Go Out Tonight b/w F4 - The Professors (Buttercup Records)

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By Steve Lorkin

Steve Lorkin

14 December 2018

Hits: 5816

What did your Sydney sound like in 1978? The Professors did their best to define it for their own tight coterie of followers after Radio Birdman left for Europe to seek world domination, by sounding like this. 

Graduates of the infamous Oxford Funhouse, they took their lead from its most notable tenants bysetting up their own venue at The Royal Oak pub in Chippendale, They adopted their name from Chris Bailey's nickname for their singer - and the Saints repaid them with some namedropping in "KNow Your Product." The rest is history aka some photos and a caption in a Clinton Walker book

These two songs are from a demo tape that was exhumed by singer Stephen Vineberg and spruced up by engineer Barry McGuirk just a year ago. It’s been packaged in a gatefold cover by the folks at Buttercup and issued in a range of colours. Just as you’d expect. 

• sydney
• hitmen
• radio birdman
• the professors
• 1978
• oxford funhouse
• stephen vineberg

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Lincoln back to the '50s for a shaking good time

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

09 December 2018

Hits: 4331

_{The Lincolns.} 

Okay, hands up, please. What are Croatians famous for being passionate about?

The Ustashi, says one. Well, once upon a time the Ustashi did arouse passions, but they seem thankfully forgotten. That's not the answer I was hoping for. Any one else?

Confusing civil conflict!

Hmmm. You're a cynical bunch. No, Croatia is renowned for being passionate about their football, or 'soccer' as we here in Australia call it. (The term "soccer" is a mangulation of "association football", BTW).

So, ho to the Croatian Sports Centre, home of the Adelaide Croatia Raiders Soccer Club, is at the end of a curving drive and situated between a Woolworths unload and reload depot and the Adelaide Superdrome, the headquarters for Cycling SA. 

• rock and roll
• rockabilly
• the lincolns
• tiki
• teddy boys

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Memories From a Shithole - Whodunit (Beast Records)

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By The Barman

The Barman

09 December 2018

Hits: 3764

This Parisian band brags they’ve been “playing garage-blues-punk since 2003” and that’s no mean feat in a city where rock and roll gets simultaneously downtrodden by dance music and high culture. 

Two more things in their favour is that they’re on Beast Records, a well-established home for music that flies a ragged freak flag, and “Memories From a Shithole” was produced by expat Detroiter Jim Diamond, the ex-Dirtbombs bassist and sonic master now spending much of his work-time in Montpellier. His credits include the Bellrays, the Fleshtones and the White Stripes so he’s qualified to make this sort of noise. 

Whodunit aren’t your standard ‘60s acid punk rehash or two-chord crash-er-rama thrash artists. They don’t play second-rate Serge lounge tunes or bother trying to de-construct the blues. They just go for broke. 

• garage
• french
• beast records
• jim diamond
• whodunit
• garage rock

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More Blood, More Tracks - Bob Dylan (CBS)

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By Bob Short

Bob Short

09 December 2018

Hits: 3343

This may be Dylan's best album ever. It might also be his most unnecessary. He recorded these songs. Sent out promos. Then he changed his mind.

Was it right to dump this version and re-record it? Absolutely.

In the early ’70s, this album would have had its fans. It would have sold. But it would have disappeared into the back catalogue. Too much more of the same.

The second go at the songs that become the Blood on the Tracks album are a force of nature that captured the zeitgeist. They buried the copyists and pretenders. That album was a lion amongst cattle. It turned Dylan's career around.

• bob dylan
• more blood on the tracks
• blood on the tracks
• cbs
• more blood
• more tracks

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One For The Road - Bigger Than Jesus (Dinner For Wolves)

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By The Barman

The Barman

09 December 2018

Hits: 4063

You can’t separate Steve Lucas from his X history – at least not in this bar and not in this part of the world.

The early members of X eschewed the punk tag because they regarded themselves as a rock and roll band. The delivery might have been rawer than a steak in a trendy French bistro but the band’s musicality raised it above the average two-chord wonders.

Since the deaths of most of X’s many members since formation, Lucas has firmly held onto the band’s legacy, while not limiting himself musically. Bigger Than Jesus is proof of his determination to branch out.

