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COVER STORY
Megan Washington: A Visual Retrospective

Welcome to the AU review''s new weekly magazine, LAUNCH, which will highlight the latest and best content every Thursday - exclusively for our newsletter subscribers.

For this week''s cover story, Bruce Baker explores the career of one of Australian''s most talented and creative singer/songwriters Megan Washington. The article sees her evolution through his own camera lens, as she works towards the release of her long awaited new album Batflowers in August. 

As her critically acclaimed film Kajillionaire arrives in Australian theatres (read our review here), writer/director Miranda July spoke to our own Peter Gray about what drew her to create such a distinctive film, how star Evan Rachel Wood imprinted on the material, and the irony of releasing such a thematically anxious film in 2020.

In a year where you can't really bank on anything going to plan, just know Ball Park Music has you covered. If I was a betting man, I'd back them all the time, every time. Ball Park Music is proof you'll never lose.

Corpus Christi is a striking drama about the murky and hypocritical grounds of faith, redemption and morality. It is beautifully acted by Bartosz Bielenia and writer/director Jan Komasa admirably never goes for easy answers for his conflicts. 

Festivals are back in WA, as so much of the rest of Australia looks on with envy. So how did Wine Machine go? Ben Somerford was there and brings us the full low down.

Ultimately very readable and enjoyable, this is a novel which is occasionally let down by stilted and false-sounding dialogue. Dealing with trauma, abuse, suicide and gender dysmorphia, The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida will not be for everyone. But, will be sure to find some readers who love it fanatically - particularly among those who love authentic Japanese settings.

Melbourne Writers Festival, one of the major events in Australia's literary calendar, which kicks off this weekend, will be held completely virtually this year.

The festival, which runs from August 7th to the 16th, will be accessible via the festival website. Whilst the festival may have gone digital, the program remains strong and diverse, with plenty of options to choose from across the board. The beauty of an online program is that there's no time slot clashes. But, there's still too much to choose from, so here are our picks for sessions not to miss at this year's festival. 

Paper Mario has always been a hilarious spin-off to the beloved Mario franchise, though it did lose its way for a little bit. The Origami King brings the series that I love back from its papery grave and gave me so much more. Long story short, I'm a happy clam.

Short story long? Well, read on.

There's something weird, wacky and wonderful about a series that doesn't pull its punches. The Umbrella Academy introduced us to a misfit family of people adopted and brought together for their special powers to try and stop the end of the world. Season 2 which has just landed on Netflix has us following the Hargreeves family as they try to once again stop another doomsday. 

In their stellar third LP, Australia''s The Avalanches take out the final "Album of the Week" title for 2020. Our head music critic has this to say in the four star review:

"Just over twenty years since they re-wrote music history, We Will Always Love You is a chance for The Avalanches to reset, rewire and reawaken. It's a subtle nod to their past and gentle acknowledgement of their future. Just make sure you listen to it all the way through."

Christmas is almost here, and given the year we've just had, it's go hard or go home. This holiday season is - pending none of 2020's indulgent curve-balls - going to have a lot riding on it. It'll be like cannoning-balling into that perfectly temperature controller pool after trudging through the Sahara, and hearing those confected sleigh bells blasting through the streets is going to be nothing less than pure catharsis.

Such a special occasion is going to need a stack of gifts to go with it, of course. Which is why we've pulled together some of our favourite products of the year for you to get across when you're inevitably swearing bullets over what to buy.

On the eve of the national release of the new Australian drama The Furnace, our own Peter Gray chatted with one of its stars, rising New Zealand actor Jay Ryan, about the trying filming conditions, learning new facts about Australian history, and how a horror movie changed his career.

Read our review of the film HERE. 

Pippin is the first major musical to return to Sydney theatres, with distancing restrictions easing just before the show's opening. The show's offering of colour and magic are perfect medicine for our current climate. But, on another hand, its somewhat confusing premise and over-reliance on smoke and mirrors are yet another symptom of them.

Lucky's is a truly enjoyable read. It's well paced and structured, and despite the jumping between characters and years, easy enough to follow. There's drama and violence, passion and love, disaster and hope. It's all you would expect from a 'Greek Saga'. It's also full of warmth; warmth for a particular community and for a by-gone Australian institution - a staple of the Australian high street. A novel populated with a wild cast of characters and told with great humour and warmth, you can''t go wrong by making a reservation at Lucky''s.

To celebrate the release of "Fire", the band have put together a playlist for us with their essential 80''s beats. Listening to "Fire", we''re confident they know their stuff. So hit play on the playlist and read on through to find out more about their song choices.

COVER STORY
The Best of 2020 (So Far)

Welcome to the AU review''s new weekly magazine, LAUNCH, which will highlight the latest and best content every Thursday - exclusively for our newsletter subscribers.

