Don't adjust your TV. Normal programming will not be resumed soon

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By The Barman

The Barman

18 February 2021

Hits: 3171

Lockdown Holiday – TV Smith (Easy Action)

Write about the things you know, the critics say. And when songwriters do, they run the risk of being taken down in a hail of journalistic bullets for crimes like inauthenticity, awkwardness or bandwagon jumping.

There’s no risk of TV Smith suffering that fate with his latest album, “Lockdown Holiday”, a stark and compelling take on his own experience with the dreaded COVID clusterfuck.

The ex-Adverts punk is still standing after 50 lives dates were cancelled - a fate shared by many in these fucked-up times. - but his own experience was enlivened, somewhat, by him and his partner being mowed down by The Plague.  following close contact with an infected roadhouse patron in the early stages of the pandemic.

• tv smith
• adverts
• lockdown holiday
• easy action records

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The Casanovas get set to lord it over you live

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By The Barman

The Barman

17 February 2021

Hits: 3020

Better late than never, Melbourne’s the Casanovas will get back to doing what they do best – rock ’n’’rolling under lights, on a stage, in front of an audience – when they launch their much-acclaimed fourth album “Reptillian Overlord” at Richmond’s Corner Hotel on March 6.

Released back in August 2020, Reptilian Overlord was the Casanovas’ first album in five years and arguably the best-reviewed album of their 20 year career.

Produced by iconic Oz Rock engineer/producer Mark Optiz (AC/DC, Angels, Chisel, Divinyls), and featuring singles “Hollywood Riot” (which was appropriately picked up by legendary LA DJ Rodney Bingenheimer) and “Lost and Lonely Dreams”, it attracted plenty of attention and thoroughly deserved a live launch. Our Man in Dimboola Ron Brown's review is here.

• the tote
• the casanovas
• reptillian overlord

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Chow down on some 12-bar bile

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By Robert Brokenmouth & The Barman

Robert Brokenmouth & The Barman

14 February 2021

Hits: 4132

Complaints – Gravel Samwidge (Swashbuckling Hobo)

 It's quite unpleasant, and I may never listen to it again.

 But if I do, it will be very loud, and I will end up in jail.

I like Gravel Samwidge. They're out of kilter with everything else around right now. The songs put the listener right in the singer's place, their intense, irritated narrative. The Gravels write songs as natural to Australia as the King Brown Snake, and just about as cuddly. 

The Barman's right when he makes the comparison to Kim Salmon and the Surrealists (see "Don't You Know", with the silly/ griping sax, or "Briz 31", with the topply structure), but The Gravels have their own - possibly stranger - take on the universe and our misplacement in it. 'Long Distance Drive' captures that horrible last part of a long drive, when you're almost home, spaced out from too much driving and methadone, frantic to get there (Spinks' manic guitar sounds like a whizz-head on violin) yet forcing yourself to stay calm. 

• brisbane
• kim salmon
• surrealists
• gravel samwidge
• mark spinks
• flipper

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Harmful Content: Remembering our rights - and L.A. rocker Taz Rudd

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By General Labor

General Labor

11 February 2021

Hits: 9580

"The idea that 'disinformation' is something that just happened during the last four years is absurd. How did the U.S. public become the most ill-informed, easily manipulated public on the planet if not as a result of systematic 'disinformation' from the rulers? Now these same rulers want to 'regulate' social media speech." - Ajamu Baraka

“Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power.” - Mussolini

Ridiculously, I am suspended from social media, by fascist corporatists for posting this quote. How Zucked-up is that? I've been Zucked. You could be next.

All the left media sites are being censored, demonetized, or taken down, by corporatist Zuck-bots, and the gentrification shitlibs accept this, casually and completely, because their pyramid-scheme higher-up superiors have told them that censorship is okey-dokey, because social media is privately owned, and therefore, tech-lord billionaires have the right to censor any facts, opinions, quotes, or evidence that contradicts their corporatist agenda. More worryingly, attractive and beloved celebrity figureheads have, once again, been recruited to promote monopoly tech-lord control of information flow, by telling their followers to rat on any voices online that question or contradict official narratives, as spreading mis-information. This is exactly the cultish Blue MAGA equivalent of crazy Trump yelling "fake news".

• Medew
• los angeles
• taz rudd
• symbol six
• izzy stradlin

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Not to be sold short, The Not Nots make their mark

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By The Barman

The Barman

07 February 2021

Hits: 3481

The Not Nots – The Not Nots (Outtspace)

Saw this Newcastle, NSW, band of older hands at a gig in their hometown and they impressed with their economic, garage-y tuneage after a shaky start hampered by minor sound problems. The venue shut down the headliners early thanks to a non-communicative dickhead from a booking agency but that's another story. It's fitting, therefore, that this EP crams six of songs onto a slice of seven-inch vinyl.

