Get Old – The Holy Soul (self released)
There’s undoubtedly some self-effacing irony in the title of the fourth long-player by Sydney veterans The Holy Soul. Ageing is an inevitability and these guys (and gal) have been around since the early 2000s, coalescing in a shed in the suburban outskirts before establishing a base in the creative oasis of the inner-west.
Since then they’ve collaborated with the likes of Damo Suzuki (Can), David Thomas (Pere Ubu) and Robyn Hitchcock (The Soft Boys), the latter an adopted Aussie who produced this while on one of his extended stays in Sydney.
“Get Old” contains The Holy Soul’s trademark interlocking guitars and throbbing rhythm section, and typically dodges easy categorisation. There’s a touch of jangle, some bluesy swagger and a large slice of glam.
- Details
- By The Barman
- Hits: 1887
Woke Up and Seen my Reflection - M.J. Halloran (Torn & Frayed Records)
Well, it's been nearly a month since I was almost not here at The Bar anymore. And here I am, finally getting to a few reviews before I shut down again and get on with “my book”.
MJ Halloran's “Woke Up and Seen my Reflection” was recorded in Melbourne live to two-inch tape with his long-time collaborators Steve Boyle (Moler, Hungry Ghosts, Rowland S. Howard, Brian Henry Hooper, among others) and Tim O'Shannassy (The Paradise Motel, Penny Ikinger, Belle Phoenix, Brian Henry Hooper, among others) with the addition of Andrew McGee (the founder of Shock Records), and guest performances from Kim Salmon (who you've never heard of, right?).
There's a good back story to how it came about too.
Steve, Tim, Andrew and MJ decided to try, in Melbourne, what they'd done previously with Steve Albini in Chicago. That is, recording in one room without overdubs. So, they'd better get it right first go. MJ's press notes remark that Link Wray was a good reference point, as Wray did something similar with his 1971 self-titled record from 1971, which he recorded in a converted chicken barn.
- Details
- By Robert Brokenmouth
- Hits: 2655
Blown Again - Blowers (Spooky Records/Chaputa! Records)
The Spooky Records website asserts; “Capitalising on their triple vocal attacks, blistering guitars and fast-paced tunes, ‘Blown Again’ is a tongue-in-cheek earworm of a ride laced with sick humour and shit-stirs. The album is chock full of “fuck you” themes, with tracks like ‘Shut The Fuck Up’, ‘Wipe My Ass’, ‘Slice’n’Dice’ and ‘Bad 4 U’ that jump off the record and grab you by the throat.”
Spooky also reckons: “For fans of The Spits, Jay Reatard, Wipers, Mean Jeans, Oblivians, The Cavemen, Wet Ones”. Mind, I gotta say I'm somewhat ignorant there.
So, to this bad-tempered old goat, what do Blowers sound like?
FULL-ON FUCKYOU FUZZ HAMMER THOR CHORDS CRUSH DESTROY
- Details
- By Robert Brokenmouth
- Hits: 2099
The Hypnogogue - The Church (Communicating Vessels/Easy Action Records)
Confession time: never really paid much attention to The Church. Cost of having other stuff to do is that you miss a lot.
Conclusion first, though: you're gonna enjoy this. "Ascendance" is the first track and you're gonna go all gooey and lose it from there, taken as you are into a beautiful, well-sculpted world. The band have put a huge amount into "The Hypnogogue" - the music isn't standard throw-away rawk by any stretch; the more you listen, the more exquisite layers you'll discover.
- Details
- By Robert Brokenmouth
- Hits: 2371
Let Your Hair Down – The On and Ons (Citadel)
Short on time? Here's all you need to know in fewer than six paragraphs:
“Let Ya Hair Down” is album number five for The On and Ons and finds them exploring new sonic textures and invoking a slightly tougher approach. The hook-laden song-writing, lockstep playing and uplifting harmonies remain intact, but there’s a sense of the band pushing fresh envelopes, too.
Let’s say that thing that every band hopes/strives for, and declare, without hyperbole, that it’s the best thing The On and Ons have recorded.
If you don’t know already, The On and Ons feature singer/songwriter/guitarist Glenn Morris, his brother Brian (drums and harmony vocals) and bassist Clyde Bramley (bottom end and harmonies). The band is based in Sydney and their combined pedigree includes recording and touring internationally with Hoodoo Gurus, Screaming Tribesmen, Kings of the Sun, and Paul Collins Beat.
