Urban Nature - Blaney featuring Mark E. Smith (YERRR Records)

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

12 August 2018

Hits: 4672

You may recall I reviewed Blaney's most recent album, "The Severance" (pay attention at the back, you) and I have no qualms about not changing my seven bottle verdict. 

"Urban Nature" is Blaney's third LP featuring Mark E Smith; I don't have the other two, ("Smith And Blaney" and "The Train Part 3"), both on the (defunct?) Voiceprint label.

No, me neither. but on the strength of "Urban Nature" I've ordered both. One wonders aloud whether there's a definitive collection of Smith/Blaney in the works; if not, there should be. Why?

• the fall
• mark e smith
• ed blaney
• urban nature

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Plenty of Soap - Speedboat (Tom Stehlik) and Love In Other Diminsions - Go Go Sapien (HQR)

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

12 August 2018

Hits: 4542

If you enjoyed the Laughing Clowns and their slightly wonky, soaring horns, and which Hunnas later wielded to equally great effect, you're in for a treat. Speedboat (from Adelaide) supported both bands and, I can attest, to great effect. While LC and H&C certainly influenced Speedboat, one wonders if the influence was all one-way. 

If you don't know Speedboat, what they were about came from many unlikely sources (their name apparently springs from an Elvis movie), and I'm not giving away the joy of Tom Stehlik's liner notes).

Liner notes? Do Speedboat rate that? 

By fuck they do. 'Plenty of Soap' holds the equivalent of four LPs plus a fistful of singles and b-sides, Stehlik's liner notes actually tell the story of the band. Frankly, most bands - especially a band held in such high regard as Speedboat (and all without a recording contract) - fuck up entirely. 

• adelaide
• dave graney
• speedboat
• plenty of soap
• go-go sapien
• love in other diminsions

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Metallic KO Flashback: The Mercenaries of Time (Part 2)

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By Michele Dawn Saint Thomas

Michele Dawn Saint Thomas

09 August 2018

Hits: 8601

This is part two of Michelle Dawn Saint Thomas's LSD-fuelled re-iiving of the notorious final Iggy & the Stooges show at the Michigan Palace in 1974. Part one is here.

The entire theater had become a massive downpour of flying objects. Everything from cans, bottles and coins were being thrown up onto the stage. The situation became contagious; soon random missiles were airborne everywhere throughout the hall.

The Palace now was half vacant and nearly everyone that remained was either clamoring to get closer to the stage for purposes of their own agendas, or rapidly exiting the venue. The stage itself looked a terrible sight, unsuitable for even the most daredevil of performers to be upon it at all.

Total chaos reigned supreme.

• iggy
• iggy & the stooges
• metallic ko
• michigan palace
• michelle dawn saint thomas

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Dead Kennedys back Down Under

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By The Barman

The Barman

08 August 2018

Hits: 4874

Jello-less since 2001, the Dead Kennedys are bringing their brand of seminal punk back to Australian audiences, 25 years since they first hit our shores and th first time since 2014. 

The band - these days that's East Bay Ray, D.H. Peligro, Klaus Flouride and singer Skip McSkipster - is doing a quick hit-and-run of four shows in a week.  

The Dead Kennedys had a huge impact in Australia in the 1980s. Their albums - “Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables”, “In God We Trust, Inc”, “Plastic Surgery Disasters”, “Frankenchrist”  and “Bedtime for Democracy” – sold by the thousand at a time when punk had yet to break into the mainstream, and kept selling big numbers for decades.

• punk
• 2018
• australian tour
• dead kennedys
• east bay ray

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Metallic KO Flashback: The Mercenaries of Time (Part 1)

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By Michele Dawn Saint Thomas

Michele Dawn Saint Thomas

06 August 2018

Hits: 10634

_{The last Iggy and the Stooges show.  Michelle Dawn Saint Thomas photo.}

I was oblivious to it at the time but the signs were all around. The counter-culture scene in early '70s Detroit was in a state of free-fall, towards a tragic demise from its epic creative height of the '60s.

Plum Street's attempted bohemian arts colony had completely collapsed, along with efforts by local artists to establish a street fair on Woodward Avenue similar to that in Montreal. The existing brick and mortar business were strictly opposed to this effort, in the belief that when people came downtown the local artists would seize profits from the larger stores of the establishment.

