The Barman on tour in Japan at Mr Death's Crampstore with The Grand Wizard of the Psychotic Turnbuckles.
Top Ten Albums and Other Things In No Particular Order (with a qualifier that I never review gigs promted by the Bar but, fuck that, it’s my Top Ten.)
Ten Albums
1. Dark Country – Sonic Garage (self released)
This turned up on the eve of an overseas trip so a full review from yours truly isn’t among the glowing tributes already posted. A step up on the debut (which was pretty good in its own right) with lots of weaving guitars and classy keyboard textures. Sydney Old Man Rock and Roll. Just buy it.
2. Hackney Diamonds – The Rolling Stones (Rolling Stones Records)
You might have wanted to hate it. Lead “single” “Angry” was so-so but turned out to be one of the parts of a sum that’s much better than it could have been. There's a formula here but it's not a negative when it's in the hands of its inventors. Trust your own ears: It sounds contemporary but this is still The Stones being the Stones, even without Charlie.
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- By The Barman
- Hits: 4047
Mark Roxburgh fronting Joeys Coop. Murray Bennett photo
In no particular order a bunch of music and music related things that have grabbed my attention. Some of it is shit and some of it I’m ambivalent about but all of it has fed my passion for music.
A.I. and music @ Skynet
I was researching AI and design about five years ago and saw that much of what designers did would soon disappear and design would split into two camps – bespoke design “crafted” by people or mass-produced design generated using AI via the prompts written by people. I suspect music will follow a similar path.
People will still write and play songs the old fashion way and it will probably be a bit of a niche / bespoke activity. A lot of mediocre mass-produced music will be generated using AI via the prompts written by people. We’ll probably hear more of it in things like corporate videos or ad jingles and the ubiquitous Tik Tok videos to begin with but I suspect it will eventually dominate the popular music landscape. The precursor to this is of course sampling.
The advent of sampling has led to a huge growth in genres of music that is not written so much as it is cut and pasted together. Honing one’s prompt craft to get a song out of AI is the next logical step. The soundtrack of Skynet. Meantime I’ll still write and sing songs no one will listen to apart from 15 blokes of a certain age in a dodgy bar somewhere.
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- By Mark Roxburgh
- Hits: 2440
The Tommys at The Tramway Hotel in the day. Robert Lastdrager (drums), Ollie Laurie (guitar) and Jonathan ‘Ike’ Lickliter (bass.)
The Tommys - The Old Bar Fitzroy on Sunday January 14 2024
We played our last gig at the Old Bar in Fitzroy in December 2003. Our first reunion rehearsal early December was a cachopany of muscle memory gone wrong. Now we’re sounding loose and mean. Like being 18 again, “Oh the humanity”.
Chloe Cox aka Sorry Jimi
Fabulous singer, songwriter, guitarist who moved to Melbourne a few years ago from QLD to kick start her rock and roll journey.
The Green Mist - Shotkickers, Thornbury, Melbourne
A great, raucous winters evening of Rock and Roll.
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- By Robert Lastdrager
- Hits: 2332
1) I may be slightly biased but we've had some cracking gigs at the MoshPit this year, so rather than doing a 1 through 10 for MoshPit I'm combining them all here.
Huge thanks to all the bands that have appeared on the MoshPit stage this year, too many to list all of them, but it'd be remiss of me not to mention our repeat bands who've continued to support us. Sorry if I do miss anyone:
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- By Pat Jones
- Hits: 2288
Ernie O’s 2023 Top 10
10. River of Snakes live at Northcote Social Club (supporting Chris Masuak & Dog Soldier) on 26 May. It takes a lot to make my jaw drop, but this tight and gritty 3-piece achieved it flawlessly and with ease. Raul (Magic Dirt) on guitar and vocals, Elissa (The Loveless, RnRHS) on bass and vocals and Dave (Grindhouse, Drifter) on drums wove a tapestry of love, loss and lust that draws you in and leaves you wanting more. Check out their goodies here!
