eighties
News: The iconic Ups and Downs announce 40th Anniversary tour with the brilliant The Crystal Set
In big news for those of us with fond memories of the paisley-tinged jingle jangle scene in Australia in the eighties, the iconic Ups and Downs have announced they will be celebrating their 40th anniversary next year with a tour. To add icing to an already enticing cake, the hugely underrated The Crystal Set from …
Live Review and Gallery: Pandemonium Rocks Festival, Caribbean Gardens, Melbourne 20.04.2024
It’s been a tough year for Festivals over last few years and after some rather turbulent times leading up to today’s date, the Pandemonium Rocks Festival reached the finishing line, somewhat starved and slimmed down but just as determined to entertain. Original headliners Deep Purple, Placebo and Gang of Four fell by the wayside and …
Track: Empathy Test’s Isaac Howlett releases debut solo single ‘House of Cards’ – a shimmering crystalline shard of pure pop, with tour ahead.
Empathy Test have always delivered a delicious eighties infused brand of synth pop that has seen them garnered a massive following. Now, enigmatic frontman Isaac Howlett has released his debut solo single ‘House of Cards’, and it is an epic, cinematic track that positively shimmers with a glacial edge. Celestial synths etch the horizons above …
News: The legendary Simple Minds announce their biggest Australian tour for early 2024 with expanded dates.
After cancellations of an earlier tour due to COVID, Simple Minds have just announced their biggest ever tour of Australia following up an earlier announcement of them taking part in the Red Hot Summer Tour. Australia has always been a special place for Simple Minds – achieving some of their first global support here in …
Premiere: Rodney Cromwell unveils the aquatic, effervescent single ‘The Winter Palace’ along with b-side ‘Rod, Jane and Freddy’.
We are very pleased to premiere the electric new single ‘The Winter Palace’ from Rodney Cromwell, the nom de guerre of musician Adam Cresswell, backed by the instrumental ‘Rod, Jane and Freddy’. ‘The Winter Palace’ is a rich and luscious track, opening up with an atmospheric Vangelis-like Blade Runner fugue before launching into an aquatic …
Album Review: Sydney’s Magnetic Heads unveil ‘Moral Outage’: a scything blast of dark synth-driven pop
‘Moral Outage’, from Magnetic Heads, is a sparkling ensemble of eighties-influenced, synth-based tracks that resonate with a darkness and refined intelligence. And when I say eighties, I mean the good stuff. Intertwining threads draw in the synth giants of Heaven 17, Cabaret Voltaire, New Order, The Beloved and even Devo, while the delicate intricacies of …