Oxford Art Factory's 2nd Hat Party - the photos.

Sydney's Oxford Art Factory hosted a hat-tastic party on Thursday night, with free entry, free booze and a bunch of awesome local bands doing their thing. There was only one rule. You had to wear a hat. Well, actually, even those that turned up sans headgear were still allowed to come and play.

There were brilliant sets from Veen, Dampvamp, Group (aka the James Manson Blues Band), Tales In Space, Bang! Bang! Rock 'n' Roll and The Jones Rival, while Skarlett Saramore played a kickass DJRUM SET in a glass cube (really).

Booze flowed and hats were doffed as party-goers danced their legs off to the sick sounds that were being delivered at pace by the bands and DJs. There would be some sore, yet well decorated, heads come the morning. Here are a few photos of the hattractive folks who made the party what it was. That's right, HATTRACTIVE. Boom.

Words and pictures by Bobby Townsend

Dear Pluto Speed Dating party in Sydney this Wednesday

Did you spend your Valentine's Day sitting at home drinking goon on your own and watching old episodes of Seinfeld in your underpants? No, ahem, nor did we. Regardless, if you happen to be single and, you know, into hot boys/chicks, then you should totally head down to the Speed Dating Party at Dear Pluto in Sydney on Wednesday. Entry's only $3, there's always loads of babin' ladies, beer and wine aplenty and FBi's Shantan Wantan Ichiban will be spinning some sweet tunes afterwards. And if you don't meet the girl or boy of your dreams, then there is always Dear Pluto's friendly cat to stroke (this isn't a euphemism).

Spoken for? Pass on the invite to your cute and single friends. You gots to be between 18 and 30 to take part (which rules more than one member of Team Bobbysix out, hmmph) and full deets can be found at the facebook event page.

Vice throws a Bondi party to launch Rdio in Australia!

We've been to our share of Vice parties in our time, and they are always pretty frickin awesome, so we're looking forward to next Saturday (Feb 4th) where, to celebrate the launch of Rdio, they are taking over Bondi’s Beach Road Hotel and cramming it full of bands. Doing their thang will be Das Racist, Canyons, Alpine, Collarbones, Jonti and more. There’s gonna be DJ sets from Twin Shadow & Austra too.

There’ll also be a one-year Rdio subscription in it for one lucky punter, so head along to rdio.vice.com for your chance to get your hands on one of 300 double passes – and to grab your free 7-day Rdio trial. For those Aussie-based readers outside of Sydney, there’s even the chance to be flown (with three mates) to the show and to be put up in a hotel room – plus the free 7-day trial, too. Not bad, hey?

Wondering what Rdio is? Well, it's an ad-free music subscription service which allows you to play the music you want, when you want, discover and share music through friends, influencers, facebook and twitter, sync music to your iPhone, BlackBerry or Android and listen while offline.