Album: SJS - The Unlikely Event

Effulgent meltdown epic number two from the Aussie neo-prog combo

Just as love's downward spiral can deconstruct a lover's sense of self, so SJS's plangent post-modern prog deconstructs itself as it ebbs and flows toward gorgeous but muted crescendos.

On the band's second album The Unlikely Event, lovely melodies stop dead and mutate. Electronic interjections – like leaks from a nerve centre or a super-computer – fizz, throb and splutter out. A searing guitar solo, bent on rockist glory, suddenly falters, chokes and has to regather itself. Uncertainty and impermanence rule.

Blu-ray: Celia

★★★★★ BLU-RAY: CELIA Death, rabbits and communism in a superb Australian drama

Death, rabbits and communism in a superb Australian drama

Ann Turner’s 1989 feature debut Celia is one of the great coming-of-age films, an enthralling tale of pre-pubescent angst set against a backdrop of post-war Australian social and political history.

Lie With Me, Channel 5 review - abuse and betrayal in the Melbourne suburbs

★★★ LIE WITH ME, CHANNEL 5 Abuse and betrayal in the Melbourne suburbs

Anglo-Australian thriller doesn't fulfil its potential

A joint production between Channel 5 and Australia’s Network 10, the four-part mystery Lie With Me didn’t do itself many favours by kicking off with its least persuasive episode. However, if you stuck with it, hidden layers began to reveal themselves, and the final instalment delivered a satisfyingly malevolent twist.

Album: Chet Faker - Hotel Surrender

Mellow and feel-good white soul

Chet Faker is Melbourne-born musician Nick Murphy’s alter ego, an avatar he has stepped in and out of with gentle grace over more than a decade of finding a voice that's very much his own. Once described in The Guardian as a purveyor of “mellow-electronic-pop”, he is actually something else, closer to the sensuality and slow drag of soul, lilting along to very relaxed beats that have an almost trip-hop feel.

Album: Tones and I - Welcome to the Madhouse

★★★ TONES AND I - WELCOME TO THE MADHOUSE Heartfelt & jovially characterful

Debut full album from Australian hit-maker is heartfelt and jovially characterful

This writer has often pleaded to move away from vocal homogeny in pop. The current value placed on technical skill and hackneyed vulnerability-signifying has become a bore. It’s limiting that Chris Martin-meets-Ed Sheeran or Beyoncé-meets-Whitney Houston are primary templates. That said, the voice of Aussie singer Toni Watson – AKA Tones and I – is a challenge, a cloyingly cute teen-squeak of an instrument (although capable of taking flight).

Blu-ray: Lake Mungo

★★★★ BLU-RAY: LAKE MUNGO Eerie Australian faux documentary

Eerie Australian faux documentary probes the nature of grief, the value of fake images, and suburban decadence

Lake Mungo (2008) is a dread-laden Australian Gothic thriller that masquerades as a straight-faced documentary.

Reissue CDs Weekly: Tame Impala - InnerSpeaker (2010➝2020)

REISSUE CDS WEEKLY: TAME IMPALA - INNERSPEAKER (2010➝2020) Box-set makeover of crisp, fizzing debut album

Box-set makeover of one of the last decade or so’s greatest albums

Heard now, InnerSpeaker sounds as it did when it was issued in 2010. Tame Impala’s debut album was crisp, fizzing; a pithy collection of psychedelic rock nuggets which made its case instantly. This was modern psychedelia, infused with a dash of Sweden’s Dungen, which still sounds fresh. Despite brushing the borders of freak-out territory, it was direct. Tuneful too. Fantastic.

Blu-ray: Link

★★★ BLU-RAY: LINK Stamp and Shue confront a cult horror's eerie mansion of the apes

Stamp and Shue confront a cult horror's eerie mansion of the apes

Man’s strange relationship with other species haunts this freaky simian horror film from Psycho II director Richard Franklin.