The twelfth annual Singing Up Country, Sydney’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music festival is upon us with this year’s line-up featuring Black Turtles, Maanyung, Mark Munk Ross, Michael Birk and The Recognisers, Aunty Cundy Drummond and Kevin Hunt, Antwone, and Aleta Wassel promises a stellar array of musical talent.

Brought to you by Proud Yaegl musician Michael Birk, Singing Up Country will be held at St Anthony in the Fields Church, at Terrey Hills, 05 July 2026.

Exploring themes of belonging and caring for country, the festival communicates a community owned pride and Identity, supporting a stance that Australia always was and will always be Aboriginal land and that we all need to care for it. The community spirit from this event lingers in your mind and its value is evident as a culturally safe place and a heart-warming experience.

As always, Singing up Country begins at 03:30 pm with a free walk and talk of the Regenerating bush at St Anthony in the Fields in the care of the Kierans Creek Landcare Group followed by the Smoking Ceremony before the music begins. With a warming soup supper later in the evening, this is an entertaining and enriching start to NAIDOC week. Link to tickets below.

https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1590419

New Zealand’s Trauma Party have releases Speak to Me, a Post Punk wake-up call about loneliness, delusion, and why some people fall to the fringes.

The vibrant new video single from the Garage/Post Punk group is the third in a series of four video singles lifted from the Waiheke Island band’s debut EP, Because You’ve Been Good. Featuring taut, angular rhythm guitars overlaid with atmospherics, a motorik rhythm section, and the hypnotic insistence of its chanted chorus.

The music video for Speak to Me, filmed in The Woolshed at the Waiheke Dirt Track, examines the human cost of social exclusion and ideological drift. However, rather than preaching, the video humanises those who feel unheard, revealing how loneliness and delusion can make people vulnerable to extremist fringes. It is timely, introspective, and unflinchingly honest, pairing political urgency with personal empathy. But, in true Trauma Party style, the crowd favourite remains catchy, energetic, and upbeat.

Merging raw garage punk energy with spiky post-punk and subversive pop sensibilities, they have quickly captured the attention of audiences throughout Aotearoa. In their short time together, Trauma Party have completed two North Island and Auckland tours, and opened for high-profile garage rock mainstays Japan’s Guitar Wolf, Swiss garage-psych-punks The Jackets, Australian industrial-crust-punk behemoth Schkeuditzer Kreuz, and New Zealand’s own post-punk/noise-rock legends LUNG.

The band launched the debut EP, Because You’ve Been Good, in April. A tight, punchy souvenir of their live favourites to date, characterised by propulsive rhythms, bright sonic guitars, and a resounding commentary on the current world order. From the rolling colossus of Roll Up (It’s The New Truth), a furious eulogy to the current political climate in the US, to the grit wave dancefloor energy of Sharks, the Because You’ve Been Good EP plays out the band’s post-punk manifesto in no uncertain terms.

“Apocalyptic times call for the fringe dwellers to unite, form bands, create art and speak up. This is only the beginning for Trauma Party.” – Buddy Olson.

An earlier release of Speak to Me, released in April as the lead radio promo single from Because You’ve Been Good, reached number one on Christchurch station RDU 98.5FM’s Top 10 as well as number three on Radio Control 99.4FM’s Top 10 in Palmerston North. Number six on the nationwide Student Radio Network chart and number thirty-eight on the national Radioscope Alt Airplay chart followed.

This year will see the release of Trauma Party‘s first full-length album with the Because You’ve Been Good EP out now on Bandcamp and all the major streaming platforms.

https://traumaparty.bandcamp.com/track/speak-to-me

We have always had great respect for industrial synth crust road dog and artist Schkeuditzer Kreuz, who has releases their next vinyl single, Keep Dancing, with a release party at Sydney’s Lazy Thinking on Friday, 5 June, alongside Anti Itch Cream from Japan.

Keep Dancing is a song of rebellion. It is a song about standing up for what you think is right. And it is a song of standing up for those who can’t stand up for themselves. It is about sticking together and sticking around to make our voice heard in a time where we feel under constant attack. The world feels pretty bad right now, but the song is about not switching off even when that feels like the only option.”

