Niche Productions presents a night of future bass from the future of the future bass genre. You follow us? 22 year-old Jacques Greene from Canada has had a standout year in 2011, with releases on LuckyMe and UK label of the moment Nightslugs. His Ciara-sampling jam Another Girl' from electronic bible Resident Advisor and our own FBI Radio. Niche are cleaning up this year, presenting a stack of incredible line-ups for the discerning fan of modern electronica. WHAT: Niche Presents JACQUES GREENE + AFRICA HITECH + MACHINEDRUM + DIBIASE + ALBATROSS (live) WHERE: The Oxford Arts Factory, Oxford St WHEN: 7th April – Oxford Art Factory - Sydney TICKETS: www.moshtix.com.au from March 1st

What do we want? CHEESE FOR DINNER! When do we want it? NOW. Burrata translates as buttered in Italian and finally, there’s a place where a tender knot of it, brimming with cream, is classified as a meal. The folks behind Tablefor20 and Sticky Bar, have opened the doors to Buffalo Dining Club and we think we've found our nirvana. Fresh burrata and buffalo mozzarella are flown in three times a week from Italy - cheese is obviously a big deal around these parts, so the lactose intolerant can sit this round out. Your cheese order comes with a side of honey roasted fennel, chilli braised broccolini, portobello mushrooms or balsamic baby carrots, and if you have room for more, get into a plate of cacio e pepe, spaghetti with black pepper and pecorino, which is served out of a hollowed-out pecorino wheel. Yep, you heard me, a bowl of cheese, and it ain't too bad either.  A 500ml carafe of house wine won’t set you back much at all and neither will a few slices of Prosciutto San Daniele to go with it. The room is small, but there are a few tables outside, and some tables upstairs also. If you need us, we’ll just be slumped over the bar in a cheese-coma bliss. Buffalo Dining Club 116 Surrey St, Darlinghurst Lunch from 12pm Wed-Sat Dinner from 6pm Wed-Sat Sophie McComas www.twitter.com/sophmccomas

A young kid from Idaho with alot of feelings to share, Youth Lagoon is the one-man creation of Trevor Powers (of no relation to Kenny Powers). Trance-educing, garage-born emo pop with an orchestral overtone, Youth Lagoon visits Sydney for the first time on 16th Feb at Oxford Arts Factory. We've got a double pass to the show to giveaway, just email subculture@dailysydney.com with a sad picture attached. Best interpretation of the theme gets the tickets. WHAT: Youth Lagoon (US) and Oliver Tank WHERE: Oxford Arts Factory, Oxford St, Darlinghurst WHEN: Feb 16th HOW MUCH: Tickets $36.90 and selling quick-stix One of the more tear-jerking clips of 2011 below:

So Matt, you've been putting this together since 2004 and the festival itself has seen an incredible evolution... What are the changes and transformations you're most excited about this year?  There's lots of great new stuff this year, we’re launching a new outdoor fully decorated electronic stage at the Festival which will feature cutting edge sets from some wicked producers and DJs, we’re organising it in conjunction with the crew from Noisy Chicken. We’re also launching a new mobile Eco hub at the heart of the Ecoliving Village. It’s an amazing structure that we’ve designed with a team of architects and which is manufactured out of recycled Aluminium agricultural pipe. We’ll be taking it around to other events to educate people about sustainability. Our arts programme is always a highlight, rich and diverse and kooky, this year we’ve partnered with Alchemical Cabaret and will be bringing a full black-out Theatre dome, with full theatrical performances during the day and which we’ll be turning it into a fully themed nightclub at night. The Children’s Festival has a great headliner this year, the Drumming Monkeys and we will be improving ‘The Swamp’, which is our area dedicated to teens, with lots of workshops and live performance. And of course over 140 musical acts, with an outstanding line up of Australian and international acts. Gotye will be playing the midnight set, that’s a real coup, and we have an amazing selection of up and coming Australian talent to give everyone a chance to discover a new favourite act. It’s going to be wicked this year! Tell me where the inspiration for you to create a sustainable music festival sprung from. I had wanted to organise a Festival since 1994 but it wasn’t until I took a Permaculture design course in 2000 that the concept of marrying sustainability and a Festival together emerged. I had felt an obligation up until this point to work within the field of sustainability as I could see from a logical point of view that we were heading towards issues with resources on the planet, but I wasn’t sure how to implement this obligation. I had competing pulls between the urge to work in sustainability and the passion to create a Festival. Once the idea of combining both came to me everything just seemed to flow naturally, although I have to say at the time everybody thought I was mad.   When we made the choice in 2005 to run the event entirely on renewable energy (100% biodiesel fuelled generators) nobody had done this before and a lot of people said to me you’re crazy to take the risk, but from my information there wasn’t such a risk and it was something I really wanted to do. We’ve run the Festival on renewable energy ever since and to be honest we’ve never had any problems. We’re still the only Festival that’s 100% run on renewable energy and we’re constantly looking for new technologies to decrease our impact on the planet. We report on everything we discover through our Model Event program which is all the information we discover about running a sustainable event that we give away via our website. Why Glenworth Valley and why the illustrious dates over New Years Eve? Well, it’s stunning there. Driving down into the valley is an experience in itself with the Festival appearing below you. Also it’s really close to Sydney, which is a definite plus. New Year’s Eve – because it’s the only time of the year where pretty much everybody takes at least a week off and you can get everybody into the most relaxed frame of mind. Who are you most excited about hearing play in this year's line up (I'm personally going numb with excitement over Gotye)... LTJ Bukem, is my personal hero there is no better DJ for stepping out big time on the dance floor, also Oliver Tank will be wicked. Stanton Warriors and Dum Dum Girls will also be well worth checking out. I see you very much as a pioneer in this field, particularly leading the way in terms of generating sustainable and viable ways to create events and festivals globally, I have to ask though, (it must get hard at times) what keeps you motivated to bring about sustainable changes in attitude in other people?  Good question, probably at the end of the day I’m a stubborn bastard and I rise to challenges. There’s no doubt at all that organising Peats Ridge has been a huge challenge - emotionally. physically, mentally and financially but what I do makes people smile and creates positive change in the world. The Festival is an inspiration to many and it teaches people great things and even in the hardest moments I have never lost my enormous faith in what the Festival stands for in this world. PEATS RIDGE FESTIVAL WHEN: 29th December- 1st January WHERE: Glenworth Valley (1hr north of Sydney) HOW MUCH: For 3 days of music with camping included, it's a steal at $350 per person Emily Eskell emilyeskell@gmail.com

