• Hello weekend edition of The Purge! And hello to the boys from In Stereo, who’ll be LIVE for our first EVER Facebook live feed from 11am AEST this morning. Jacob, Ethan and Chris will be with Brad, answering your questions. So tune in HERE to check it out from 11am!
• Cut Copy will release their new album ‘Haiku From Zero’ towards the end of next month. It’s the band’s first “proper” album release in almost four years and has been preceded by lead single ‘Airborne’ and new track ‘Standing In The Middle Of The Field’. Both are available as grat tracks when pre-ordering the album prior to its September 22 release.
• The ladies from Little Mix are getting on the Latin train, yesterday releasing a new single called ‘Reggaetón Lento (Remix)’. It’s a duet with boyband CNCO, who won the 2015 edition of Simon Cowell’s Latin American reality TV competition ‘La Banda’. So, massive crossover potential for both acts. The track was serviced in single and instrumental guise to Australian media yesterday.
• It didn’t take long for the new Justin Bieber single to rocket to the upper echelons of the chart. ‘Friends’ is a collaboration with a new act called Bloodpop who’s previously worked with the likes of Madonna, Charli XCX and, wouldn’t you know it, the Bieb himself. The song, which was released yesterday, was also co-written by ‘Issues’ songstress Julia Michaels.
• Yep, that’s Fergie. The Black Eyed Peas songstress is readying the release of her long-awaited new album ‘Double Dutchess’. She treated us to a couple of singles last year (dangling the carrot, if you will) and though there’s no new single to speak of at the moment, we’re expecting one to rear its head this Friday (August 25) when the album pre-order is due to go live.
• Lakyn is back with a new single called ‘West’, which premiered on Triple J during the week and he’s celebrating its release by hitting the road in support of it. Catch him at the Northcote Social Club in Melbourne on Friday October 13, Milk Factory in Brisbane on October 20, Oxford Art Factory Gallery on October 21 and Grace Emily in Adelaide on October 25. Tickets are on sale now.
• The countdown to the digital release of the new Neil Finn album ‘Out Of Silence’ on September 01 continues apace, with the release of the new single from it, ‘Second Nature’. This track was recorded live last Friday at Neil’s Roundhead Studios in Auckland, alongside a 20 piece orchestra. A physical edition of the album will be in stores on September 22.
• Rapper Mac Miller is inbound. He’s set to perform for audiences in both Sydney and Melbourne towards the end of next month in what will be his first shows here in more than three years. Catch him at 170 Russell in Melbourne on September 26 and at the Metro Theatre in Sydney on September 28. Frontier members get a pre-sale from 11am on Monday before general public tickets go live from 11am on Thursday August 24.
• UK outfit Deaf Havana will play headline shows in Sydney and Melbourne next month while they’re in the country supporting Placebo. They’ll perform for audiences at Melbourne’s Ding Dong Lounge on September 07 and will then head to Sydney for a show at the Oxford Art Factory on September 13. Pre-sale tickets are already on the sales desk, but the general public variety will go live from 9am on Monday August 21.
• Pond have added a third Melbourne show to their upcoming Aussie visit after their first two at the city’s Corner Hotel sold out. The third date will hit the Corner Hotel on Wednesday September 20 and tickets are on sale now.
• Mark it in your diary… CMC Rocks Queensland is back in 2018 and is once again ready to take over Willowbank Racecourse in Ipswich. It’s set to take place over four days; from Thursday March 15 to Sunday March 18.
• Organisers of the 2017 Fairgrounds Festival in Berri, NSW have this week lifted the lid on the all-important line-up. auspOp favourites Client Liaison, plus Marlon Williams, Aldous Harding, The Shins, Future Islands, You Am I, DD Dumbo and more are on the 2017 bill. So too Holly Throsby, Japanese Breakfast, Hockey Dad, Jen Cloher, Noname, Jess Locke and more! The peeps at Moshtix have your tickets ready from 9am on Tuesday, August 22.
• Speaking of line-ups, the guys at Beyond The Valley in Gippsland also have a cracker; theirs revealed on Wednesday afternoon. Among the acts ready to take over Lardner Park in Warragul are Schoolboy Q, The Presets, Matt Corby, Stormzy, Little Dragon and Mura Masa. But you also get Dean Lewis, Amy Shark, George Maple, Hayden James, Hot Dub Time Machine, San Cisco, The Belligerents and many more. Pre-sales are already live. General public tickets, meantime, are go from this Thursday, August 24.
