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 Nicholas Kennedy

Hot Chip @ Forum Theatre, Melbourne, 07.03.2020

Hot Chip @ Forum Theatre, Melbourne, 07.03.2020

The thing that’s really impressive about Hot Chip is the depths to which they can plumb their own sound. You go to their show – perhaps on a chilly March evening at The Forum in Melbourne – expecting a multitude of things. Maybe a detached Kraftwerk-esque display; perhaps a glorified DJ set, or possibly poppier […]

 Nicholas Kennedy

Alex Cameron + Body Type + Laurence Pike @ The Croxton Bandroom, Melbourne, 03.05.2018

Alex Cameron + Body Type + Laurence Pike @ The Croxton Bandroom, Melbourne, 03.05.2018

Alex Cameron makes every show feel like a homecoming. He’s a warm presence on stage. He speaks calmly and fondly about his connections to Melbourne, and dedicates more than a few “…and on the saxophone…!” asides to his friend-cum-‘business-partner’ Roy Molloy. Anyone familiar with Cameron’s work knows it toes the line of satire to the […]

 Nicholas Kennedy

Phoenix @ The Forum, Melbourne, 26.02.2018

Phoenix @ The Forum, Melbourne, 26.02.2018

Jeez louise – Phoenix have been around for a while. Having released their debut record United back in 2000, they’re coming up on 20 years as a commercial band – reading into it a little more they smashed that barrier last year since they technically formed in ‘97. A lot of people my age would […]

 Nicholas Kennedy

Songs to hear at Laneway 2018

Songs to hear at Laneway 2018

With all the frills and stresses that can surround festival going, sometimes it can be easy to forget the moments that make it all worthwhile. The massive sing along chorus, that one bit of a song that gets you every time, the short walk onto the stage that your favourite artist makes before you see […]

 Nicholas Kennedy

Q&A with Cable Ties

Q&A with Cable Ties

Photo: Teds Records Cable Ties hold a special place as one of Melbourne’s most beloved bands, one in strong pedigree of fearless rock acts that are seemingly constantly shattering the boundaries of what you think they may achieve.  In February, they’ll join artists like The War on Drugs, Aldous Harding, and Anderson Paak, in touring Australia’s […]

 Nicholas Kennedy

Alex Cameron – Forced Witness (Secretly Canadian)

Alex Cameron – Forced Witness (Secretly Canadian)

Western society – as with everything else – has managed to make an entertainment industry out of failure. It’s like the dark side of the under-dog tale; the temptation to watch how far down somebody can go, how many supports can fail, how much you can change someone through hardship, addiction, weakness and ambivalence. You […]

 Nicholas Kennedy

Real Estate + RVG + Parsnip @ Croxton Bandroom, 20.06.2017

Real Estate + RVG + Parsnip @ Croxton Bandroom, 20.06.2017

In the words of Aubrey Graham, “I’ll admit it, I’ll admit it”; I’ve not listened to a Real Estate album fully since their 2011 album Days, which, if I remember correctly, sat sandwiched between other similarly inoffensive indie rock albums in my iTunes library. Every few years the band would crop up again, another album, […]

 Nicholas Kennedy

The Stevens – Good (Chapter)

The Stevens – Good (Chapter)

I think people have a soft spot for art that, while it might seem at odds with itself at times, ultimately forms an experience that defies expectations of failure. Like a forest made up of different kinds of trees, or mismatched chairs around a table – there’s always something that’ll warm you when unity occurs […]

 Nicholas Kennedy

Xiu Xiu Plays The Music of Twin Peaks @ The Substation, Newport, 23.06.2017

Xiu Xiu Plays The Music of Twin Peaks @ The Substation, Newport, 23.06.2017

For a moment, when technical difficulties intrude, Jamie Stewart’s mask slips. “Sometimes, all you can do is just fucking start over” he offers to the crowd at Melbourne’s electrical-warehouse-come-arty-locale The Substation. It’s only song two of the evening, but Stewart’s missed vocal entrance is easily forgiven –  given the scope of the evening, it’s a […]

 Nicholas Kennedy

Faith in your Guts: The spontaneity, honesty and naivety of Jade Imagine

Faith in your Guts: The spontaneity, honesty and naivety of Jade Imagine

Jade McInally has had since January to make a call on the design of her tour poster, a decision that needs to be made today. “I’m a last-minute girl” she admits, sat within the mid-afternoon rush of a Melbourne cafe, “but I need deadlines, I need them to impose themselves on my life”. Admitting things […]