<p><span><span>- In 2001, American punk band Strike Anywhere released their debut album and announced their intentions with the classic line “<em>We live in defiance of empty times</em>”. It was a lyric that reflected radical politics in that pre-War On Terror world - where the aim was to highlight the spiritual emptiness and the social and environmental costs of the American consumerist dream.</span></span></p>

<p><span><span><em>- </em>Pandemics don’t suck, usually. If you aren’t directly affected by the particular malady usually the societal side-effects don’t invade one’s personal space. However, 2020’s pandemic <em>assoluta</em> has not just touched everyone’s lives but it’s thumped them into a shape barely resembling recognisable forms. Every creative arts worker has been dealt a blow that might produce some extraordinary literature, music and art in years to come – if any creatives survive this year and the next.

<p><span><span>- It has been a hot minute since I’d given much from Seasick Steve<strong> </strong>a burl so when <em>Love &amp; Peace </em>rolled around, the feeling was much the same as catching up with an old friend. 2008’s <em>Started Out With Nothing </em>was the modern entry point for me to retroactively dive into blues and when reports surfaced in 2016 about Seasick Steve’s narrative being a fabrication, it seems like a kayfabe breaking would put a pin in the train-hopping tale. Well, it didn’t.

- On last year’s breakthrough, self-titled album, Brisbane synth-pop four-piece Cub Sport redefined their status as a band, moving from being indie-pop darlings to a group with the potential to reconsider genre and gain an international cult following. Now they’re back with their fifth studio album LIKE NIRVANA, which not only looks past the visions of their previous records but transcends them entirely.

<p><span><span>- It’s hard to find Katie Dey in the physical world. It’s also the case that a lot of what you can say about her and her music is tied up in that. The bizarre, pitch-shifted and massively distorted pop that began appearing half-a-decade ago was almost like a transmission from another dimension: a voice trying to break through invisible barriers and just be here. I’ve found it intriguing to follow the evolution of Katie Dey’s voice -and I mean her voice, literally- as it has fleshed out, become more human and real.

<p><span><span>- When sleepmakeswaves announced they were releasing new music, it wasn’t a celebratory declaration, but a sombre one of determination. “A lot’s happened since our last release. It’s a crazier, darker world…” they began, adding “It’s damn hard keeping the artist ship afloat, when being an artist doesn’t mean what it used to.” This was in January, <em>before</em> the pandemic came in and more or less obliterated whatever plans any artist had for the future. </span></span></p>