Concrete Playground

Monday, 28th September - 5AM
@ Government House

Whether it be adult contemporary, gypsy hip hop (or gyp hop), avant-rock or blues-country, Garden Music has something for you. Sit down for a picnic and watch The (dead boring) Audreys, then get up and dance on the lawn when Unkle Ho provides the beats. It is an eclectic selection...

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Tuesday, 8th December - 3PM
@ Metro Theatre

Since he was 15 years old, Jarvis headed up Pulp, the Sheffield Brit-poppers that broke all barriers of the non-movement. Pulp changed the musical climate in England and abroad with their music, which was described by biographer Allen Sturdy as “a cross between Abba and The Fall”. Pulp released 7 much...

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Friday, 25th September - 1PM
@ The Hopetoun

The Devoted Few, stalwarts of Sydney’ music scene, complete with the unmistakable flame red hair of Ben Fletcher, are teaming up with Sherlock’s Daughter on a east coast tour of ‘Straya. Not so long ago The Devoted Few released their third album Baby You’re A Vampire, following up from their...

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Saturday, 31st October - 8PM
@ Metro Theatre

If there’s a band I know well and have seen many times, it is ‘the juice’. I watched them 14 times last year when my band The Paper Scissors (plug!) toured with them so we've shared many a sweaty van, band rooms and bottle of booze. Seeing them this many...

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Friday, 2nd October - 1PM
@ Oxford Art Factory

Remix masters and synchronised dance machines Metronomy have expanded from a 3 piece to 4 since they graced our shores in January, wowing audiences with their candy-pop meets quirky-dance electro for the Sydney Festival.You may remember late last year their hits Hearbreaker and Thing For Me being a staple at...

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Saturday, 19th September - 1PM
@ Enmore Theatre

Ornithologists and rock fans achtung! Get your binoculars out and head down to Little Birdy at the Enmore. One of the many bands in the seemingly endless pool of talent originating on the west coast of Australia, Little Birdy have just put out a new single off their 3rd studio album...

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Friday, 25th September - 1PM
@ Oxford Art Factory

My Disco have been somewhat AWOL from our discos of late but Sydney will be graced by their mathematical and minimalrock towards the end of September.They should be in astounding shape as this year they have played both a twenty five show run of the UK and Europe with with...

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Saturday, 26th September - 1PM
@ The World Bar

The advent of the music blog has been reshaping the musical landscape with the likes of stereogum, pitchfork etc. almost determining the future of bands with their gospel.If we turn our collective digital attention back to our big dry country, there are some heavy hitters in the blogosphere here too (see Polaroids of Androids, A...

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Friday, 2nd October - 1PM
@ The Hopetoun

Seattle: Nirvana, Meg Ryan, Billy Crystal. Those are the things that come to mind, but maybe I shouldn't have admitted the last two.While she shares the same label that Nirvana started their careers on, Jesy Fortino AKA Tiny Vipers is here to bump those Seattle associations out of the way with...

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Saturday, 26th September - Friday, 2nd January
@ Oxford Art Factory

I suppose everyone has to give up the funk eventually… Sydney eight piece Kid Confucius have stripped back the influences coming from D’Angelo, The Roots and future soul, omitted the cheese and even swapped afros for skinny ties on their third album The Let Go.  Maybe they’re just giving the...

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Wednesday, 30th September - 1PM
@ Enmore Theatre

So this week it has all been about redheads. The Devoted Few, a great news piece I saw on BBC about 3,000 red heads getting together in Breda, Netherlands, and now La Roux, whose name translates from the French as “The Red”. I am here to tell you that Jackson,...

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Thursday, 22nd October - 2AM
@ Spectrum

Gaining a fair bit of hype on the strength of a song called The Storm, Boy & Bear, a relatively fledgling Sydney 4 piece, will release a new single this month, continuing the alliteration with a song called Mexican Mavis. Praise has been running hot on the Unearthed website, with Triple...

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Sunday, 1st November - 2PM
@ The Enmore Theatre

The pint sized NYC rapper Nas has existed at the fore of the East Coast rap scene since his debut Illmattic in 1994. Whilst he has never exploded like your Kanyes or Jay-Zs, he has turned out consistently great albums. 2006's Hip Hop is Dead, his first album with Jay-Z's...

