Sarah Blasko reconnects with her first two albums: ‘I didn’t really know what I was doing’

Sarah Blasko reflects on who she was when she made 2004’s The Overture & The Underscore and 2006’s What The Sea Wants, The Sea Will Have.

Phoebe Rings’ Ben Locke on how a band breakup led to a deep, existential depression

Ben Locke, bass player of city pop-influenced indie crew Phoebe Rings, talks about the period of depression that inspired the song ‘Get Up.’

RONA. returns with ‘Show Me’: ‘I wanted the next body of work to say something really important’

With her new single ‘Show Me’ out now, RONA. says the future isn’t beyond us, “the future is here within us on Country.”

CLAMM’s Jack Summers: ‘I used to think that I didn’t care about politics, but it’s complicated’

Jack Summers, vocalist and guitarist in Melbourne/Naarm punk band CLAMM, chats about politics, nostalgia and new album Serious Acts.

Julian Hamilton on 20-plus years of The Presets: ‘We hadn’t really considered that I would be a singer in the band’

Julian Hamilton of The Presets wasn’t planning on being a singer in a band. ‘I kind of fell into it by accident,’ he tells Check Check.

Five years of Music In Exile – Australia’s only not-for-profit record label and registered charity

Music In Exile is marking its 5th birthday with the compilation ‘Music Is Everything.’ Founder Joe Alexander talks about the label’s history.

« Older Entries

Next Entries »

Recent Posts

‘I’m creating my own pop paradigm’: Local Woman on her uncompromising debut album 27

Kalyani Ellis’ debut album as Local Woman can be summed up by a line from the song "Pop Star." “Just be yourself,” the former Willow Beats member and retired DJ sings, “because everyone else is taken.” The album, titled 27, is an act of self-actualisation – and one...

The Necks: mad harmony and tortuous invention

“I’m after whatever is lurking beyond thought,” wrote Clarice Lispector in Água Viva. “No use trying to pin me down: I simply slip away and won’t allow it, no label will stick.” These words, spoken by the nameless narrator in Lispector’s 1973 masterpiece, could be a...

Nick Cave at the Domain – a towering, career-defining show

Much has been written of Nick Cave’s shift from Old Testament lyric-writing to depicting the principles of the kinder, gentler God of the New Testament – a gradual move away from the fire, fury and pestilence of an album like Tender Prey, to the gentle soul-shattering...

‘We certainly weren’t showing off’: Essendon Airport on their minimalist masterpiece ‘Sonic Investigations (Of the Trivial)’

Repetition is not an alien concept for fans of popular music. The standard song structure goes something like this: verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, double chorus (tweak the melody). Verses and choruses often use the same chord progressions. Sometimes even the...

The evergreen Underworld present a united front at Sydney’s Carriageworks

A rave, typically, will be in the late late hours of the weekend, around the time that Saturday night becomes Sunday morning, and inhabited by the young and the rash – Mark Renton types, if you will. In the middle of Sydney's Carriageworks, however, a crowd has filled...

Ecstatic Underworld headline set caps off inaugural New Year’s at the Bowl

I wanna give you everything, I wanna give you energyI wanna give a good thing New Year’s at the Bowl was a brand new music festival. Three stages. More than 20 acts. Close to fifteen-thousand people. But in the weeks leading up to the event, when asked about my NYE...

The best Australian music of 2025 (continued)

Music. It's everywhere. It's playing in your headphones when you're crossing a busy road. When you're sitting on the bus. When you're in the shower. It's on at the chemist, the supermarket, the op shop. There's a DJ at the day spa. A subwoofer in the cafe. Playlists...

Meredith Music Festival review – the full spectrum of emotions on a Supernatural weekend

One of my friends has never been to Meredith or Golden Plains. Every year, in early March and early December, she gets fed up with friends and colleagues banging on about what magical occasions these festivals are. “But I don’t like camping,” she’ll say.“But this is...

Perfume Genius review – one of the best live performers the world currently has

Twelve years ago, Perfume Genius, aka Mike Hadreas, performed a set within the fabric walls of Sydney’s Spiegeltent. A stripped-down show that reflected his stripped-down sound – the small stage contained just Hadreas and his now husband Alan Wyffels – it was one of...

If Atarashii Gakko! say jump, I’ll say how high

Fewer than 48 hours after their midnight slot at Meredith, Atarashii Gakko!’s performance at the festival was already the stuff of legend. Shortly before they came on, my friend Luke, who was taking photos at Meredith for Check Check, asked me if he should photograph...