Most Young Australians who Smoke are Buying Illegally, Studies Find

More than half of Australians aged 18–24 who smoke are purchasing illegal tobacco products, making young adults the most active black-market age group at the same time as their smoking rates fall to r

Public Hospital Doctors Strike for the First Time in Two Decades

Doctors at several major hospitals across Melbourne went on strike on Friday last week, marking the first public health system strike in 20 years.

AI-Generated "Slop" is Going Mainstream—and Platforms Aren't Stopping It

A cartoon fruit series generated entirely by artificial intelligence has become one of TikTok's most-watched properties of 2026, prompting researchers and critics to warn that platforms are systematic

Universities to be Required to Prove Action Against Antisemitism

Content Warning: discussions of racism, antisemitism and Islamophobia; references to violence

Smart Glasses Pose a Risk to Women and Girls in Public and Educational Settings, Experts Warn

The recent rise of smart glasses on the market has experts concerned that policymakers will fail to keep up with new technologies to mitigate harm. With instances of deepfake image-based abuse on the

Article

Placement Confront Monotony on INERTIA / HEAVY LIDS

Dom Lepore (writer)

featuredHomeFodderreviews

Kaurna’s/Adelaide’s post-punk outfit Placement are making waves with their pulsing, brooding art rock. The five-piece experiment with twangy dissonant chords and deadpanned spoken vocals, which cumulate into hypnotic grooves. There’s a rawness to their off-kilter rock, recalling everything from Sonic Youth to Patti Smith to Dry Cleaning. Placement’s respect for ‘90s alt-rock bands cannot be understated; they adore that sound and the fact that more of it is emerging from homegrown soil is beyond exciting.

While meticulously honing their craft, they’ve kept busy. Placement just wrapped up a huge 18-month string of dates, performing alongside American alt-rock heavyweights Superchunk and Quicksand, as well as acclaimed Aussie rockers DZ Deathrays and Party Dozen. Now, they return with the heavy and harmonic ‘Inertia / Heavy Lids’ ahead of their debut album Insect due for release later this year. The thrilling track is the typical Placement style that they’ve perfected: angular tunings, haunting sax howls, and frontwoman Malia Wearn's punky, stoic narration—whose intonation resembles Florence Shaw of Dry Cleaning. The song explores the struggle to break free from a tedious rut. “Sometimes we are not really awake but sleepwalking through ritual, continuing the same comfortable routine, particularly if it is something that was once desirable to us,” Wearn shared in a statement explaining the track’s themes. “Maybe there’s a reason we sleepwalk. Maybe it is just our inertia, eyes glued shut with sleep while we stumble through the things we know.”

The gripping queries Placement poses on ‘Inertia / Heavy Lids’ make the song more alluring, especially as it closes with a halting, sprawling crescendo. While packed with many ideas, Placement’s songs aren’t cluttered, but contain breathing room with space for their poetic ruminations. If ‘Inertia / Heavy Lids’ indicates what Insect might sound and feel like, we have a classic full of freeform sonic journeys about to arrive around the corner. You can hear ‘Inertia / Heavy Lids’ below: