Chris Masuak says don't be a "Bird Brain" on new CD

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By The Barman

The Barman

13 January 2016

Hits: 4711

Ex-Radio Birdman guitar slinger Chris Masuak has released a promotional clip to launch a crowd-funding campaign for his forthcoming album to come out on CD and it's likely to cause a stir with fans of his former band. The song's title is "Bird Brain."

You can get on board the crowdfunding campaign to grab anything from Birdman and Hitmen rarities, a Masuak show in your backyard to a copy of the album (when it comes out) here. Meanwhile, here's the clip:

• radio
• radio birdman

Conundrum - Thee Headcoats (Damaged Goods)

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By The Barman

The Barman

10 January 2016

Hits: 5397

This re-issue of a 1994 album by Medway’s finest sounds as brattish and vital as anything else around now, the perfect blend of punk rock and beat pop. Fashions come and go but Billy Childish remains a constant.

You think you work hard? By the time Thee Headcoats released this they had eight albums under their belts and fuck knows how many singles. Formed after Thee Mighty Caesars ground to a halt, they were an influence on everyone from Jack White to the Black Lips, Thee Oh-Sees and Jon Spencer.

• garage
• medway
• billy childish
• damaged goods
• thee headcoats

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Junkie Luck b/w Long Blonde Animal - Smash Fashion (Electric Pudding)

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By The Barman

The Barman

10 January 2016

Hits: 4581

There might be some irony in the band name considering their obsession with ‘70s glam rock, but Smash Fashion are from Los Angeles so maybe not. 

These veterans have been around for a dozen years in this form and call their music Dandy Rock. Even a cursory listen to the A side has Cheap Trick written all over it so it’s no surprise after some judicious online research to see them cited as a prime influence.

• junkie luck
• smash fashion
• los angeles

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Being With You - Brat Farrar (Hound Gawd! Records)

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By The Barman

The Barman

10 January 2016

Hits: 4481

Australia’s one-man punk rock machine Brat Farrar (aka Sam Agostino, of Digger and the Pussycats, Russian Roulettes! and Kamikaze Trio) emerges from the Melbourne lounge room with another cracker release. This one’s a three-track vinyl single limited to 100 copies so you’re advised to move fast.

The title track (full name: “Being With You That Night”) is a pounding electric beat that’s really a stage for duelling twin guitars. It’s over in a minute-and-a-half but leaves a large scorch mark. “Let It Go” is just as frantic but the guitar sheen sounds like it's been sonically buffed to take the edge off. Don't worry. It’s still terrific.

• sam
• brat
• farrar
• digger and the pussycats
• agostino
• electro-punk

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LAMF Live at The Village Gate 1977 - Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers (Cleopatra)

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By The Barman

The Barman

08 January 2016

Hits: 6693

In a world of shoddy, sub-par live releases and infinite re-issues of studio out-takes, this one lives up to the hype. Capturing the Heartbreakers briefly back on home turf after their first stint in the UK and in all their drug-infested glory, “LAMF Live” is the album your mother warned you about and your old man wanted banned.

Where’s the danger in rock and roll? You hear people asking all the time. It’s around if you dig deep enough but it was never so nakedly on display as back in the late ‘70s when the Heartbreakers were in full swing.

• heartbreakers
• live
• 1977
• jerry nolan
• johnny thunders
• walter lure
• billy rath
• village gate

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Be amazed by this Adelaide punk footage from 38 years ago

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By The Barman

The Barman

07 January 2016

Hits: 9431

Andrew Bunney is a 3D radio announcer and former member of the Coneheads and the Exploding White Mice. He shot and compiled this amazing piece of Adelaide underground rock and roll history in 1978, featuring rare live footage of three local punk scene originals.  

The footage features The Accountants playing “Elizabeth City Riots” (with Bad Boy Bubby star Nick Hope on bass!), The Dagoes delivering “This Perfect Band” and The U-Bombs dropping “Give Me A Medal”. 

Says Andrew: "There are a lot of people who are in this film (or would be interested in seeing it), however I don't have their contact details. Please feel free to alert any such people, especially Doug Thomas, Hugh Llewellyn, Ron Putans, Kate Jarrett, Doss (Frances) Grieve, Andy Steele, Nick Hope, Richard Gak, Neil Perryman, Bo Costerson and Roy Ersinger."

• adelaide
• exploding white mice
• dagoes

A Glimpse of Another Time - CTMF (Danaged Goods)

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By The Barman

The Barman

07 January 2016

Hits: 5377

He wears more hats than an international milliner’s house model but prolific UK musician/artists/poet Billy Childish keeps making idiosyncratic, vital music. Here’s his latest - and of course there’s a back story.

Childish put his band Musicians of the British Empire (MBE) on hiatus a couple of years ago so wife and bassist Nurse Julie could have a baby. CMTF is the reformed MBE and this four-track EP apparently announces a return to live shows.

• thee
• billy childish
• damaged goods
• headcoats
• ctmf
• nurse julie
• pop rivets

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Heirloom Varieties - Donovan’s Brain (Career Records)

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By The Barman

The Barman

07 January 2016

Hits: 4564

Americans watch their football games in four quarters. The Rest of The World tends to do things in halves. Just because “Heirloom Varieties” is neatly sliced into a couple of equal portions of contrasting music doesn’t make it any less of a trip to the psychedelic and pop backwoods of the US of A.

The first half (the review copy is a 14-track CD but you can score it as an 11-song LP) plays out in Paisley Underground territory, circa California 1986, with a huge nod to the jangly folk-psych of two decades earlier. That’s to say Rain Parade (that band’s Matt Pucci is a member), Green On Red and The Dream Syndicate. Steve Wynn fans will lap it up. The second half switches the mood to something darker and more psychedelic.

• psychedelic
• donovans
• rain parade
• green on red
• jangle
• paisley underground

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Another Place Another Time - The Phringe Dwellers (self released)

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By The Barman

The Barman

06 January 2016

Hits: 4866

Damned if this isn’t one of the best releases of the last few years out of Sydney and its by an all but unknown band. Saying Phringe Dwellers have a low live profile is like labelling Motorhead as a bunch of guys who played moderately loud. Paradoxically, this EP from the blues rock trio sounds like it was forged in the furnaces of a thousand suburban beer barns.

Of course its members are no strangers to live stages. Bassist-vocalist-harmonica player Carl Ekman and guitarist John South were members of The Hunchbacks in the ‘90s and King Felix in the ‘00s with four albums between them. Expat Melbournite and drummer, Simon Li, is a singer-songwriter who used to keep time for World Punk exponents The Balkan Grill.

• phringe dwellers
• hunchbacks
• king-felix

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