<p><span><span>- Australia’s music industry does have its “issues” - the preponderance of cisgender, heteronormative, white male voices that, at times, effectively drown out anything that is not. Elsewhere there is a wider market for difference in content, particularly in the United Kingdom and Europe where differing styles of musical development are actively encouraged and celebrated. Australia’s homogeneity is a product of our development as an outpost of an Empire that has long since decayed and vanished, and the change is coming – slowly, but it is happening.

<p><span><span>- The last time we heard from beloved Brisbane institution Custard, they were maturing gracefully with their last long-player 2017’s <em>The Common Touch</em>. Their trademark way with a catchy ditty was balanced by strings, horns and a reflective feel that one may not traditionally associate with the band. </span></span></p>

<p><span><span>- Cavern Of Anti-Matter have just released their soundtrack to <strong>Peter Strickland</strong>’s 2018 film <em>In Fabric</em>. Strickland, who is unapologetically indebted to old Euro-horror and giallo films really outdid himself with <em>In Fabric</em> (in my opinion). Wryly funny and absurd, it’s a sprawling movie that takes you through different textures and mise-en-scene. This is realised in part by the rich imagery and by the exceptional score.

<p><span><span>- Brisbane based dreampop / shoegaze outfit Ultra Material have been releasing high quality music for five years, including two albums and two EPs. This has now been added to with a third EP, appropriately titled yeah, you got it ... <em>EP3</em>.</span></span></p>

<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>- COVID-19 could be subtitled “The Great Canceller”, similar to the way that The Black Death, was known as “The Great Dying” in the middle ages. For the first time since it stepped into the cultural spotlight in 1956 at the ‎Teatro Kursaal‎, Lugano, Switzerland, the world’s biggest international televised music event did not happen.