Saturday, December 31, 2011

2011 Favourites - Part 1


For the seventh year running...
Here's ten favourites from twenty eleven.

'2011 Favs - Pt.1' mixed by Adam Askew (direct link)

TRACK LIST:
Christmas - 'Namiot' (K Records)
PJ Harvey - 'The Guns Called Me Back Again' (Island)
Recloose - 'Electric Sunshine' (Rush Hour Recordings)
SBTRKT - 'Pharaohs' (Young Turks)
Widowspeak - 'Gun Shy' (Captured Tracks)
Braille - 'Riverbed' (Hotflush Recordings)
Alton Miller - 'Music Institute 3' (NDATL Muzik)
Greg Paulus - 'Suchashame (Soul Clap rmx)' (Double Standard)
Peven Everett - 'Help Me' (Studio Confessions)
Lowtide - 'Underneath Tonight' (Departed Sounds)


Check out previous years -> HERE

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Weather(all) Report: Sun God Shining

As unabashed fans of Andrew Weatherall, we are pleased to see a late entry into his 2011 output. A remix of Cut Copy's 'Sun God' track from their Grammy(!)-nominated Zonoscope set. One wise wag described it as "trancey Pete Shelley". That's a good thing, yeah? And the band have seen fit to make the mix available as a free download.

Cut Copy - Sun God (Andrew Weatherall Remix) by modularpeople

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Neighbourhood Watch - Bell Towers


Melbourne's Bell Towers is the latest artist to appear on the roster of Canyons' Hole In The Sky label. The 'Scavengers' 12" is a jackin' Chi house homage that is coupled with the acid flashback 'Private Time Dub'. With YMO also cited as influence, what more do you want? A tab?

Private Time Dub by Hole In The Sky Records

Sunday, December 4, 2011

The Peelies Deal Good Medication

Canadian all-femme band The Peelies have been pushing out tunes for a while but have recently had their profile heightened in Australia due to a deal with gaga digi. An old Peelies track, 'Does And Hoes', turned up on a recent gaga showcase compilation (with The Peelies confusingly credited as Pelie) and stole the show with their tear-down-the-walls-of-the-garage-to-make-way-for-a-carport buzz roll. A bit of digging turned out more recent output - a split eight-track album with Jesuslesfilles. Head to their Bandcamp page and purchase or sign up for a free download of 'Medication'. It'll be the best meds-related email you get since your spam program started filtering out those C1aL1s msgs.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Blessed Be The Orbweavers

THE ORBWEAVERS @ ST MICHAELS 

Having fallen for Melbourne "folk noir" outfit The Orbweavers' Graphite And Diamonds album back in 2009, it took another two years to get to see them live. Thanks to Melbourne Music Week, popping my Orbweavers cherry was a tasteful and gentle experience. And, in a church. Armed with new material from their recent Loom album, they nestled perfectly into a night curated by Mistletone. Later in the evening the church quivered in feedback from the always raucous Beaches and grew cathedral-of-sound size for Htrk's mesmerising headline slot. So to celebrate churches being the new nightclub, some Orbweavers.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Adam Askew - Death Mix

from here 2 infinityRecorded (a)live. All vinyl.

Eyes to the north, hands to the south.
Free for all in freefall.

'Death Mix' by Adam Askew (direct link)

TRACK LIST:
Mo-Dettes - 'Milord' (Decca)
Calvinist - 'Yo-Yo' (DFA Records)
Infinity & Grandmixer D.ST - 'Grandmixer Cuts It Up' (Celluloid)
The Dismasters - 'You Must Be Crazy (inst)' (Urban Rock Records)
Joy Of Sound - 'Image Fades Away (R&B mix)' (Mahogani)
Sound Patrol - 'Rising & Falling (Naive mix)' (Organico)
Kurt Vile - 'Farfisas In Falltime' (Matador)
Joaquin Claussell - 'My Beloved Where Are You?' (Sacred Rhythm)

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Neighbourhood Watch - Deep Street Soul

Deep Street Soul are one of the leaders of the currently swelling ranks of the Melbourne groove scene, alongside the likes of The Public Opinion Afro Orchestra, Cactus Channel and Black Jesus Experience. Signed to Freestyle Records in the UK, home to Lack Of Africa and Cookin On 3 Burners, the band have just dropped their latest album Look Out Watch Out - out in Australia through Fuse. Live, DSS brew up a straight-edge funk set that's not afraid to jam out on instrumentals. On Look Out they take it into a leaner soul space that at times recalls the mighty work of Betty Davis... yep, really.

