Transmission coming through, loud and clear

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By Patrick Emery

Patrick Emery

07 June 2019

Hits: 3351

Sand Pebbles
John Curtin Hotel , Carlton
Saturday, June 1 2019

I remember 2004. Living in a spacious weatherboard house in North Fitzroy, two small children, disrupted sleep patterns, fumbling through the fog of the embryonic years of parenthood.

Watching the Howard Years roll on. Mark Latham pushed his way into public view, tried to take up the fight with Howard. Toned down the more provocative aspects of his public discourse, held a press conference in front of a row of American flags, presented himself as the guy who understood the aspirations of the suburban demographic, but who wasn’t a product of an era that’d never return. Who’d have though 15 years later Latham would be a One Nation member in the NSW parliament? People thought Pauline Hanson was finished too. History is funny, innit?

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A Decade of Defiance - The Media Whores (Twenty Stone Blatt)

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By The Barman

The Barman

07 June 2019

Hits: 2435

Their bid to become a sovereign state might have crashed and burned five years ago, and they still haven't worked out how to banish those Sassenachs* from north of Hadrian's Wall, but the Scots have never been short of a political opinion. Just put a pint of beer in front of an Edinburgher** - or a microphone in the case of The Media Whores - and you'll get your money's worth.

“A Decade of Defiance” is a compilation of tracks from The Media Whores' three albums and one EP, with three cuts thrown in to preview their forthcoming new long-player.

^{* English person
** Person from Edinburgh}

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5-6-7-8-9 - The Aints! (ABC Music/Universal)

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By The Barman

The Barman

01 June 2019

Hits: 4570

Also Sprach might have been the king of Eurodisco but Ed Kuepper reigns supreme as the Monarch of Re-invention. Of his contemporaries, only Kim Salmon comes close.

There was a modest risk in forming a third line-up of The Aints; the upside was that they'd pull crowds and make good cash, the other half of the equation being that it wouldn't take the legacy of the original band anywhere special. If you were a doubter, leave the room now...

Re-shaping un-recorded songs written for the original Saints was a masterstroke. So was Kuepper's selection of his band - the engine room of Paul Larsen-Loughhead and Peter Oxley was never going to be a dud - and his decision to colour the material with bold brass arrangements...that was inspired.

• the saints
• abc records
• 5-6-7-8-9-

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Vale Roky Erickson

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By The Barman

The Barman

01 June 2019

Hits: 2774

• thirteenth floor elevators
• roky erickson
• 13th floor elevators

This will get on your Goat

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By The Barman

The Barman

01 June 2019

Hits: 3486

New archival footage of onetime Sydney ensemble Lubricated Goat has emerrged, to coincide with a US West Coast tour by onetime member Stu Spasm and his band The Art Gray Noizz Quintet. The clip of "He Moves in Mysterious Ways" was shot at Max’s, Petersham Inn in Sydney, in 1987 and features Spasm, bassist Guy Maddison (Monroe's Fur, Mudhoney) and late drummer Brett Ford (Kryptonics) and guitarist Peter Read (Thug). The Art Gray Noizz Quintet plays The Knock Out in San Francisco (June 8), Cafe Nela in Los Angeles (June 9), Turn Turn Turn in Portland  (June 10) and The Funhouse in Seattle (June 12.) 

• lubricated goat
• stu spasm
• art gray noizz quintet
• us tour

Raining Treasure (Australian Indie Gold Covers Vol 1) – John Kennedy’s ’68 Comeback Special (MGM)

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By The Barman

The Barman

31 May 2019

Hits: 4771

It’s a brilliant idea so why didn’t someone do it before?

What’s that? you say. Record a bunch of iconic, mostly Sydney, underground songs in a way that honours the originals but makes them their own – at least for a few minutes.

UK-born, Brisbane-bred John Kennedy became a fixture on Sydney inner-city scene in the 1980s after cutting his musical teeth in his hometown. His distinctive “urban western” songs, and his bands JFK and The Cuban Crisis and John Kennedy’s Love Gone Wrong, earned him a healthy niche in a city that back then was groaning with musical talent.

John Kennedy was always backed by excellent bands and inevitably joined his peers in spreading their versions of the word on the national touring circuit, before moving overseas for a time. He and various line-ups of his John Kennedy’s ‘68 Comeback Special have been kicking around the now skeletal Sydney scene (read: Inner-Western Delta) for the last decade or so.

• hard-ons
• saints
• ian rilen
• paul kelly
• john kennedy
• jfk
• raining treasures
• sardine v
• murray cook
• peter timmerman
• phil hall

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Taken By The Dream - Hugo Race Fatalists (Glitterhouse Records)

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

26 May 2019

Hits: 3940

"Taken by the Dream" rates seven bottles. Two more than five because, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary, I never think this man is going to surpass what has gone before. Hell, I mean, what man could? Like Mick Medew (see my last review) and Bob Dylan, Race is a lifer.

Is Hugo Race some sort of madman? I think of him as a fearless troubadour, the man on the tracks, vulnerable and determined.

To be honest, in this era of rabid conformity to stock characters (I use this last word loosely) and ephemeral goals clung to like bull mastiffs to intruder's gonads, yes, I reluctantly concede that Hugo Race is indeed some sort of madman. Hell, Jesus was mad as a brush. I mean, totally canary-cage.

• hugo race
• glitterhouse records
• fatalists
• taken by the dream

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Open Season - Mick Medew and The Mesmerisers (I-94 Bar Records)

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By Ron Brown & Robert Brokenmouth

Ron Brown & Robert Brokenmouth

26 May 2019

Hits: 5907

Hello from the Dimboola Farmhouse, I-94 Bar barflies. Mick Medew is a legend, a Queensland Music hall of famer and Australian pub rock icon, and he absolutely nails it with his new album “Open Season” with his band the Mesmerisers.

The Mesmerisers? We have Lois Andrews bringing the bass and her beautiful backing vocals, and she is amazing. Michael Charles is on drums. Yes, that Michael Charles, drummer on Mick’s most famous Screaming Tribesmen EP, “Date with a Vampire”. The pair just nails it and make a fabulous rhythm section. 

Rounding things out on lead guitar is Brian Mann, also ex-Screaming Tribesmen and a gifted player who also doubles behind the recording board. He produced this album and it was mastered by Don Bartley. These gentlemen know how to get the sound down.

• powerpop
• i-94 bar records
• mick medew
• open season
• mesmrisers

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Night Creature b/w Roll Over Lay Down - Deathwish (Fantastic Mess)

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By The Barman

The Barman

26 May 2019

Hits: 3394

It's a single by Deathwish, precursors of The Chosen Few (the Aussie punks - not Ron Asheton's early band) on new label Fantastic Mess, an independent spin-off of Buttercup Records. This recording is liver than you'll ever be, both sides from a gig in a hall in country Victoria in December 1976.

"Night Creature" is light on for lyrics but well-refined in its proto-punk intent; future Chosen Few engine room of Cal McAlpine (drums) and Ian Cunningham (bass) lock into a serious groove. The song hinges on a repeated guitar figure and sounds like Link Wray on Melbourne Bitter.

Status Quo never rowed my boat even before they sold out to the Red Right Hand of an Australian retail giant, but Deathwish's faithful rendition of what was then a Top 40 hit once more underlines that the considrable punch The Chosen Few packed didn't develop overnight.

Of course this one won't last long and naturally it comes in five editions. Drop Scotti a line at his label's online HQ to procure.

1/2

• deathwish
• the chosen few
• night creature
• fantastic mess