Our bum-chums at Polaroids of Androids (the most outspoken hive of music-dweebs this side of the Mess+Noise forums) are having a party tonight and you're invited. Come get felt up and leered at inappropriately by the Polaroids crew plus Ernest Ellis and the Panamas (pictured), The Fighting League (Sydney album launch), Unity Floors, and Sean Lockhart (from Collarbones). Cheap brews, annoyingly cerebral Sydney music and a high-chance of daterape. Plus entry is free! WHAT: Polaroids of Androids XMas Party WHERE: Oxford Arts Factory WHEN: Tonight! HOW MUCH: FREEEEE Sons and Daughters by Ernest Ellis

ARIA Award winners Cut Copy are hosting a Cutters Records party this weekend at GoodGod Small Club Cut Copy Djs will be playing alongside Melbourne producer Knightlife, celebrating the launch of his new EP, 'I Want You' Pop down and give the Cut Copy boys and pat on the back before they jet off overseas again. Party starts this Friday night at GoodGod Small Club from 11:00pm KNIGHTLIFE - SERVES YOU RIGHT by Cutters Records WHAT: Cutters Rec Party feat Knightlife, Das Moth, Tunnel Signs (Deathstrobe Records), Francis Chang. WHEN: Friday 2nd December @ 11:00pm TICKETS: $15 on the door

There are some things that are best left in the past. Like canned Spam, hair perms and bell-bottomed jeans. But some things are waaaaay missing in the present. Like spiders! Those frothy ice cream and soda concoctions, or devils on horseback - prunes wrapped in bacon and then grilled to a crisp, salty, sweet and juicy bite of awesome.The brains over at the Australian Women's Weekly (those who brought you the kids party cake book you all know and love) have published The Retro Cookbook, a best-of collection of vintage recipes that time forgot. Layered between advertisments that appeared in The Weekly in the 50s are recipes for the perfect corned beef with parsley sauce (Reuben sandwich anyone?), the quintessential banana split, Hors d'Oeuvres to impress The Husband's Boss when he comes for dinner, scotch eggs and bakewell tarts and a recipe for devilled eggs that will get you through the picnic season without a hiccup.Some recipe's have been freshened up a little, but the nostalgic charm remains intact. If you're looking what to get your mama for Christmas, this is it.We have a copy of this retrolicious book worth $49.95 to give away to one of you little pigs in a blanket! All you need to do is 'like' us on facebook and tag us in your status that reads: Bring Back the Meatloaf Daily Sydney! make sure you tag us (type @dailysydney) or we won't be able to see it. The winner will be drawn on Friday November 25. Go go go!If you don't win (soz!) you can buy a copy HERESophie McComaswww.twitter.com/sophmccomas

See works from Sydney's next generation of artists at the SCA's final exam exhibitions for 2011! Both exhibitions are free, open to the public and well worth checking out. Might even be a few icy-cold beverages on hand.Undergraduate Degree ShowOpens Tuesday 15 November (tonight!) 6.00 to 8.00pmExhibition continues to Friday 25 NovemberMonday to Friday, 11am to 5pmSaturday to Sunday, 11am to 4pmPostgraduate Degree ShowOpens Wednesday 7 December 6.00 to 8.00pmExhibition continues to Wednesday 14 DecemberMonday to Friday, 11am to 5pmSaturday to Sunday, 11am to 4pmWhere: Sydney College of the Arts, Balmain Road Rozelle (enter opposite Cecily Street)How to get to SCA: Facebook: Undergraduate Degree Show or Postgraduate Degree Show

