Memphis-born Tav Falco has been drawing inspiration from a deep musical well of swamp blues, soul and psychedelia since the early ‘80s. “Command Performance” is his first LP for five years. 

Even though there aren’t many places he hasn’t toured, much of the world is yet to catch up with his music so “Command Performance” is another chip at that wall of mainstream indifference.

The under-appreciated heroes of the mushrooming Sydney underground scene of the 1980s were the women. Some will say it’s always been the case and continues to be so. For every Chrissie Amphlett there were many others - like Juliet Ward (Shy Impostors), Julie Mostyn (Flaming Hands), Jo Piggott (XL Capris), Annalise Morrow (The Numbers) and Angie Pepper (The Passengers) - who never made it to international mainstream stages.

This exhumed live set by Sydney’s Fast Cars’ underlines this fact. Fronted by Di Levy (vocals and guitar), Fast Cars were habituates of the small but vibrant mod scene that grew in the sweaty pubs of Sussex Street in the Sydney CBD. They occupied a place where ‘60s pop mixed with soul and the sound of what was lazily dubbed New Wave.

The new release on I-94 Bar Records is the debut album for Sydney garage supergroup 69BC. The self-titled CD by this shadowy, primal quintet is 20 years in the making and it's 17 tracks of raw and raucous Rock Action. 

Staggering from the smouldering ruins of a Pismo Beach after party, a handful of survivors retreated into the bowels of innumerable rehearsal rooms two decades ago. They have finally emerged to claim their revenge in the new Millennium. This band may have links to the likes of the Psychotic Turnbuckles and Sheek the Shayk. 69BC is Rok Bolder (vocals), Vince Cuscuna (guitar, backing vocals), Dave Wong (guitar), Adam Silverwright (bass, backing vocals), Nix (drums).

The CD releases on October 19 and pre-orders are open now at the link below. It will also be available as a download.    

A debut as strong as “Demon Blues” was always going to be hard to top, but but Perth’s hard rock combo extraordinaire Datura4 has scaled that mountain seemingly without trouble.

There’s a deeper psychedelic vein running through “Hairy Mountain” than its predecessor and the songs are just a touch stronger. Dom Mariani and Greg Hitchcock have solidified what was probably a fun idea involving teenage bandmates reuniting into a serious guitar partnership with some scorching sonic explorations. And the gun rhythm section of Warren Hall (drums) and Stu Loasby sounds in command and totally at home.

This one gets seven bottles. Seven. Harry Howard and Ed Preston have excelled themselves in the most extraordinary way.

Right, I’ll calm down and try and explain. First, both HHNDE records have been natural progressions, with damn fine songs, and plenty to bounce around the room to. Memorable in every sense.

In 2016, it seems that times have changed. Time was when the “third album” was perceived as “difficult’; that a band found it difficult to develop onwards from their initial impetus and squirt to stardom. The Ramones’ third LP was written at the same time as their first, so no problem there. I suspect much the same could be said of the Stranglers, whose live sets in 1977 featured 90 minutes of ugly hits. However, these are exceptions.

Right, when I heard this for the first of what will be hundreds of times, I thought, fuck me, “Grandular Fever” is a career highlight. The thing is… I reckon they can match this over and over without breaking wind. And fuck, Loki Lockwood must be spitting. A record this fucking brilliant and it ain’t out til October (I won't tell you when I initially wrote this).

Every now and then an CD comes along which makes me love the privileged position I sometimes find myself in. And right now… EIGHT BOTTLES. And after several months of addictive listening, it's still eight bottles.