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sweden

  • rattansonThe DIY ethos is less a gimmick and more a way of life these days for the 99 percent of musicians not enslaved by a major label. It's either practical, necessary or all too easy to hole up in your bedroom and let those ideas pour out onto a hard drive without someone else calling the shots and charging your own money for it.

    There's a defiite upside and also a downside.  Rattanson is a case in point.

    Rattanson is a one-man garage pop multi-instrumentalist from Sweden and "I'd Much Rather Be With The Noise" is his second album under that name. A former member of powerpo act Fanscene and garage rockers The Rawhides, he's gone solo to focus on his own songs.

    Rattanson played all the instruments on his first record, 2017's "Full Scale Shakeability", and also on this one except for drums, for which he recruited Anders Björnlund from the Turpentines and the HiJackers. He'll have a bass player in tow to play the songs live.

  • golden-greatsThis is the second retrospective package but the first well-rounded “best of” for the late (1994-2012) but great Swedish psych-rock-pop conglomerate. While the 2 CD “A Present From The Past” focused on outtakes and rare gems, “Golden Greats” is a single disc that’s largely what it says on the package.

  • viduker flexiBluesy rock with its feet nailed to the floor in a smoky bar somewhere in the ‘70s, Vikunder kick out righteous rock with a lashing of soul on this single, a taster for their second album, “Oracles and Prophets”.

    “Gone With The Dawn” motors on the same melodic fuel that’s powered The Sewergrooves for the best part of a decade. Is it any surprise they, too, hail from Sweden? In Vidunker’s case, one guitar and an organ fill out the sound with Martin Prim’s tuneful vocal pushed slightly back in the mix.

  • dee rangers epAfter half a dozen albums you’d expect these Swedish veterans to be good at this thing called Garage Pop and they don’t let anybody down on this meaty four-song EP. It’s catchy, rough-edged pop with twin-guitars.

    Dee Rangers are firmly stuck in the 1980s but that’s a positive around these parts. Sweden, the US West Coast, the UK and Australia were all hot spots back for garage rock with distinct ‘60s overtones back then and this release reminds you as much.

    Prime cut “I Want You” is straight out of Burbank with a surging organ line, gritty guitars and an impassioned vocal all hanging off a catchy hook. Pers Nystrom announces Utte Petterson’s lead-break with a howl before we’re dropped back into the chorus. Killer stuff.

  • doojiman epWatch Out! Look Out! - Doojiman & The Exploders (Heavy Medication)

    Dunno about you but Scandirock was thicker on the ground in these parts in the 1990s than dandruff at a record collector fair. Doojiman & The Exploders are from Sweden and use a simple recipe of punk guitars from the garage, a sackful of strong songs and buckets of phlegm to attitude to rock the house down.

    You gotta to be good to steal the title of a Stooges outtake as the name of your band and Doojiman & The Exploders are. There are traces of The (early) Hives, a less metal-ly Gluecefier and the venerable ‘Copters, sans six-string histrionics, on this 45rpm, nine-track slice of vinyl.

  • this is warWe all know that band that was “born out of time”. The one that was on the cusp of success and that would/should have become household names given a modicum of luck and better timing. The Godfathers certainly qualify. 

    Arising in the UK 10 years after punk’s initial rush and playing a brutal but hook-laden fast R & B, they had a degree of chart success in the US with “Birth, School, Work, Death” and “More Songs About Love & Hate” before leaving their major label for a German indie, peetering out in the 2000’s before a late decade reformation.

  • New Mick Medew & Ursula album

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The Living Eye


Right eye

Kim Salmon’s Smoked Samon
How Did They Ever Manage Tour
NOV
1 - Hybrid Wave House, Fremantle
("In conversation with Kim Salmon" appearance) - Tix
2 - Lyrics, Perth - Tix
3 - Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle (Free Entry)
9 - Merri Creek Tavern, Melbourne - Tix

Pat Todd & The Rankoutsiders
Victorian Tour
NOV
6 – PBS live to air
7 – Trash Cult, Bendigo, VIC
7 - Shedshaker Taproom, Castlemaine, VIC 
8 – The Tote, Collingwood, VIC
9 – River Rocks, Barwon Club, Geelong
10 – St Kilda Bowls Club, St Kilda, VIC
11 – Last Chance Bar, Melbourne, VIC

Mucho Sonar
"Flight of The Bandito Tour"
NOV
8 - Hamilton Station Hotel  - Newcastle 
9 - Marrickville Bowlo - Sydney 
23 - Link n Pin - Woy Woy 

Hard-Ons' 40th Anniversary
Australian Tour Oct - Nov 2024
OCT
31 - Altar, Hobart, TAS
NOV
1 - - The Tote, Melbourne, VIC
2 - Singing Bird Studios, Frankston, VIC
3 - Red Hill Hotel, Castlemaine, VIC
4 - Barwon Club, Geelong, VIC
7 - Amplifier, Perth, WA
8 - Indian Ocean Hotel, Scarborough, WA
9 - Froth & Fury, Adelaide, SA
 Tickets

