The 2017 St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival kicked off for another year yesterday, celebrating the public holiday out on the east coast at the Brisbane Showgrounds. With acts including A.B. ORIGINAL, Gang of Youths, Whitney and Tame Impala all taking to stages throughout the day and evening, punters showed up in strong numbers to get around it. Photos by Andrew Wade. [print_gllr…
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APRA AMCOS have released their shortlist for the 2017 APRA Song of the Year, with 20 Aussie songwriters making it to the final round, as voted by APRA AMCOS songwriter and publisher members. Newcomers Amy Shark, Julia Jacklin, Tash Sultana and D.D Dumbo enter the shortlist for the first time, while A.B. Original and Flume lead the Top 20 charge with two nominated songs featuring…
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Our Top 20 Singles from 2016 represent not only what was a strong and diverse year in new music, but they also presented themselves to be solid indicators of the trajectories of some of our favourite new artists. From NGAIIRE‘s “House on a Rock” to B Wise‘s “No Questions”, through to huge international hitters in Childish Gambino‘s “Redbone”…
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Last week we delivered our Top 40 Albums of 2016, as voted by our contributors – some huge albums from chart dominating artists entered in, as did some breakthrough records from bands on the homefront we were still getting to know. We go another level deeper and look at the Top Australian releases as part…
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Top 20’s are always hard to pull together. As we saw with the first part of our Best Albums of 2016 countdown, the list was looking to be a varied one, with records from bands including Descendents, The Hotelier, Julia Jacklin and NO ZU all making the cut. As we look to the Top 20 records (as voted by our…
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For Hip Hop, 2016 was the year of cosigning anything and everything. So called ‘mumble rap’ became a thing and there was a massive push back against the term ‘real Hip Hop’, championing newcomers like Lil’ Yachty and Lil’ Uzi Vert (who, like it or not, have been attached to the music and the culture)…
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What an absolute trip 2016 has been as we’ve immersed ourselves in incredible live music scenes around the country. We’ve seen some stellar artists emerge from all corners, really making the year their own. As 2016 approaches its final weeks, the Australian industry and its artists have been celebrated in all different forms; from multiple…
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With just a few weeks left in 2016, the Australian music industry is by no means slowing down and heading into any type of hibernation for the holidays. With our summer festival season just ramping up, the last few months seem to have been all about celebrating some amazing talent doing amazing things both in the studio…
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Today, A.B. Original‘s highly anticipated and much publicised debut album Reclaim Australia was officially unleashed on to the public. Over the course of 12 tracks, both Briggs and Trials have made a definite mark on Australian music and as the bigots and uneducated internet trolls have continued to beat their chests and crack their knuckles, ready to take to their keyboards,…
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Back in September, I sat opposite Briggs and Trials in Brisbane as they told me about Reclaim Australia, the debut album by their collaborative project A.B Original, and how it stood to shake up not only the Australian music industry, but our social community as a whole. Generally, you learn to take such grandiose claims…
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The nominees for the National Live Music Awards have been announced around the country today, with 51 categories being unveiled across the board. Winners are to be announced on November 29th at events being run nationally, with both national and state-specific categories being voted on by a judging panel of industry professionals from right around Australia….
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The nominees for the 2016 South Australian Music Awards have been unveiled this week, with West Thebarton Brothel Party striking out ahead with the most nods this year. Raking in an impressive six nominations, including Best New Artist, Best Group and Best Release, the SA Music Awards have definitely recognised the huge year the seven-piece band have had. Not…
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BIGSOUND 2016 opened its conference stage for one of Australian hip hop’s most polarising acts to come through and, as Trials simply puts, explain themselves. For the Funkoars legend and Briggs, their 2016 collaborative project as A.B. ORIGINAL has woken the hip hop music community (and the wider music industry) up with some hard-hitting and unapologetic music that highlights crucial issues facing our…
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In its 13th year in 2017, the St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival returns with some names that have graced its stages before breaking out overseas, some names who will be making their Laneway debut and some names that come with a solid whack of international hype backing them. We already knew that A.B. Original and Nick Murphy (FKA Chet Faker) would be on…
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Oh, BIGSOUND. You’ve done it again. Returning to Brisbane for my second time at the conference/music festival in 2016, I approached the trip with a list of my own personal non-negotiable, must-see artists, some recommendations from friends and a steely determination to not burn out too hard on the first night. That steely determination lasted until…
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Like an audible fist in the face, Indigenous Australian emcees Briggs and Trials, collectively A.B Original, are back to shake you awake with a powerful song and clip directed at one of Australia’s most contentious issues. With the video revealed at a recent BIGSOUND keynote, “January 26” is a bouncy, funk-inspired track that moves away…
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In the second instalment of our new industry profile series, we head from the west coast down south to the home of Golden Era Records. Based out of Adelaide, the hip hop label has been providing a platform for not only the Hilltop Hoods to cultivate and release music, but their friends as well. Helping to foster…
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THE PLOT is back for another year, continuing to gain speed as one of the east coast’s best festivals for both emerging talent and some of our favourites. Returning to Parramatta for its third year in 2016, THE PLOT has got a slick little line up raring to go; from indie to hip hop and raucous…
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The finalists for this year’s National Indigenous Music Awards have been revealed this morning, along with the full list of performers confirmed for the ceremony’s live music program. Artist of the Year nominees at this year’s NIMAs are Emma Donovan, Dan Sultan and Gurrumul Yunupingu, while up for Album of the Year are Gawurra with Ratja Yaliyali, Gurrumul with The Gospel Album and Dan Sultan with Open…
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High profile releases from the likes of Kanye, Drake, and Beyoncé, plus show-stealers from Chance the Rapper, Skepta, Anderson .Paak and dvsn have fleshed out what has been a very strong six months for hip hop and R&B. We’ve also seen emerging talents like Gallant and Joyner Lucas, comebacks from Fat Joe and Maxwell, and…
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And so, the dust has settled on another Groovin’ the Moo tour. The international visitors have wrapped up their brief Australian visits, the local heavy hitters have returned to plotting the rest of their plans to dominate 2016 and fans around the country no doubt have been left with some brilliant memories of yet another…
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Ah, Groovin’ the Moo. The one festival on the Australian live music calendar that offers city slickers an opportunity to ‘head regional’ (even if, in SA, this means a half hour drive up into the hills), underage music fans can thrive on copious amounts of Red Bull and whatever else for the day and everyone can enjoy…
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Hilltop Hoods hit their hometown over the weekend to celebrate the release of their latest album, Drinking From The Sun, Walking Under Stars Restrung—their follow-up to 2007’s The Hard Road: Restrung. Joined by Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (ASO), Adelaide Chamber Singers and other special guests, the sold-out crowd was in for a monumental night. A.B. Original…
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This has been a collaboration we’ve been waiting to be officially announced for some time now, so the fact that Briggs and Trials have finally gone and dropped details of their A.B. ORIGINAL project…we couldn’t be more excited. The two hip hop wordsmiths and fire live performers first came up with the idea to come together and make some brilliant music after…
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