Age Against the Machine - Jim Keays (Purple Haze) & No But It’s True - Hugo Race (Rough Velvet Records)

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

15 July 2015

Hits: 5330

Heads up: Get your wallet out. Both of ‘em belong in your collection and should be playing on your battered lil machine right now. I’m going to give both FIVE BOTTLES, and that means…the review is irrelevant. 

But you want your entertainment anyway, don’t you? The Voice and The X-Factor can only “discover” what fits a format. And that format is, for the most part, bereft of meaning. The jokey aspect of Eurovision Song doo-dah means that brilliance can sneak in, because the format is to “make a splash” as well as fit the format. Keays and Race load their music with meaning, relevance and immediacy.

• hugo race
• jim keays
• masters
• apprentices
• no but it's true
• age against the machine

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It’s Too Young To Die Now - Andrew Mueller (Pan Macmillan)

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By Edwin Garland

Edwin Garland

13 July 2015

Hits: 5604

If there was a formula for a famous rock musician, it sorta goes like this: “An outsider kid, akin to the Holden Caulfield character with a copy of "Catcher in the Rye" in his hip pocket. With either a military father, or better still a clergyman.

“He moves around a lot, from town to town, because of his father’s occupation. He buys vinyl and buys even more vinyl.  He purchases a guitar, learns a few chords and then finds other folk who fit into the formula of rock musician. He forms a band and writes an amazingly significant song, or songs, and for one week is the spokesman of a generation, appearing in Melody Maker or Rolling Stone.” 

Of course if fate does not serve him well, the prospective rock musician just ends up in his 40’s as the geek who's brought into the local pub by his mates because he’s the one who’ll get all the music triva questions right.

But if this formula was applied to a music geek who can write - and I mean really can write - they travel the world and theur byline appewars in some of the most important rock magazines on the planet.

Welcome to the world of Sydney-raised Andrew Mueller.

• andrew
• mueller
• it's too young to die

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In Foster’s Care - Deathwish (Buttercup Records)

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By The Barman

The Barman

11 July 2015

Hits: 5614

Before late ‘70s punks The Chosen Few (the Australian version - not the Michigan band containing Ron Asheton and James Williamson) there was Deathwish, a party band that festered in a barn on a family farm on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsular. The Chosen Few would go on to make a mark on the Melbourne underground scene, releasing a particularly collectable EP, but here’s where it all began.

The album's named for the beer that fuled the band and these are rehearsal tapes from 1976-77. No polish, lots of covers and some amateurishly played. But for all the rough edges, you can hear there was certainly something there. The back story’s also pretty good and is told in guitarist Ian Cunningham’s liners.

• buttercup records
• chosen few
• deathwish
• in foster's care

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Walking In The Storm b/w X-Ray Man - Stink Bugs (Swashbuckling Hobo)

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By The Barman

The Barman

11 July 2015

Hits: 5577

This single from a Brisbane trio is saying something: "If you don’t like homemade fuzz pedals you can fuck right off." Like their entomological namesakes, Stink Bugs aren’t pretty but once their smell gets in your nostrils they’re pretty hard to ignore.

Stink Bugs play distorto psych. Acrid guitar at stun volume and lumbering rhythms dominate both A and B sides. The maudlin vocals are almost subsumed by the fierce wall of fuzz. There’s not a lot of room for wry social commentary lyrics or fetching melody lines. This stuff is toxic.

Stink Bugs grew out of the Hekawis, Shutdown 66,the Jennys and Leftwaffe and are The Mantis (guitar), Cactoblastis (drums) and Tigerbug (bass and vocals.) Their’s is the sound of a blender full of human remains. The single deserves to be played at painful volume levels. Repeatedly. 

