Negative Fun - The Fiction (Off The Hip)

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By The Barman

The Barman

21 December 2017

Hits: 4840

It could have been called “Short Lives Of The Poor and Obscure”. 

Like Reals, Negatives, Young Charlatans and News/Babeez, The Fiction is but a footnote in Melbourne punk’s earliest days, briefly existing from 1978-79. They released a posthumous EP under the name Little Murders, kickstarting that enduring brand and the career of its leader, Rob Griffiths.  They also enjoyed the patronage of the rightly-lauded Melbourne punk mover and shaker Bruce Milne and Pulp, the zine he ran with Clinton Walker. 

The Fiction had a loose affiliation with those glam-sheep- in-punk-wolves clothing, La Femme, sharing a practice space and a manager. Musically, The Fiction seems to have been drawing more from bands like The Who and the Small Faces, although there’s undoubtedly a bit of Bowie in there, too.

• punk
• melbourne
• rob griffiths
• the fiction
• rob wellington
• negative fun
• dumbworld

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Cordyline Australis - Michael Canning (Ghostjogger)

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

21 December 2017

Hits: 4082

Looks like I was premature the other week when I listed my fave ten or so for 2017. “Cordyline Australis” should have been there.

And I have to say I envy all of you - you haven’t heard this yet. The first listen  - if you put aside the hour and turn it on - you’ll be damn impressed. This is one hugely groovy disc.

You don’t know Michael Canning from a bag of chops, of course; he’s on Facebook as Michael Sea, and I did a review of his band’s last EP, “Mass Spectrometer”; I should also point out that Canning has released one earlier solo LP, and a slew of other music with other bands. Hassle the man on FB, but also go here.

• michael canning
• cordyline australis
• ghostjogger

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Back Behind The Kit - TV4 documentary

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By General Labor

General Labor

16 December 2017

Hits: 7200

So as a person with an extremely limited disposable income, I am unaccustomed to experiencing so much high quality entertainment in a short period of time.

A family member tripped across some kind of free trial TV subscription service and I keep binge-watching music flicks-witnessing one marvelous show after the next, kind of glimpsing how so many of my former peers are able to stay apolitical, apathetic, suitably sedated in their consumer hypno-spells.

• stiv bators
• lords of the new church
• nicky turner
• 69 eyes
• back behind the kit

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Nothing Ever Gets Lost - Claire Birchall & The Phantom Hitchhikers (Off The Hip/Night Owl Records)

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By The Barman

The Barman

13 December 2017

Hits: 3918

You know exactly what he’s gonna say: Sydney reviewer gets pissed off at the excess of musical talent in rival city Melbourne. Gets all angsty and laments The Good Old Days when Sydney more than held a candle to Melbourne. You’re partly right.

Cutting to the chase…Claire Birchall IS one of those uber talents from “down south” who grew up in the fertile Geelong scene and now lives in Melbourne. She plays everything from beatbox-backed pop to lean and mean rock. Genres are just a vehicle for the songs. “Nothing Ever Gets Lost” is a gnarly, blues-rock album.

The purple and blue cover art deceptively looks like one of those “Back From The Grave” acid punk compilations. The music, however, is fuzzy and warm and glows from the inside. There’s a great sense of dynamics and Birchall’s voice resonates with character and a world-weary charm. 

• melbourne
• fuzz
• claire birchall
• phantom hitchhikers
• nothing ever gets lost
• night owl records

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Mad Marc Rude: Blood, Ink & Needles. Directed by Carl Schneider

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By General Labor

General Labor

09 December 2017

Hits: 9602

"He was a cocked pistol." -Robert Williams.

Mad Marc Rude grew up in ‘60s New York, the son of an abuser cop and negligent mom, who frequently expelled both him and his sister from the family home. He attended Woodstock the year I was busy being born. 

I think I first became aware of him as a teenager, when I read an article about the Hollywood punk underground in the pages of Rolling Stone. I already published a shitty fanzine and was the rowdy front man for a defiantly outcast Midwestern garage band that performed covers of Dead Boys, Misfits, Cramps, and Gun Club songs, as well as some sucky Dead Kennedys influenced originals with cartoonishly banal titles like, "Victims Of The System". 

• misfits
• mad marc rude
• carl schneider
• circle jerks
• flipside
• scream
• forced exposure
• maximum rocknroll
• battalion of saints

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Silver and Gold - Cub Callaway (East Dominion)

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By The Barman

The Barman

08 December 2017

Hits: 4626

Alternative title: "He Gets by With Some Help From His Friends".

Producer-guitarist Bruce "Cub" Callaway assembled a stellar cast for this, his 2013 return to recording after a lay-off, and it shows.

John Hoey (Died Pretty), Warwick Gilbert (Radio Birdman), Paul Larsen (Celibate Rifles), Clyde Bramley (Hoodoo Gurus) and Julie Mostyn Gilbert (Flaming Hands) all played roles. Lesser-knowns Ian Johnson, Louis Callaway and Harry Rothenfluh also contributed drums.

• ed kuepper
• died pretty
• radio birdman
• flaming hands
• warwick gilbert
• bruce callaway
• cub callway
• silver and gold
• east dominion
• john hoey
• triffids

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Mobile Homeland - John Sinclair (Funky D Records)

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By The Barman

The Barman

07 December 2017

Hits: 5002

No introduction needed for the onetime spiritual leader of the MC5 so here’s a personal note about meeting John Sinclair:

It was on a night off during a business trip that involved a flying visit to Ann Arbor, Michigan in the early 2000s. Sinclair was in town for that city’s annual Hash Bash and had just played a show at The Blind Pig. I’d been drinking at the Eight Bar Saloon with some locals, including Scott Morgan who did the introduction.

• mc5
• wayne kramer
• john sinclair
• ann arbor
• mobile homeland
• funky d records
• blues scholars
• tino g

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Overage Underachievers - The Smart Patrol (Off The Hip/Screaming Apple)

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By The Barman

The Barman

07 December 2017

Hits: 4207

Do you still believe in record labels? Back in the ‘80s, being released on an imprint that you knew and loved (Bomp, Citadel, Waterfront) was a surefire indication that a band possessed a “certain” sound, and was good.

Screaming Apple is the garage rock label in Germany that doesn’t release duds, so hearing about it collaborating with Australia's Off The Hip for an album by a band called The Smart Patrol was always going to be news falling on receptive ears. 

• powerpop
• mod
• smart patrol
• screaming apple
• overage underachievers

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Raw Art Act - Asphalt Tuaregs (Antitune Records)

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By The Barman

The Barman

06 December 2017

Hits: 5148

It’s a truism that many bands from Europe rock but don’t rock and roll. It’s not their fault, of course, it’s just a matter of cultural conditioning. Rock and roll is not their first musical language and the “high art” the place is steeped in suffocates that "low art", like any other form of musical expression, into submission.

So when you find a Continental band that “gets it”, you better latch on to them, tight. 

Some of us are (ahem) old enough to remember a French band called Fixed Uo, who were on Sydney’s Citadel label, and made it to Australia to play and record in the mid 1980s. Rob Younger and Jim Dickson produced an album for them. Soulful garage rock was their stock in trade. They “got it”. 

• garage
• french
• garage soul
• rob younger
• jim dickson
• fixed up
• asphalt tuaregs
• backsliders
• francois lebas

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