Vale Roky Erickson

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By The Barman

The Barman

01 June 2019

Hits: 2772

• 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: 3482

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: 4765

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: 3936

"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: 5899

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: 3390

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

Stainless b/w Real Love? - Fast Cars (Method Music)

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By The Barman

The Barman

26 May 2019

Hits: 3600

A taste of the forthcoming new album, this double A-sided single single puts Fast Cars in a place of their own. It's elegiac dream pop with an edge and a long way removed from their mod and powerpop beginings.

Those Sussex Hotel days are long gone. The band is now a core duo of Sydney multi-instrumentalist Fabian Buyrne and UK-domiciled vocalist-guitarist Di Levi. The songs are children of the digital age, worked up in disparate studios and assembled across the Internet.

"Stainless" is pop song of sharp contrasts with sarcastic lyrics ("nothing sticks to you") elegantly rendered by Di Lev,i atop a bedrock of flint hard, buzzing guitars. There's plenty of space in the production.

"Real Love?" Is instantly sunny, thanks to chiming guitar, Di's lilting vocal and a lusher backing. Piano and a pulsing bass-line, buried deep in the soundscape, round things off nicely. It's a song about being alive while savouring your surroundings. Pop with a capital 'P'.

3/4 

Buy it

• powerpop
• sydney
• method records and music
• fast cars
• fabian byrne
• di levi
• stainless
• real love?

Short Fuse. Australian Underground Music Compilation Volume 1 - Various Artists (Wreckless Enterprises)

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By The Barman

The Barman

26 May 2019

Hits: 5061

There’s a whiff of genius about the concept: Twelve bands on a seven-inch single. Not one song longer than a minute. Yeah, I hear ya. Sound on a vinyl single degrades the closer the grooves are crammed together. Hence, the brevity of the songs. And it’s punk rock. It’s not supposed to be audiophile.

Some of these bands you may know and others may be new. A compilation of this order is a public service, of sorts. It’s is a way to sample the unfamiliar and chase down their output if they row your boat. Musical democracy in action.

• space boozies
• leftards
• fangin' felines
• rukus
• thee evil twin
• the not nots
• wreckless enterprises
• short fuse
• dirty slutz

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Good Things - Graham Day and The Forefathers (Damaged Goods)

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By The Barman

The Barman

25 May 2019

Hits: 4086

A re-issued collection of hits and misses from 2014 with extra tracks, “Good Things” is a revelation to these ears. 

That really shouldn’t be the case with two members of The Prisoners on board. Power abounds with this UK trio on their 15-track effort, which is out on the always great Damaged Goods label, which is the home of the so-called Medway Sound.

Medway, you say? It’s the name for a style of beat-garage based out of Kent that takes its lead from the Kinks, the early Pretty Things and a host of similar bands that walked the rough side of the street in the ‘60s. Billy Childish is its most famous son, or titular head. Long may he rule...

• the prisoners
• billy childish
• damaged goods
• graham day
• forefathers
• medway sound

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