Most of the time you don’t know when something will be your last time. When I took my son to see Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers last May, I didn’t know we’d never get another chance to see that band. There have been rare exceptions – like Warren Zevon, David Bowie, and Leonard Cohen. They all…
St. Vincent’s eponymous 4th solo album, released in 2014, was easily her most accessible, while also delivering some pretty amazing songs packaged with electro-pop polish, and marked by her unique guitar playing. And it paid off big, landing her on dozens of “best of year” lists and winning that year’s Grammy for Best Alternative Album,…
Fleet Foxes return to Australia over New Years 2017-18, with national performances at the Falls Festival and a sideshow at Palais Theatre in Melbourne where they’ll be joined by Gordi. The visit follows their appearance as part of VividLIVE in May 2017. At VividLIVE, the band returned from a five-year hiatus for a series of performances at…
Following on from their first round announcement last month WOMADelaide have now dropped their entire 2018 program – and it’s absolutely huge. Joining the likes of Le Vent du Nord, Rodrigo y Gabriela and Yirrmal next year will be Scottish neo-Trad quintet Elephant Sessions, country-blues favourites Hat Fitz & Cara, roots collaboration Mama Kin Spender,…
You can’t say Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo doesn’t wear his influences on his sleeve. On last year’s self-titled (White Album) everything pointed to the Beach Boys, from “California Kids” and “L.A. Girls” to “Endless Bummer,” and that Brian Wilson spark can still be heard on Pacific Daydream. On “Beach Boys,” Cuomo admits it’s a hip hop…
Phases follows last year’s My Woman which landed in our top 5 of 2016. So it may be easy to initially take this rarities release as a fans-only, hold-you-over journey. But jumping to conclusions is never a good idea because this record provides great evidence of Olsen’s range that shines regardless if the songs are…
Fremantle singer-songwriter Stella Donnelly is definitely the current darling of the indie singer-songwriter scene in Australia. After a successful tilt at this year’s BIGSOUND conference, winning the inaugural Levis Music Prize, Donnelly has just announced plans to head out on a bunch of tour dates around the country. Stella Donnelly has already been announced on…
With the recent passing of the “Screaming Eagle of Soul,” Charles Bradley in September, Sonny Knight in June and Sharon Jones last year, the retro soul movement has taken a serious blow. Their talents are irreplaceable but with Curtis Harding’s new record, Face Your Fear, you will quickly realize that the genre will continue to…
As a critic, I learned long ago to lower my expectations. When you expect greatness, that is when you get burnt. The same goes about expecting a poop emoji. If you go into a record thinking it is going to suck…most likely it will. That is why music is subjective. I say all of that…
A wintry wonderland hides dark secrets in the atmospheric thriller The Snowman, which has undertones of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. In the frigid landscape, a sociopath who calls himself “The Snowman Killer” has targeted the one person he wants to appreciate his methodical, unthinkable “skills”. That person is Harry Hole (Michael Fassbender), lead investigator…