Order Look Out Watch Out here.

Deep Street Soul - What She Said by Death Of A Disco Dancer

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Look At All The Lonely People

PP ARNOLD

Although never much of a fanatic for The Beatles, for some reason their 1966 song 'Eleanor Rigby' has always been a must-hear-at-least-every-few-weeks kinda song. Recorded for their pre-psychedelia album Revolver, it captured a mood of despair that was immaculately underplayed by an incidental movie music-type arrangement of a string quartet. Throw in the comedown Tuesday lyrics "waits at the window, wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door" and you've got what's known as 'haunting'.

And then there were the covers... give the song a unique singing voice and a spartan arrangement and it can't go that wrong. [But there are those who can make it ordinary, see B.o.B.'s 'Lonely People', The Fray's overwrought reading and Twisted Sister's Eddie Ojeda doing a metal take on it.]

Having first heard the song as recorded in 1970 by Adelaide mod-turned-heavy-rock band Zoot, it was a crap-your-pants moment to discover that 'Eleanor Rigby' was not originally intended as a metal anthem. Years later another moment was had to find out that between the original recording and Zoot's version, a dozen or so major artists had tackled the song. There were the mandatory psych-out covers (Vanilla Fudge), soul renderings (Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles), spoken word re-imaginings (Steve Allen, Tony Bennett) and, of course, folk takes (Bobby Gentry, The Free Design, Joan Baez).

But it's the version by PP Arnold that has lodged itself as the one-that-must-be-heard-above-all-others. Released in 1968, at a time when the young British singer was working with The Small Faces (that's her on 'Tin Soldiers'), starting out on a career that would lead to her having a house hit with Beatmasters, singing with KLF, forming a musical partnership with ex-Blockhead Chaz Jankel, becoming Roger Waters' back-up vocalist and using Primal Scream as her backing band. With a CV like that, her 'Eleanor' is as you'd expect: simple, soulful and depressing as all shit. Although Richie Havens had recorded it in a similar style in 1967, Arnold's voice possessed a purity and innocence that made the lyrics ever-so-much-more of a downer. [Australian Idol winner Casey Donovan was once scolded by knuckle-jockey judge Dicko for attempting a soul version of 'Eleanor Rigby', screeching that no one should ever mess with a Beatles song... would like to hear him say that to PP Arnold, Sarah Vaughan, Shirley Bassey and the others who have 'messed' with it.]

And, in recent years more and more versions have made themselves known: from a recent Soulwax  'Tour De Eleanor Rigby' cut-up of Kraftwerk and The Beatles' original, through to another 1968 version, this time by Booker T And The MGs, and. most surprisingly, an Italo disco-flavoured remake from the non-Italo Uranium. All these people befriending Eleanor, yet still so lonely...

[The sound quality of the below clips aren't spectacular... so kick your volume up.]





Uranium - Eleanor Rigby by Death Of A Disco Dancer

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Neighbourhood Watch - The Mavis's

Long before The Mavis's became known for indie ballad 'Cry' (Triple J Hottest 100 in 1998), they were scaring the locals in the regional Victorian township of Ballarat. The band of outsiders were banging out post-goth, psych-punk ten years before they released their Venus Returning album in 1996. With glam siblings Matt and Beki Thomas leading the charge, early Mavis sounds were influenced by art punk grrrls X-Ray Spex (the cover of their Pink Pills album was a homage to Spex' Germ Free Adolescents album cover), The B-52's, The Raincoats and The Slits. But little of that early material made it to the recorded state. The track 'Stepping' surfaced on underground band comp Screaming At The Mirror in 1989 (alongside other fondly remembered, by a few, alt.acts like Clowns Smiling Backwards, Scarecrow Tiggy and Pray TV). The band broke up in 2000 and there has long since been talk of reformations and reissues (although Matt Thomas now has the projects Video Video and The Blow Waves on the go while sister Beki has her band Beki And The Bullets). But finally a compilation of early tracks has been pulled together and released through iTunes - Kids In The Basement Vol 1 features ten cuts of chaotic DIY noise but with the striking voices, and harmonies, of the Thomas kids already finding shape. Some tracks are from when the band were still school kids in their mid-teens. Listen to the wonky post-punk, Flying Nunesque 'Productivity None' (which the liner notes explains is about "the unexpected") and the wiry new wave 'Stepping' (about "walking the streets of Ballarat at night"). And, from 1998 (not on the Basement set), the later shinier Mavis's of 'Naughty Boy' where they still wore their Ballarat-pariah status proudly.