“I have always wanted to have a go at putting guitar with one of my songs and this seemed like the perfect one to do. So, I rerecorded it with guitars as well as redoing the drums and synths to make it sound more urgent and more, well, danceable. Then with the Three Days Deep remix of Poor Impulse Control, I took the original song and sped it up to 240bpm, distorted the fuck out of everything and well, we all know what Three Days Deep refers to…” – Schkeuditzer Kreuz

On 02 October the Schkeuditzer Kreuz Asia tour kicks off in Japan with three dates in Tokyo, followed by shows in Shizuoka and Osaka. Then two dates in Cambodia, two in Thailand, one in Malaysia, five in the Philippines, and three in Indonesia. All this ending on 21 October, adding up to nineteen dates, across six countries, in twenty-four days!

https://dorfpunk.bandcamp.com/album/keep-dancing

One of our favourite bands, Switzerland’s WolfWolf, return with a new single in The Bloody Kiss, the first single from their upcoming album In Delusion and their initial release with the Hamburg based Rookie Records.

The Swiss garage punk duo again delve in the grim with the track with the central theme being madness as a societal phenomenon. The song tells the story of an apparently trivial injury that, in the perception of the main character, transforms into a vampiric myth. With reality tipping into fantasy with fear becoming narrative. As with previous releases The Bloody Kiss is philosophical. In this case, an observation of how people construct meaning when control is lost.

Musically, the duo stays true to their raw, stripped-down approach, while expanding their sound with a subtle psychedelic touch. Driving drums, distorted guitar, and an underlying melody magnify the song’s inner tension. Direct, intense, and deliberately uncomfortable, as with all WolfWolf songs, The Bloody Kiss is the perfect opening chapter of In Delusion, an album that focuses less on death and more on collective illusions, psychological states of exception, and the societal rituals of madness. No confessions. No autobiography. Just stories observed from the outside and sharpened until they hurt. I am sure In Delusion will be a fitting follow up to the grand vinyl that is Totentanz.

WolfWolf are touring in support of The Bloody Kiss playing around Switzerland and Germany.

https://wolfwolf.bandcamp.com/music

A new band has come to our attention. Melbourne’s Roarcuss (six women over a certain age with no fucks to give) are a punk/ska outfit of rhythm plus hornbag section formed in late 2024. They began playing shows to receptive and riotous audiences in 2025.

Boasting three singer/songwriters, and a poet, Roarcuss write songs tackling big issues like misogyny, shrinkflation, and good drying weather with irreverence and humour, reminding us to laugh loud while rocking hard.

Their debut single, Fuck AI, is a bombastic track with the horns acting as the perfect punctuation to the protest shouts of the title as the songs opens on the chorus. The verses are cleverly worded list of justified grievances. Roarcuss have wrapped all of this in an anthemic composition with a theatrical feel immediately making the song visual, with a powerful punch. Fuck AI feels grand and powerful.

https://roarcuss.bandcamp.com/track/fuck-ai

Perched on the edge of the Darkwave, Coldwave, and the Gothic scene, Loki Lockwood and Holly Purnell inject a unique twist to these genres. Full of powerful themes (both musically and lyrically) and dark aesthetics, Velatine have another triumph in We’re Not Suburban.

Both the music and lyrics, float hauntingly around your head like a dream. Loki orchestration paints a sweeping soundscape as Holly’s vocal delivery feels like an ancestral spirit whispering in your ear, bestowing the wisdom you need to hear.

Visually, We’re Not Suburban, as with previous Velatine releases, is accompanied with an artistically crafted video in red, black, and the subtlest touch of blue.

Scattered with dark imagery, feelings of isolation, and an unsatisfied impression of society’s complacency that stifles our potential, Velatine articulate the misfit’s call to greater things. Something that deeply resonates in myself at the moment and I, for one, am grateful to them for it.

