Oztix | News | Here Are Our Most Read Stories Of 2017

2017 was a divisive one. A lot think it was great, a lot think it was worse than 2016 (which says A LOT). Regardless which side you sit on, 2017 offered a lot to the music community.

We've taken a look back at the year that was and found the most popular posts of 2017. Check them out below.

Music News

Ed Sheeran Announces Australia & New Zealand 2018 Tour Dates

After some pretty blunt clues from Frontier Touring and even the man himself, UK troubadour Ed Sheeran announced his return to Australia for run of stadium shows in March 2018. It's worth noting that from this moment out, any Sheeran news that hit The Music went insane.

Iconic Sydney Venue To Close Its Doors Next Month

After almost four decades, iconic Sydney venue The Midnight Shift announced they would be closing their doors for good.

Pandora Set To Shut Down In Australia

It was back in June that rumours circulated that Pandora was set to become the latest music streaming platform to cease operations in Australia and New Zealand. Confirmation of the news came soon after.

It's Official - The X Factor Australia Has Been Given The Boot

It was speculated for months and even judge Guy Sebastian couldn't defend the rumours, January saw the axing of The X Factor Australia.

Bag Raiders' 2009 Hit 'Shooting Stars' Has Cracked The US Charts Thanks To Those Memes

Memes, is there anything they can't do? Apparently not as Sydney duo Bag Raiders' classic tune Shooting Stars re-emerged in the US Billboard charts thanks to a weirdly magnificent meme involving Lady Gaga.

Also huge this year were…

Opinion

The Music Industry Has An Entrenched Culture Of Discrimination And Violence: It Needs To Change

As Hollywood continues to be rocked by historic cases of sexual abuse against women, similar stories are also emerging from elsewhere in the entertainment industries. Now, a vanguard of female artists are making the music scene a safer space. Camp Cope's Kelly-Dawn Hellmrich shared her view and examples in one of our most popular pieces ever. Camp Cope have been making waves across the music industry and last year were the most popular clip on The Music.

Videos

We love sharing the latest clips from Aussie acts. Here's the top picks from 2017.

Smoking Martha — What's Her Name?

What's Her Name? does a solid job of highlighting the band's rough-edged, raucous rock sensibilities set against the warm but powerful vocals of frontwoman Tasha D. As the song and its clip convey, the tune deals with themes of obsession, and "the pain, destruction and madness" such behaviour entails.

Mama Kin Spender — Air Between Us

Individually, Mama Kin and Spender are renowned for their musical talents — and together, as Mama Kin Spender, they take their separate strengths and fuse them into something wholly different and special, as demonstrated by their luminous single Air Between Us.

Osaka Punch — How We Operate

They are many things — talented, energetic, wonderfully odd — but you could never, ever accuse Brisbane band Osaka Punch of being boring, especially with their How We Operate clip.

The Lyrical — Fuck It All

Brisbane-based folk/roots/hip hop tunesmith Karl Smith, aka The Lyrical, has returned with new song Fuck It All, a rallying cry to shake off the weight of the materialistic tendencies of the world and just… well… do like the title says.

Caiti Baker — Make Your Own Mistakes

NT-based soul pop singer Caiti Baker ain't afraid to make errors in judgement, preferring instead to learn from them. That's the basis of Make Your Own Mistakes, the groovin' big band number that The Music got to premiere back in January last year.

Streams

Ash Grunwald - Hammer

"I'm not a new artist trying to find my niche or prove myself," explained Grunwald. "I don't want to be a certain kind of artist fitting into a certain kind of box. I went in to record Hammer knowing the musical boundaries I wanted to push as well as the traditions I wanted to respect and tried to create something my fans would love... a signpost to the future in some ways, with ties to the past."

Listen here

Particles — Tennis

The two-piece rock outfit is made up of Skarlett Saramore (Fait Accompli, She Rex) and Dan D'Arcy. Together the pair have delivered a track that is reminiscent of experimental modern, hard and garage rock.

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Josh Cashman — Beauty In Grey

Beauty In Grey arrived in the wake of a big few months for the Gippsland-bred troubadour, who has already knocked over a US tour with Tash Sultana — including a spot at SXSW and a performance at New York's Rockwood Music Hall — and sold out the Northcote Social Club on a recent local tour. He recorded the song at the spacious Smooch Studios in Brunswick, utilising its high ceilings and roomy layout to capture natural reverb and imbue it with a sense of live energy and atmosphere woven into its very core.

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sleepmakeswaves — Made Of Breath Only

The LP — which runs for just shy of an hour — contains a wealth of engaging, imaginative soundscapes that defy lengthy runtimes (midpoint track The Edge Of Everything spans more than 10-and-a-half minutes) to remain captivating through peaks, troughs, dynamic shifts and all manner of other aural tricks over which the band has developed a formidable command through the years.

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Port Royal — Get Heavy

Brissy four-piece Port Royal have only been a band for a year-and-a-half or so, but they're already turning out tunes of a calibre that far exceeds their relative youth and inexperience. Recorded by QUT engineer James See, with mixing by the legendary Magoo (Midnight Oil, Powderfinger, a bunch of others) and mastering by Tony 'Jack The Bear' Mantz (Nick Cave, Powderfinger), the track is a scorching homage to the likes of The Rolling Stones and The Beatles, stuffed to the brim with youthful energy, adventurism and reckless abandon.

Listen here

Album reviews

Gorillaz — Humanz

"This is truly groundbreaking stuff. Dark, sinister and addictive."

Taylor Swift — reputation

"Bottom line: it seems many, like myself, have gone into reputation with a lot of conflicting feelings."

Gang Of Youths — Go Farther In Lightness

"Go Farther In Lightness will prove frontman Dave Le'aupepe as one of Australia's foremost songwriters."

Eminem — Revival

"Mathers – the top-selling rapper ever – betrays a new self-consciousness about his music. Rather than buckle to complacency, Mathers has had a crisis of confidence."

Vera Blue — Perennial

"By the time you hit Regular Touch, you can tell that Pavey and her band are fully comfortable with their pop sound. Drawing on some Avicii type vibes, it’s easy to hear that this will go on to be one of the biggest Vera Blue hits to date."