The Mavis's - Stepping by The Music
The Mavis's - Productivity None by The Music

Monday, October 24, 2011

New Chapter For The Apartments

THE APARTMENTS @ TOFF, 23/10/11

Peter Milton Walsh is The Apartments.

The Apartments releasing new material is rare. The Apartments gigging is rarer still. Tonight the reclusive Milton Walsh came to Melbourne's Toff to launch 'Black Ribbons', released by Chapter Music. The former Brisbane gentleman came out to sing... and chat.

Originally part of the Qld music culture that gave us The Go-Betweens and Ed Kuepper, who formed Laughing Clowns, (Milton Walsh spent fleeting moments in both those bands too), the melancholy poet has been mostly ignored here while gathering a respectable following in France.

The Apartments set was sparse musically but opulent in content. Backed with just a few players supplying backing vocals, trumpet, guitar and drums (former Moodist and current Lurid Yellow Mist, Clare Moore), the band swept through decades of romantic bittnerness. Inbetween songs Milton Walsh spun entertaining, tangental yarns that make the stage banter of Jarvis Cocker and Dave Graney (who was in attendence) seem like brief public announcements in comparison.

There were stunning versions of 'Sunset Hotel' (from 1985's The Evening Visits... released on Rough Trade), 'The Goodbye Train' (from 1995's Drift) and the new single. A tender reading of 'Mister Somewhere' closed the night and Milton Walsh left the stage leaving all those troubadour-come-latelies in his immaculately-preserved dust.

Listen to 'Black Ribbons', a duet with French singer Natasha Penot (of Grisbi); the Autumn Mix is by ex-Go-Between John Willsteed. Also here, a cover of 'Mister Somewhere' by This Mortal Coil and 'Help' from The Apartments first EP in 1979 (released on Able Label, also home to The Go-Betweens' debut 'Lee Remick').

Order 'Black Ribbons' here.
black ribbons (Autumn mix) by The Apartments



Saturday, October 15, 2011

Neighbourhood Watch - Canyons

On Friday 28 October, Canyons' Keep Your Dreams album finally drops. It's been almost two years since the epic was first rumoured but it was worth the wait. The album not only features guest vocals from '80s new waver Paul Roberts of Sniff 'N' The Tears (the classic 'Driver's Seat') but also Tame Impala's Kevin Parker (one of the first bands released on Canyons' label Hole In The Sky). A teaser track has been kicking around, also featuring a guest vocalist - one of this blog's favourites - Nite Jewel's Ramona Gonzalez.
  Canyons - See Blind Through by modularpeople

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Huxton Creepers Still Killing It

Huxton Creepers circa 1986
Huxton Creepers in 2012

Melbourne's Huxton Creepers very quickly leapt from the early '80s garage revival scene (which also included Olympic Sideburns, Tombstone Hands and others you can hear if you are lucky enough to find a copy of this) into the beer barns. By '89 they'd burnt out and were reportedly unhappy when major label interference saw them release a very polished cover of Manfred Mann's 'Pretty Flamingo'. The band played a reunion gig last night at the Corner (with other local '80s alt.icons The Moffs and Ups And Downs). Leaving 'Pretty Flamingo' out of the set, they instead included covers of Neil Diamond's 'Cherry Cherry', Flaming Groovies' 'Shake Some Action' and Blondie's 'Union City Blue'. They made their point. Most significantly though, they reminded us that they possessed a powerhouse rhythm section and mighty chantalong choruses in power pub anthems 'I Will Persuade You' and 'My Cherie Amour'. They could also jam out with the best of them, and last night included a "seventeen-minute" version of 'King Of The Road' in their encore that managed to pay homage to Them and The Doors. But still it's hard to go past their early efforts such as the jangly single 'The Murderess' from 1985.
Fuse have recently reissued their 1986 album 12 Days To Paris - order here.


