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Massive Attack review – an arena-sized version of doomscrolling

No one was moving or dancing really, and very few people even had their phones out to film – perhaps out of guilt as they watched so many images of the world ending. Massive Attack’s 2010 tour of Australia occupies a special place in the memory of anyone who attended...

Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 review – joy reigns supreme at Hamer Hall

A few months ago, my friend Penny recommended me the Fela Kuti podcast, Fear No Man, a 12-episode series that looks at how the Nigerian Afrobeat icon backed up his claim that “music is the weapon of the future.” During the 1970s and 80s, Fela made music designed to...

Sparks review – beloved songs from beloved strange brothers

Sparks' performance at Melbourne's Palais Theatre was like a Reader's Digest of the Mael brothers' long and discursive career, with a few unexpected picks. I recently spoke to Sparks keyboardist and songwriter, Ron Mael, who is now 80 years old. I asked him whether he...

Sparks review – more energised, more extraordinary than ever

For all their constant reinventions and subversions, the secret weapon of art pop duo Sparks has always been their sly but deep sincerity. Yes, brothers Russell and Ron Mael have songs with titles like “Dicking Around” and “Running up a Tab at the Hotel for the Fab,”...

A dance on a farm for Butter Sessions’ 15th birthday

Choose love. Sang wrote this on my left hand on Thursday afternoon. It washed off in the shower on Friday morning, but I retraced it before going to Butter Sessions' 15th birthday party later that day. It was Good Friday and Butter Sessions had curated an afternoon...

Gallery: Pitch Music & Arts, March 6-10 2026

The ninth iteration of Pitch Music & Arts took place from 6-10 March on the stolen lands of the Djab Wurrung and Eastern Maar people. The lineup included Bitter Babe, Yu Su, Sleep D b2b Jennifer Loveless, OK Williams, Eris Drew & Octo Octa, Estella Boersma,...

Golden Plains review – finding joy in the interstices

Recently, I have been interrogating my reflex cognitions, trying to slow down my conclusions.  If, for example, someone makes a sound that annoys me, rather than deeming the sound inherently, objectively annoying, I take a breath and consider what else might be going...

Grace Jones review – come for the funk stay for the hula hooping

Iconic, energetic and anarchic, such was the atmosphere at Grace Jones' gig on a beautiful moonlit night in the Harbour City. Opening with “Nightclubbing,” the 77-year-old singer hasn’t lost any of her moxie, teasing the crowd with her ever-more revealing costume...

Australian music media is horny for Spotify

Spotify, famously, sucks. But Spotify is also, famously, very popular.   Despite a year of bad press and calls for a mass boycott, Spotify still claims close to a third of the streaming market, which is roughly the equivalent of Apple Music, YouTube Music and Amazon...

Getting close to POiSON GiRL FRiEND

It's the Year of the Fire Horse. Writing in Dazed about what to expect out of the first fire horse in 60 years, astrologer Alice Sparkly Kat underlines that while horses are big and strong, they are also gentle creatures. “They always watch out for one another,” they...

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