Music

Selin Kaya writes on a number of young, emerging musicians around Australia, detailing what they mean to her, their styles, personalities, and more.   Kat Edwards – Hobart – Acoustic, Roots Sounds like: Missy Higgins, Bon Iver,Vera Blue I’d always found it difficult to unwind from the stresses of day-to-day life – usually just collapsing on my bed as soon as I got home. I tried meditation and yoga, but nothing seemed to work.  That was until I stumbled across Kat Edwards– an angelic singer-songwriter from Hobart, Tasmania - and have never felt more at peace since. Her velvety-smooth vocals,

Bart Lewis A little boy from Darwin went to a couple of medium music festivals in Melbourne (See: Groovin’ the Moo) and came out with a big appetite for electronic music, recommending the stylings of Cosmo’s Midnight and Lane 8. Maybe he takes one step up this year and goes to Earthcore? Annabelle Ballard If you know a local band, chances are AB knows their entire catalogue off by heart. She showed us feminism’s answer to King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, aptly named Lizard Queen, as well as the queer pop band, Crystal Myth. Stop listening to those mainstream

When Syd performs, there’s sly confidence in her body language as she knowingly grins and moves to the smooth soul and alternative R&B which permeates over the room like honey. The 25-year-old openly gay African-American musician (she has credits as a singer, songwriter, record producer, and audio engineer), currently fronts the Internet and has a solo music project. She initially entered the wider music scene as a member of Odd Future, an infamously irreverent and subversive hip-hop collective (members included Tyler the Creator, Earl Sweatshirt, and Frank Ocean).The paradoxical nature of the group was commented on by many critics; Odd

The atmosphere was intoxicating. A proliferation of smoke was brought to the forefront of my awareness by the scents of tobacco and cannabis, giving way to pungent notes of amyl, alcohol, and sweat only when carried away by an all too rare breeze.   Within the sea of people, the air was stale and warm. One could only breach the surface by standing on their toes to take a breath of anything that wasn't an odious mixture of carbon dioxide. My shoulders were pressed against five other people; personal space was a foreign concept here. I was in Melbourne, Australia, standing

Fire up the wind machines, cover yourself in glitter, and get the pyrotechnics ready, because the second edition of FAQ is going to be about the Eurovision Song Contest!    What is Eurovision and why does it exist?  The Eurovision Song Contest (Eurovision or ESC for short) is a song contest which began in 1956 to promote peace and unity within Europe after the Second World War. In the contest’s first year, only seven countries participated. 62 years later, this year’s Eurovision Song Contest has 42 participating countries both within and outside Europe.  Modern Eurovision is like the Olympics, X Factor,

And now, for the piece you’ve been awaiting with bated breath: the extended second edition of The Set List. While I slowly replace my social life with gigs, unironically substitute all normal conversations for “Dude, have you heard this new song? It’s such a tuuuuuuuuuune” and spend all my spare change on Spotify, I’m proud to share my latest symphonic discoveries with you. With my extensive* music knowledge, the completely accurate and not-at-all-bullshit descriptions below will likely make you at least the second-coolest member of your friendship group. (If, like me, your only friend is your dog, then you were

Genre: Pop If you love… Taylor Swift, circa 2008 You’ll like… Gretta Ray The 19-year-old singer-songwriter continues to rise from strength to strength. Her insightful lyrics exhort a maturity beyond her teenage years, while the substantial nature of her guitar-pop style is a testament to her wealth of experience. One to keep an eye on in 2018, her starry-eyed ballads will win you over if you’ve been pining about the death of the ‘old Taylor’. In a word: Lyrical Favourite song: Drive   Genre: Electronica If you love… Flume You’ll like… Ninajirachi ‘Dance music made in an ice cave’? 18-year-old

Australia is a big, lonely island and Jen Cloher feels it: as an artist, as a woman, as a gay woman and as one half of a relationship that is often stretched across continents. Over a decade since the release of her debut record Dead Wood Falls, the ARIA-nominated Melbourne punk-rock figurehead is at her powerful best on her self-titled fourth studio album. Crushingly candid, deceptively funny and vivid in its imagery, Jen Cloher is a bona fide album of the year contender that remains strikingly authentic whether Cloher is decrying the tyranny of distance, skewering armchair critics or sharing

While drowning in the mountains of work in the lead up to exams, editor Sophia McNamara and reporter Jessie Lu managed to put an evening aside for a delightedly fun, high-energy Alex Lahey gig on a Friday night. The unmissable Wes Anderson Tour at Howler in Brunswick had everything you could expect with a last hurrah for all of Lahey’s current material, before the highly-anticipated release of her debut LP. Lahey was supported by The Football Club, who captivated the audience with their vulnerable folk-pop melodies.