2020 – what a year! And not in the “Woohoo! What a great year!” sense either. I mean, it wasn’t entirely awful, but every time it seemed like things were on the improve, everything went south again in spectacular fashion; case in point, Sydney is once again in the grip Continue Reading
Music
On 12th day of Christmas … I listened to A Holly Dolly Christmas by Dolly Parton
As you might expect from a bright, larger than life personality like Dolly Parton, Holly Dolly Christmas, her new Christmas album and the successor to 1990’s Home For Christmas, opens on a joyously upbeat note with “Holly Jolly Christmas” that starts off an album with exactly the right kind of Continue Reading
On 10th day of Christmas … I listened to My Gift by Carrie Underwood
In its calmer moments, and yes, Christmas does have them, there is a hush and reverence to proceedings that calls for music that speaks to that quiet place of contemplation, love and thoughtfulness. Carrie Underwood’s My Gift is the perfect soundtrack for those moments, offering up a largely traditional slate Continue Reading
On 6th day of Christmas … I listened to Put Up Your Lights by The Bird and the Bee
If anyone can make something beautiful out of something chaotic and terrible, it is the mesmerisingly good duo that is The Bird and the Bee, made up of singer Inara George and producer Greg Kurstin. Their latest collaboration, Put Your Lights Up was put together during a year when a Continue Reading
Songs, songs and more #Christmas songs: Carly Rae Jepsen, Gwen Stefani, Kelly Clarkson, Ava Max, Kevin Max & Michael Tait, Marc Martel and Amy Grant, Tegan and Sara, Porcelan, Alicia Witt, Colton Dixon
Is there a lot of Christmas music out there? There is, in fact, a LOT of Christmas music out there and while we are most often concerned with the albums that come out every year, as you will see in a series of upcoming blog posts reviewing the ones I Continue Reading
On 3rd day of Christmas … I listened to A Very Trainor Christmas by Meghan Trainor
Quite possibly more than most seasons, Christmas is a delightful mix of the exuberantly, garrulously colourful and the meditatively, thoughtfully mellow depending on where you land over the course of December 25th and its fun but often hectic lead-up. This duality of feel and tone is reflected beautifully in A Continue Reading
On 1st day of Christmas … I hung 15 new pop culture ornaments on my tree incl. Scooby-Doo!, Roger Rabbit, Onward, Laurel and Hardy + Captain Marvel, A Bug’s Life, Ghostbusters, Star Wars
If any year needs a filled to the tip of the needles Christmas tree, it is this one. (Let’s be honest, all years need festive decorating but 2020 really needs it.) I will admit to the fact that my Christmas in July tree never really came down – it’s a Continue Reading
Songs, songs and more songs #40: RAYE, Kita Alexander, Louis the Child & COIN, Biig Piig, Alison Wonderland + Christmas Sia!
2020 has been a YEAR. And as befitting a year of intense, amazing, alarming and deeply affecting emotions, the final Songs, songs and more songs for the year talks about five artists who seemingly go to the very ends of themselves and back to craft songs that not only sound Continue Reading
Songs, songs and more songs #39: Akurei, Gus Dapperton, PLS&TY, Faithless, Hotel Garuda + Eurovision 2021 update
INTRO “HAIRDYE” by Akurei There is an ethereal beauty to “HAIRDYE” by Australian artist Akurei. In amongst all the sweetly charming music, however, are some fairly intensely reflective lyrics that the singer says makes “HAIRDYE” are a very personal statement for him. “‘HAIRDYE’, the focus track, came together on a Continue Reading
Chill to the music: Tash, Mariah the Scientist, BAYNK, Ryan Hemsworth, Lianne La Havas
2020 has been a frantic, hamster-on-an-ever-faster-spinning-wheel, groove-in-the-floor-from-running-frenetically-back-and forth kind of year. I need a break. You no doubt need a break. But Christmas holidays are some way off yet – four weeks sounds close but trust me, it is NOT close enough – and so while we wait for that Continue Reading