software dev

Julia Jacklin has had a massive start to 2019. With international tours and the release of her second album Crushing already in the bin, it looks like this year could be one for the record books. Returning to Sydney’s Metro Theatre almost two years since her last headline national tour, the Blue Mountains native wooed the sold out crowd with her wit, tunes and general positive nature. Opening up the night was Annie Hamilton. After a massive 2018 playing in Jack River‘s band, Hamilton continues to refine her live show as she goes about slowly but surely building towards what will hopefully be an EP release this year. Closing on quite possibly 2018’s best debut single in “Fade”, Hamilton crushed her short twenty minute set as she surely left those who came along early happy with their decision to arrive early. Up next was Olympia. Having never seen her live before, despite knowing her tunes for the past couple of years, I was definitely left impressed as the three-piece smoothly and ...

There are children’s animated movies made exclusively for kids, which generally lead to a rather torturous experience for parents and caretakers alike (I’m looking at you, Hotel Transylvania 3). Then there is something deceptively ingenious and utterly delightful as Teen Titans GO! To the Movies, which successfully entertains both young and old, whilst also offering up a comic book fanboy’s joyous dream. With its tongue firmly planted in its cheek, Teen Titans GO! To the Movies is DC’s self-deprecating, meta-aware, kid-friendly Deadpool equivalent. It’s also exactly the breath of fresh levity that this cinematic universe desperately needs right now. While it may not technically exist within the same realm of those other live-action superhero franchises, the film takes a sharp poker to the never-ending wave of superhero films DC and Marvel have dished up over the last ten years. Barely anything escapes a good skewering here, with directors Peter Rida Michail and Aaron Horvath and scre...

After a short run with the resident DJ, The Meltdown opened the evening’s affair, with a funk driven soul bias the multi-piece band a perfect thematic warm up for genre-vague Cat Empire. Their music was fun, but in a more muted way than what the Cat Empire provided, allowing for the crowd to ease into the more festival vibrancy of the funk jazz fusions the band’s could bring about. The Meltdown’s tracks were exciting and something that translated perfectly to a live performance. Their closing track highlighted this point marvellously as “How Funny Is Another Man’s Pain”, one of the groups early written numbers, exploded at the seams with rhythm, soulful licks and vocals that really drove home The Meltdown’s core sound. The Meltdown The night was built on a wonderful change of pace, with sensual sax solos, bursting horn breaks and driving percussive moments through the development of both acts. Friday night at Melbourne Zoo was treated as an album launch by The Cat Empire crew, wh...

Melbourne Duo Olivia Hally and Pepita Emmerichs, known as Oh Pep!, are back again. Since they first met in a performing arts school in 2009, the girls have brought out two EPs, one full-length album, and concluded several international tours. Now the duo follow on from their critically acclaimed debut Stadium Cake with I Wasn’t Only Thinking About You… With Hally on the guitar and vocals, and Emmerichs on the violin and mandolin, their advanced sound leaves no question that the pair are as highly dedicated to their instruments as they are their lyrical splendour. The honest lyrics and the new-wave indie pop sound of the outfit might remind one of fellow Aussie singers Julia Jacklin or Angie McMahon. Though while Hally wrote most of the songs during her travels, it is Emmerichs’ unusual instrumentation that gives each song a special twist. I Wasn’t Only Thinking About You… is a darker and more emotional version of their debut pop release. It kicks off with the single “25”. The intri...

It isn’t hard to figure out that the reason why a lot of people watch movies is because of wish fulfillment. Who wouldn’t want to be in a fairy tale romance? Who wouldn’t want to be a kick-ass hero? But another level of wish fulfillment is to see people get revenge on those who have wronged them, which can be an absolute thrill. But where we get to rape-revenge films, that’s where it gets tricky, and justifiably so. Popular in the 1970’s thanks to films like Last House on the Left and I Spit On Your Grave, most of those type of films get critical drubbings due to being exploitative, misogynist and tasteless. What is worse that even though the films are about women, the majority of the films are made by male filmmakers, which begs the question. Why aren’t there more films of this type made by women? A question like this would be considered to be in poor taste, considering the political climate we live in today. But with the disturbingly high amount of portrayals of female rape being...