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Sunday, 11th October - 2PM
@ Hermanns Bar

If you imagine combining that dust storm with bass amps, amphetamines, booze, and loud guitars, all running off a generator in the desert, then you might be able to picture the beginnings of Nick Oliveri’s musical path with Kyuss, in Palm Desert, California. Oliveri, and then Kyuss guitarist Joshua Homme...

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Saturday, 10th October - 1PM
@ Manning Bar

Ok, so there are lots of people in the band, they are from Townsville (so hot right now no pun intended), people say they are Christians, they were  featured on JJJ unearthed, they are signed to Spunk (the eponymous Aus Indie label who put out records by Sufjan Stevens, Arcade...

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Sunday, 4th October - 2PM
@ Oxford Art Factory

I saw the film that Wolf & Cub are named after once, Lone Wolf and Cub. It was one of those random gems that you sometimes stumble across on SBS. It tells the story of a single father Samurai who trains his infant son to take vengeance on their sworn...

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Friday, 9th October - 2PM
@ The Annandale Hotel

If you're a fan of both types of music – country and western – this could be the show for you. Justin Townes Earle, a Nashville singer-songwriter, is one of the younger exponents of authentic roots based music coming from the land of the large, the USA.Alongside peers and pioneers...

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Thursday, 8th October - 2PM
@ The Studio at The Opera House

For a little while, after seeing some great photos of insane looking parties in New York and London where brass bands and gypsy-punks like Gogol Bordello were all downing Wodka and getting rowdy, I thought gypsy was going to be the new black. It looked like it could take off......

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Monday, 2nd November - Friday, 2nd January
@ The Annandale Hotel

Just off the back of a tour with all girl Japanese garage-rockers Shonen Knife, Brisbane's I Heart Hiroshima are stopping back in to Sydney to launch their second album The Rip at The 'Dale. The Rip was recorded in Brisbane and then taken to the UK to be mixed by...

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Thursday, 8th October - 2PM
@ Beach Road Hotel

Sydney indie rockers Red Riders have been churning out hits and whipping the kids into frenzys for years now. They have been keeping themselves busy of late, touring with Little Birdy and also putting out their second album Drown In Colour. The two singles so far have seen a bit...

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Saturday, 24th October - 2PM
@ Oxford Art Factory

Oh Mercy are one of the crop of Australian bands that are indulging their more sensitive side, leaving the angular jaunts and sweat for harmonicas and acoustics, not afraid to demand attention for their lyrics rather than their volume. I'm thinking of bands like The Panics or The Middle East,...

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Sunday, 18th October - 2PM
@ The Forum

Large men from a small country across the way, Fat Freddy's Drop are once again visiting our large land. I must say that last time I saw them I was a little underwhelmed, they just didn't seem that enthused. Maybe too many massive tours all over Europe and doing spots...

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Saturday, 24th October - 8PM
@ The Annandale Hotel

The Philly Jays, as they are known to their fans and loved ones — and as Sydney-siders you should be one of these — have been smashing both stages and crowds to bits in the short time they've been together. To date, they have released one EP which whipped up...

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Saturday, 17th October - 2PM
@ The Cad Factory

2ser 107.3 has been a pillar of the airwaves in Sydney for 30 years now. This month they celebrate this 30th with a great lineup of shows all around town. The gigs seem to achieve the same diversity as the station itself, from Dubstep to folk and in between -...

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Saturday, 24th October - 2PM
@ The Annandale Hotel

There are some great bands coming out of Brisbane at the moment. Not sure what it is, perhaps the fact that they have a healthy but small live scene with a few good venues in Fortitude Valley (hello Sydney City Council, can you help us out and match this?), and...

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Tuesday, 15th December - 9PM
@ Oxford Art Factory

Jona Bechtolt must not sleep. He could just be one of the most prolific humans on the planet. Over the last 6 years he has released countless records under the nom de plume YACHT, and recently signed to the DFA label, home to LCD Soundsystem (also its label owners), Hot...

