Williamson and Tek beat the odds but "Two To One" came down to the wire

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By The Barman

The Barman

08 September 2020

Hits: 7097

_{Studio work: Jqmes Williamson and Deniz Tek. Franklin Avery photo.}

It’s a back to basics, guitar album but “Two To One”, the joint effort from James Williamson (Iggy & the Stooges) and Deniz Tek (Radio Birdman), had a complicated gestation that birthed a record in the nick of time. 

Commissioned by Los Angeles label Cleopatra Records a year out from its planned release, most of its 11 songs were worked up in face-to-face sessions in Hawaii, where Tek now lives and Williamson spends half his year at his vacation home. 

After Williamson went back to his home in San Francisco, the songs were refined via file sharing before Tek flew to the mainland in December last year for rehearsals and a recording session for the basic tracks at Studio D in Sausalito, California.

Sessions for vocal tracking and guitar overdubs followed on both sides of the Pacific. The record was mixed and about to be mastered when the first ripples of the COVID-19 pandemic became a global tidal wave.

• cleopatra records
• james williamson
• radio birdman
• deniz tek
• iggy & the stooges
• two to one
• smash mouth

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Meet your overlords

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By Ron Brown

Ron Brown

01 September 2020

Hits: 5410

Reptilian Overlord - The Casanovas  (Rubber Records)

Melbourne's  hard-rocking Casanovas have released their fourth album,  “Reptilian Overlord”, and it does not disappoint. It just rocks from start to finish.

I must admit I've seen The Casanovas many times over the years with varying line-ups. The constant, however, is the guitar and vocals of the man who was always destined to be a rock star: Tommy Boyce. Honestly, see this man play live and tell me I’m wrong.

• st kilda
• the casanovas
• reptillian overlord
• rubber records
• tommy boyce

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More than Gossip: Bio is a deep dive into the business - and art - of being Paul Kelly

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By Patrick Emery

Patrick Emery

31 August 2020

Hits: 5527

Paul Kelly: The Man, The Music And The Life In Between (Hachette Australia)

By Stuart Coupe

“I hear you like music. Do you like Paul Kelly? I’ve just been reading his autobiography, "How to Make Gravy". I love his music. Always have.”

It was an innocuous and inoffensive simple conversation starter one Sunday afternoon, uttered by a friend of my wife’s. To the extent there was question in there, it was almost opaque, and more likely rhetorical. Everyone likes Paul Kelly. How could anyone not like Paul Kelly? As it was, I fumbled around for an answer, and mumbled something about not having had the chance to listen to any of his music for a while.

It wasn’t as if I didn’t like Paul Kelly’s music. I’d first heard and seen him back in the early 1980s on Countdown with his then-band, The Dots. A few years later Kelly appeared again, this time with a new band, the Coloured Girls, and a batch of songs that would become staples of commercial radio playlists: "To Her Door", "Darling It Hurts", "From St Kilda to King’s Cross" and "Before Too Long".

• paul kelly
• martin armiger
• spencer p jones
• stuart coupe
• hachette
• paul kelly and the dots
• paul kelly and the coloured girls
• how to make gravy
• The man, the music and the life in between
• steve connolly

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STUPIDVIRUS REVIEW

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

26 August 2020

Hits: 4255

Do You Remember - The Lincolns (Trater Records)
Howlin' Threads - Howlin' Threads (Meinschaft Records)
Astral Flight - Astral Flight (Iceage Productions)
Nervous Breakdown - Destination Lonely (Voodoo Rhythm)

I've invented a new meaning for a word! Surely, with all the incredibly stupid behaviour rotating about COVID-19, surely there is actually a state of being "covid": "to behave in an irrational, impatient and/or rude manner in response to something not understood'.

You can have "coviddery", too, and "covidacious", if you like; "covidacious" would have to mean that the coviddery behaviour also indicates that they are a Grade A, thick-as-pigshit, fuckstick. But, what if the behaviour isn't quite dreadful enough to be called "covid"? Well, you might call their carry-on "SARSpicious".

Alright, I might have blown it with that last one. Still, these jerks should wear identifying caps, or badges, or something.

