SXSW

We caught Hanson live in Austin ahead of their 25th Anniversary Australia & New Zealand tour

Hanson performed at the Tulsa Showcase at SXSW last week after revealing the details of their 25th Anniversary Middle Of Everywhere World Tour, which includes just-announced a stop over in Australia in June. After a small delay due to sound issues the three original brothers Isaac, Taylor and Zac hit the stage at a packed…

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Sonic Forces Reveals First Gameplay Footage

The first teaser for upcoming SEGA title, Sonic Forces has been revealed at the annual SXSW festival. The trailer features a break-neck journey through a city under siege, with Sonic dashing his way through a gorgeous landscape.

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Jacob Collier on the surprise of international fame and more at SXSW

Jacob Collier may not have visited Austin, Texas prior to this month but best believe, the UK buzz artist left SXSW reeling with his presence. The 22 year old has been catapulted to global fame over the last year in particular; with two – yes, two – Grammy Awards to his name, the multi-instrumentalist and producer…

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Spoon’s Alex Fischel talks Hot Thoughts and getting back on the road at SXSW

It seemed more than apt to be sitting down with Spoon in their hometown of Austin, Texas, at possibly one of the busiest times of the year – SXSW. The band has Australia firmly in their sights with shows on the east coast commencing this week, but before they make the trip out, Larry hung out with Alex…

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The Lemon Twigs, Jain and Robyn Hitchcock named recipients of SXSW 2017’s Grulke Prize

The 2017 Grulke Prize winners have been announced as SXSW turns in for another year, recognising three artists across the categories of ‘Developing US Act’, ‘Developing Non US Act’ and ‘Career Act’. In 2017, the ‘Developing US Act’ prize has been awarded to The Lemon Twigs, recognising the band’s creativity and potential off the back of their…

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SXSW Film Review: California Dreams (USA, 2017) should be called “California Delusions”

With La La Land having recently dominated the Oscars, its story about 2 hopefuls trying to make it in Hollywood uncomfortably lingered in the back of my mind while watching California Dreams. Both La La Land and California Dreams share a similar premise of “dreams are built on sacrifice”, however the films attack their subject…

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SXSW Film Review: Long Strange Trip (USA, 2017) celebrates the magic, myth and madness that is The Grateful Dead

Long Strange Trip is a documentary about the Grateful Dead that feels just like being at one of the band’s concerts. It is a sprawling, swirling psychedelic affair that lives up to its name as it celebrates a band that has notched up over 50 years in the music business as the reigning kings of…

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SXSW: Josh Lawson, Director Josh Greenbaum and Australia’s own 007 George Lazenby talk Becoming Bond

Hot on the heels of winning the SXSW Audience Award for the “Visions” programming, we sat down with Aussie actor Josh Lawson, Director Josh Greenbaum and Australia’s own 007 George Lazenby to talk about the film Becoming Bond, which premiered at the festival last week. This pseudo-documentary tells the story of Lazenby, the only Australian…

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SXSW Film Review: Mission Control: The Unsung Heroes of Apollo (UK, 2017) is a love letter to NASA’s rocket men

Stop and take a moment to think about what you were doing at the age of 27 or what you will do if it’s yet to come. If you’re a musician it is likely that you are dead but if you were working at NASA during the Apollo era then you had a hand in…

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SXSW Film Review: The Honor Farm (USA, 2017) struggles with its narrative

Horror films aren’t like they used to be. Gone are the days of chainsaw wielding psychos with mummy issues and hockey mask wearing killers…. with mummy issues (I’ve stumbled upon something here). Indeed, the genre has become less about horny teenagers getting gutted in creative ways and more about utilising tropes to symbolise prevalent issues…

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Pandora wraps up four days at SXSW with performances from Future Islands, Tkay Maidza & more

It was a slightly different agenda for Pandora at SXSW this year as the digital radio service concluded their annual Pandora House at Austin venue The Gatsby earlier tonight. Running from Monday to Thursday and crossing into both Music and Interactive programming – as opposed to concluding on Saturday as in past years – Future…

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At The Drive-In’s surprise performance proves the highlight of House of Vans at SXSW

For the past two days, the iconic Austin venue Mohawk played host to the annual House of Vans, featuring a mix of primarily rock and hip hop acts – some well established and plenty emerging. But it was the surprise addition of At The Drive-In during the event’s first night that proved to be the…

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Spoon wrap up a special SXSW residency ahead of Hot Thoughts album release and Australian tour

Austin, Texas based outfit Spoon proved to be one of the hottest tickets this week at SXSW as they performed a residency of intimate shows at The Main (Formerly Emo’s) in the heart of their hometown. Across three nights at the venue, which wrapped up earlier tonight, the band played different setlists featuring tracks old…

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Starley shines bright at SXSW’s MTV Woodies alongside Rick Ross and Jidenna

The MTV Woodies were hosted by Rick Ross for SXSW 2017, as punters were treated to some performances by established and emerging artists from across the hip hop, pop and rock realms. Taking out the four awards for this year were The Chainsmokers (“Woodie of the Year”), Ed Sheeran (“Cover Woodie” for his cover of Little Mix‘s “Touch”), Khalid (“Woodie to Watch”) and PARTYNEXTDOOR (“Songwriter of…

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SXSW 2017: Film Festival Announces Jury and Special Awards

This week, the annual SXSW Film Festival took place, with award winners just announced. Featuring an all-star jury including Kristen Bell, Becky Cloonan and more, the jury selected winners across a variety of categories including Narrative Feature, Film Design, Short Film Making, Documentary Feature and Excellence in Poster and Title Design among others. The 2017…