• There’s another line-up this week! Gold Coast’s Sprung Festival will return to the Parkwood Precinct on October 28 and organisers have assembled a bloody decent roster; Illy, Allday, AB Original, Tkay Maidza, Spit Syndicate, Pez, Ivan Ooze… yep, it’s a biggie. Early bird tickets are on sale from Monday, with general tickets following this Thursday.
• Field Day organisers have revealed that Golden Features will play a brand new show (his only show of the Spring/Summer) at Field Day 2018. The event will take over The Domain in Sydney on New Years Day and this year’s full line-up is set for the big reveal on Tuesday August 29. Amazingly, that’s the same date Optus pre-sale tickets go live.
• Well that was brief. Yes, ‘Despacito’ finally lost its foothold on the UK No.1 position last week, succumbing to Calvin Harris’s ‘Feels’. But it too has fallen by the wayside, knocked out of place by the new Dua Lipa single ‘New Rules’, which leaps from No.5 to No.1. In doing so, she becomes the first solo woman in the UK No.1 spot for almost two years. But Pink is on the charge with her new single ‘What About Us’. It sneakily scraped into the top 100 last week at No.83, but rockets to No.5. Even Louis Tomlinson is in on the top ten action this week; ‘Back To You’ improving from No.12 to No.8.
• Despite change at the top of the UK singles chart, there’s no change to the top of the UK albums chart, with Ed Sheeran maintaining his advantage with ‘÷’. But there’s plenty of chart action in the rest of this week’s top ten. Elvis Presley’s ’50 Greatest Hits’ re-enters the countdown – and how – at No.2. The new Kesha album ‘Rainbow’ is new at No.4. Dodie’s ‘You’ is new at No.6 and also entering in an even position this week is Cribs’ ’24-7 Rock Star Shit’ (No.8). New albums from Chip, Rat Boy, Martine McCutcheon and Paul Draper premiere inside the top 20.
• Yeah, we’re getting over it too… Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber. No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. ‘Despacito’… In fact, the top three is stable this week, but Imagine Dragons’ ‘Believer’ is up from No.5 to No.4 and Charlie Puth’s ‘Attention’ is up from No.7 to No.5. Shawn Mendes is also on the move up with ‘There’s Nothing Holding Me Back’ (No.8 to No.6), while Cardi B bullets into the top ten (No.14 to No.8) with ‘Bodak Yellow (Money Moves)’.
• Last week’s Billboard No.1 from Arcade Fire is now nowhere to be seen in the top ten. Or the top 20. Or even the top 30. No, ‘Everything Now’ takes a massive tumble to No.38 in just its second week of US chart love. It’s been replaced in the No.1 position by Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Damn’, which retakes No.1 over Brett Eldredge’s self-titled release (new at No.2). DJ Khaled and Meek Mill are in positions three and four respectively, with a new ‘NOW’ compilation scoring a No.5 debut.
• And, except for all your ticketing info below, that’s it for a huge Saturday serve of The Purge! We’ll be back tonight at 6pm AEST with all the juicy goss on the chart front with ARIA Chart Watch edition #434. In the meantime, don’t forget that amazing Facebook live chat with the In Stereo boys… this morning HERE at 11am AEST!
TICKETS PLEASE
MONDAY AUGUST 21 : 6lack (Sydney, Melbourne)
MONDAY AUGUST 21 : Deaf Havana (Sydney, Melbourne)
MONDAY AUGUST 21 : Methyl Ethel (Nationally)
TUESDAY AUGUST 22 : Fairgrounds Music Festival (Berri)
TUESDAY AUGUST 22 : Jose Feliciano (Nationally)
THURSDAY AUGUST 24 : Beyond The Valley (Warragul)
THURSDAY AUGUST 24 : Crossroads Blues In The Vines (Hunter Valley)
THURSDAY AUGUST 24 : Crossroads Country In The Vines (Hunter Valley)
THURSDAY AUGUST 24 : Fifth Harmony (Nationally)
THURSDAY AUGUST 24 : Mac Miller (Sydney, Melbourne)
THURSDAY AUGUST 24 : Sprung Festival (Gold Coast)
THURSDAY AUGUST 24 : The Temper Trap (Sydney, Melbourne)
FRIDAY AUGUST 25 : The xx (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane)
Australia's first stop for pop!