The faces of young, poverty-stricken children are often used as subjects in photography. Kabul Kids, opening next Friday 18th November at China Heights Gallery, shows the images that emerge when these children take hold of the camera.This collection of photographs were taken by six young Afghani orphans who show the Kabul through their eyes; an alternate perspective to the war-torn images shown on the news.It's the result of the hard work of ShutterSeed, an project initiated by Palwesha Yusaf who travelled to Afghanistan in 2009 to teach these six children the art of photography through a series of workshops covering all the basics. The kids were then handed a camera to go out and express their own experiences creatively both within the orphanage and out on the streets of Kabul.The aim of ShutterSeed is to show the 'positive effects of "photographed" communities representing themselves through their own photography.'The collection ranges from intimate scenes of friendship to raw photos of the street outside, all are from an innocent and honest perspective.On the 25th November the exhibition will move to Parramatta for a week-long installment at the Information Cultural Exchange. The opening night will play host to a panel discussion with Palwesha Yusef on topics ranging from the universal experience of the child to the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, which the event falls upon.Throughout the entire exhibition artworks may be purchased, with all proceeds going towards the Hope House Orphanage in Kabul.Be sure not to miss this incredible chance to see Afghanistan through the eyes of the children that live there, sure to be an insightful and eye-opening experience.Opening Night - Kabul KidsWhen: 6-9pm, Friday 18th NovemberWhere: China Heights Gallery, 3/16-28 Foster Street, Surry Hillswww.chinaheights.comPanel Discussion @ International Cultural ExchangeWhen: 6:30pm, Friday 25th November (Exhibition runs here until 1st December)Where: 8 Victoria Road (Switch Digital Arts Centre), ParramattaLiz de Fegely: liz_defegely@hotmail.com

Seeing these shows will expose you to some of the most committed, creative and heart felt moments in theatre making history. These productions are entirely student run, (except for the directors- mostly of whom are internationally recognised) putting their hearts and souls into making these productions the best they possibly can be. This years line up includes 'The Last Days of Judas Iscariot', 'Pains of Youth', 'Rare Earth', 'The Idiot' and 'Port.' Check them out before they finish- you're absolutely guaranteed a great night of theatre.NIDA OCTOBER PRODUCTIONSWHERE: NIDA, Anzac Pde, Kensington (Opposite main gate entrance into UNSW)WHEN: Now until 26th October (please see individual shows you want to attend as some are finishing earlier than others)Emily Eskellemilyeskell@gmail.com

Guys, this is a really beautiful piece of theatre. Jane Bodie's new play, 'This Year's Ashes' opened at Griffin Last Night. Directed by Shannon Murphy, staring Belinda Bromillow, Tony Lewellyn- Jones and Nathan Lovejoy. We follow the story of Ellen, a thirty something Sydneysider, living in a world that seems a little too fast and overwhelming for her to handle.* What I love so much about Jane's work is that it's set in Sydney; we become a part of the story, we follow it and relate to it on a completely different level to so many other Australian works. There are some really beautiful, magic moments. What a wonderful way to end this year's season at Griffin. Get yourself to it, I promise you won't regret it! *I'm not giving away any spoilers, you'll have to see it to really understand what I'm getting at.This Year's AshesWhen: 13th October- 19th NovemberWhere: Nimrod St, Potts PointEmily Eskellemilyeskell@gmail.com

It was this time last year that I began to get enlivened at the prospect of Neil Armfield directing Ray Lawler's updated version of The Doll. Et voila! Now I can safely say I have seen it and, more importantly, I enjoyed it!Still, I can't help but be conflicted as to whether I truly believe this is a play that continues to be relevant in a modern context (it was first performed in 1955). The underlying messages, yes. The story itself? I'm not so sure... Even though Lawler has revisited the text, I didn't notice many huge divergences between the original- not that this is something that could be done in any heavy handed sort of way- however perhaps an adaption (similar to Benedict Andrews' version of The Seagull, seen on the Belvoir main stage earlier in the season) would be an interesting evolution for the text?Nonetheless, it is a histrionic piece of Australian theatre that the star studded cast rips to shreds- in a good way: Susie Porter, Robyn Nevin, Yael Stone, Steve Le Marquand, TJ Power, Helen Thomson and Dan Wylie. This, hand- in- hand with the stunningly alive set designed by current Belvoir artistic director, Ralph Meyers and Armfield's faultless directing proves for a wonderful production. SUMMER OF THE 17TH DOLLWHEN: 24th September- 13th NovemberWHERE: Belvoir St Theatre, Belvoir St Surry HillsEmily Eskellemilyeskell@gmail.com