Music The debut EP from Moody Beach flounders in uneasy waters, but you’ll be glad you dove in by Alastair Cairns Moody Beach sounds an awful lot like moody bitch. It’s also a brilliant name for a band, and while I can’t vouch for the accuracy of said name, I can…
Music Honest, brave, thoughtful and affecting, Jen Cloher’s new album is a bold masterpiece by Alastair Cairns Album’s like Jen Cloher are the reason why I write about music. It is also the kind of album that inspired me to pick up a guitar when I was 13…
Music Is this the same Lana Del Rey? Classic rock convenes with contemporary romance on Lust For Life by Alastair Cairns The new album by Lana Del Rey, Lust For Life, feels like an event. However, I mean that in a way that may be slightly outdated. In the last year…
News Eloquent and energetic, Human Buoy fully explores his extensive catalogue on Animation Station by Alastair Cairns A debut album is an artist’s first chance to stake their claim. To make an offering that is simply too good to refuse. An offering that is the distilled essence…
Music Brightness dispels any notion he’s finding his feet on the fully-formed debut Teething by Alastair Cairns Teething is the debut album from transient singer-songwriter Alex Knight aka Brightness. I use the term transient in reference to his storied propensity for uprooting himself and how it colours…
Music Le Pie demands heart, body and mind on Sad Girl Theory, her most irresistible release yet by Alastair Cairns Sad Girl Theory is the new EP from Sydney singer-songwriter Le Pie and I’m going to level with you: it had me all hot and bothered. Not in a sexual…
Music The world is going to shit, but at least we have Mac DeMarco and This Old Dog by Alastair Cairns The first thing I did after listening to This Old Dog, the new record by Mac DeMarco, was type his name into Youtube. I had a pretty good idea of…
Music Healing heart with art: have Future Islands succumbed to romantic tropes on The Far Field? by Alastair Cairns In 2014 Future Islands bulldozed their way into our collective consciousness with a performance so affecting and powerful that everyone, including your own mother, could be heard (generally from behind…
Music Fear that Spoon’s faultless back catalogue would haunt their latest achievement is put to rest on Hot Thoughts by Alastair Cairns Consistent. It’s the verb that has haunted Texas band Spoon for over a decade. A well-meaning compliment that, over time, has developed into an unwelcome caveat. The strength of their…
Live One of the final bands to play Newtown Social Club, Big Thief did the venue a justice they didn’t know it deserved by Alastair Cairns Late last year while on my way to work, I can remember scrolling through my social media news feed and coming to the realisation that another year had passed on…
Music Have King Gizzard favoured experimentation over refinement on Flying Microtonal Banana? by Alastair Cairns King Gizzard and the Wizard Lizard are ridiculously prolific. They have released nine full length albums since 2012 and are showing no signs of slowing down. Flying Microtonal Banana is…
Music The self-titled Middle Kids EP is an unpredictable, exhilarating and uniformly excellent debut by Alastair Cairns 2016 was a real watershed year for a certain kind of female singer-songwriter. Angel Olsen had a breakthrough with her album My Woman and found herself playing the Sydney Opera…
Music So much more than a sad man singing sad songs, Away is a stunning effort from Okkervil River by Alastair Cairns Away is the first album in three years from America’s Okkervil River and it quickly becomes apparent that a lot has changed since we last heard from them. Okkervil River…