Problem was, people were just not venturing downtown like they used to. Life had changed. Two major aspects, one, the “white flight” exodus, and two, the high crime rate, were keeping people away from Detroit. Plus, something new was on the horizon: the suburban shopping mall. Why travel beyond your neighborhood community when all could be found locally?

• detroit
• iggy & the stooges
• metallic ko
• michigan palace

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The Barracudas re-appear in London

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By The Barman

The Barman

30 July 2018

Hits: 3645

Garage-surf kings from the '80s, The Barracudas, reconvened for a show at the Finsbury in North London last weekend. Here’s some footage of "We're Living In Violent Times":

• live
• london
• the barracudas

Brisbane punks RAZAR to headline one-off show

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By The Barman

The Barman

30 July 2018

Hits: 6697

Brisbane’s legendary RAZAR will reform for a one-off show on October 14, celebrating that city’s punk rock history.

The Triffid is the venue for “Return To White Chairs Vol 2”, the second instalment in reunion gigs for the punk and counterculture music loving crowd that met and drank at the infamous Elizabeth Street bar in Brisbane City between 1977-‘87. RAZAR will be joined by Ipswich darlings The Toy Watches as the main support.

A massive undercard that spans punk, new wave and rockabilly genres and includes old timers The Horny Toads, Scrap Metal, Public Execution, The 5 Hanks, Vacant Rooms and The Chrysalids. Contemporary Brisbane bands Dr Bombay, Dangerous Folk, The Bollocks and Cultured Few will fill out the bill, which is raising funds for the Growing Nepal Foundation.

Hailing from the sleepy Brisbane suburb of Mt Gravatt in the mid ‘70s, RAZAR began as a high school garage band, comprising 18-year-old Greg Wackley on drums, his 16-year-old brother Robert Wackley on bass, vocalist Marty Burke and Steven Mee (both 16) on guitar.

• brisbane
• live
• punk rock
• razar
• task force
• stamp out disco
• return to white chairs

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Brando Rising - Brando Rising (self released)

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By Robert Brokenmouth & The Barman

Robert Brokenmouth & The Barman

29 July 2018

Hits: 4932

I coulda sworn I sent a review of this violent fucker in yonks ago but ... apparently not. Anyway, it's been a couple months, and I still play it, often and loud, usually in the car, and I have the dangerous driving fines to prov

"Brando Rising" sounds fresh, piercing, varied and they approach the six songs here from every which way, and the disc hurtles toward you with the measured savagery of a Hammer film (or a killer making his way up the stairs). There's a healthy dollop of Stooges/ Iggy influence (no surprises as singer Rip fronts the Four Stooges when he's got a few moments to spare) and as The Barman points out belwo, a few other influences. 

Don't let the influences influence you. Guitarist Kelly Hewson wields a nasty, savage guitar and is one of the few guitarists to use wah-wah and get away with it. Wah-buzzsaw? Something like that. Either way, they've got a top rhythm section which knows how to party, a guitarist who wants to rule the world and a singer who already does (so I am told). They're entertaining, intense, new, not particularly pretty and belong headlining at your local beer barn.

• adelaide
• brando rising
• ripley hood
• funhouse
• kelly hewson
• gun control

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California Dreaming b/w The Real Thing - Fast Cars (Method Records)

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By The Barman

The Barman

29 July 2018

Hits: 4337

Nil to do with the Mamas and the Papas song, this is from the fab Fast Cars album “LAX” and it’s a lush, string-tinged brooder that’s a great calling card for the psychedelic long-player. 

Remember albums? They were those things where a band put more than one idea into extended pieces of music (aka songs) that became a sum of a greater part. Fast Cars - once a Sydney mod band but these days vocalist Di Levi and multi-instrumentalist Fabian Byrne - sure do, and evoke more in these few minutes than a lifetime of downloads by Taylor Swift clones. 

“California Dreaming” is part of a concept about ambition and star-making in a strange environment and place but you don’t need the back-story to appreciate the 45. 

The flip is a brave take on the Russell Morris song of the same name. No marching jackboots but a heady sonic picture nonetheless. You’d hope Molly would appreciate it because it works all the same.  It’s mastered a little quietly but you can compensate by playing it loud. Available as a 45 from here. 

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• fast cars
• di levy
• fabian byrne
• lax
• california dreaming
• the real thing