- Details
- By The Barman
- Hits: 9457
The cover - taken by Lydia Lunch - shows the ruins of an ancient desert city. Could be Jericho. Whether Jericho is in the Mid-East or the West of the USA makes little difference. We’re dealing with perennial humanity in a perilous place with a mythological backdrop. But, you know, the Israelis and the Palestinians are still killing each other, and as I say, it’s a big thing on a big, operatic stage with no solution and no apparent beginning, never mind end…
… and there are plenty of abandoned towns in Australia… it doesn’t take much, just a bit of intolerance and a bit of ignorance, and idealism for a hopeless, not very sensible cause…
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- By Andrew Molloy
- Hits: 8258
If one of those great, booze-soaked rock and roll weekends like Garage Shock or the Las Vegas Shakedown were still a going concern (correct me if I'm wrong and one of them still is ) the Bloody Hollies would have been one of those bands that came in unheralded, blew everyone away and sold a ton at the merch table. And anyone who picked this album up would have been plenty satisfied 'cos it's 30 minutes of fire-breathin' punk fury.
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- By Ronald Brown of Dimboola
- Hits: 277
Rip Shit or Bust - S.S.D. (self released)
Hello I-94 Barflies, hope you’re all well. “Rip Shit Or Bust” is the new four-song EP from Queensland underground punk rockers SSD. With members all over the country, it took a bit of time to follow-up the excellent “Resurrected” EP.
“Rip Shit or Bust” just grooves. It really is a strong effort.
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- By The Barman
- Hits: 771
Hollywood – The Fiction (Off The Hip)
Much water has passed under the bridge since 1978 when The Fiction was one of a handful of struggling punk rock bands in the womb of a nascent Melbourne underground music scene.
Like a spark, The Fiction came and went. Some of their songs made it into the setlist of mod-flavoured pop-rockers Little Murders, which has become as much a brand as a band for vocalist-guitarist-songwriter Rob Griffiths, its only constant member.
Griffiths (vocals) and Rob Wellington (guitar) remain from the original band and although the passage of time may have buffed off the sharper edges, the reconstituted Fiction still trades in high-energy pop punk.
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- By The Barman
- Hits: 1377
Keeping Chaos at Bay – Pat Todd & The Rankoutsiders (Hound Gawd)
Let’s level up: We’re on a Pat Todd and The Rankoutsiders jag at the I-94 Bar and it’s a jones that can only be satisfied by more of the L.A. band’s trademark Heartbreakers punk ‘n’ Stonesy roots Rock Action.
This is their third killer long-player in as many years – their second in six months! - and the prospect of a tour of Australia later this year just increases the high-rotation.
So if “Keepin' Chaos At Bay” confirms the purple patch that is “Sons of The City Ditch” (2013) and “…There’s Pretty Things In Palookaville” (2021) - the keen-eyed will note there’s an EP and some seven-inchers sandwiched in there, too - and you’re one of the uninitiated, well you’re entitled to ask, Why?
- Details
- By Robert Brokenmouth
- Hits: 959
I Am Time - Jeremy Gluck (Glass Modern)
This is one of the few times I cannot quantify a musical release. I cannot answer the question: “How many bottles?”
Really? For this? No, you may as well say “I Am Time” is as high as that thing over there, or as round as it is long.
“I Am Time” is a rather startling career overview of the tempting output of one Jeremy Gluck - and, yes, we're all aware of the sniggerment possibilities of Jeremy's surname, so if you quit cackling at the back there we might be able to get to the meat of the matter at hand.
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- By Robert Brokenmouth
- Hits: 1806
Black Hole - Mark Steiner and his Problems (Rabben Records)
Mark Steiner, expat New Yorker (think Piker Ryan's Folly), Oslosian and globe-trotter, has released his third LP. Being a busy chap, it's been a few years between road-trips Down Under.
COVID won't have helped. Remember COVID when large numbers of otherwise normal folks suddenly demonstrated that they couldn't tell the difference between a virus and a bug, came up with all manner of preposterous and completely impossible conspiracy theories (including the one that the deep state is ruled by giant lizard aliens), and generally gave the impression that education for the masses is clearly a waste of time, money and effort?
- Details
- By The Barman
- Hits: 1760
All Bad All The Time – Mad Brother Ward and The Abrasives (Ruined Records)
You have to feel sorry for Punk Rock. Nobody can work out when it was born, so you can’t celebrate its birthday. It’s obviously of advanced age, so it seems a bit woolly around the edges. Everybody claioms to know what it is, yet nobody can agree on a definition.
You’ll know that Mad Brother Ward is Punk Rock as soon as the stylus hits the groove on “All Bad All The Time” and that opening sustained guitar note plunges into Downstroke Heaven. There’s no mistaking the anger in Mad Brother Ward’s delivery, either, as he launches into lyrics about self-loathing and this fucked up world.
- Details
- By Bob Short, Robert Brokenmouth & Ronald Brown
- Hits: 3265
5th From The Sun – Jupiter 5 (I-94 Bar Records)
They say, in space, no-one can hear you scream. Jupiter 5, whose press release comes loaded with an array of retro astro puns, do their level best to mock this adage. They scream and yell, defying age. They do not wish to go quietly into that good night.
Like football hooligans after a surprise drunken victory, they swing from lamp posts and frighten the neighbours. I salute you, polyester-clad space warriors. Long may you laugh in the face of the void.
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