The Not Nots are a trio of Anthony Dean (guitar and vocals), Blake Doyle (drums) and Chris Ryan (bass and vocals) and (like the venue operatots that night) they are fans of brevity. 

“Hey Hey Hey” is a minor key opener that reeks of grunge. The staccato “Give It Away” throbs with energy and recalls the post-punk sounds of the UK when the first and second wave of punk had receded. Muffled guitar gives the Husker Du-like “What You Don’t Know” a strangled demo feel that works in spite of itself.  

Flip it over and “Default” sounds like Fugazi without that band’s tension. “Small Children (Are The Apocalypse)” surges along with grim chord-age leavened by a surprising “ooh-la-la-la” chorus. “The Little Time We Have” has a chord progression that sounds like it was swiped from Bob Mould when he got airplay. There’s not much of it but what there is sounds good before it runs out of runway. Another winner fromn the folks at Outtaspace.  

3/4

Buy it 

• newcastle
• outtaspace
• the not nots

A deckfull of Black diamonds

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By The Barman

The Barman

07 February 2021

Hits: 3381

If This Is The Hand I’m Dealt – Peter Black (Cool Bananas)
I’m Gonna Cheat As Much As I Can - Peter Black (Cool Bananas)

At first blush it’s D-U-M-B-everyone’s-accusing-me for an artist to release his sixth and seventh albums simultaneously. Flooding the market breaks a fundamental rule in the mythical music industry marketing manual about (a.) controlling supply to build demand and (b.) maximising the impact of “product”.

But Peter Black is the guy who, in 2016, set himself the challenge of recording a year’s worth of music and releasing one track a day, and you know that convention is for squares.

• hard-ons
• peter black
• blackie
• cool bananas

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Detroiter Danny takes it back to blues basics

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By The Barman

The Barman

07 February 2021

Hits: 3194

Danny Kroha, founding member of highly-influential Detroit minimal garage rock trio The Gories, has today released his second album of acoustic folk-blues entitled “Detroit Blues” via Third Man Records, and has premiered a performance video of the title track.

Kroha will be performing songs from Detroit Blues and more on a Bandcamp Live performance slated for February 20 at 11am AEDT (February 19 at 6pm CT in USA). Tickets are priced at $10. Find more details here.

Kroha spent the late '80s and early '90s playing alongside Mick Collins and Peggy O'Neill in seminal Detroit garage-blues combo the Gories. The Gories, who were championed and produced by Alex Chilton and who released hugely influential recordsjack whiteon labels like Crypt and In The Red, were the prime influence on the subsequent blues-influenced garage rock scene in Detroit, out of which came Jack White and the White Stripes. 

• gories
• mick collins
• third man records
• ben blackwell
• jack white
• danny kroha
• dirttbombs
• white stripes

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Covering all the bases with Ash Naylor

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By Keith Claringbold

Keith Claringbold

31 January 2021

Hits: 6121

_{Matthew, Ash and Wally are Even. Emma-Jane Johnson photo.}

Ask any Australian fan of hooky powerpop who they rate and the answer will almost inevitably include Even, the Melbourne institution that’s been a fixture on the Oz scene since forming in 1994. Fronted by  singer-songwriter-guitarist, Ashley Naylor, with Matthew Cotter on drums and Wally Kempton (aka Wally Meanie) on bass and backing vocals, they have just released their eighth album, “Down The Shops”, and it's reviewed here.

“Down The Shops” is a beautifully presented, vinyl collection of covers Even has released down the years. Ever since working up a rocking version of Badfinger’s “No Matter What” in their early mid-‘90s days playing the pubs around Fitzroy and St Kilda,  Even have usually had a cover or two on the go. And they weren’t adverse to working up a load of them; they did "Even Jukebox" performances every year at Melbourne’s Cherry Bar.

• blondie
• meanies
• even
• ash naylor
• beatles
• wally kempton
• wally meanie
• down the shops
• matthew cotter
• cheersquad records

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Go shopping and get Even

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By Keith Claringbold

Keith Claringbold

31 January 2021

Hits: 4435

Down The Shops – Even (Cheersquad Records and Tapes)

Even’s newest release, “Down The Shops” is a collection of covers recorded and released between 1996 and 2019.

Many appeared on Even‘s CD and vinyl singles and others are better known from tribute albums. The songs are a mixture of studio recordings and live performances.

While the selection of songs points to obvious influences- Kinks, Beatles, Yardbirds, Master’s Apprentices - it also encompasses less obvious sources such as the MC5 and the Sex Pistols.

• beat-man
• kinks
• eleven
• sunnyboys
• down the shops
• cheersquad records
• hoodoo guus
• master's apprentices

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