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

Carley Hall, Journalist

Carley Hall

Carley Hall is a Gold Coast-based writer who loves spinning a good yarn. She’s worked in print news rooms for more than a decade and now juggles young family life with a busy career in research communication, promoting all types of science from the dire and necessary to the weird and wonderful.

When she’s not doing all of the above, she’s dancing around her living room trying to brainwash her kids into liking her taste in music or getting out to see some gigs. Carley likes the heavy stuff most, but if it’s got hooky melodies, clever lyrics or off-kilter beats nothing is off limits.

Reviews / Album
Album Review: San Mei - Necessary
"... There is lots to be excited about, with a handful of slick, likeable tunes underlining this chanteuse's knack for sweet melodies and neat motifs."
Reviews / Album
Album Review: The Vamps - Wake Up
"One-dimensional at best just about sums up 'Wake Up'."
Reviews / Album
Album Review: Belle Haven - You, Me And Everything In Between
"There's a truckload more to be had in the way of interesting motifs and transitions."
Reviews / Album
Album Review: The Drums - Abysmal Thoughts
"A winning formula for a fourth time."
Reviews / Album
Album Review: All We Are - Sunny Hills
"Singles 'Animal' and 'Human' yield that intensity via textural motifs, lots of reverb and affected vocals."
Reviews / Live
Live Review: The Smith Street Band, Joyce Manor, Ceres, Allison Weiss
"Their easy banter, lyrical nous and simple set up combine to make for wild but still intimate live shows."
Reviews / Live
Live Review: Blues On Broadbeach Proves The Gold Coast Festival Scene Is Alive & Well
'Going by the swelling crowd numbers year on year, it seems event-goers are indeed tipping their hats to the four-day free event.'
Reviews / Album
Album Review: Ben Ottewell - A Man Apart
"The gravel-voiced leading man has dished up more gems in the same vein for 'A Man Apart'."
Reviews / Live
Live Review: Hellions, Endless Heights, The Brave, Introvert
"... By the time flagship single 'Quality Of Life' rolls around to round things out there's not a dry T-shirt to be had among the happy albeit sweaty punters."
Reviews / Album
Album Review: Wavves - You're Welcome
"Proof that these slacker surfer punks are still king of the beach."
Reviews / Album
Album Review: Dead Letter Circus - The Endless Mile
"The reimaginings don't always fly."
Reviews / Album
Album Review: Clowns - Lucid Again
"It's this yin and yang approach that makes 'Lucid Again' Clowns' best to date."