NEWS
Premieres / Exclusives
Premiere: Georgia Ray turns to dark alt-country on ‘No God Out Here’
Backseat Mafia is delighted to premiere No God Out Here, the new single from Melbourne singer-songwriter Georgia Ray and a strikingly dark turn from an artist previously better known for…
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Premiere: Andrew McKeag Band inject a shot of psychedelic desert-rock into the hypnotic new single ‘Highway Dust’
Andrew McKeag has been making a racket for a few decades, and he has never been short of work. He has played sessions, teched guitars, managed tours and booked clubs, and these days he holds…
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Premiere: Gun Laws confront the compromises of survival on the volatile new single ‘Deals! Deals! Deals!’
Naarm/Melbourne post-punk five-piece Gun Laws are back, and Backseat Mafia has the exclusive premiere of their new single “Deals! Deals! Deals!”, out 18 September. The track is…
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Premiere: The Silversound plunge deeper into cosmic psych with new single ‘Hands’.
Backseat Mafia has followed Melbourne’s own dark psychedelic export The Silversound closely over the years, and we’re thrilled to bring you the premiere of their new single…
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Premiere: The fabulous Tanya-Lee Davies checks the room for exits on ‘Valentines Day’, in a glorious new track that prowls with a lascivious glow.
Every 14 February runs on the same fuel: cheap wine, expensive expectations, and a stiff upper lip bracing for whatever the night decides to hand out. The enigmatic chanteuse Tanya-Lee Davies…
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Track / Video
Track: Swedish Duo MAMI UMAMI Share Gritty New Single'(Don’t) think I like you’
Following the release of their AFTERwork EP earlier this year, Swedish duo MAMI UMAMI are back with the gritty new single'(Don’t) think I like you’. A collision of alt-pop, punk…
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Track: Radio Free Alice recruit Rachel Brown for new single ‘Big Ideas’
Radio Free Alice are moving quickly. The Naarm/Melbourne post-punk outfit have released Big Ideas, a wiry new collaboration with Water From Your Eyes vocalist Rachel Brown and the latest cut…
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News: Rex Orange County announces ‘Dream Fatigue’ and drops ‘Grandma Song’
Rex Orange County is stepping out of isolation and into considerably more crowded territory on Dream Fatigue, his new album arriving November 6 via AWAL. The British artist has assembled an…
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Album Reviews
Album Review: Helen – ‘Linda’s Head’: So much more than a retro reminder, Grouper and co refresh the shoegazing soundscape.
It may be over a decade since dream-pop shoegazers Helen first shimmered into view with ‘The Original Faces’ but their follow-up, ‘Linda’s Head’, shouldn’t be seen as a come-back album.…
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Album Review: Josefin Öhrn’s ‘Cherry’ is a sensual, sun-dappled second adolescence that shimmers with beauty.
Josefin Öhrn has made an album about falling headlong into desire again, and she isn’t the least bit coy about it. ‘Cherry’, her solo debut, was written during a period of…
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Album Review: Also Steve Bates – ‘An Infinite Antenna’: switching wavelengths and finding another dazzling electronic charge.
Montreal-based sound artist and musician Also Steve Bates seems to thrive on setting himself challenges. For his 2022 debut for Constellation, ‘All The Things That Happen’ he focused on the…
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Album Review: Hoolahan’s ‘Bay of Chance’ gives us breathtakingly beautiful melodies, chiming guitars and a career-defining form.
Some bands disappear so quietly that you stop expecting them back, then return with a record that makes the wait look like a deliberate act of patience. Sydney’s Hoolahan have done…
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Album Review: Negro Leo – ‘White Elephant’: Confrontational, complex and utterly compelling retrospective from the Brazilian experimenter.
Opening windows onto the best music that you’ve never heard, the latest reveal from Hive Miind Records is another ambitious and, in some ways, risky release. Working with Rio based…
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Album Review: After find their place in the sun on debut album ‘Fell Asleep in the Sun’
After beginning life on Hinge. Los Angeles duo Justine Dorsey and Graham Epstein quickly worked out that romance wasn’t on the cards, but that their musical chemistry was. Since forming After…
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Interviews
Meet: Where did that come from? Midge Ure (Ultravox, Visage and Live Aid) talks to us about his unfinished business and his treasured legacy.