Huxton Creepers - My Cherie Amour by Fuse Group Australia

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Ghost Wave Hunting

Having recently become smitten with NZ Arch Hill recording artists, punk grrrls (and guy), Street Chant on their recent visit to Aus, it became clear that this label has well and truly stamped itself as a fitting contemporary of Flying Nun. Run by members of former Nun bands Jean Paul Sartre Experience and Superette, Arch Hill not only released The Bats last album (they are now back at Flying Nun with their new album Free All Monsters) but also past Nun acts The Clean and David Kilgour. But they can also count the post-Nun band Surf City amongst their numbers. So in playing catch-up on the label (y'know how it is, now have to pretend to having known all about them from way back in the day) a care package of Arch-ness was acquired. The pack included a new release from NZ icon Kilgour and also music by newer bands Ghost Wave and the jangly Family Cactus. All top quality but a definite stand-out is the seven-track Ghost Wave EP. Released back in April, the EP is a delirious mix of fuzz pop and Beach Boys harmonies - a sort of Underground Jesus And Mary Byrd Lovers Chain. Having missed this upon its issue date it's a relief to finally catch up on one of 2011's highlights - here's one of the EP's most outstanding moments, the haze of guitars that is 'Hippy'.
Order here.

Hippy by Ghost Wave

Sunday, September 25, 2011

New War Breaks Out


Melbourne band New War marked the release of their 12" 'Ghostwalking' with an impressive show at the Phoenix Public House last night (Sat 24 Sep). Signed to American label Fast Weapons (they were responsible for a Thurston Moore/Talk Normal split 7" earlier this year), New War create an intensely rhythmic sound that mixes the post-punk renderings of Mutiny-period Birthday Party, King Trigger, Plays With Marionettes and pre-Breakfast Club Simple Minds into something profoundly fresh.

Having mutated out of US-based band Shoplifting (which featured Chromatics associate Devin Welch and Gossip's Hannah Blilie), Chris Pugmire and Melissa Stock have brought their music back to Melbourne and joined up with Bird Blobs drummer Steve Masterson and SIR's Jesse Shepherd (also a one-time member of The Ancients with Henry Krips, aka Henry Wagons).

Fast Weapons, the label run by Gossip's Nathan Howdeshell, has issued New War's 12" with remixes by Gossip and HTRK. 'Ghostwalking' is produced by Lindsay Gravina (Ripe, Magic Dirt, Rowland S Howard, HTRK, Cosmic Psychos).

And yeah, that was Beth Ditto bopping by you at the Phoenix...
Purchase here.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Adam Askew - Death Mix

round and round and... Recorded live at DoADD studio north.
All vinyl. Hand made.

Star crossed lovers, flights of fantasy, astral rejection.
Love in ZERO gravity can be, complicated.

'Death Mix' by Adam Askew (direct link)

TRACK LIST:
Autohaze - 'Guess It's More' (Summershine)
Sneaky Feelings - 'Waiting For Touchdown' (Flying Nun)
FLO Crew - 'Over These Years' (Beautiful Granville)
Vince Clarke & Paul Quinn - 'One Day (extension)' (Mute)
Wet Hair - 'Fame Hate' (De Stijl)
Aaliyah - 'We Need A Resolution (inst)' (Blackground Records)
Jose James - 'Detroit Loveletter' (Brownswood Recordings)
Bennie Maupin - 'Winds Of Change' (ECM Records)
SBTRKT - 'Ready Set Loop' (Young Turks)

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Hit It & Quit It - Radio Review Vol.1

HIT it!
Hit It & Quit It have released their first radio compilation. Co-hosted by Detroit-native Recloose and Auckland City's Frank Booker, this weekly two hour show is always fresh and always on point. The compilation features 20 tracks (the majority exclusives) and is due out in three formats; unmixed digital download (out now via Juno, iTunes and bunch of other digital sites), mixed CD (due out soon) and 2LP Serato vinyl.