Enigmatic, ethereal and endearing AURORA, has at last released the response to her call, A Different Kind Of Human (Step II), following up her 2018 release Infections of a Different Kind (Step I). Like many artists of this moment, more and more performers are turning their lyrical focus towards ecological themes, and cries to save the Earth. Aurora’s latest album visits this, as well as the idiosyncrasies of us all being different kinds of humans. Step II is like an ascent on the mountain. The drums here are loud footfalls, the bass a distant avalanche that refuses to wait. Aurora’s voice echoes deep and loud, a near-desperate cry into the expanse of this world she has sonically and lyrically created. Triggering memories of deep beats such as Fever Ray, or light but complex melodies and lyrics of Björk and Tune-Yards, her album is both cosmic, of another plane, and intrinsically and mortally human. But to get to the mountain we have to begin at the base, which is where Aurora’s a...

Fans of  Robert Drewe  are in for a treat, with his newest collection,  The True Colour of the Sea , published late last month by Hamish Hamilton. The eleven stories, all themed around coastal living, the ocean and the Australian fascination with it are all written in Drewe’s signature style. Each one showcases that Robert Drewe remains a master of observation, whether that be in the form of understanding different characters and creating a unique voice for whomever he chooses to inhabit, or in his ability to create settings which come to life in just a few lines. The collection opens with ‘Dr Pacific’, the story of an octogenarian character adjusting to life after the death of her husband, and musing on the little changes in attitude that accompany the knowledge that you don’t have much longer left to live. It is a piece filled with dark humour, with the story’s narrator making such observations as: “Ever notice that after people pass away, the world seems to have mor...

London-based Australian musician Jordan Rakei has just dropped his new album, Origin, his third, and first since the release of Wallflower back in 2017. Initially I came to this album on a bit of a whim, unfamiliar with Rakei’s past output, but drawn in by plaudits from the likes of Robert Glasper and Terrace Martin. I’m glad I took the plunge. Origin flits and flutters between several genres, namely the realms of soul, R’n’B, and electronica. It’s bright, bold, catchy as hell, all whilst cleverly and critically engaging with the modern (and post-modern) world. Despite Origin’s big, bright and bold tone, the album is influenced by more dystopian visions of the world and the future, with Rakei drawing inspiration from the likes of Black Mirror, The Handmaid’s Tale and Twin Peaks. Many of the album lyrics explore the rapid technological growth we’ve experienced, and the way in which that growth affects our sense of humanity. “Say Something”, for example, is “about speaking up for wha...

There’s an indescribable level of anxiety that comes with being a  Muse  fan any time a new album is announced. It’s the heady mixture of excitement, overwhelmingly peppered with fear of the unknown. It’s been a divided fandom for as far back as I can recall, with old-school versus the progressives, and there’s no shortage of opinions forthcoming at even the slightest whiff of new tunes. I have a feeling Muse not-so-secretly enjoy tormenting people. There’s an incessant mind-game as we’re, usually willingly, led down the garden path by  Matt Bellamy  and Co. as they reveal their latest offerings, only to be dealt a swift u-turn just as you’ve made up your mind about how things are going to sound. With its distinctive cover art and no shortage of synthesisers, modulators, and distortions,  Simulation Theory  is a hell of a nod to the 1980’s but, somehow, it’s also as contemporary as hell. I long ago gave up trying to slot Muse into a genre, because I feel...

Thursday evening saw  Holy Holy ’s  Faces  tour hit Western Australia, with a show at Fremantle’s Mojo’s, the first of three in the state. Joining the band were Sydney indie rockers  Clews  and Perth local  Bri Clark .   The evening kicked off to a rather muted start with  Bri Clark  taking to the stage, armed just with a keyboard as accompaniment. In hindsight Clark was a somewhat odd choice for an opener, not because she was bad, she wasn’t, but because it just didn’t quite fit the mood or tempo of the rest of the evening. Clark has a wonderful voice, and she certainly knows how to craft a song, but on this evening unfortunately she never quite captured the crowd’s full attention.   Clews  really ramped up the energy over the course of their set. I was largely unfamiliar with the Sydney based sisters before Thursday, but having now seen them live, I’m definitely a fan. In many ways they remind me of  First Aid Kit , that...