• voodoo rhythm
• the lincolns
• destination lonely
• Astral Flight

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A beautiful tribute that's not so ordinary

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By The Barman

The Barman

30 August 2020

Hits: 3883

Beauty In The Ordinary - Astrid Munday (Behind the Beat)

Catharsis through music is not new but Astrid Munday manages to weave a dignified and reflective joy into “Beauty in the Ordinary”, a tribute to her departed husband Tony Cohen.

It’s been 14 years since her last album and three since the passing of Cohen, one of the greatest producer/engineers to occupy an Australian studio in the last four decades. If you’ve heard an album by the Beasts of Bourbon, Hunters & Collectors, The Go-Betweens, The Cruel Sea, Dave Graney, Kim Salmon, the Birthday Party or the Blackeyed Susans, chances are that Cohen had a hand in it.

• birthday party
• died pretty
• charlie owen
• beauty in the ordinary
• astrid munday
• phil calvert
• tony cohen

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Make a date for Monday nights

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By The Barman

The Barman

21 August 2020

Hits: 3402

• moshpit
• monday evening gunk

Nobody's Victim: Taking aim with Dave Faulkner

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By Matt Ryan*

Matt Ryan*

18 August 2020

Hits: 6379

One of the most important people to come out of Perth's music scene since the 1970s is Dave Faulkner. Whether he’s playing punk, pop or electro music, he's always trying to create something new and exciting. The Hoodoo Gurus’ latest single “Hung Out To Dry” is a perfect example.

Faulkner picks a target in the current US President, someone who has been a punching bag for many people, and sticks it to him in a fresh and personal manner.

As well as the new Gurus single, Faulker's reconstituted former band The Victims had their first release in many moons this year. It was a physical EP featuring recordings of four songs (“Charlie”, “Horror Smash”, “I Wanna Be With You” and “Everynite”) that were written, but never recorded, when the legendary band formed in Perth in the 1970s.

The re-born Victims reunites Dave with original member James Baker and new recruit, the great Ray Ahn of the Hard Ons, who give a slightly modern touch to some classic tunes that were birthed at the dawn of punk rock. 

 Dave spoke to me via Zoom in Sydney where he tells me he is fresh from mastering the next Gurus single.

• hard-ons
• james baker
• hoodoo gurus
• the victims
• dave faulkner

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They're as beautiful as a foot...when they kick into gear

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By Lenny Flotski

Lenny Flotski

18 August 2020

Hits: 3493

45th Anniversary - Live In London - Blue Oyster Cult (Frontiers Music Srl)

To fully appreciate the epiphany that the cognoscenti (and especially the unwitting) experienced on their first listen of the debut album by Blue Öyster Cult, one has to remember the turgid and bleak musical landscape of 1972.

The top artists of that year are Roberta Flack, Gilbert O’Sullivan, Don McLean, Nilsson, and Sammy Davis Jr. Sure, Chuck Berry is in the charts, but that’s with “My Ding-a-Ling”. (If you bought the single, you haven’t listened to it since then.)

• blue oyster cult
• buck dharma
• eric bloom
• 45th Anniversary - Live In London
• lenny flotski
• frontiers music srl
• Richie Costellano
• Kasim Sulton
• jules radino

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Great Vibrations from Johnny Casino

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By The Barman

The Barman

16 August 2020

Hits: 4935

Vibrations, yours and mine - Johnny Casino (La Vila Nova/Beluga Records/Golden Robot)

With the world turning to shit in every sense of the term, what's a poor boy to do other than play in a rock and roll band? The answer, in strange times of social distancing, is to record an album solo and pare the songs right back to resemble what they were like when first written.

Plenty will testify that going naked in front of a microphone is harder than it sounds - even with very few people watching. Johnny Casino's "Vibrations, yours and mine" was recorded in a modest Spanish studio in four hours, with some pedal steel and backing vocals overdubbed later courtesy of Hendrik Rover (Los Deltonos). 

It was done pre-COVID but serves as a good template for how to go about things - which is with loads of emotional investment, a good deal of spontaneity and, importantly, heart.

• johnny casino
• new christs
• the saints
• la vila nova
• beluga records
• vibrations
• yours and mine
• golden robot
• jimmy webb
• the black keys
• glen campbell
• gordon lightfoot

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