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Friday, 30th October - 8PM
@ The Annandale Hotel

The Scare have been somewhat transient and homeless in Australia. Since leaving their native Sunshine Coast in Queensland, they have recorded a debut that was largely overlooked in Australia but landed them festival spots and good tours in the UK, US and Europe. And all the while they came home...

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Friday, 6th November - 8PM
@ Metro Theatre

Midnight Juggernauts steamed ahead of the pack of indie/electro bands way before it became the flavour of 2009. Before The Presets were winning ARIAs, while Ladyhawke was still eating fush'n'chups in NZ and before New Rave came and (thank god) went, the Juggers were slogging between Sydney and Melbourne as...

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Sunday, 10th January - 10AM
@ Entertainment Quarter

Slightly patchier than last year's lineup, Days Like This Festival returns to the Entertainment Quarter (yes, it used to be called Fox Studios, and yes the new name is stupid). Once you get over the fact that you are hanging out in a car park between cement buildings behind the...

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Friday, 20th November - 9PM
@ Oxford Art Factory

My girlfriend and I got into an elevator in Tokyo recently with Kim Moyes, and it was one of those awkward moments where you are both Aussies in a different country and you have to have a chat, you know, say g'day. It was even more awkward because the lift...

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Friday, 20th November - 8PM
@ The Annandale Hotel

There must be something in the water in the Blue Mountains, or maybe it's in the fresh air, or maybe they go down to Penrif to get it? This substance either breeds talented hip hop artists or sunny and melodic popsters. Cloud Control, one such group of popsters have been...

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Friday, 20th November - 8PM
@ The Factory Theatre

Melbourne band The Basics have just dropped a new album, titled Keep Your Enemies Close. Sometimes known as the side project of Wally de Backer (aka Gotye), it seems that Wally has taken a good break to focus on The Basics as they have been touring through Japan and the UK/Europe...

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Saturday, 21st November - 8PM
@ The Annandale Hotel

Cuthbert & The Nightwalkers music sounds like a pop-up book for kids that have grown up too quick. It jumps out at you with Richie Cuthbert's lyrics about 20- something life brashly topped with Pogues like punk/sea shanty tunes, and all with heavy servings of chanting female backing vocals. The...

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Thursday, 12th November - 8PM
@ Oxford Art Factory

By the sounds of things, the whole time Adrian Deutsch was a member of Sydney's tight jeaned indie afficionados Red Riders, he was hard at study. His topic of choice was clean and sparkly pop, learning from the masters on his ipod, or tuning discreetly into 101.7 FM's "Classic Hits"...

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Saturday, 21st November - 8PM
@ Oxford Art Factory

If you didn't get tickets to Vampire Weekend on this same night, you could divert yourself down the stairs at the OAF and catch Sydneysiders The Model School in the gallery bar for free. They are launching their second album called Memory Walls, which sees them carrying on their ramshackle...

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Tuesday, 5th January - Thursday, 1st January
@ Oxford Art Factory

I wonder how long you have to live in Brooklyn to say you're a Brooklyn band? Yeasayer, TV On The Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Dragons Of Zynth, Animal Collective, The National, Grizzly Bear. Hmmm. I do wonder. There's no way that all of the individuals in all of these groups...

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Saturday, 28th November - 8PM
@ Oxford Art Factory

There is a growing trend in Australian music. I will call it the rising of the thinking-person's-singer-songwriter. Catchy, I know. I'm talking Blasko, Washington, Paul Dempsey's solo stuff, Holly Throsby, and then some bands like The Panics, Oh Mercy etc. Artists that aren't afraid to write soft rock, or smart...

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Sunday, 24th January - 8PM
@ Enmore Theatre

It's anyone's guess what went down in Dizzee's dome to make him start doing rave tunes and drinking champagne in the tropics with scantily clad women. Maybe too much sun for the London boy made him go troppo. It's a big change from the teenager who shot into our peripheries...

