This time of year is a time for everyone to wind down, get together with friends and family, and try be as merry as possible. For many people this comes in the form of parties, family get-togethers or work Christmas parties. For Stella Donnelly, it came in the form of a national tour. Hitting the…
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When Paul Kelly announced the inaugural Making Gravy show in 2017, little did the public know of the success the show would bring. Not only did it help everyone celebrate one of Australia’s greatest storytellers during the most festive time of the year, but it also helped accentuate the absolute strength that is the current…
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Alex The Astronaut has definitely been kicking a few goals the past couple of years. From moving back to Australia, to releasing both of her EPs, to gracing the higher echelons of The Hottest 100, she has been flat chat. And in amongst all these feats, she’s still found the time to tour religiously and…
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I remember driving to work when I first got the chance to listen to Gang of Youths’ second album, Go Farther In Lightness. As I weaved through Western Sydney, there was a noticeable difference between GFIL and its predecessor, The Positions. Even from its first listen, GFIL felt like it was built for bigger things,…
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While it may just be her on stage alias, the brains, vocals and stories behind Jack River is so much more. An entrepreneur, promoter and musician, Holly Rankin brought to life her musical talents and journey as the Sydney leg of her Sugar Mountain album tour made its way to a sold out Metro Theatre….
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I vividly remember the first time I heard Wolf Alice on the radio. I was driving back from uni flicking between the presets on my car radio. I was half way through the hour long trip, driving through a main road of Western Sydney. Flicking back onto Triple J, Linda Marigliano was spruiking this new…
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When the opportunity to review the new album from Australian legend John Williamson came up, I jumped at it. I listen to his singles more than what’s probably healthy, so much so that he’s listed as one of my ‘top artists’ on my Bumble profile. I have vivid memories of myself and a friend requesting…
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After a balmy end to the working week, there’s almost nothing better than a quick drive to the city, a cold beer and an absolutely killer set from one of Australia’s best ever party bands. For myself, this is exactly what happened, as I ventured into Sydney’s premier live music venue, the Enmore Theatre, and…
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I’m going to let you in on a little secret here: I was quite late jumping on the City Calm Down train. I’ll happily admit that. My first real exposure to the band was at Splendour In The Grass a few years back, when they covered David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance”. At the time, I was…
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Irrespective of their time away from the musical spotlight, The Presets will always have a place in the hearts of the Australian dance music community. And despite the best efforts of some members of the crowd to dampen the nights of others in attendance, the two-piece definitely crushed the Sydney leg of their Hi-Viz album…
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There’s always been a strange sense of beauty in melancholia and pain when conveyed in music. Whether it is how relatable or genuinely makes the listener empathise well beyond belief, that’s still up for debate. What definitely is known, however, is that Jack River manages to expertly pull off her debut album Sugar Mountain and…
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Over the past two years, Sydney act Brother Brad have been simmering away, slowly but surely concocting the tracks that, when pieced together, make up their debut EP, Get Around. Celebrating the release of the EP, the now six-piece band played to a full Lansdowne crowd, in front of friends, family and a loyal local…
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Leaps and bounds. Apart from being a classic Paul Kelly track, it is exactly what Middle Kids have been coming along over the past two years. While certainly not an overnight success, the steam the now four-piece from Sydney has built up in 2018 is almost unparalleled. Releasing their debut album Lost Friends less than a month…
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I have two vivid memories of The Killers. The first was when I was twelve years old, and my brother and I were out shopping with mum during the school holidays. We both decided we wanted to buy a CD. We settled on Jack Johnson’s In Between Dreams and The Killers’ Hot Fuss. Me, being…
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I was out having a Thai dinner with friends recently, the day after I first sat down to listen to the second album of Sydney band DMA’s. As we sat down and ordered a vast variety of dishes for this midweek banquet, it dawned on me that this dinner I was about to pay $30…
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I preface this entire review by saying Confidence Man are a live band; they’re not a physical release band. There are plenty of acts that fail to live up to the hype when it comes to a live set. Then there are bands that absolutely crush the live performance. And that is exactly what Confidence…
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When sitting down to listen to new music, I’ve recently taken to making the first listen of an album a passive experience. In a time poor society, using the album as the soundtrack to your daily tasks, whether they’re mundane work tasks or other articles you’re reading and creating, having those new sounds play in…
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Maddy Jane appears to be on the precipice of success. At a time where Australian female singer-songwriters are on the up and up, the Tasmanian has continually evolved to a point where you just know she’s about to be in everyone’s ears and on everyone’s playlists. On the back of 2017’s breakout single “No Other…
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It’s always going to be tough for a new festival to break into a seemingly saturated market and also have a line up that would rival just about any other festival across the world. Thankfully, the team behind Sydney City Limits know a thing or two about booking, curating and planning a successful festival in…
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There’s definitely something enigmatic about The National. They’ve been a band for twenty years, are all seemingly grounded family men, and manage to always find themselves in the upper echelons of festival bills. And yet, they don’t rest on their laurels. They’ve just won their first Grammy, and have returned to the Sydney Opera House…
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As good as change may be, continuity and familiarity is just as great. And in some cases, it’s probably better. Here on the new Brian Fallon album, Sleepwalkers, the American artist has embraced some changes from his The Gaslight Anthem days, whilst maintaining much of what has allowed him to develop such a loyal and…
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Returning once more to the Sydney College of the Arts, the Laneway Festival again made its presence felt throughout Sydney’s inner west. With a line up packed from front-to-back, it promised to be a stellar day as the early clouds cleared to a warm, but pleasant, Sunday afternoon. Obviously a cost cutting measure, having a single…
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Having been in and around Australian listeners’ ears for near enough to the past four years, it’s safe to say it has been a slow burn as Tiny Little Houses have gradually built up to their debut album, the (I hope) mostly ironically titled Idiot Proverbs. If you do yourself a favour and head over…
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Entering the last day of Falls Festival Byron Bay, you could sense festival fatigue was starting to hit the masses en masse. The campground was quieter for longer in the morning, the toilet blocks were giving off a lovely earthy odour, and security started to be less hands on than they’d been in the previous…
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Here for its 25th instalment, the Falls Festival has become a staple diet for the many punters up and down the east coast of Australia who enjoy listening to quality tunes to bring in their new year. Returning for its fifth edition at the North Byron Parklands, Falls managed to put in place what has…
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With heads pounding and only the cicadas and Kookaburras making noise, the eerie silence of a camp ground at 6am on New Years Day is something to behold. Making the seemingly genius decision to get up early and have a cold shower was the kick start needed to get 2018 underway. What wasn’t envisaged was…
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For this writer, seeing Jack Johnson live has been fourteen years in the making. I vividly remember being at a family-friends’ house and their youngest son playing Johnson’s break out track “Taylor” on repeat (or near enough) for the entirety of the night. Little did I know that in 2017 I’d get the chance to…
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It is always great seeing artists you’ve followed for a while finally receive the recognition and sold out venues their skills deserve. In this instance, it was the brilliant Gordi who got to sell out a hometown (sort of) show and show off to the Oxford Art Factory crowd just why she’s been copping a…
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Like just about everyone else in existence, your late teens and early twenties is a time where you’re trying to find your place and struggle to work out what and who you are or want to be. While Greta Stanley admits to being in this boat, one thing she definitely has already worked out is…
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Ever since they released their break out single “Bros”, Wolf Alice has been a band who’ve been able to create tracks that are earnest, heartfelt and easily relatable, whilst simultaneously being as aggressive and downright brilliant as you could expect from a band in their genre. Where their debut album, 2015’s fantastic My Love Is…
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