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.

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.

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.

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.)

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.

Bungalow Rock - Ronny Dap (self released)

Listen up I-94 Barflies - there's a new era of music taking hold in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. It combines dirty rock 'n' roll mixed with old school English punk rock, sung and played by an Australian with no regards to what anyone thinks...

Expiain? Well, it's called Bungalow Rock. A brilliant name, if I do say so myself, and this music was recorded - in isolation - in a suburban bungalow-cum-recording studio and in a rented home's backyard.

Our man Ronny Dap from Melbourne has released this, his second album in 12 months, as the follow-up to the glorious "Root Shoot or Electrocute". If the name is ringing bells, Ronny Dap was the brains behind the punk band The Dope Smoking Morons as well as many others over the past 30 years. He plays everything on "Bungalow Rock".