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Sunday, 10th January - 8PM
@ Oxford Art Factory

Billed as "a unique collective of experimental pop, indie and electronic" The Sister Cities Music Festival would be graded as small on the festival-ometer, but still packs punch with some great bands and solo acts from Melbourne and Sydney. It's nice that they are trying to bring some unity to...

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Saturday, 6th March - 8PM
@ Manning Bar, University of Sydney

With their visceral and deceptively simple sounds, the Mess Hall are loved for their attitude laden blues, heavy on guitars and stripped back to the bare bones. The two piece kicked around for a long time, impressing audiences and doing sporadic but good things for years. Since a drummer change...

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Saturday, 16th January - 8PM
@ Spectrum

Apparently this show is a fundraiser for Sounds In Motion but details are sketchy - I've tried researching what Sounds In Motion is, but not much comes up. Anyway, charity aside, two great bands are playing: Belles Will Ring, the Blue Mountainer psych rockers, and Songs, the newly ubiquitous Sydney...

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Friday, 15th January - 8PM
@ Oxford Art Factory

M Craft toiled away at noisey rock throughout the 90's with Canberra's finest, Sidewinder. After spending too much money on Tangerine ('97) and being dropped by Mercury records, Craft packed up shop and moved to London, where he spent most of his early life with his father working abroad. After...

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Wednesday, 20th January - 8PM
@ Oxford Art Factory

The big haired, skinny jeaned UK outfit The Horrors are all pomp and dark romance. From the scuzzy thrash punk beginnings of their debut Strange House, they exploded in the UK with some serious NME cover time and have built a solid following around the world. They released Primary Colours...

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Wednesday, 20th January - 6PM
@ Spectrum

Ukulele manufacturers must be pretty stoked at the resurgence of the uke, heralded by the likes of Dent May, who sings melodic and whimsical tunes in keeping with the traditions laid down by dork/genius troubadours like Jonathan Richman and Jens Lekmann. Dent was outed from obscurity by Animal Collective when...

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Wednesday, 20th January - 8PM
@ Metro Theatre

With a voice so high you picture him as a cartoon character, Michael Angelakos fronts the Massachusetts wonky popsters Passion Pit. After the release of the Chunk Of Change EP - purportedly a Valentine's offering to the singer/songwriter's then girlfriend, the band went on to explode from relative obscurity...

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Monday, 1st February - 8PM
@ Oxford Art Factory

St Jerome's Laneway Festival has a knack of bringing out people we might otherwise miss in our backwater down here in 'Straya, and Wild Beasts definitely fit into that camp with their (ahem) camp, verbose, literary penmanship and sonic approach. Their sound takes from the great pompous artists of pop music;...

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Wednesday, 27th January - 8PM
@ Beach Road Hotel

These Byron transplants are the kind of people who give you the shits: classicaly trained musicians who write great songs, are years younger than you, and still manage to be really lovely people who will lend you their guitar amp if you need it.Lots of Sydneysiders who are worth their...

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Friday, 29th January - 8PM
@ Becks Bar

It was a bit of a sad time for funk for a while there. In the noughties cool was poached from the genre by those dastardly New York indie bands - The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs et al. But wait! Groovers of the world need not fret...There has...

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Saturday, 13th February - 8PM
@ Oxford Art Factory

I first saw The Dodos last year at The Spiegeltent in Manhattan. It was going to be perfect: a balmy evening, good friends and a band who had put out a really exciting debut, Visiter, that bordered hippy folk whilst still dipping into heavy rhythms and beautiful contemplative lyrics and melodies. But...

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Thursday, 21st January - 8PM
@ The Gaelic Theatre

If you are looking to "wave you hands in the air like you just don't care" then forget this show. Dead Prez care big time.They have been churning out agitated political hip hop for nigh on 15 years, with lyrics that cover everything from veganism to socialism, always attempting to...

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Saturday, 23rd January - 9PM
@ Oxford Art Factory

The oracle that is The Oxford Art Factory has decided they can predict the future and have picked a few bands that they are shooting forth into the stratosphere. The lineup goes like this- Parades, The Laurels, Cabins, Bearhug, Joysticks, Georgia Fair and Sticky Fingers.It is a huge, free (yeah...

