Brown Spirits - Brown Spirits (Off The Hip/Clostridium Records)

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By The Barman

The Barman

04 December 2017

Hits: 4423

Pigeons don’t belong in holes.

In other words, just as soon as you peg Off The Hip as Australia’s home for “Thee Garage Rock Sound” exclusively, they throw another curve ball like this here Brown Spirits CD.

Brown Spirits are from Melbourne and are an instrumental trio made-up of Tim Wold, Agostino Soldati and Andre Fazio, whose collective curriculum vitae includes bands like Mod Vigil, Kids of Zoo, Deep Street Soul, Russian Roulettes, Go-Set and Legends of Motorsport.

To the best of my knowledge (and I’ve heard most of them), Brown Spirits sound nothing like any of the above.

• psychedelic
• clostridium records
• brown spiritis
• jam band

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Scenesters: Music, Mayhem & Melrose Ave (1985-90)

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By General Labor

General Labor

03 December 2017

Hits: 7716

By the time me and a flamehaired stripper with a sports car arrived in Hollywood, to look for the pot of gold at the end of the Rainbow Bar And Grill, it was mostly all over.

We were snorting up the last hours of sequins and vulgarity, mascara and laughter before the bad trip buzzkill of Cobain. We were squinting in the last blinding, big sprays of Aqua Net and final drunken caterwauls at Thursday night cattle calls, where a rogues' gallery of various whiskey sodden, speed freaky, Stars From Mars and Seaweed Eaters and Raw Flowers and Glamour Punks and Dawg Mafia and Queeny Blast Pop diehard, teased haired, Motley-Babies played their hopeless gutter-punk defiantly, even while Seattle was exploding into the mainstream.

It was the sad, last gasps of a cool and androgynous underground scene, as grunge and gangsta-rap and capitalist lifestyle unreality-tv programming were coming into vogue and all the faded  spandex stars of the strip had mostly got rich and sold-out, died, or gone straight.

• hollywood
• los angeles
• gun club
• melrose avenue
• desi benjamin
• Scenesters: Music, Mayhem & Melrose Ave (1985-90)
• DVD
• Bluray
• guns and roses
• izzy straddlin
• the joneses

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JD Hangover - JD Hangover (Annibale Records)

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By The Barman

The Barman

02 December 2017

Hits: 5307

Bleak, industrial blues. That’s what you’ll immerse yourself in on this six-track EP. It’s one part Suicide, one part Delta blues, and fuck any compact with the Devil - if that was a soul left behind at the negotiating table in return for a bus ticket to the crossroads, it sounds like it’s being picked over by vultures.  

Written on the road and recorded with minimal affectations, it’s a collaboration between Anglo-Italo blues rocker Stiv Cantarelli and studio collaborator Roberto Villa. And a drum machine.  

• stiv cantarelli
• Roberto villa
• jd hangover
• Annibale records

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Manitoba NYC (aka Dictators NYC) calls it a day

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By The Barman

The Barman

02 December 2017

Hits: 9280

_{Dictators NYC. From left: Ross The Boss, Dean Rispler, JP Thunderbolt Patterson, Handsome Dick Maniroba and Daniel Rey.}  

The band formerly known as Dictators NYC is no more. Singer Handsome Dick Manitoba has announced via social media that the band - recently re-branded Manitoba NYC - has gone its separate ways after its just-completed European tour.

Members Manitoba, guitarist Ross The Boss and drummer JP Thunderbolt Patterson were the “last men standing” from the long-running Dictators, following an at times acriminious falling-out with bassist-songwriter and foundation member, Andy Shernoff. 

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Tear Your Minds Wide Open - The Galileo 7 (Damaged Goods)

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By The Barman

The Barman

30 November 2017

Hits: 4480

We’re not claiming to be a “hip” or “cutting edge” forum at the I-94 Bar but here’s the conundrum: No-one other than the readership of similarly backward-looking but worthy publications like Mojo or Shindig is going to know about The Galileo 7.  And that’s shit.

At the risk of sounding like a haughty communications lecturer talking to a bunch of undergrads, the more media fragments, the more isolationist its bubbles become. Which means, dear Barflies, that YOU have to dig deeper to find stuff that’s not disposable, commodified or bland. 

The Galileo 7 is none of the above. 

• garage
• powerpop
• freakbeat
• galileo7
• damaged goods
• tear your minds wide open

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The Saints and a 40-year Fatal attraction

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By The Barman

The Barman

28 November 2017

Hits: 5524

There are a few footnotes to the recent run of super-successful Australian shows by Ed Kuepper and his revitalised line-up of The Aints. 

After selling-out or going close wherever they went, The Aints reaped rave reviews (like this and this) and Ed has confirmed the band will record an album in 2018, "The Church of Simultaneous Existence". We can also look forward to more live shows. 

The tour also provided a chance for Ed to be reunited with an orignal copy of the "(I'm) Stranded" single on the band's own Fatal Records label from September 1976. 

A longtime fan who wishes to remain anonymous secured the impossibly rare 45 in an auction and had a relative present it to Ed at The Aints' first Sydney show - as our Judy Kuepper photo at right attests.

Halfway around the world, onetime Saints bandmate Chris Bailey (who lives in Europe) was presented with another copy, again courtesy of the generous benefactor.

Of course, this year marks 40 laps around the sun since The Saints released their earth-shaking debut single to an unsuspecting world. 

And if you haven't had enough Saints already, Kuepper is presenting music from the first three albums in an electric trio, with the Nonsemble strings arranged by Robert Davidson, at Lefty's Music Hall in Brisbane on December 8. Tickets here.

Tears without fears when Andrew and Melinda play

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

27 November 2017

Hits: 4433

If you’ve not seen or heard Andrew McCubbin play, or if you have but not seen his current set, drawn from his new LP “Where Once There was a Fire”, then I can only urge you to do so.

They're in Adelaide tonight but McCubbin and Melinda Kay toured Europe earlier this year to a strong response from crowds, most of whom it is fair to say, were unfamiliar with the music.

The new album is a deeply romantic, sweet, painful, exhilarating slow burn. So, no, they’re not Marky Ramone (who played tonight elsewhere) or the Cosmic Psychos or a Birthday Party covers band.

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Aints no doubt about it

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By The Barman

The Barman

26 November 2017

Hits: 11094

 _{The Aints in Sydney. Iam Amos photo.}

It’s a concept both risky and bold. The Aints, as they were originally constituted, were a short-term thing that evolved into something more substantial. After a live record and two studio albums, they’d been put to one side for a time (25 years) while main protagonist Ed Kuepper did other things. Many other things.

Much water had passed under the Go Between(s) Bridge since then. History had also put on a lot of weight. The original Saints had re-convened for a tour that did a degree of justice to the band’s name, but was clouded by ill-temper.

Thoughts of doing it again apparently reside in the church of indifference, baby.

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Marky Ramone tells: Why I didn't punch Bono

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By Pete Howlett

Pete Howlett

22 November 2017

Hits: 12575

Ex-Ramones and Voidoids drummer, author and sc-fi fan Marky Ramone starts his first Australian tour in almost a decade this week. Marky Ramone's Blitzkrieg reprises the back catalogue of the Ramones with Marky driving the backbeat behind a crew of hand-picked punk rock players.

Pete Howlett of Adelaide band The Pro-Tools was given the chance to pitch him 10 questions. Here's the result.  

• live
• ramones
• pro-tools
• pete howlett
• marky ramone
• blitzkrieg
• australian tour
• dee dee ramone
• bono
• u-2

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