Day: 11 June 2019

Track of the Day: Seaside “Sycamore” (2019)

Byron Bay dream-pop quartet Seaside dropped their new single, “Sycamore”, at the end of last month. The single, which is inspired by lead singer Darcy Dexter’s personal experiences with social anxiety and self doubt, is a beautifully jangly slice of Australian indie rock. If you’ve not already had a listen, now is the time.  “Sycamore”,…

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E3 2019: Watch Nintendo’s insane E3 Direct here

Nintendo just won E3. It’s not even up for debate. The best press conference by far went down at 2am Australian time and featured everything from Banjo-Kazooie in Smash Bros, Animal Crossing, No More Heroes 3, Fire Emblem and the announcement of a sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. This was…

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E3 2019: Trials of Mana brings Seiken Densetsu 3 to the West for the very first time

This is a news story for anyone that came up in the early 2000’s playing Super Nintendo ROMS. Seiken Densetsu 3 was the sequel to Seiken Densetsu 2, a game released in the West under the name Secret of Mana. Secret of Mana was and is still considered one of the greatest roleplaying games ever…

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E3 2019: Animal Crossing: New Horizons arrives in town next March

Nintendo fans have been waiting quite some time for news on when they could expect to play Animal Crossing: New Horizons. While originally slated to ship in 2019, the game has slipped to March 2020. While this may be disappointing for fans hoping to have an Animal Crossing game under the tree at Christmas, the…

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E3 2019: Luigi’s Mansion 3 will haunt Nintendo Switch later this year

Luigi’s Mansion 3 was one of the first games Nintendo had to talk about during their E3 Nintendo Direct broadcast this year. The first time the series has returned to a major console since the original Luigi’s Mansion back on the Gamecube after a brief detour onto the 3DS in 2013. The game looks to…

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E3 2019: The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening comes to Switch in September

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening is already the cutest game of the year and it isn’t out for another three months. The Nintendo Switch remake of the Game Boy classic brings charming visuals, a new take on old mechanics and — in a bit of a twist — your very own dungeon builder. Link’s…

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E3 2019: Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games races onto Nintendo Switch in November

It’s been a while since we’ve seen a Mario & Sonic at the Olympics title but with the Tokyo 2020 games on the horizon, you’d better believe Nintendo is getting into the spirit. The trailer, which first appeared during this morning’s E3 edition of Nintendo Direct, features a number of new sports including surfing, skateboarding,…

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E3 2019: Empire of Sin is the new game by Doom creator John Romero

Empire of Sin is a new strategy game from Paradox Interactive and Romero Games, the independent studio founded by Doom co-creator John Romero. It dropped its first trailer during this morning’s Nintendo Direct at E3 and looks to merge the top-down strategy of XCOM with 1920’s prohibition era America. The trailer features baroom brawls, gun fights…

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E3 2019: Banjo-Kazooie are coming to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

It finally happened. After years of asking, of patient and dedicated petitioning, Bear and Bird are coming home. Banjo-Kazooie was confirmed for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate during this year’s Nintendo E3 Direct broadcast. We get a look at the dream team at work in-game, complete with classic N64-era design and move-list. It’s the stuff of…

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E3 2019: A sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is now in development

Nintendo have confirmed that a sequel to 2017’s platform-defining, formula altering The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is in development. The announcement came at the end of one of the biggest E3 Nintendo Directs ever broadcast. The trailer promises a similar aesthetic and a direct continuation of the Breath of the Wild story….

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Interview: The Gooch Palms’ Kat Friend talks cracking the US, the power of III, and… UFOs?

Aussie duo The Gooch Palms are spending a lot of time in America these days, so it’s little surprise their latest album III was released just in time for summer in the USA. Containing a slew of the fuzzy, fun party tracks we’ve come to expect from the Goochies, it’s the perfect summer road trip…

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Live Review: Rudimental + Sneaky Sound System – Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne (10.06.19)

UK outfit Rudimental closed out the rescheduled Australian leg of their massive “Toast To Our Differences” world tour in style at Melbourne’s Margaret Court Arena on Sunday night, helping to elevate their fantastic album Toast To Our Differences to even greater heights. Joining the band to bask in the musically driven madness of the Melbourne crowd,…

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Photo Gallery: Rudimental + Sneaky Sound System, Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne (10.06.19)

Rudimental and Sneaky Sound System put on a major performance at Margaret Court Arena on Sunday night, bringing their Australian tour to a close.