For this week''s cover story, we count down our 20 favourite albums of the year, so far - with acts like Perfume Genius (pictured), Jaguar Jonze, Hayley Mary and more making the list - did your favourite make the cut? 

After seemingly coming out of nowhere in 2018 with her absolutely fantastic debut album Thick Skin, Tia Gostelow returns in 2020 with an evolved and 80s inspired sound, and the marvellous new album Chrysalis. Where her debut album was filled with understated and downbeat melody, Chrysalis is full, for the most part, of upbeat groovers that border on disco ready dance floor fillers.

Melbourne's will hyde (stylised lowercase) has officially released his highly anticipated debut EP with you in mind. (out now). The incredibly personal pop release is the first chapter in this 20-year-old's solo pursuit, featuring hits "easy for u." and "dark until september.", all birthed through heartbreak and self-discovery.

With the imminent release of Rams set for Australian audiences, director Jeremy Sims has been discussing the film and what brought him to reinterpret the original Icelandic drama.  Our own Peter Gray chatted with Sims, learning of his approach to directing, how he has found the film's reception so far, and why he had to have "the bad Michael Caton".

On the eve of the release of The Craft: Legacy, writer/director Zoe Lister-Jones spoke to Peter Gray regarding the distinct feminine energy brought to the narrative, how inclusivity was an important factor, and the authenticity adhered to in her portrayal of witchcraft.

It's hard to keep track of just how many books Jackie French has published. One of her newest books, The Schoolmaster's Daughter might be aimed at middle grade readers, but its appeal is much wider.

Tim Minchin''s Apart Together is a musical masterpiece to help wind down 2020. It is an album from an artist who''s been through a heap to get to where he is now, and manages to distill every drop of that journey in all of the eleven tracks. It''s pure, great and honest; ironic, funny and true.

Out from under the wreckage of closed venues and cancelled gigs, Sydney's unruly punk trio, Crocodylus are hurtling toward the end of the year with a new tour and a scattering of new tunes. Before they fully jumped into tour mode, band members Mikel, Josh and Stephen shared a peek into their humble stay in Ginkin back in August, where they recorded the new album, the music videos for "Camouflage" and "Social Climber" and got up to some classic Crocs mischief.

Most films that play with infinite time loops as their narrative hook inevitably find themselves compared to 1993''s much-loved Groundhog Day.  And though such films since then have broken the mould as much as they can regarding the premise on hand - the Tom Cruise actioner Edge of Tomorrow and the horror/comedy Happy Death Day the most prominent examples - Max Barbakow''s fantasy rom-com Palm Springs pushes more than enough boundaries to really earn its place as its own entity.

It's been eight years since Melbourne alt-rockers Something For Kate released any new material so you'd be excused for thinking they'd split up as a band. But, this Friday their seventh album The Modern Medieval drops to much anticipation. Fresh from escaping Melbourne's lockdown, lead Dempsey caught up with The AU Review to discuss life, the past eight years, Trump & US politics, the secret title of 2001''s Echolalia, the new album, touring and much much more.

To celebrate the release and the successful collaboration, Peking Duk''s Reuben Styles has kindly put together this guest playlist for us, featuring his top ten most iconic collaborations of all time. An eclectic and highly personal list, press play and read on through to find out how and why Reuben has made his choices.

We recently sat down with a number developers from the Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War team at Treyarch and Raven Software. Among them: Lead Game Designer Matt Scronce, Lead Designer on weapons, equipment and gameplay Tony Flame, and Creative Director at Raven Dan Vondrak, whose team crafted this year''s campaign. Our conversation touched on everything from developing multiplayer for next-gen and bringing back the campaign.

Well-written, engaging and brimming with insight and passion Biting The Clouds is a compelling and interesting read. Despite its Queensland focus, it is a text, that provides an important contribution to a wider national conversation. 

COVER STORY
"Airport Lights": Searching for a connection with Tully John and Liza-Jane

Welcome to the AU review''s new weekly magazine, LAUNCH, which will highlight the latest and best content every Thursday - exclusively for our newsletter subscribers.

For this week''s cover story, Simon Clark takes us behind-the-scenes of the new single from Gold Coast songwriters Tully John and Liza-Jane, and looks at the impact of the Covid-19 shutdown on Australian musicians as they look to release new music.  

"Airport Lights" is released tomorrow and you can hear it here first on the AU review. 

For Beabadoobee, she could very well prove to be the artist that so many teens look towards for representation of their lives in not only music, but the world in general. Here on her debut album Fake It Flowers, Beabadoobee allows us into her world of shoe gaze and confessional grunge, while touching on themes of love, loss and the trauma and rage of being a young person in a world that is seemingly always going to be against the youth.

To the End of the World: Travels with Oscar Wilde is the latest memoir from actor, author, and now director Rupert Everett. In the book Everett, recounts the story of how he set out to make the film of Oscar Wilde's last days, 2018's The Happy Prince. The book, then, is part memoir, part travelogue, and part film diary.