Check track 11, 'Midrats'... produced by DoADD regular guest mixer and alter-ego The Delicate Genius.

The Delicate Genius - Midrats (sample) by thedelicategenius

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Kid Creole Rocks Out With His Coconuts Out

Kid Creole And The Coconuts were leaders of the early '80s funk scene and gave underground NY label ZE Records (Suicide, Was [Not Was], James Chance] their biggest sales successes. In the UK they were lauded and had a string of Latin/big band-influenced hits ('Me No Pop I', 'Stool Pigeon', 'Annie I'm Not Your Daddy'). Led by August Darnell, who took on the Hollywood gangster-style Kid Creole persona onstage,  the band's large membership turned over fast due to in-fighting and money woes. Post-1985 the band fell out of favour but Darnell kept the brand alive churning out the occasional album and moving his base from the US to Sweden.

The band's big funky swing has never really dated as it never really sounded of its time back when they were flying high. But it took Australian club lads Pnau to put Creole back on the radar for the decade-of-rave generation not familiar with the wonky beats so loved by Generation ZE. In 2002, Pnau invited Darnell to guest on what everyone thought would be their BIG second album Again. The single failed and was dropped from the album (which also stiffed). But the wonderful Latin house cut 'Una Noche', featuring Darnell, can still be found with a bit of digging. It's Pnau's finest acheivement.

In 2011, Darnell is back with an album on Strut (Horse Meat Disco, Dennis Coffey, Mulatu Astatke) and with production by disco emperor Brennan Green. First track to be previewed is 'We're Rocking Out Tonight'. And, Green does get The Coconuts to rock. Co-penned by Andrew Butler (Hercules And Love Affair and the mr.intl label), the cut is pure Kid Creole showy-biz with a bassline that should get done for indecent exposure and added lead breaks that give the band a strangely retro-now sound. An album, I Wake Up Screaming is out Sep 27.

Kid Creole And The Coconuts- We're Rockin' Out Tonight by Strut

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

All Your Acid House Dreams At Once

texta house
Chris 'Bam Bam' Westbrook has put his Roland TB-303 synthesizer up for sale on eBay. For a 'buy it now' price of only USD$10,000, you too can live out your acid house dreams. The silver box's previous owner was little know Chicago native Marshall Jefferson, who managed to bang out the acid classics 'I've Lost Control' (Sleezy D) and 'No Way Back' (Adonis), before moving it onto Bam Bam (for 150 bucks!).

This follows Jesse Saunders attempt to sell the original master tape of 'On & On' on eBay a few weeks back (the auction was passed in).

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Anthony Carew - Death Mix

Phantom Space was/is the Place?Recently adding 'outlawed blogger' to his CV; music journalist, film critic and broadcaster Anthony Carew champions the kinds of artists who make 'indie' seem mainstream. However, penning for a variety of street press as well as Rolling Stone, Melbourne broadsheet daily The Age and online hub aboutmusic, Carew declares that he has spoken to both "the incredibly famous" and "the instantly obscure". His musical taste is as immaculate as his on-air manner (he hosts a weekly program on public radio station 3RRR). And, despite his virtual rubbing of shoulders with the blogospherical underbelly, we dare play host to a set of tunes he has spliced together for the normally squeaky-clean DoaDD blog. So with the possibilty that his We People Space With Phantoms blog may never return, we offer you this fix of Carewebbery.

'Death Mix' by Anthony Carew (direct link)

TRACK LIST:
Elk - 'Sarah' (Shape Up Records)
Gardens & Villas - 'Orange Blossom' (Secretly Canadian)
Ryskee feat Jenny Wilson - 'Horrors Of Love (Jamaica's Rmx)' (Kitsune)
Purity Ring - 'Ungirthed' (Transparent)
Sleep ∞ Over - 'Romantic Streams' (Hippos In Tanks)
Psychic Reality - 'Fanta' (Not Fun Records)
The Deeep - 'Slow Coaster' (Not Not Fun Records)

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Neighbourhood Watch

More Melbourne based food for though... hmmm.


