There’s something surprisingly relaxing yet equally daunting as watching an orchestra accompany a contemporary artist. As I sat looking down at the side of the Sydney Opera House stage, you’d have been forgiven if you forgot that fronting the Sydney Symphony Orchestra was Megan Washington. On night one of her current tour showcasing the tracks…
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Taking the pretty much unheard of route of playing seven shows in seven days at Sydney’s The Lansdowne, locals The Jezabels played night four of their residency to a sell out crowd in front of their hometown fans. Playing a venue literally the next street down from where they formed whilst at uni, the Sydney…
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When I was younger, after Saturday sport, if I’d played well and scored a goal, my Dad would give me dollar to buy something from the canteen. Without failure, I’d buy a bag of mixed lollies. Mainly because it was great value, but also because you never knew what you were going to get until…
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Straight off the bat, Go Farther In Lightness is a victory album. It’s a victory of love and loss; a triumph for hope and life. It’s an album with many peaks and just as many moments that make you ponder and appreciate your existence. It’s a compass for those lacking direction. It’s the ‘I may…
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Change, for the lack of a better word, is good. And while they may have moved even further away from the soul and horns that made me fall in love with them in the first place, Saskwatch continually prove they know how to make devastatingly beautiful indie-pop. This is no different here on their fourth…
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Time helps build a cult of personality; a paradigm in which how you remember things can be altered dramatically from how they actually are. With more than six years since their last visit, plenty of time has passed since LCD Soundsystem had the chance to play to a Sydney crowd. And while the music industry…
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You know that old rule your mum used to tell you: ‘If you can’t say anything nice, then don’t say anything at all’? While it sure is nice to be spoken to politely, Sigur Rós must have listened really well to their mums, as they played the nicest and most awe inspiring of sets you’ll…
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As the usual circus that is Splendour In The Grass rolls through this vast country of ours, so too does some of the best bands currently walking the earth. One of these said bands is HAIM, and I’ll tell you what, they know how to play a live show. Here at their only headline date…
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Who doesn’t love a cover song? I have a theory that in any festival set, if a band (irrespective of their size or street cred) covers a classic song, the crowd will froth on it and that will be the biggest moment of the set. Playing their own headlining show at the Enmore Theatre, Furnace…
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More than four years in the making, Haim have returned from the world of playing festivals and obsessive touring to create Something To Tell You. On Something To Tell You they haven’t recreated the wheel, but have more than ably changed the manual on how use said wheel, or in this case, album. Haim have spoken…
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I saw Kacy Hill live at Splendour In The Grass 2016 on the back of knowing two songs of hers. Going into the set thinking her sound was maybe a cross between James Blake and Montaigne, I quickly realised I was doing her an injustice in comparing her to any other artist (irrespective of the…
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Phoenix is a seemingly cool band. They just ooze confidence in their music and live sets. Here on their sixth album Ti Amo, the Parisian four-piece seemingly rest on these cool laurels that has made them favourites worldwide, while not really progressing all that much as a band. While the band are notable and proud…
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With Sydney’s nightlife and arts community severely depleted in recent years on the back of a government seemingly going out of their way to deny any support to the community, one of Sydney’s more famed venues reopened its doors to a packed band room upstairs, and a bustling bar and bistro downstairs. Back after a…
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I’m calling it here. Laura Marling will go down as one of the greats. For someone to be so prolific, accomplished, lauded and respected by fans and critics alike at the age she is, it’s a testament to how great she is in a live setting. Playing a headlining show as part of Vivid Live,…
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There’s always something impressive about melancholic music. While it’s definitely not the most upbeat and joyous moods and genres to be in, the modesty, honesty and heart-wrenching nature of the music is what makes it so relatable to so many people; irrespective of their demographic. And here on the debut EP of nyck you’re more…
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Recently the best former member of One Direction, Harry Styles, came out in support of the strength and undying enthusiasm that young fans have for the artists they like. “Teenage-girl fans – they don’t lie. If they like you, they’re there. They don’t act ‘too cool’. They like you, and they tell you. Which is…
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When I first sat down to Benjamin Booker’s new album Witness, I entirely expected to hear much the same of what made me love his self-titled debut album: blues guitar being shredded like Marty McFly does in the first Back To The Future. And while there are still aspects of this on the new album,…
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When was the last time you had a bad time listening to a party band play party tunes? This is actually a trick question and the answer for you and anyone else is and forever will be ‘never’. That’s right, you never have a bad time listening to a party band. And if Northeast Party…
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There was a song on Phoenix’s Bankrupt album called ‘Trying To Be Cool”, which is a fair description for a lot people you see at gigs. I mean, maybe they really do dress and act like that, but surely there’s an essence to their gig persona where they really are just trying to be cool….
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It’s a little demoralising finding a musician who is infinitely more talented than you in plenty more areas than just music. In this instance, it’s Alex The Astronaut, the multi-talented musician, soccer player, and scientist. Smarts and sporting prowess aside, Alex The Astronaut is a seriously talented, and supremely wordy lyricist and musician. Here on…
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This just in: guitar and drums aren’t dead. Who’d have thought it? In an age where every man, woman, and dog seem to only use synths and drum pads, Sydney two-piece Polish Club have gone about releasing a blistering debut album. On the back of a couple years crafting their blues and garage rock sound,…
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Evolution is what makes humans the race we are. While Darwin’s theory of evolution is most notably recognised by the summary of ‘survival of the fittest’, it also speaks about one’s ability to adapt and change to its environment. And here on his current EP A Boy And His Rose, Sean Heathcliff has shown that…
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Here’s a fun fact: Other than English, French is the only other language to appear on all government authorised passports worldwide. Why I know that? I have no idea. Here’s another fun fact: The extent of my French vocabulary is limited to what I learnt in Year 8. I remember a handful of words and…
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The great philosopher Carlos Santana and his colleague Rob Thomas were once quoted as saying, ‘Man it’s a hot one’. And while they were seven inches from the midday sun when they said it, this duo must have been in attendance at this Ball Park Music headlining show as part of the annual Twilight at…
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Sixteen years ago, Sum 41 released an album titled All Killer, No Filler. In late 2016, Laneway Festival made a line up announcement that was pretty much the same thing: all killer, no filler. As the festival made its way to Sydney on the first weekend of February 2017, pretty much all acts went about…
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A celebration of the arts, music and culture, Sydney Festival has become a staple for many Sydneysiders through out their Summer. And just as the festival and temperatures continue to peak, I ventured into Hyde Park to check out US natives Lake Street Dive as they took on the Magic Mirrors Spiegeltent. As Sydney sweltered…
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Eight. That’s how old I was when The Avalanches changed recorded music history with their debut album Since I Left You. I’m now 24 and having grown out of the music I was listening to as an eight year old (So Fresh Hits of Summer anyone?), I was definitely looking forward to seeing The Avalanches…
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Forming earlier in the year, Newtown locals Brother Brad have slowly gathered pace and a loyal following through out 2016. With big plans ahead for 2017, we sat down with multi-instrumentalist Shaun Bradley to discuss the beginnings of the group, their influences, new music and what they have in store for the rest of 2016….
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Returning once more to the future CBD of Sydney, The Plot made its presence felt in the Western Suburbs, as the punters got amongst it, and in the process managed to sell out the all-Australian, Parramatta based festival. Having attended last year, if I were a betting man I’d have put money on the festival…
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I’ve followed Illy since his earliest releases. I remember first getting into him in high school when he reworked Pixies’ “Where Is My Mind?”. Next I smashed his second album, The Chase, on my train rides to and from my first year of uni. When touring his fourth album Cinematic, I saw him play on an…
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