The first time I saw Melbourne guitarist Michael Plater I confess I didn’t get it. He was working on a style, which involves building up a mixture of tone and counter-tones, emotion in the strings lending timbre to the vocal.

I only saw a couple of songs, however; since then I’ve seen him on his last two trips to Adelaide, and can tell you that first, on his own he is a very different kettle of vermin, and second, with folk like Dean Richards or Cabin Inn, the stage is not a safe place.

Hunky Punks have been playing the traps around Adelaide over the last year or so, gaining an enthusiastic following, and look like heading interstate. Telling you now: see them. The sheer breadth of improvement over such a short space of time is somewhat gobsmacking. Get "Fly High".

Unlike those bands who practice twice before their next gig, the Hunkies are well-tight, snappy, light, powerful, strong and basically "Fly High" is going to get well and truly into your head. I love the way each song veers away from the last; there’s so much rich variety here, so much gritty eloquence you’re dancing way before you know it. Matt Hills’ production is damn fine, and if the world were a bit fairer, the majors should be crawling up the arses of Messrs Simpson, Omsby, Becker and Grasel.

Future Folklore is very much a new label; "Leftovers and Rarities" bears the product number FFR001. It’s a vinyl record first; and limited at that, which means because the band are damned popular in Europe, if you’ve heard the Dead Brothers, you want it and you’re going to regret forking out for Prince last week or whenever it was.

The odds ’n’ sods of most bands don’t usually make for decent records, though, let’s face it. For every great KISS LP, there’s a wagon-load of stinkers. “Black Moose”was the last time I reviewed The Dead Brothers; so rather than be fair about this, I’m going to ignore all the trainspotterish notes other journos will jump on, and treat “Leftovers and Rarities” as a new, possibly “lost” album.

Contrary bugger that he is, while this hasn’t quite been released, quite a few radio shows are playing tracks; this is probably because the DJs have all contributed to Kim’s crowdfunding site and have been snaffling the thing. And no wonder, because My Script is a ripper of a CD, all raucous yet bedroom-y, intimate and deafening by turns.

It’s also quite clear that this is Kim’s first "real" solo LP, allowing us to see the full gamut of his talent. Miles Mumford is in the production chair, in between contributing poignant soundscapes.

On the back cover, “All Rights Reserved” is followed by “All Wrongs Righted”. In a way that’s typical of the man Salmon; I mean, yeah, it’s bit of flung-out wordplay, but imagine setting out a task so hopelessly impossible to complete…

Seems that the long EP is the way to go. A CD single was always a bit naff, a CD EP was okay but seemed a little wasteful in terms of time; a full CD these days is the equivalent of a double vinyl LP back in the mists of time.

Speaking of going back, a decent 7” was a work of art, whether it be by the Clash or the Psycho Surgeons, the Cramps or The News (I’ll never forget the first and only time I’ve held a single-sided single in my hands - utterdelight and incomprehension all at once). An EP was harder to achieve but was still a work of art.

Now I have to be upfront here. During the early '80s I was a huge Sacred Cowboys fan. I only saw them twice in Sydney but felt they were The Real Deal: a band in this territory of cool, alternative cowboy/Delta punk be that was coming from USA via people like The Gun Club and Wall of Voodoo, yet with a savage savage edge that was a nod to the "Blood River" period Scientists.

“Nothing Grows in Texas” simply was one best Australian singles of the '80s. Of courses Molly Meldrum slagged them off on TV on "Countdown". So we all knew they had so much going for them. At the centre was Garry Gray and his sneering vocals, somewhere between Alex Chilton and Jonathan Richman with a belly-full of hard, home brewed liquor.