We all might say we hate labels but we all still use them. If X was (and is) his “punk” band, The Groody Frenzy his blues rock outfit, Pubert Brown his psych-Kinks trip and A.R.M. his Oz Rock monster, Bigger Than Jesus is Steve Lucas’s “metal” group. And how.

• steve lucas
• bigger than jesus
• one for the road
• dinner for wolves
• x

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Still living, The Beasts emerge with an album and a tour

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By The Barman

The Barman

07 December 2018

Hits: 4346

After an extremely emotional final performance with the Beasts of Bourbon, Tex Perkins hit upon the idea of getting all of the band’s members, past and present into a recording studio with no particular agenda other than to do just that.

It was more of a celebratory thing he had in mind than anything. Sadly, bassist Brian Hooper didn’t make it along as he passed away a week after the Beasts’ last show.

Assembled in Melbourne's Soundpark Studio a couple of weeks later were, Charlie Owen, Boris Sujdovic, Tony Pola, Spencer Jones, Kim Salmon and Tex Perkins. They were unprepared, save for some some sketchy ideas, loose ends and a couple of covers. With limited time the band knocked together a collection of jams pretty much true to the crazy modus operandi employed back when “The Axeman’s Jazz” got laid down in that fateful eight-hour session in 1983.

• beasts of bourbon
• kim salmon
• boris sudjovic
• tex perkins
• spencer p jones
• charlie owen
• brian hooper
• the beasts
• tony pola
• still living

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Anthems For The Misanthropic - Hell Nation Army (Heavy Medication)

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By The Barman

The Barman

02 December 2018

Hits: 3584

You took notice of Scandi Rock in the ‘90s or you stayed blissfully living under a rock listening to The Smashing Pumpkins. Grunge had dissipated and the corporates were looking for a new genre to plunder. No matter what you call it, high-energy rock is hard to kill. It’s only a matter of how fast it’s played and how many chords it hangs off. 

The package for Hell Nation Army says “kick ass punk and roll” and does not lie. They play high-energy rock from Berlin in the vein of Gluecifier, Heliacopters and Turbonegro. In other words, Scandi Rock that’s been landlocked. 

• scandirock
• hellacopters
• germany

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Are You Ready To… - Squeeze the Pig (self released)

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By The Barman

The Barman

02 December 2018

Hits: 3951

Here's the theory: Inside every serious Aussie bluesman, prog artiste and serious muso type of an older demographic, there's a yob rocker waiting to break out and release his (or her) inner Thorpey. Turn it up to 11 and and yell: "Suck more piss!"

Some yob rockers do it with all the subtelty of a semi-trailer being driven through the wall of an outback diner, while others let their Sunbury freak flag fly with slightly more poise. That's where bands like Squeeze The Pig come in.   

"Are You Ready To..." is the second EP from Perth’s Squeeze The Pig and it’s a competent mix of Oz rock blues and ‘80s garage punk. Art rockers need not apply.  The band members’ ethos of fast bikes, cold beer and banging out four chords at the pub on a Saturday night is nowhere more apparent.

“On Ya Bike” is harmonica-powered blues-rock. Nothing more, nothing less. Vocalist Ian Laurie has that everyman sound to his pipes and the band is equal to the task. “The Band Is A Rockin’” mines the same vein and Steve Bee’s slide wraps itself around Peter Brown’s greasy blues harp. 

• bandcamp
• blues rock
• garage blues
• squeeze the pig
• are you ready for
• yob rock

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Oh Yeah - Dear Thief (Sartorial Records), Holy Motor - Sloks (Voodoo Rhythm) and Comes the Light - MJ Halloran (Off the Hip)

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

01 December 2018

Hits: 4140

London-based trio Dear Thief's fantastic record (yep, vinyl) is a couple of years old but I doubt they've had much press.

They seem to be an occasional band rather than a constantly gigging behemoth; nonetheless they sound exactly like some sort of rabid mammoth wandered into the No studio and went berko.

Those of you who notice such things might think you're being reminded of a particularly vicious Fall gig - drums, bass, guitar - but I find myself rather startled to realise that it's time I pulled out my "Woman" LP again.

• voodoo
• mj halloran
• voodoo rhythm
• brian hooper
• dear thief
• sloks
• come the light
• steve albini
• steve boyle

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