Amidst the endless of corridors and the star centric singles loitered across FM radio, the age of streaming and on-demand music has made it harder than ever to find new talent. Sure there's the much hyped 'discover' feature sprayed across online music services in different shapes and sizes as well as old stallions like Triple J Unearthed. 

But. 

Music has been the soundtrack of our lives at Hashtag dating back to the days we first worked out how to use the CD player (we don't date back to the record days though ;)). It pulsates our veins, defines our mood, instills confidence, calms and disappoints. Music is an experience. Has been and always will be. It takes us on a journey and the artists are the vehicle.

We've spent hours tuning our ever expanding catalogue with fresh and defining music. Our taste isn't your taste but we think we can find some common ground.

Welcome to an experience. 

Welcome to #theartist. 

Our new segment on the best new (and sometimes old) artists gracing the world. From hip hop to classical. From EMD to pop. From alternative to country. Herein lies the beginning of our collection of favourite artists. 





Nestled amongst Lana Del Rey and Lorde on streaming radio, a track popped up from an unknown artist. Waiting Game by Banks. Not that this was the first time a relative unknown had hit our headphones. The difference here was we were pausing for a moment of recollection. That wonderful moment when you strike gold.

A quick dig through the catalogue of this 26 year-old alternative pop up and comer finds a trove of gorgeous tracks. 

Then came the drop of Goddess by the California born singer in late 2014 with gems of its own. We hadn't seen anything like it before. A cascade of brash yet melodic, dark, real while also strangely electronic tracks brushed with trancesish vocals.  

Nominated as one of the Sounds of 2014 by the BBC Banks is quickly hitting the world stage. We got to ride the wave and now she's arrived. 

It's time to enjoy the procession.  



Listen to Banks' full catalogue for free online at Spotify, hear the remixes and popular singles on her SoundCloud page and buy her music on iTunes, Amazon or Google Play. Or if you're really old school buy the album at JB HI FI (her London EP and the Deluxe Edition of Goddess is also available). 

Let us know what you think. Hashtag out. 

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Stranded on the west side of Flinders Street with a ravenous appetite and burdensome shopping bags in tow, we decided we weren't going to move much for a lunch. So upon reaching the second joint along the street we pushed expectations aside and straddled into the most appealing and clean place we could find.  The name 'Four Seasons House' was not very indicative of what particular cuisine this outlet specialised in but we soon found out they focused on Malaysian dishes with Asians staples thrown in to bolster the menu. The lunch crowd was mainly office goers and a small space but it was obvious that value for money was the biggest drawcard here.   Indeed the Mongolian beef that we opted for, clocked in at only $9 complete with orange slices and spring rolls (the frozen party food variety).  It would be fair to say that the taste was satisfying for the price and decently presented.  Nevertheless, a good place for a quick and cheap Asian meal.  Follow Hashtag On Social Media: Tweets by @hashtagblogau

Amidst the platoon of eateries along Crown's Southbank dining precinct, there is a corner on the St Kilda road end that is home to the most awarded collection of restaurants within the casino. Given this, we made a beeline to this cluster of Qantas touting Australian celebrity chef Neil Perry's Melbourne establishments. The iconic Rockpool Bar and Grill (modern Australian steakhouse), Rosetta (traditional Italian fare) and Spice Temple (contemporary Chinese) had all bagged two stars apiece in the latest iteration of The Age's Good Food Guide. Given our tendency for Asian cuisine, we opted for Spice Temple which is headed up by young and rising Benjamin Pollard.

Bottling high expectations, we entered and we were  promptly escorted to a table for two. The premises is split into two levels with the ground floor much more aesthetically pleasing compared to the painfully dark lower level (good for ambience not reading menus).

Service was great with waiters attentive, dishing warm greetings and enthusiastic to explain the menu.

The menu itself is inspired by different regional provinces with each showcased their individual flare. Admittedly this is not the economical meal you will find in Chinatown and some of the dishes are quite pricey for average portion sizes. Nevertheless, we were looking at the "hot and numbing wagyu beef" accompanied by steamed rice and vegetarian noodles but upon our waiter's recommendation of something less dry, we went for the "House fried rice-house made lap cheong, peas and salted chilli" ($18) and some "Handmade vegetarian noodles with tofu, sesame and Handmade vegetarian noodles with tofu, sesame and Sichuan sauce" ($12).

House fried rice-house made lap cheong, peas and salted chilli ($18)

Handmade vegetarian noodles with tofu, sesame and Handmade vegetarian noodles with tofu, sesame and Sichuan sauce ($12)

We were a bit disappointed at the wait time for the food but the balance of flavours of was very well done. Now. The name 'Spice Temple' adorns the entrance for a reason and boy is the food HOT. We didn't even go for the extra spicy dishes marked in red on the menu but we needed a extended breather halfway through the meal. Some would label this kind of spice overpowering but as spice lovers, we quite enjoyed it. However this level of spice should be an occasional venture.

To cool down, we went for a "Lychee granita with poached gooseberries and elderflower" ($16) (unfortunately we couldn't get a photo) and it was another quite good dish that rounded off the meal nicely.

Having had a chance to sample Spice Temple and one of Neil Perry's restaurants, we will definitely be returning to have more extensive taste of the menu and popping into Rockpool sometime soon as well.

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Chicken Bulgogi

Vegetarian Mushroom Salad

Beef Bulgogi

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