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Monday, 25th January - 7PM
@ Sedition Gallery

I'm not sure if you are aware of this, but Sydney has a very healthy noise scene. Our pretty harbour city is home to some of the finest purveyors of all things fucked up and scuzzy. Music that is often alarming and surprisingly beautiful.Of course, one of the problems with...

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Thursday, 28th January - Friday, 29th January
@ Enmore Theatre

This show has such a curious mix of reggae greats and amusing pop artists. You have on one hand Sly & Robbie, who are absolute legends of the genre who in the 80's imbued the sounds of reggae into some seminal pop albums, producing for Grace Jones, Peter Tosh and...

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Sunday, 14th February - 8PM
@ Metro Theatre

I remember listening to Wu-Tang Clan when I was a teenager in the lovely beach side suburb of Suffolk Park. I'm not quite sure if I grasped the anachronism of middle class white surfies nodding their heads along to music made by 8 members from the slums and housing projects...

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Monday, 22nd February - 8PM
@ Hordern Pavilion

Echo & The Bunnymen, Jane's Addiction, My Bloody Valentine, Duran Duran, Rage Against The Machine, The Pixies  Happy Mondays...  The last few years have seen more reformations than you can poke a stick at, promoters dusting off the old rockers like crazy.The results have been mixed, but Faith No More...

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Friday, 26th February - 8PM
@ Oxford Art Factory

The Big Apple has been dominating America's music output lately with a slew of amazing bands making music that is both challenging and progressive. But it seems on the West Coast, the city of big cars, out of work actors and Mexican food has gotten off the Devil's dandruff for...

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Friday, 26th March - 8PM - Saturday, 27th March - 8PM
@ Enmore Theatre

Out of the supergroups and celebrity collaborations that have popped up recently, I think The Dead Weather are making the best music. They are on the other end of the scale from Them Crooked Vultures which is just an excuse for Dave Grohl and Josh Homme to be teenagers again...

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Monday, 8th February - 8PM
@ Manning Bar

You like your instruments played badly, your sounds scuzzy. You are thrilled by the possibility of stage invasions and band members vomiting, and you want to have some fun. This is for you. Black Lips are a cool band. They are signed to Vice Records, they have ironic moustaches, they...

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Wednesday, 17th February - 7PM
@ Metro Theatre

The original Sel et Poivre are coming for Good Vibrations! They have been pulled from the hip hop attic, dusted off and polished up, as have Naughty By Nature.  Not exactly sure how they will 'kick it' now they are pushing 50, but there is no denying their place in...

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Friday, 12th February - 10PM
@ Civic Hotel

Future Classic are the Mrs Dalloway of Sydney's electronic music scene, putting on parties galore and schooling Aussies on some of the less obvious musical taste-makers of the world. One of the artists that you've probably heard and should go dance to is Classixx (fitting that they are playing their...

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Friday, 12th February - 9PM
@ Good God Small Club

To be at Jingle Jangle is to be transplanted to a different time and place. Maybe the dimly lit walk through the dingy Spanish restaurant La Campana into Good God Small Club is a portal, as you are removed from any signs of 2010 or of Sydney's vacuum of decent...

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Friday, 19th February - 7PM
@ Brass Monkey

Not to be confused with the god-awful metal band Dead Letter Circus (sorry if you are into that sort of thing), DL Chorus make wonderfully melodic rock, with dabblings of folk and acoustic elements. They have been kicking around for a while and have been building a faithful fan base...

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Friday, 19th February - 8PM
@ Metro Theatre

As Sydneysiders you should be goddamned proud of the Necks. They are one of our finest ever exports. Since the late 1980s when they started playing together in a school hall, they have released countless albums (including a new one, Silverwater), amazed audiences around the world with their live shows,...

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Sunday, 28th February - 8PM
@ Metro Theatre

The Brian Jonestown Massacre's latest single boldly repeats the phrase "let's go fucking mental" — and anyone who knows the band, has seen the film DiG!, or has witnessed one of their shows knows they mean it. DiG! is one of the best rockumentaries ever made; it paralleled the trajectories...