Los Chicos
Australian Tour 2024
OCT
31 - Old Bar, Fitzroy, VIC
w/ Mesa Cosa + The Breadmakers - tix  
NOV
1 -The Tote. Collingwood, VIC
w/ The Hard-Ons * - tix 
2 - Volta, Ballarat, VIC
w/ The Meanies * - tix 
3 - Red Hill Hotel, Chewton, VIC  (arvo)
w/ Hard-Ons - tix 
3 - St.Kilda Bowls Club, VIC (evening)
 w/ Private Function*
4 - Evelyn Hotel, Fitzroy, VIC
w/ Mach Pelican * - tix   
8 - Marrickville Bowlo
w/ New Christs + Crankees * - tix 
9 - River Rocks, Barwon Club,
Geelong - tix   
10 - River Rocks Rehab, Barwon Club,
Geelong - tix 
* plus Human Toys (FR)

Buzzocks Australian Tour
OCT
25 - Brisbane - The Triffid
26 - Adelaide - The Gov
27 - Fremantle - Metropolis
31 - Newcastle - King St Bandroom
NOV
1 - Sydney - Metro Theatre
2 - Melb - Northcote Theatre
3 - Lorne - Lorne Theatre
4 – Castlemaine - Theatre Royal
Tix


"In The Zone"
CD Launch
The Mick Medew and Ursula 4
+ Lovejoy Surf
It's Still A Secret, South Brisbane
- Nov 16 (2pm)
Tickets

Mark Steiner & His Problems
featuring Pavel Cingl
Australian Tour
NOV
21 - George Lane, St Kilda, VIC*
+ Kim Volkman (solo)
23 - Taproom at Shedshaker, Castlemaine, VIC
29 – Cave Inn, Brisbane, QLD
+ Mark’s Paranormal Disneyland
+ Socket
DEC
1 – Wheatsheaf Hotel, Adelaide, SA
w/ special guest Romana Ashton
+ Brave Mistakes
2 – Lazybones Lounge, Marrickville, NSW
+ Simon & Graham of The Vandelles
4 – Brass Monkey, Cronulla. NSW
+ Simon & Graham of The Vandelles
6 – One Star Lounge & Gallery, Melbolurne, VIC
+ Rosie Westbrook
- 8 – The Tote, Collingwood, VIC*
+ Kim Volkman & The Whiskey Priests
+ JP Shilo
+ Julitha Ryan + Eden

Chimers Australian Tour
NOV
8 - Old Bar, Melbourne
w/ Bench Press + No Hoper
9 - River Rocks Festival, Barwon Club,
Geelong
10 - Poison City Records
in-store (afternoon)
20 - Freo Social, Fremantle
w/ The Saints ’73-’78
21 - Old Habits, Perth
w/ Spacerhead + Lounge Tourist
+ Ten Cent Tiger
23 - Princess Theatre, Brisbane
w/ The Saints ’73-’78
SOLD OUT
24 - Sonic Sherpa in-store (afternoon)
w/ Kellie Lloyd (solo)
24 - Princess Theatre, Brisbane
w/ The Saints ’73-’78
SOLD OUT
25 - Princess Theatre, Brisbane
w/ The Saints ’73-’78
29 - Anita’s Theatre, Thirroul
w/ The Saints ’73-’78
DEC
7 - Trocadero Room, Sydney
w/ Antenna + Cammy Cautious & the Wrestlers
+ The Sevilles
15 - The Tote, Melbourne
JAN
31 -  La La La’s, Wollongong
+ special guests

“Hotter Than Donut Grease Tour”
Grand Pricks
+ Dave Favours & The Roadside Ashes
+ The Tall Stories
NOV
1 - Link & Piin, Woy Woy
2 - Stag & Hunter, Newcastle
3 - The Junkyard, Maitland
9 - Golden Barley, Enmore
29 - Orana Hotel, Blacksmiths
JAN
21 - Tamworth Hotel, Tamworth

The Saints ‘73-‘78
NOV
13 - Adelaide Hindley St. Music Hall
+ Double Agents
15 - Castlemaine Theatre Royal (SOLD OUT)
+ Parsnip
16 - Melbourne Northcote Theatre (SOLD OUT)
+ The Double Agents
17 - Melbourne Northcote Theatre 
+ Alien Nosejob
20 - Fremantle Freo Social 
+ Chimers
22 - Sydney, Enmore Theatre
+ Kim Salmon & The Surrealists
23 - Brisbane, Princess Theatre (SOLD OUT)
+ Chimers 
24 - Brisbane, Princess Theatre *NEW SHOW*
+ Chimers
25 - Brisbane, Princess Theatre *NEW SHOW*
+ Chimers
27 - Hobert, Odeon Theatre *NEW SHOW*
+ Liquid Nails
29 -  Thirroul, Anitas Theatre *NEW SHOW*
30 - Byron Bay, The Green Room *NEW SHOW*
Tickets

“Pig Out On Punk #2”
I Hate People
+ The Owen Guns
+ Nunchukka Superfly
+ Flowers For Jayne
+ The Dark Clouds
+ The Pingers
Marrickville Bowlo, NSW
- Dec 14

The Stranglers
50 Years In Black  
2025 Australasian Tour
MAR
NZ
13 - Powerstation, Auckland
15 - Meow Nui, Wellington
16 - Christchurch Town Hall, Christchurch 
AUS
19 - Enmore Theatre, Sydney
20 - The Tivoli, Brisbane
22- Forum, Melbourne
23 - The Gov, Adelaide
25 - Astor Theatre, Perth
Tickets

 

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