia Stone, is so much more than an updated homage to Bridget Jones’s Diary. Though it may start off with a number of similarities – chief among them, the diary format, and witty, self-deprecating tone, the book goes beyond the ground covered by that beloved 90s classic, exploring…

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New Music Discoveries 20th October: Matt Corby, Imogen Clark, Carla Wehbe and more

Another ten tracks have been added to our Discovery playlist on Apple Music and Spotify, including two singles we exclusively premiered earlier in the week. Our Track of the Week is “Desert Land” from acclaimed singer-songwriter and producer Matt Corby. “Desert Land”, a stand-alone track, comes fresh off the back of the release of Corby’s…

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Game Review: Lords of the Fallen brings yet another solid action-RPG to the mix

If you feel like you’ve heard of Lords of the Fallen before, you’re not going crazy. Its predecessor was released back in 2014 under the exact same name. While this Lords of the Fallen is technically a sequel, set 1000 years after the original, it feels like more of a traditional reboot, managing to rectify…

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Interview: AnnaLynne McCord on having no fear and blind faith in accepting her role in Condition of Return; “Why am I afraid to say yes?”

You have to take your hat off for director Tommy Stovall and writer John Spare for navigating Condition of Return in a manner that I don’t think even the savviest of viewers would predict.  As a whole it may not always adhere to a certain cohesion as it flits between a dramatic thriller detailing the…

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Woody Samson

Aussie Indie Artists: Woody Samson’s debut single, process, and trumpet

Aussie Indie Artists is a series of interviews with lesser-known Aussie creators across all forms and fields. The goal is to share exciting new works, find new angles towards the art, and peek behind the scenes.  Woody Samson has been a musician ever since the first tan-ta-ra-tan of his trumpet at age 7, but he…

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Pandemic “comedy” New Strains is a nightmarish chore to experience: SXSW Sydney Screen Festival Review

Whilst it’s always best to go into films with zero expectations, plot synopses and narrative outlines at least provide an idea of what audiences can expect from a storytelling perspective – however loose the product itself wants to determine as such.  For New Strains, there was the idea of this being sold as a romantic…

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Film Review: Killers of the Flower Moon is Martin Scorsese at his boldest

In many ways, Killers of the Flower Moon is a celebration of everything we love about Martin Scorsese, whether it’s the flawed gangster charm of Goodfellas or the arresting psychological nuances of Taxi Driver. Though with a budget of between $200-250 million for this epic crime western, you cannot fault this film on being a…

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Chelsea Elder

Exclusive Single Premiere: Chelsea Elder “I won’t wait” (2023)

Chelsea Elder is a gifted 22-year-old singer/songwriter hailing from Melbourne/Naarm and is about to release “I won’t wait”, and we are stoked to be premiering it before its release on Friday. In “I won’t wait”, Chelsea sings of the need not to wait for other people to change or for circumstances to change in order…

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The Other Side of Never

Book Review: The Other Side of Never is a mixed bag of dark tales

The Other Side of Never, edited by Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane, is a collection of spec-fic tales with contributions from a variety of sci-fi, horror and fantasy writers. In this particular anthology, each story is inspired by J.M. Barrie’s classic Peter Pan tales, whilst focusing on different characters and putting new spins on the…

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Film Review: Sick Girl gets away with its morally questionable premise thanks to a knowing sense of humour

The type of film surrounding a character we know we shouldn’t like, Jennifer Cram‘s Sick Girl manages to overcome its central figure’s questionable morals by never asking its audience to forgive her. The “sick girl” in question is Wren Pepper (Nina Dobrev, great), a slacker, party girl-type who’s never grown up in the same manner…

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Game Review: Super Mario Bros. Wonder is one of the best side-scrolling games the series has ever produced

For as seasoned as the franchise is at this point, it’s amazing that Super Mario Bros. Wonder still feels like an absolute gem of a game. Showcasing the true potential of the Nintendo Switch, with vibrant colours, this game is also a visual treat. That being said, Super Mario Bros. Wonder can only be described…

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Photo Gallery: Earl Sweatshirt – Northcote Theatre, Melbourne (17.10.23)

Earl Sweatshirt, fresh off the Yours and Owls festival stage, dominated Northcote Theatre on Tuesday. Balancing laughs and quips with hard-hitting lyricism, he rattled off tracks to a sold-out crowd. Eloise Coomber was there behind the lens. Earl Sweatshirt Setlist E. Coli The Bends Setting The Mousetraps Molasses Ontheway! The Mint Against The Wind Making…

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SOULSLEEP

Exclusive Single Premiere: SOULSLEEP “Glass Heart” (2023)

It’s always an exciting day when we debut the first single of a band, and we’ve struck gold with Albury/Wodonga-based alternative rock band SOULSLEEP  and their first tune to hit the airwaves in “Glass Heart”.  We’re thrilled to be premiering the single ahead of its release on Friday. In “Glass Heart”, the band has tackled…

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Win Sonic Superstars and Nintendo Switch Bundles in the Lego Brickman Challenge

To commemorate Sonic’s appearance as a LEGO mini-figure in Sonic Superstars, SEGA has partnered with one of the world’s leading LEGO brick artists and only LEGO Certified Professional (LCP) in the southern hemisphere, Ryan McNaught, aka Brickman, to create a Sonic Building Challenge. Brickman has created a guide on how you can make your own…

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