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Friday, 26th February - 7PM
@ Factory Theatre

If it weren't for Elefant Traks, Sydney hip hop would be screwed. They have released countless records from Sydney's rising stars and stalwarts over the last 12 years, cementing themselves as an icon of Australian music. Part of the stampede of rising stars are Horrorshow. Straight outta Sydney's inner west,...

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Thursday, 18th February - 7PM
@ Annandale Hotel

Multimillionaire Dicky Branson didn't give up the cash; instead, the normal wage-enslaved, music-loving proletariat, you, and Sydney's bands saved FBi radio by donating money and time to the station last year. The battle was won, but the war to keep FBi on air continues. The fine folk at the station...

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Friday, 7th May - 8PM
@ The Forum

Spoon are a great band. I won't try to hide that I'm a fan. In fact, just then I was visiting their website and got sucked into completing my Spoon collection, buying their first four albums bundled with live videos. Their whole aesthetic and sound oozes a laissez-faire attitude whilst...

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Sunday, 7th March - 7PM
@ Sydney Opera House

Since calling a hiatus from the Dresden Dolls, Amanda Palmer has been touring the world off the back of her solo debut Who Killed Amanda Palmer (a sister to Laura, perhaps?) and flabbergasting people with her avant-cabaret tunes. She has recently bowled over crowds at the Edinburgh Festival and Coachella...

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Thursday, 25th February - 8PM
@ Oxford Art Factory

I remember instantly liking Hungry Kids Of Hungary. Their name is delightfully stupid but it demands your attention and makes you want to have a listen. Well, it's worked for them and they have been climbing the spiral staircase of the Aus music industry, starting with a Triple J unearthing,...

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Friday, 12th March - 8PM - Saturday, 13th March - 8PM
@ Spectrum

The Scare inhabit a truly jaunty world of post-punk swagger. Their debut Chivalry and its scuzzed-out, big-haired, big-guitared rock was largely ignored by their brothers and sisters here in Australia. They didn't take it to heart; instead, they pissed off to the UK where they ate baked beans for a...

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Thursday, 4th March - 4PM
@ Annandale Hotel

The Drones are about to pack up their live show and head back into the studio to record their follow up to the critically and publicly salivated-over Havilah. The band have had an amazing run since the verbosely titled winning 2005 breakthrough Wait Long By the River and the Bodies...

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Wednesday, 3rd March - 8PM
@ Beach Road Hotel

I heard Jonathan Boulet between the cabin crew's witty quips and Kate Miller-Heidke tunes on Virgin Blue the other day; he's definitely creeped into the mainstream since releasing his debut on taste-making Modular Records a few months ago. The album of electronic-tinged folk is full of exultant and uplifting tunes...

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Friday, 12th March - 8PM
@ Red Rattler

Melbourne gypsy-jazz seven piece Barons of Tang are back in Sydney to drop in to our favourite warehouse (that hasn't been closed down yet, unlike Quirkz), the Red Rattler. It is set to be a bit of a feast for anyone that likes their music with a dash of strange. Your...

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Tuesday, 13th April - 8PM
@ Manning Bar, University of Sydney

For a long time I dismissed the Mountain Goats as a bit of a joke band; I linked them with late 90s Triple J novelty tunes — you know 'Cows With Guns', 'Doctor Worm', that type of thing. Then I managed to catch them live a few years ago, and...

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Thursday, 18th March - 8PM
@ Oxford Art Factory

The co-headline tour has become the staple diet of Aus indie bands. You save money on hire cars, always have at least a whole band to watch your set at quiet regional shows, get more booze in your rider and hopefully pick up some new fans along the way. Sometimes...

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Tuesday, 30th March - 8PM - Thursday, 1st April - 8PM
@ Factory Theatre

The reinvention of one's persona is a pop tradition; Bowie had the Thin White Duke and Ziggy Stardust, Madonna has made a career out of it and Prince renamed himself so many times we weren't sure what to call him. Alex Ebert was down and out after his band, Probot,...

