Fresh Finds: Class Of 2025 – Aussie Acts To Add To Your Playlist

Ching Pei Khoo, Journalist

Reviews / Live
Live Review: Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto
"As though reflecting his real-life story, Sakamoto revels in finding hope and optimism in his collaborations."
Reviews / Live
Live Review: Andrea Keller's Five Below, Let Them Eat Cake
"The band individually and collectively riff off each other, alternately building and collapsing crescendos, like the aural equivalence of being out of breath after an intense burst of HIIT training."
Reviews / Live
Live Review: Maceo Parker: A Tribute To Ray Charles
"Whether staged or accidental, the hilarious jibe where Parker is so eager to bring out the girls!' that he nearly skips a track and prompts an anxious Sigmund to hurriedly correct him is a golden moment to treasure."
Reviews / Live
Live Review: Gretchen Parlato, Sam Anning Sextet
"'Magnus'... also displays Parlato's songwriting talent, building the entire song from a few chords of a toddler's sing-song crooning to his unborn brother."
Reviews / Live
Live Review: Kate Miller-Heidke, Odette
"'My friend Ben Law says it sounds like a yodelling ambulance, and a radio listener once said it was like Enya on crystal meth'."
Reviews / Live
Live Review: Robbie Williams, Sheppard, DJ Grand Master Baitz
"He portrays himself as the same unconventional, unapologetic Robbie - brash, expletive-laden and self-indulgent: the parent who teaches his son how to correctly use the 'F' word as an adjective."
Reviews / Live
Live Review: David Duchovny, Georgia Maq
"His lively cover of The Band's 'The Weight' with the familiar coda, 'Take a load off, Fanny,' ends with a classic deadpan monologue from Duchovny: 'We realise that you guys interpret fanny differently here'."
Reviews / Live
Live Review: The Weeknd, French Montana, Nav
"'Some of you may know this,' he says cheekily as fractal grey spotlights wash the stage amid the darkened auditorium before he launches into 'Earned It' (the lead single from the 'Fifty Shades Of Grey' soundtrack)..."
Reviews / Live
Live Review: Harry James Angus, The Twoks
"I love Melbourne. In what city could a guy like me stand outside a church and sing 'Kill The Priest'?"
Reviews / Live
Live Review: Jazz Party, SiB
"Delightfully catching everyone by surprise, they enter in the traditional spirit of New Orleans jazz bands - in a single file led by a boisterous tuba, slowly weaving a path to the stage to the beat of the rhythm and brass sections."
Reviews / Live
Live Review: Roland Tings, Annie Bass, Andras
"The energy on stage infectiously overflows to the solid mass now gathered around, itching to cut loose."
Reviews / Live
Live Review: GL
"It's as if we've travelled back to 1985 and are in a hurry to return to the DeLorean parked outside."