The Hotel maroochydore alternative nights are fast becoming the place to showcase sunshine coast independent muso'c - and with good reason too. Great sound, great atmosphere, and always a really cool crowd. Tonight, I'm here to see The outlook in acoustic guise.

Casey kicks off the set with just his vocals, and a (borrowed) guitar. The first few songs are typical outlook tunes - really cruisy, but with a suprisingly strong rhythm conmsidering there is no actual beats. Casey's melodic vocals are spot on, and he keeps the crowd entertained between songs, with his honest humour. A few songs in, and MC Nesta joins Casey on stage for my favourite song "change". Nesta has a really powerful, soul sounding voice, and towards the end of the song, he lets loose with a beatbox section over caseys guitar and vocals, which really starts to get the crowd going. Their cover Bliss and Eso cover is done with an amazing level of confidence for such a complex song, and casey admits to it being his all time favourite song.

After The success of Hilltop hoods, every bogan with a beer in their hand decided they were going to become an "aussie rapper bro", and few managed to truly shine in this very niche genre. The outlook however, is a refreshing change with very positive lyrics, and none of the posturing usually associated with hip hop. Whether you like hip hop or not, do yourself a favour and check out The Outlook for a dose of how hip hop should be done.

Rohan