MUSIC

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  George Ezra (Hordern Pavilion)

  First published in The Sydney Morning Herald, February 2019

  It’s said Nashville country musician Chet Atkins once declared: “Do it again on the next verse and people think you meant it.” It certainly applies to the self-proclaimed “pop and roll” of young UK singer George Ezra, whose debut record, Wanted on Voyage, went big in 2014. As did 2018’s earworm single, Shotgun, which he popped over to play at last year’s ARIA awards. Shotgun ...

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  Unsound Festival, Adelaide, 2018

  First published in The Wire Magazine, March 2019

  Six editions in and Adelaide still can’t believe its luck that Unsound Festival landed here. When it began in 2014 as the strange and spiky rock embedded in the state-funded monolith of Adelaide Festival, it made some sense. Then a troubling hiatus when many thought it may resurface in Melbourne or Sydney. But in 2017 it was back – in Adelaide. 2018’s festival is a ...

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  Grand Salvo – Sea Glass

  First published in The Guardian Australia, January 2019

  Sea glass. A sharp, human thing worn smooth by nature. A still thing enclosing so much time and tumult. When, six years after I fell hard for Grand Salvo’s sixth album, Slay Me In My Sleep, I saw the name of this follow-up record, the metaphor made sense before I’d even heard the songs. “I listened on the weekend and it gutted me,” said a fellow ...

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  Nick Cave: ‘These conversation events have brought back the terror’

  First published in The Guardian Australia, January 2019

  “You’re part of an experiment in connection,” Nick Cave says from the stage. His In Conversation show, currently touring Australia, centres on questions and song requests but, like Cave’s new Red Hand Files website, “there will be no moderator”. So first he must briefly mire himself in rock’n’roll’s nemesis: a bit of housekeeping. The rules of play. While Cave is dressed impeccably at the Sydney ...

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  Gregor – Silver Drop

  First published in Guardian Australia, December 2018

  Solo Melbourne artist Gregor makes new-wave pop with a wan exterior and a warm heart. The Durutti Column’s bloodless guitar noodling is an influence but Gregor’s storytelling skill is innate, comparable to The Magnetic Fields’ Stephin Merritt – the minimalist miseries of 1995 record, Get Lost, in particular. Despite at first feeling to be peering in on Gregor’s world – a place impervious to hearts so soft ...

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  Gang Of Youths (The Enmore)

  First published in The Guardian Australia, November 2018

  On Sunday, Gang of Youths’ frontman David Le’aupepe checked out of social media “for a bit” – though not for the first time. On Wednesday, the first concert of the band’s heroic six-night run in their hometown of Sydney was cancelled due to “our David’s” chest infection. The band had played eight sold-out gigs at the Forum in Melbourne already, not to mention other cities. Running yourselves ...

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  New War (Marrickville Bowling Club)

  First published in the Sydney Morning Herald, November 2018

  Melbourne band New War are in Sydney to launch their new album, Coin, at a venue dear to Inner West music fans. The bowlo’s boss, however, has insisted the lights adjoining the dance floor remain on. She’s gone home but something, something, “trip hazard”, something, something, “out of our hands”, say staff. The safety-first lighting lends New War’s set a kick-against-the-pricks feel. Prosaic forces are pressing ...

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  Is Tasman Keith Australia’s Next Great MC?

  First published on LNWY, October 2018

  AS a kid, Gumbaynggirr man Tasman Keith thought everyone’s dad rapped. “That’s what mine did so I thought it was normal,” he says of his dad, Aboriginal hip-hop pioneer Wire MC. When Tasman moved to Sydney, he realised his dad was kind of a big deal. “People would say ‘You’re Wire’s son?’ and be amazed. I was like ‘Fuck, I didn’t know he knew this ...

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  Skepta (Sydney Opera House)

  First published in the Sydney Morning Herald, September 2018

  In 2016, grime artist Skepta knocked a guy’s teeth out in a Melbourne club. Later that year he won prestigious British music award the Mercury Prize for his album Konnichiwa, which featured a song about the altercation called Crime Riddim. Skepta’s criminal record saw his visa denied in April. It was cleared two weeks ago, allowing him to play a Sydney Opera House show during ...

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  Laura Jean (Oxford Art Factory)

  First published in the Sydney Morning Herald, August 2018

  On Saturday morning folk-pop musician Laura Jean is on TV hosting Rage. “Remember your tribe is out there,” she says, closing the show. “Waiting to embrace you.” Jean’s own tribe surrounds her later as she launches her new album, Devotion. Her mum and dad are there, her sister Erica doubles as dancer and back-up singer, and after a few doses of Jean’s cheeky-bastard banter, the stiff room ...