If there's anyone who would be secure enough to make a film based around politics, Jon Stewart would arguably be one of the most well suited.  Whilst not quite as politically savvy as one might expect, given his penchant for satire, Irresistible is nonetheless a sly, consistently witty affair that wisely doesn't exactly choose a political side to skewer; let's call it a comedy for equal opportunists.

They were one of the quickest destinations to respond internationally. Early in the shutdown, the tourism board launched the website safetoplay.ca - a guide focused on their region, designed to instill confidence in visiting their attractions and staying in the hotels. Though the numbers are certainly down - with US visitors making up almost 30% of travellers annually, and those travellers currently blocked at the border (and rightly so) - this has worked, and business, for the most part, has continued to flow.

Returning with their third album in four years, on Ultra Mono, IDLES are near to their thumping best, as they pound through twelve tracks of mostly relentless punk and overly obvious lyrics. Following in the steps of their acclaimed second album Joy as an Act of Resistance, an album of full-throttled punk, Ultra Mono is just as vitriolic and emphatic in its delivery. It's also just as blunt with its commentary on politics and the absolute shitfight the last couple of years has been worldwide.

The first thing that strikes you about Greatest Hits' new EP is that these songs are mature. They're self-aware. You get the distinct impression that no-one has tried too hard to write them. On this EP you will hear Procol Harum, The Zombies, and even The Beatles. Don't get me wrong, it's not a psychedelic rock record. Greatest Hits have achieved a far greater sense of structure and purpose. 

It's been two years since Newcastle indie pop quartet Vacations released their debut album. Now, the group have returned with their latest LP Forever in Bloom. The band have kindly shared with the AU review an exclusive playlist containing tracks that influenced their latest release.

Abi Tucker has a new single out "Friends for Life" taken from her album Who Do You Really Know. The forthcoming music video explores Tucker's experience on the set of Heartbreak High. In the lead up to the video's release, the AU review spoke to Abi Tucker to reflect upon her time portraying Jodie in Heartbreak High, in what was, without doubt, a role that changed her life forever.

For his latest film, Ozon has gone back to his roots involving psychosexual tales with Summer of 85. Set at seaside resort in 1985 Normandy; Felix Lefebvre stars as Alexis, a young, distant teenager who is in a bit of a standstill in his life. He feels that he has to decide whether he wants to find a job or continue his studies in literature. But things take a sharp turn when he gets into a boat capsizing accident and he gets rescued by enigmatic 18-year old David (Benjamin Voisin).

The premise for Brisbane writer, Laura Elvery's second collection of short fiction, Ordinary Matter, is enticing. Inspired by the twenty times a woman has won a Nobel Prize for scientific research, it is a collection about womanhood, feminism and motherhood. But, also about big issues which are very much prescient today, such as climate change and politics.

In the wide, wonderful world of gaming, what does victory truly sound like? For starters, it's incredibly detailed with high-audio fidelity, acoustic clarity and exceptional realism. Sound like the type of headphone you need? We've got our hands on one GSP 601 and one GSP 602 to give away to our lucky readers and help them nail that gaming sessions once and for all.

Re-animator could well prove to be Everything Everything''s moment in the sun. Lauded for their music plenty of times before, Re-animator is the band''s chance to showcase everything they''ve grown into as a band over the past thirteen years. They''re as sharp and clever here as they''ve always been and yet you feel this could only be the beginning for a band so good they named them twice.

Our head film critic Peter Gray has the full verdict, which he says "opts to be more than just a carbon copy of its animated counterpart."

The AU Review has kickstarted a Q&A series "looking past the pandemic", encouraging creatives from around the world to share their travel hopes, dreams, and the thoughts or things that are getting them through 2020, while also highlighting essential experiences in their own country. Today we speak to Gold Coast duo Hussy Hicks. 

Arriving at just the right time, Bill & Ted Face the Music embraces the character''s motto of "Be excellent to each other", cliched as it is, and delivers on a genuine joy and harmlessness that feels more important than ever to experience.  Whether or not this brand of lighthearted goofiness will be embraced by the general masses remains to be seen, but for the fans, this slice of nostalgia proves more than worth the wait.

It''s not often that a game is so stacked with delicious food that it inspires IRL recipes. Final Fantasy XIV is an exception. Food plays an important part in keeping characters in top fighting shape, and if you''ve always wondered what some of these dishes would task like, we''ve got you covered with one of the most game''s most attractive looking desserts bought to life. 

In language which is tough and poetic and keenly selected, The Mother Fault is a stunning account of a possible future, and this Australian novel deserves every bit of the hype it has received in the lead up to its release.

Running the gamut of emotions that fuelled R&B in the ''90s, The AU Review''s "Hip Hop and R&B Retrospective" playlist has turned away from 100 greatest songs by women in hip hop and turned attention to rap''s silkier, smoother cousin.