Swashbuckling Hobo on the Web

• brisbane
• swashbuckling
• hobo
• stink bugs

Take Me Home EP - Dee Rangers (Sucker’s Choice)

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By The Barman

The Barman

11 July 2015

Hits: 4449

There’s a fair chance I’m not the only one who lost track of the Dee Rangers, a Swedish band who swept through the late ‘90s and early part of the 21st century with a slew of singles and half a dozen albums of infectious garage pop-rock. They and The Strollers were two of the I-94 Bar favourites from the revival of the garage sounds in Scandinavia back then. This four-track vinyl EP is a reminder of their greatness.

“Take Me Home” is the lead-off and a better slice of ‘60s-influenced pop-rock you’d have to travel a long way to hear. “Everyday” is a rougher garage rocker that does the business with two guitars in its two minutes and moves on. “Rebound Guy” is the melancholy heartstring-tugger with a cascading melody line that hits home. Per Nostrum brings it home with a strong vocal. “Powerslam V” is an instro rumble with choppy chording and bouncy feel.

It’s all in punchy mono and comes in a hand-numbered run of 350 copies. Try any European mail orser rplace or ask the band for directions on Facebook. 

Dee Rangers on Facebook

• suckers
• dee-rangers
• take me home
• choice

The Hard-Ons are Too Far Gone again

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By The Barman

The Barman

09 July 2015

Hits: 4515

The fifth and final chapter of the Hard-Ons re-issues of all their pre-sabbatical releases on Citadel Records is upon us and it’s a bumper crop.

1992’s “Too Far Gone” was the last Hard-Ons record before they broke up (temporarily) in ’93 and remains one of their most off-the-wall and adventurous offerings.

In the spirit of previous re-issues, Citadel is packaging it as a two-CD set with a whopping 53 tracks.

The original 14-track album is complemented by outtakes, live cuts and demo’s in a six-panel fold-out wallet.  

We could go on at length but can’t do better than the media release (Click MORE):

• Citadel
• hard-ons
• too far gone

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Do You Believe in Magyk? - Stiv Bator (Easy Action)

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By The Barman

The Barman

06 July 2015

Hits: 7413

This is the last musical will and testament of Stiv Bator. Let’s talk about who’s not on this album.

Dee Dee Ramone and Johnny Thunders had convened at Stiv’s Paris flat in 1990 to work up a supergroup, The Whores of Babylon, with the ex-Dead Boys frontman. Contrary to widespread belief, neither of them made it onto the album.

• easy-action
• dead boys
• nina
• antonia
• stiv bators
• stiv bator
• cheetah chrome
• kris dollimore
• godfathers

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Living Legends honours Dave Graney and Clare Moore, Steve Lucas

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By The Barman

The Barman

06 July 2015

Hits: 5572

The Melbourne music scene is world-renowned for being a bubbling volcano of rock 'n' roll fire and creativity that throws up rare diamonds and musical gems. The Leaps and Bounds Music Festival honours its stars each year with its Living Legends series.

Beginning in 2014, the Living Legends feted that year were rock gods Spencer Jones, Kim Salmon and Charlie Owen. This year the honour is bestowed on another trio who are fully legendary in the eyes of their peers and music lovers.

• dave graney
• clare moore
• steve lucas
• living legends

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In Cold Blood - Johnny Thunders (Easy Action)

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By The Barman

The Barman

26 June 2015

Hits: 6652

It would be the ultimate irony if Johnny Thunders’ most consistent album came out 24 years after he died. Any sober assessment of his post-Heartbreakers output would deem it erratic but speckled with explosions of brilliance that outshone the lesser moments.

And so it is with “In Cold Blood”, a double CD package from UK label Easy Action that brings together a number of lost threads. It’s not Thunders’ most well-rounded effort - that’s probably still his first solo LP “So Alone” – but it’s still a significant addition to the JT canon.

The original “In Cold Blood” was a double vinyl affair that came out in 1983 while the outlaw guitarist was still breathing. It paired bare bones studio recordings by ex-Stones producer Jimmy Miller to a disc taken from a 1982 UK gig.

• easy-action
• johnny
• thunders
• in cold blood

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