Folk Punk: 45 Years Later
Image by Sam Moqadam from Unsplash. Let’s hear it for the crusties, tree-huggers, and city rats I’ve always been a huge proponent of the folk-punk genre. The music industry is absolutely rife with the Car-Seat Headrests, Taylor Swifts, and King Crimsons of the world, but – despite all thei
Retrospective: Fifty years on from Goats Head Soup, have the Stones’ critics learned anything?
At the end of the day, the Stones rock on. The history of the Rolling Stones is, in large part, a history of sceptical critics dismissively writing off albums, and interviewers posing the question of when the band will pack it in. 61 years in, they’re still waiting. Released August 1973, Goats Hea
Retrospective: Filth – trainspotting’s grimy younger brother
utter depravity and a truly unlikeable protagonist: bella rough reflects on filth (2013). Content Warning: This article discusses film depictions of drug abuse, mental illness, and suicide Filth was released in 2013, seventeen years after another Irvine Welsh adaptation that you are probably a bit m
RETROSPECTIVE: The Cranberries’ ‘Everybody Else is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?’ remains a triumphant debut
30 years on, the Limerick band’s debut album has cemented itself as a uniquely vulnerable classic, writes Aidan Elwig Pollock. Every once in a while, we stumble upon one of those special albums with the capacity to genuinely change our lives. I don’t mean “change our lives” in a trite, hyper
MIDNIGHT OIL’S 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 IS A BRILLIANTLY UNIQUE CRY FOR JUSTICE
The Oil’s countdown to midnight remains relevant 40 years on – only saved from being depressingly so by its electrifying rallying urgency, writes Aidan Elwig Pollock. 3,000 bodies had turned the Luna Park Big Top into a steaming, dank pit – a far cry from the late September post-rain cooln
RETROSPECTIVE: Electric Light Orchestra’s Out of the Blue deserves a place in the pantheon of double albums
The Birmingham band’s explosive seventh album is an oft-overlooked classic, writes Alex Glase. The double record, so often derided for its looseness and filler, allows an artist room to breathe and experiment with musical convention. Lists of the best double albums ever recorded have a few usual s
RETROSPECTIVE: Frances Ha fumbles the bag and charms her way out of a quarter-life crisis
Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig’s debut collaboration, which turns 10 this year, untangles the uncertainties and joys of youth through a series of vignettes. Christine Lai reviews. A remedy for those entering their ‘twenty-something’ years, Frances Ha is a film that presents a heartfelt study i
RETROSPECTIVE: Gangnam Style turns 10
Harry Gay navigates through the viral sensation’s far-reaching impact: from The Annoying Orange to Noam Chomsky, and everything in between. July 15, 2022 marked the tenth anniversary of PSY’s ‘Gangnam Style’ release into the world. In that time, this South Korean pop hit has had a lasting le
RETROSPECTIVE: Batman and Robin and the Caped Crusader’s eternal identity crisis
For its 25th anniversary, Harry Gay reflects on the tug-of-war between grit and camp that led up to the Dark Knight’s most polarising cinematic outing. On 26 June 1997 – almost 25 years ago to the day – Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin premiered in Australia.. The film, which sta
RETROSPECTIVE: 5 years on, The Mummy has aged like a rotting corpse
It failed as a reboot, as a starting point for a cinematic universe, and, of course, as a movie. Harry Gay revisits Universal Studios’ disastrous 2017 remake of The Mummy. Last month marked the 5-year anniversary of Universal Studios’ failed Mummy reboot. The Tom Cruise-led film is notorious