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Sydney Film Festival Review: The Souvenir (UK, 2019) is one of the best films of 2019

Before I start off this review, it must be said that I have not seen any of the works by director Joanna Hogg. It wasn’t due to any prior indiscretions, rather my personal ignorance. But upon hearing the massive amounts of praise from festivals and critics all over the world for her latest film, The…

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The best spots for a late night drink at this year’s Dark Mofo

There’s a reason Tasmania’s capital was known as “Slowbart” long before Dark Mofo (6-23 June) livened up those long winter nights. It gets seriously cold, and without a mental map of places to stay warm, navigating the city in the depths of winter can be a challenge. Fortunately Hobart’s many bars know how to put…

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Book Review: No stone has been left unturned in Elizabeth Kuiper’s Little Stones

Little Stones might be the debut novel from Australian writer Elizabeth Kuiper, but it won’t be her last. The novel, of which an early version was long listed for the Richell Prize, published in Award Winning Australian Writing and received the Express Media Prize for the best work of fiction, marks the arrival of a new voice in Australian writing. One…

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E3 2019: Final Fantasy VIII remaster coming to current gen platforms this year

Years of silence from Square Enix had left fans to wonder if Final Fantasy VIII would ever find its way to current gen platforms. We have good news. A brand new remaster is on the way, updated for 4K resolution. No, this is not a trick. It’s not a beautiful dream. Here’s the proof, straight from…

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E3 2019: Here’s 20 minutes of the Final Fantasy VII Remake in action

Square Enix have delivered what may have been the biggest shot of raw fan service out of any E3 presentation so far. The publisher’s E3 press briefing dedicated its opening twenty minutes to Final Fantasy VII Remake, and every second of it had fans in the audience screaming with delight. Hit the embed below and…

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Track of the Day: City and Colour “Astronaut” (2019)

City and Colour are back with their first new single in almost four years, and you probably won’t be surprised to hear that it’s absolutely stunning! “Astronaut” is the first single from Dallas Green‘s upcoming sixth album, produced by Grammy winner Jacquire King and mastered by Emily Lazar – another Grammy winner, just in case…

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E3 2019: Rainbow Six: Quarantine is Revealed as the Next Official Game in the Series

While not much was shown, it seems as though Ubisoft have finally decided to take a dive into the zombie-genre with a trailer for Rainbow Six: Quarantine. The trailer opens with an infected operative making their last stand in the corner of a darkly lit room, with the infected nearing their location. The watch they are…

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The 7th Annual Flagstaff Blues & Brews Festival sees Larkin Poe, Carvin Jones and more shine in Arizona

Over the weekend I headed to Flagstaff, Arizona for the city’s 7th Annual Blues & Brews Festival – unsurprisingly, a celebration of Blues music and, well, beer. This year marked the first year that the event, which is held in the cooler, mountainous region of Arizona, a few hours north of Phoenix had been expanded to…

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Interview: LANY (USA) on Malibu Nights, their world tour and heartbreak

American indie-pop sensations LANY are heading to Australian and New Zealand shores next month as part of their mammoth Malibu Nights tour. Spanning 80+ dates from Russia to Indonesia, this three-piece band are enjoying a non-stop year touring their highly successful sophomore album and we can’t wait to see them in July. We stole a couple of minutes of…

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Film Review: Jessie Buckley soars in Wild Rose

Self styled country outlaw Rose-Lynn Harlan (Jessie Buckley) is out of jail and ready to chase her dreams. A talented country singer, her goal is Nashville (where else?), but Rose-Lynn is torn between starting fresh or finally taking responsibility for the life she’s made in Glasgow, involving two young children who barely know their mother….

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Exclusive Single Premiere: Tully John & Liza-Jane “Embers” (2019)

Gold Coast duo Tully John & Liza-Jane are going to be dropping their latest slice of pop-folk tomorrow. Ahead of its official release the duo have kindly allowed us to bring you all this early pre-release taste of new single, “Embers”.  As I’m sure you’ll all agree, it’s a beauty. Delicately layered and with an…

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Ubtech Iron Man MK50 Review: A Fun Companion for any Marvel Fan

With the hype Avengers: Endgame; the culmination of Marvel’s 10 year cinematic universe sweeping the globe, it’s only natural that movie tie-in merchandise would follow in its path. Enter Ubtech’s Iron Man MK50. Based on the Iron Man costume seen in both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, the MK50 presents itself as an elaborate action figure,…

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E3 2019: Crystal Dynamics’ Avengers looks like the superhero game of your dreams

Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics have been hard at work on an Avengers game with Marvel for several years now. Their work on the title was so involved that it meant getting Eidos Montreal to help them complete 2018’s Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Avengers (we thought it would have a subtitle but it doesn’t)…

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Film Review: Happy as Lazzaro (Italy, 2018) is magical realism par excellence

Over the recent years, it has come to my attention that some of the most problematic films that have attained a lot of critical derision have come from films that explore the trope of magical realism. Recent efforts such as Collateral Beauty, Life Itself and The Book of Henry have tried to be life-affirming by…

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