“This song is one of my stories, written for Holly soon after we embarked on this journey together. A message if she ever needs a reason to keep being true to her calling of a creative life. So, as Holly and I push Velatine forward, this is our anthem.” – Loki Lockwood.

Now we dream of what we want. Our dreams are filled with why we’re not suburban.

https://velatine.bandcamp.com/track/were-not-suburban

Fresh from a second tour across Europe, Industrial Synth Crust artist Schkeuditzer Kreuz (alias Kieren Hills) announced the new remix collection, Schkeuditzer Kreuz is Reinventing Axel F – Swan Grinder Remixed, a companion release to the third studio LP, Swan Grinder, ahead of the upcoming Swan Grinding Oceania Tour of Australia and New Zealand.

The album features seven of the eight tracks from Swan Grinder, overhauled by UK industrial-darkwave giants ATTRITION; US anarcho-breakcore artists Distruster, Robert Inhuman of Realicide / Decide Today, experimental Siberian-Canadian artist Alia of the Knife from Subterranea, Brisbane’s electro-industrial outfit Hostile Architect, and Sydney industrial-gabber project Mattblackshotgun. Schkeuditzer Kreuz completes the collection with their own Missed Meds Mix of Poor Impulse Control.

“I love putting these remix albums together – hearing how other people take apart my tracks and put them back together in their own image is an amazing feeling.  And this time the range of sounds is huge – from oversaturated distorted breakcore, to reimagining with traditional Arabic instrumentation, and pretty much everything in between.  This is a huge part of what electronic music is to me – the possibility of pulling everything down and building it up again from scratch in totally different ways, so I’m very excited to get this out in the world and into people’s ears.”

The Australian leg of the international Swan Grinding Tour kicks in from November to December 2025, before returning to Aotearoa for Auckland and Wellington shows in January 2026. Reflecting on the recent tour of Europe, Kieren says the best thing was the sense of community everywhere he went.

“I played gigs across the continent from Armenia to Sweden, from Poland to Spain, and everywhere I went there were these amazing communities of people – putting on shows, being involved in their local squat or bar, or just turning up to have a great time and support touring artists.  I felt so welcome and wanted everywhere I went, and that is such a huge part of what we do. This record, Swan Grinder, is the best music I’ve made.  I feel like I’ve managed to get the sounds in my head onto record the way I want them, and I’m so excited to take those songs on the road and play them to people who may well have seen me before, but I feel like this is the best I have ever been, particularly when I’m fresh from playing 30 odd shows across Europe.  I feel like I am on and I’m stoked to be taking that out there on the road.”

“It’s been two years since I was last in New Zealand and they have been two extremely busy years. I’ve toured a fair bit of the world, released this new album, and worked to get myself, my performance where I want it.  So, to bring that back to NZ, to my home country, and to my friends there, means a lot to me.”

Variously termed Industrial Synth Crust, D-Beat Raw Synth Punk, and One human and some machines making noise, in the face of it all, Schkeuditzer Kreuz is a mutant post-apocalyptic hybrid. An intersection between harsh, confronting, mechanical noise and the comparatively raw, organic materials of Hardcore, Crust, and D-Beat punk. It is a noise wrought from the anguish and despair of Antipodean punk veteran Hills from a cabin that he built in the Blue Mountains in Australia.

Since 2020, Schkeuditzer Kreuz has released three full-length studio albums. Isolated and Alone in 2021, No Life Left in 2023, and the latest offering Swan Grinder this year. Alongside a raft of singles, videos, EPs, split-releases, compilation tracks, and remix collaborations Swan Grinder has quickly become the most widely acclaimed release of the project yet. Praised internationally Schkeuditzer Kreuz remains in constant live demand worldwide, while Kieren has also become a touring live member of pioneering UK industrial legends, ATTRITION.Schkeuditzer Kreuz is Re-Inventing Axel F – Swan Grinder Remixed is available both as a standalone digital release, and a physical bonus disc as part of the new Swan Grinder Double CD issue.