9. Stu Wilson – As Yet Untitled Mini-Album. Still a work in progress, but (Loose Pills, Aberration, New Christs, The Crisps and more) has gone next level with his solo material, taking advantage of his Stu Stu Studio to lay down some tracks that wouldn’t sound out of place on a 1980’s Citadel release. We’re having a lot of fun with this! Check out a teaser here.
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- By Ernie O
- Hits: 3084
Top Ten Time in Ten Town! Four gigs – five albums – one book – by Garry Gray
The buzz.
Garry Gray is winging his way in like a true angel to deliver his Top Ten Commandments for the I-94 Bar for 2023 – formerly of Sacred Cowboys, Negatives and Garry Gray & The Sixth Circle – and recently with Ed Clayton – Jones – without G.G. there would be no Chainsaw President ….
’The truth is I never left you, All through my wild days, My mad existence, I kept my promise, So keep your distance.’’ – now read on!
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- By Garry Gray
- Hits: 2672
Top Ten in no particular order
1. Iggy Pop – Every Loser
After the WTF-was-that-all-about of 2019’s “Free”, Iggy is back doing what Iggy does best – fronting a small combo and letting it rip.
We get a taste of most of Iggy’s personas, including the punk god to the dodgy philosopher to the Sinatra-influenced sleazebag. Standout tracks, well, pretty much all of them, but “Strung Out Johnny” turned into an earworm that went for weeks.
At 76, he still shows that he’s got plenty to offer and plenty to say and this would be a fitting record for him to go out on. Compare it to the doggerel the Stones put out recently. Sir Michael sounds like he’s singing through a vocoder FFS.
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- By Chris Virtue
- Hits: 2310
Another year of almost zero fun in Sin City (if not the rest of Oz/the rest of this mortal coil/earth) for most of us/those in the lower/working class, some relief could be found through the following Top 10...
Margo Price - "Strays" album
Lucinda Williams - "Stories from a Rock-n-Roll Heart" album
Eilen Jewell - "Get Behind The Wheel" album
Lydia Loveless - "Nothing's Gonna Stand In My Way Again" album
Cable Ties - "All Her Plans" album
Leah Senior - "The Music That I Make" album
Pat Todd / Mad Macka @ Golden Barley Hotel, Sydney
The Mezcaltones (CD launch) @ Marrickville Bowling Club, Sydney
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- By Simon Li
- Hits: 2152
Sean St Leone. Keith Claringbold photo.
10 things that made me hoppy this year (in no particular order)
Mudhoney at Wollongong Uni
A band I’ve wanted to see for many, many years and every time I’ve been close to seeing them, something has gone wrong, so I was stoked just to make it to this show. I was even more stoked when they played an amazing set, chock full of classics. Not showing their age in the slightest.
Descendants at the Metro, Sydney
Another band I’d always wanted to see but always missed - been a fan ever since someone put "Everything Sux" in my hand sometime in the late ‘90s. Didn’t know what to expect given Milo had a heart attack less than two months before the gig, but i needn’t have worried. They started and just kept going till the end - pretty much no breaks - just one killer song after another. Tight and more than alright.
The Mark of Cain at the Metro, Sydney
Playing their album "Ill At Ease" from start to finish (and throwing in a few from “Battlesick” and “This Is This” to close out the night). Tight as a fishes arsehole. One of the best things I’ve seen in years. crowd loved it and every song was spot on. Brutally good. If there was any justice in the world this band would have been huge.
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- By Sean St Leone
- Hits: 2185
More Articles …
- Top Tens for 2023: Our Man In The USA, JD Monroe
- Top Ten for 2023: Newcastle live music supporter Graham Steel
- Top Ten for 2023: Chris Klondike Masuak
- Top Ten for 2023: Brisbane duo Mick Medew and Ursula
- Top Ten for 2023: Squatter the Cockateil from Brisbane
- Top Ten for 2023: I-94 Bar's Man in Dimboola, Ronald Brown