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Wednesday, 31st March - 7PM
@ Metro Theatre

If gypsy-punk, moustaches, thick Ukrainian accents, screaming guitars, tongue-in-cheek lyrics and singalongs squeeze your proverbial squeezebox, then this is the show for you. Gogol Bordello are a multicultural ensemble that started out in Manhattan's Lower East Side. Their members range from Russian accordion players to Scottish-born Hong Kong Chinese percussionists,...

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Tuesday, 27th April - 8PM - Wednesday, 28th April - 8PM
@ Sydney Opera House

Regina Spektor manages to tread the line between indie-quirk and mainstream pop. She does it with sheer songwriting prowess and musicality, her lyrics never obvious, but full of literary and musical references and delivered with a voice that's comfortable being angelic and earnest as well as soaring operatic heights and...

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Thursday, 6th May - 8PM
@ Metro Theatre

The Slew is a project started by the quirky turntablist Kid Koala and Dynomite D. It started as a collaboration to make music for an upcoming film; the film went bust but the two producers had become attached and loved the music they had made — psychedelic rock mixed with...

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Wednesday, 7th April - 8PM
@ Beach Road Hotel

A few people have told me about Wim, you know those "you should toootally go see Wim" kind of comments you get from people. And this could be our chance to see them — for free at the Beach Road Hotel, Bondi. The one song on their MySpace, 'John', is...

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Thursday, 29th July - 7PM
@ Hordern Pavilion

No doubt you've heard that the world's favourite rich-kid band, the Strokes have dusted themselves off and are back in the studio. Not sure how it's going down, especially after watching their first studio diary video, which Julian Casablancas is completely absent from. Julian said recently that "it's way more...

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Sunday, 11th April - Monday, 12th April
@ Luna Park

The Come Together festival is badly named; the two-day, Luna Park event splits the lineup stylistically into two separate days, so it's actually more about pushing things apart than coming together per se. Saturday June 12 features lots of bands that I really don't like, but maybe you do: Gyroscope,...

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Friday, 16th April - 7PM
@ Notes

I remember seeing the Drones at the Hoey (R.I.P.), years back. I didn't know who the hell they were and a friend of mine took me along. I was floored. They were so loud and brutal, but they still had hooks and melodies in their songs that beautifully intertwined with...

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Tuesday, 27th July - 7PM
@ Hordern Pavilion

The word 'meteoric' is bandied around quite liberally in the music industry, but the Temper Trap's upward trajectory definitely deserves the term bestowed upon it. I remember seeing them play in the little bat cave known as Candy's Apartment: they were noticeably good. Singer Dougy had a very unique voice...

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Friday, 23rd April - 8PM
@ Sandringham Hotel

There must be something in the river water in Brisbane that dictates a synthesizer fascination, at least since the mid '90s when Regurgitator added a keytar player to their band after the release of Unit. At the same time, the young Seja Vogel was playing synth in electro-pop purveyors Sekiden,...

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Sunday, 6th June - 7PM
@ The Studio at The Opera House

My Brightest Diamond is the project of singer/composer Shara Worden. You might have seen her open for Sufjan Stevens a few years back at the Sydney Festival: she was the coiffured, young songstress that did a mix of rock, punk and heavily orchestrated, operatic pop. You could put her in...

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Saturday, 1st May - 7PM
@ State Theatre

I remember thinking country music was mega uncool when I was a teenager. And I suppose it is, if you judge it by, say, Garth Brooks or Lee Kernaghan — you know, douche bags in stupid hats. Brooks is the worst of them all. I picked up this amazing book...

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Friday, 28th May - 8PM
@ Annandale Hotel

Most of you will be familiar with Melbourne's rag-tag, country/hippy sensation Wagons, led by none other than Henry 'Wagons' Krips. And for those of you who aren't: they play alt-country tunes, taking heed of Lee Hazlewood, Johnny Cash and Dylan — then adding a dash of theatrics and more people...

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Thursday, 3rd June - 10PM
@ The Studio at The Opera House

King Khan & BBQ Show is not a cooking show. King Khan is the Berlin-based, Canadian rocker that just messed with our heads for Falls Festival with his soul band King Khan & the Shrines. While he and the Shrines do melodic, garage/rhythm and blues party jams — like the...

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