SURG’s Best Albums of 2023
2023 was a big year for music, and what better way to wrap it up then to share our favourite albums. Forget the paid critics and big music magazines, SURG is bringing you the crème de la crème of this year’s record releases. Now read on! Hackney Diamonds – The rolling stones REVI
Welcome to the Brian Jonestown Massacre
Photo by Rosina Carbone Rosina reviews the Brian Jonestown Massacre @ Enmore Theatre – 16 November 2023 Good things happen to those who wait around concert venues. So when singer Anton Newcombe and guitarist Ryan Van Kreidt spill out of the doors of the Duke to greet the throng of flat caps an
RECAP: Mode Festival 2023
Image: By Ravyna – Ravyna Jassani Bailey recaps the highs and lows of this year’s ‘mode’ at Cockatoo Island Mode Festival is in its sophomore year of turning Cockatoo Island warehouses into thumping stages for a worldwide selection of electronic music. This year, the lineup i
Sydney IMAX to Reopen on Wednesday with a Massive Lineup
Seven years after it closed for ‘brief’ reconstruction, IMAX Sydney will officially open for business this Wednesday (October 11th). The Darling Harbour site is now operated by Event Cinemas, and devastatingly, can no longer boast of the largest cinema screen in the world. It is however
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
Brutalismus 3000: Serving ‘ULTRAKUNST’ in Paris 2023
The Berlin-Based post-techno gabber punk duo brought an electric set to La Cigale Hall in May this year. After discovering the ‘post-techno gabber punk’ duo Brutalismus 3000 on a techno playlist assembled for me by Spotify, I made it a mission to get to their ULTRAKUNST 2023 Tour. As it ju
Deep Purple: More than ‘Smoke on the Water’
Xuandi implores you to appreciate this classic band. Whenever someone asks for a classic rock band recommendation, hard rock fans won’t always mention Deep Purple first. Even when the band is noted, the frequently mentioned song is ‘Smoke on the Water’ (1972), inspired by a real fire accident
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
‘Barbie: The album’ deserved better
The soundtrack for the biggest film of the year is heavy on big names, but light on thrills There are probably very few people as satisfied with themselves right now than the Barbie marketing team. Between the universally praised teasers, social media campaigns that caught on like pink wildfire, and