- Details
- By The Barman
- Hits: 2199
Nothing Is For Everyone – Drugs in Sport/Sound of Speed – Lachlan X Morris (Outtaspace)
Split records can be problematic. Too often the vehicles of economic convenience for cash-strapped but otherwise disparate bands who pool their money and patch two sides together in order, just to get a release out. And there are splits like this one where some pop-rock magic works together.
Drugs in Sport and Lachlan X Morris both come from Newcastle in Australia. A onetime hotbed for blue collar rock and roll, the former Steel City has gentrified and diversified. This shared release on Central Coast label Outtspace is five songs from DIS and four from Lachlan X over two sides of 12-inch vinyl, and proves that there’s still rock and roll life in Newie.
- Details
- By The Barman
- Hits: 1792
The Crisps – The Crisps (Vi-Nil Records)
Pure garage pop goodness and it’s only two decades late. Chances are you’ve never heard of them.
As mentioned elsewhere, The Crisps were a Sydney assemblage of great potential back in the 1990s. The reasons they went nowhere are lost in the mists of time – probably hidden under a floorboard of the abandoned Hopetoun Hotel.
A vehicle for the songs of drummer-vocalist Stuart Wilson (New Christs, Lime Spiders and dozens of others), the band included members of would-be international stars Doomfoxx, road veterans The Johnnys and underrated northern beaches cowboys Orange County.
They recorded these six songs to help rustle up gigs. Ex-music reviewer-turned-bar operator Mark Fraser heard them while reviving his Vi Nil Records label, loved ‘em and offered to press them up. And the rest is history.
- Details
- By The Barman
- Hits: 2188
BuddhaDevadatta - Buddhadatta (self releasd)
Picture it: Rundle Mall, Adelaide, the height of Festival and Fringe, and your scurrying obedient scribe is trying to hustle through the attention-getting non-event nonsense “street shows”, the magic acts, all treating us to the incredibly naff idea that “an event means LOUD IMPERATIVE music”, on my way to the bottleshop and thence to the bus to arrive at a nine-year-old’s netball final.
Out of nowhere appear three Japanese musicians, one with a basket on his head clutching a sort of semi-acoustic six-stringed thing, another bloke with a curly mohawk hunched over what looks to be a child’s drum kit, and a woman with long red dreads, wearing a beaming smile and holding a bright red, headless bass.
- Details
- By Robert Brokenmouth
- Hits: 2509
Things Will Be Different: A Tribute To Little Murders – Various Artists (Twist Records)
Tribute records? They used to be all the rage but are they now just a bit naff? It depends on who they’re lauding.
Little Murders are Australian rock and roll’s – no! don’t say it! – Best Kept Secret. It’s a cliché, for sure, but don’t be afraid. It just means that cloth-eared and gormless cretins don’t know who they are. If you’re one of them, consider yourself admonished and start paying attention.
- Details
- By The Barman
- Hits: 2109
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The Living Eye
Penny Ikinger and the Not
France and Spain Tour
OCT
17- Funhouse, Madrid
w/ Jibaros (ESP)
18 - La Casa De Sabica, Pamplona
19 - VIII. ZZ Rock Jaialdia, Zumarraga
26 - Skate Parc Le Moulin du Rousseau,
Périgueux, FR
(solo)
w/ Kosmik Twaregs (ESP)
Tickets
The Mick Medew & Ursula 4
“Punk Grandma” Launch
+ The Glycereens
+ Gen Jones
PFR Lounge, Brisbane
- Oct 19
Tickets
Starcrazy
(album launch)
+ Pocketwatch
+ Sereia
Darlin’ Nikki’s,
St Peters, NSW
- Oct 19
Tickets
Kim Salmon’s Smoked Samon
How Did They Ever Manage Tour
OCT
13 - Wheatsheaf, Adelaide - Tix
19 - Bearded Lady, Brisbane - Tix
24 - Tanswells, Beechworth - Tix
25 - Smiths, Canberra - Tix
26 - Django @ Camelot, Sydney - Tix
27 - Frank's Wild Years, Thirroul - Tix
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
Hard-Ons' 40th Anniversary
Australian Tour Oct - Nov 2024
OCT
18 - Soapbox, Brisbane, QLD
24 - Sussex Inlet Tavern, Sussex Inlet, NSW
25 - La La La’s, Wollongong, NSW
26 - Paddo RSL, Sydney. NSW
27 - Hamilton Station Hotel, Newcastle, NSW
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
Chimers Australian Tour
OCT
3 - Oxford Art Factory, Sydney
w/ Party Dozen
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
Pat Todd & The Rankoutsiders
Victorian Tour
NOV
6 – PBS live to air
7 – Trash Cult, Bendigo, 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
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
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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