Back in late 2020, in the darkest, pre-vaccine period of the pandemic, Australian singer-songwriter Emma Swift was riding the crest of an unexpected wave from her kitchen table in Nashville, Tennessee. Her self-released debut album of Bob Dylan covers Blonde On The Tracks was an indie hit, breaking into the top 10 in Australia and […]
Emma Swift: Resurrection and Redemption Read More »
“Hey! Turn the lights on, I want to see everybody,” shouts Iggy Pop. And he grins that huge, irrepressible grin. Here he is, on the lip of the Concert Hall stage of a sold-out Sydney Opera House, with thousands of ecstatic fans cheering back at him. And he can’t get enough: he extends his hands, accepting
Iggy Pop: World’s forgotten boy just wants to be loved Read More »
Fame froze Tom’s Restaurant in time. Situated on 2880 Broadway, a block from the Cathedral of St John the Divine in Manhattan’s affluent, intellectual Upper West Side, its pink-on-blue neon signage formed many of the exterior scenes for Seinfeld, and it’s been coasting on its reputation as a pop-culture tourist attraction ever since. Framed photographs
Suzanne Vega: two hits are better than none Read More »
A new album by Robert Forster is almost always a challenge before it becomes a pleasure. For a start, there’s that voice, which hits fewer notes than Lou Reed on a less than perfect day. So there isn’t a great deal of melody, unlike the songs of Forster’s former songwriting partner in the Go-Betweens, the
Robert Forster: Songs To Play Read More »
Halfway through her gig at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image’s David Bowie exhibition, Melbourne singer-songwriter Jen Cloher introduces her own Bowie moment: her song David Bowie Eyes is an obvious nod to partner Courtney Barnett, standing on her right. It’s possible at least a few in the audience are here mainly to get
Jen Cloher – live @ ACMI, Melbourne Read More »
One for my French readers, on one of the great unsung Australian songwriters, Peter Milton Walsh, of the Apartments. Peter Milton Walsh was on a roll. It was 1996, and the singer-songwriter behind the Apartments – who had emerged from the same post-Saints Brisbane scene that gave birth to the Go-Betweens and the Riptides – was
“I thought it put a stop to songs forever” Read More »