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Solange headlines the first day of YouTube’s residency at the Coppertank for SXSW

Saint Heron descended upon the Coppertank for SXSW 2017, with Solange herself performing a brilliant headline set to mark the first day of YouTube’s programming. Joining the Saint Heron queen on stage throughout the day were some of 2017’s buzz names including Aminé, JAIN, James Hersey and Earthgang – sticking to YouTube’s directive of spotlighting some of…

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SXSW Film Review: Like Me (USA, 2017) Is disorientating and beautiful

When I was nineteen I spent three straight days without sleeping. I had just moved to Tokyo and couldn’t cope with the light pollution or the sounds from the trains that ran behind my flat. I would spend the nights listening to relaxing music and watch films during the day. On the third morning at…

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Jimmy Eat World heralds the start of SXSW Music by headlining Media Temple’s Interactive Closing Party

Media Temple hosted their annual SXSW Interactive Closing Party on Tuesday night at Austin, Texas’ prolific Stubbs’ concert venue. The event was filled with a lot of rock, rage and the perfect dose of nostalgia. Pennywise and Jimmy Eat World headlined the annual close out to the Interactive portion of the festival. Past headliners have included…

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SXSW Short Film Review: Adult (Australia, 2017) is an unflinching portrayal of the adult film industry

Based on award winning Greek-Australian author Christos Tsiolkas’ short story Porn 1, Adult is an unflinching portrayal of the adult film industry and the mark its key figures leave on their loved ones. Set in a time long ago when the humble VHS was still a thing, Writer/Director Jamieson Pierce’s short centres on elderly Greek…

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SXSW Film Review: The Most Hated Woman in America (USA, 2017) is Netflix at its best

There’s no doubt about it, Netflix are on a path to global domination. With a slew of well received original TV programming to their name already, the streaming giant have now turned their attention to taking on the film industry and the Hollywood studio system. The exceptional biopic The Most Hated Woman in America is…

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Universal drop their first trailer for Charlize Theron action romp Atomic Blonde after SXSW premiere

This one looks saucy! The first trailer for action thriller Atomic Blonde has been released ahead of its SXSW debut and it looks brilliant. Starring Charlize Theron as Lorraine Broughton, the film sees the undercover MI6 agent sent to Berlin during the Cold War to investigate the murder of a fellow agent and recover a missing list…

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SXSW Film Review: The Light of the Moon (USA, 2017) is more than a victim’s story, but a tale of human complexity

Bonnie is young and worldly, holds a job as an architect and lives in NYC. She has good friends, a pretty good social life and is in a stable relationship with a man who is equally as upwardly mobile, enjoying the same perks as anyone with a career in a city able to hold the…

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SXSW: Justin Hurwitz reveals how La La Land connects to Chazelle’s debut feature Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench

During a special Q&A at the Lionsgate Lounge at SXSW, two-time Academy Award winner Justin Hurwitz hit the stage and the piano to discuss the processes behind composing the music for La La Land. At the end of the almost hour long talk, which included a number of brief performances from Hurwitz as he detailed how…

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SXSW: 13 things we learned about Veep and its sixth season during the cast panel

One of the most anticipated panels at SXSW this year was one featuring the cast and showrunner of the acclaimed HBO comedy series Veep, which returns for a ten episode sixth season on April 16th. The panel, which was the show’s first at SXSW, featured writer/executive producer David Mandel, executive producer/star Julia Louis-Dreyfus and cast…

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SXSW Film Review: Lake Bodom (Finland, 2016) attempts to straighten the horror genre curve

A delightfully nasty horror movie that draws on real-life inspiration, Lake Bodom hopes to be more than just a Friday The 13th-type slasher, in large part to its true crime connection, but ultimately can’t overcome its conventionality – not that there’s anything wrong with that. What still remains one of Europe’s greatest unsolved mysteries, the…

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SXSW Film Review: Pornocracy (France, 2016) is a sad indictment on the big business that is the ever-growing porn industry

Porn is a big business. In just six years the planet has watched over a million years’ worth of videos and 100 billion pages are visited and streamed annually. But is there a dark side to the industry? Ovidie, a French journalist and former porn-star attempts to answer this question in her documentary film, Pornocracy,…

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SXSW Film Review: Through The Repellent Fence (USA, 2017) uses art to make an important political statement

As Donald Trump continues promoting his idea of building a wall between the US and Mexico it’s heartening to see that there are some people taking a different approach. Through The Repellent Fence: A Land Art Film is a documentary about a land art installation that attempted to reinforce the notion that borders are an…

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SXSW Film Review: Flesh and Blood (USA, 2017) is a harrowing look into the life of a fractured man and his family

It’s hard not to feel a large sense of relief after reaching the end of Mark Webber‘s latest directorial piece that is Flesh and Blood. Not because the film was a tough watch (which in a way, it is), but rather because you are given the chance to leave the cinema and return to what…

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SXSW Film Review: Inheritance (USA, 2017) is a powerful piece on finding closure and oneself

When Mara (Jessica Kaye) returns to her childhood home of Belize bringing her lover Aaron (Daniel Ahearn) with the hope to reconnect with her estranged father and brother who live there. After landing, she is met with the heart-breaking news that her father has just passed away, shortly before his 70th birthday. Mara is distraught but does…

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SXSW Film Review: Rat Film (USA, 2016) provides engaging commentary on the urban history of Baltimore

From writer, photographer and filmmaker Theo Anthony, Rat Film is a documentary that hooks you in and deserves a pedestal. The feature-length film focuses on rats and their lives as a way to explore Baltimore’s urban history and how humans interact with their world. It is clever yet confronting to see rats up close and…

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