Ahead of his rescheduled Australian tour on the Catalogue: The Hits tour, the Ultravox frontman talks with me about Joe Dolce, Scottish tenacity, and why he refuses to sulk through Vienna. The…
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Meet: Stacy Jones on art respecting art and not overthinking
Stacy Jones on playing live, art respecting art and not overthinking
#americanhifi #stacyjones #rockmusic #interview #livemusic
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Meet: Kirk Brandon predicted the future. But no-one was listening
Spear of Destiny's Kirk Brandon is on tour right now. We got together to talk about Chelsea, reclaiming the music and seeing into the future…
#kirkbrandon #spearofdestiny #interview…
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Interview: It’s Not a Documentary — It’s an Act: Baxter Dury on Nepotism, Performance and the Strange Theatre of Modern Life
When I last saw Baxter Dury, it was during Dark Mofo in Hobart — a setting whose nocturnal weirdness felt oddly perfect for his particular brand of dry, late-night storytelling. Over the past…
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Feature: Fokofpolisiekar Reflect on Swanesang at 20 as Australian & NZ Tour Extends Legacy
South African punk band Fokofpolisiekar reflect on Swanesang 20 years on, as Hunter Kennedy discusses identity, rebellion and taking the band's music to audiences in Australia and New Zealand.
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Meet: A.S. Fanning Talks About His New Album ‘Take Me Back To Nowhere’
On his fourth studio album Take Me Back To Nowhere, A.S. Fanning sounds both unmoored and quietly resolute. Drawing inspiration from science-fiction, experimental sound worlds, and a newly…
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Features / Playlists
News: Hard-Fi to Headline Harlequins’ Big Summer Kick-Off at Allianz Stadium
British indie heavyweights Hard-Fi are set to return to their South West London stomping grounds this May. The Staines-formed outfit has been confirmed as the headline act…
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Interview: It’s Not a Documentary — It’s an Act: Baxter Dury on Nepotism, Performance and the Strange Theatre of Modern Life
When I last saw Baxter Dury, it was during Dark Mofo in Hobart — a setting whose nocturnal weirdness felt oddly perfect for his particular brand of dry, late-night storytelling. Over the past…
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Feature: Backseat Mafia’s photographic tribute to Bluesfest Byron Bay
For four years, Backseat Mafia has covered Bluesfest Byron Bay, an iconic event on the Australian music calendar. On March 13th, just three weeks before what would have been the 37th Bluesfest…
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Live review
Live Gallery: Noah Kahan takes over Sydney’s Afterpay Arena on The Great Divide World Tour 02.10.2026
A countdown ticks across the enormous screen at Afterpay Arena as insects crawl through the visuals and roadies get busy building a house onstage. It has a porch and front door and looks as…
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Live Review & Gallery: Conan Gray brings the ‘Wishbone’ era to Sydney’s Afterpay Arena 01.10.2026
There are sailor suits everywhere. Thousands of them. Sydney’s Afterpay Arena looks briefly as though it has been commandeered by a particularly emotional navy, while down the front one guy…
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Ben Folds under the stars at North Head 26.09.2026
There is something quite incongruous about a grand piano sitting beneath the open sky at Manly’s North Head Sanctuary. Tonight, Ben Folds arrives at Night at The Barracks with little more than…
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Live Gallery: Agnes Obel mesmerises the Sydney Opera House 27.09.2026
It is a cold, rainy Sunday night in Sydney, but inside the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall there is barely a spare seat to be found. Agnes Obel is back in Australia for the first time since…
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Live Review + Photo Galleries: The Drones cap off 2026 Australian Tour at The Odeon, Hobart 25.09.2026 with The Mess Hall in tow
The maelstrom that is The Drones blew into Hobart for a 2 night stint as the culmination of their 2026 Australian tour. The inaugural Australian Music Prize award winner back in 2005, The…
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Live Review: Roger Taylor – Manchester Opera House – 25.09.26
Roger Taylor turns Manchester's theatre into a Rock Opera House
#rogertaylor #queen #rockmusic #livereview
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Film
News: First Look At Oasis’ Reunion Film Don’t Look Back In Anger
One year after Oasis stunned the music world by returning to the stage for their first live performance together in 16 years, the band’s extraordinary comeback is set to be immortalised…
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Film Review: ‘The Best Summer’ is a bittersweet time capsule of alternative music’s golden age
There is something almost unbelievable about The Best Summer. What began as footage shot casually by filmmaker Tamra Davis while accompanying the Summersault festival around Australia in 1995…
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News: Kylie Minogue opens her archives for new three-part documentary KYLIE
Some pop stars have eras. Kylie Minogue has decades. From her first rush of fame as Charlene on Neighbours to becoming one of the most reliable hitmakers in modern pop,…
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News: The life and times of William Arthur and his iconic Sydney band Glide is explored in ‘Disappear Here’, a film by Ben deHoedt.
Glide were a seminal Sydney band that burned brightly and all together too briefly in the nineties, beset by tragedy when their singer and songwriter William Arthur died at the end of that…
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Film Review: January
Winter can be a magical time of year and there’s nothing more atmospheric than a sprinkling of snow. In many places, that light covering becomes something different entirely. In Eastern…
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Sundance Review: Iron Butterflies
As we approach the first anniversary of the full Russian invasion of Ukraine, it’s easy to forget that this war didn’t start in 2022. Indeed, the (recent) troubles with Russia can be traced…
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