Swan Grinding Oceania Tour

Australia 2025

Friday 21 November – Banshees Bar & Artspace, Ipswich

Saturday 22 November – Vinnies Dive, Southport

Sunday 23 November – Old Ambulance Factory, Nambour

Saturday 29 November – Hotel Metro, Adelaide

Saturday 6 December – Café Gummo, Melbourne

Sunday 7 December – Blacksound Records, Melbourne

Saturday 13 December – The Croatian Club, Newcastle

Aotearoa 2026

Friday 23 January – Dead Witch, Ding Dong Lounge, Auckland Saturday 24 January – Underworld Tavern, Wellington

https://dorfpunk.bandcamp.com/album/reinventing-axel-f

Originally formed in the late nineties, Melbourne-based KTV were put together by Kat O, whose previous Riot grrrl band Sulk, made many inroads into Australia through hitting the road and touring.

The band released two EPs, played a slew of gigs, and won music industry competitions at the time. KTV played shows with high profile artists. However, after numerous line-up changes, the band sadly ran out of steam in 2001.

In 2024 an old demo of the band’s song High Street was included on Sound as Ever’s Flannel Files compilation of lost indie songs from the 90s which led to interest in the band again. Now, KTV are back in action with original member Philip Yarra on bass and the drumming prowess of John Hastings.

Armed with a back catalogue of original 90s-inspired punk/pop classics, as well as Kat’s new tunes, KTV are currently making a dent on their local live scene, having just released their new single Melt. A grungy, post punk groove that builds into a multi-layered chorus with charming vocal harmonies, ending with ringing distortion. The band will launch Melt at Mamma Chen’s in Footscray with support from Jess Shreds and The Unmade Beds and The Bronze, 29 November.

https://ktvmusic1.bandcamp.com/track/melt

Hot on the heels of the successful Sterilise tour that saw sold out shows in Brisbane, crowds of three hundred plus, and shows spanning the East Coast and Regionally in Queensland, NSW and Victoria Whisperhead are returning to the road for The War That I’m Waging tour.

A band that won’t hold back, they’ll be returning to some familiar places and will tackle new ground through Victoria and New South Wales with an explosive performance of energy not to be missed. Emerging from the shadows of Dubbo, Australia, Whisperhead delivers a potent, skull crushing, and thoroughly engaging brand of modern heavy. Drawing from a dexterous array of influences, Whisperhead hones these varied elements masterfully for a sound that marries dynamic riffs, pummelling percussion, and a gripping, visceral vocal.

Launching in early 2022 with the single Swallow You and shows throughout the Central West, the band quickly expanded to include appearances in Canberra, Sydney, and Wollongong. In their second year, they put even more shows under their belt, along with two releases and shows throughout regional and metro NSW and the ACT and introduced WHISPERFEST, a festival based in the bands’ home town. Last year, the band further extended their reach, touring the East Coast.

This year has seen Whisperhead tighten their grip on the east coast, with their first run of shows in Victoria, and more in New South Wales including WHISPERFEST ‘25.

https://whisperhead.bandcamp.com/track/swallow-you

2025 has been an incredible year so far for Velatine. Their last single, Till Death We Do Art, became a huge turning point for the band, particularly in Europe and Germany. The track has now surpassed a hundred thousand streams and the video over fifteen thousand.

Another exciting development is the addition of new vocalist, Hollie Purnell, who, with Loki, has injected a fresh sound, crafting new songs with powerful themes and dark aesthetics.

Oh See Me, The Siren was written as a song to counteract the rise of the manosphere. Reading too much news and triggered by the effect these influencers are having targeting the adolescent had left Loki outraged.

“The Siren is the survivor. She’s damaged, but as she finds her strength, she paralyses her predator to a life of misery and loneliness by the power she holds. She is the optimistic view. The other side is traumatic for those caught. The Siren can now shine light on this issue and help create awareness surrounding the early signs of coercive control.”

The addition of Holly Purnell has added an evocative melancholy to the Velatine soundscape, adding a mythic solemnity as if other worldly beings are whispering wisdoms in your ear. The perfect poignant intensity of sound and presentation.

https://velatine.bandcamp.com/track/oh-see-me-the-siren