Daydream-y pop from Lowtide. The sun might be setting, but the tide is out. 7" and digital out now.


THE PRINCE OF SEAGULLS - Car Accident by Harmon

Exciting stuff from brand new duo The Prince Of Seagulls. Expect a full album before the end of the year.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

The Delicate Genius - Death Mix

micro dottoRecorded live at DoADD studio north.

Science faction and romance in a midnight world.
AKA Aretha in outer space.

'Death Mix' by The Delicate Genius (direct link)

TRACK LIST:
Model 500 - 'Light Speed (unreleased vers.)' (NDATL Muzik)
Infiniti - 'Coffeeshop Connection' (Tresor)
Mad Mike - 'Lo-Tech Reality' (Underground Resistance)
UR - 'In Or Out? (Wishywashy mix)' (Underground Resistance)
Wax Master & DJ Rated X - 'Foot Work (rmx)' (Dance Mania)
Armando & Steve Poindexter - 'Blackholes' (Muzique Records)
Grand High Priest - 'Mary Mary (orig mix)' (We-Ze Records)
TNT - 'L8' (Spectral Sound)

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Watch Roots Manuva Dance

British hip hop's most celebrated exponent Roots Manuva seems to have done a 'Dizzee' and got down with the club kids. However when Manuva does it, it's not with Dizzee-style collab partners like Armand Van Helden or Shakira. Nup, Manuva rolls with a higher class of dance boffins altogether. And, that's why one of the year's catchiest UK funky tracks witnesses the fitness of grime upstart Toddla T and the grandad of indie dub Andrew Weatherall on 'Watch Me Dance' with Manuva. Grimey Sheffield lad T has worked with Manuva previously (eg 2008's Slime & Reason), before T became a mainstream go-to remixer through work with Tinchy Stryder, Hot Chip and Ladyhawke. In the meantime, Weatherall has quietly been releasing some of his best work in recent years despite many considering his golden period as the time he spent remixing indie bands in the '90s. Weatherall's work with Harvey, Fuck Buttons and David Holmes, as well as his 2009 A Pox On The Pioneers album, is not only in a league of its own - other players can't even get in the draft for it. Manuva + T + Weatherall = superfunkpunkdub. Listen to the remix, out now thru Ninja Tune, and then wrap your eyes around the clip of the OG radio cut - Manuva looks like he fell into a Clavin Harris set.
Toddla T - 'Watch Me Dance (with Roots Manuva)' (Andrew Weatherall Remix) by toddla_t

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Death Of A Disco Dancer - Blue Jean

New Jersey House producer Blue Jean was killed in a hit and run accident last Friday night. Blue Jean had a string of great 12"s in the late 80's and early 90's. One of my favourite producers, his records had a strong NJ vibe, but always stuck out to me. Something about them is off-kilter, deep and fresh.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

No Wave Hookers 4

no means yes?Making waves since 2003.

Parts 1 and 2 are long gone.

The cult continues.

No Wave Hookers 4 by thedelicategenius

Based on a live-to-air set I did for Andee Frost's 'No Way Back' radio show - which turned out pretty good - so I thought I'd re-mix the mix and make a CD.

TRACK LIST:
Golden Fleece - 'Egg On Legs' (La Belle Records)
Jus' Friends - 'As One (Rmx dub)' (Massive B)
In Flagranti - 'Worse For Wear' (Codek Records)
Tevo Howard - 'Frequent Digitals' (edit)
B12 - 'Obsessed' (Warp Records)
Hunee - 'A Leaf For Hand In Hand' (Ostgut Ton)
Virgo Four - 'It's A Crime (Caribou rmx)' (Rush Hour Recordings)
Barada - 'Stranger Daze' (edit)
Cosmin TRG - 'Liebe Suende' (Rush Hour Recordings)
Ten City - 'That's The Way Love Is (Deep House mix)' (Atlantic)

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Neighbourhood Watch

A few advance release Melbourne tracks I've been playing recently.


Tracks from a new Jimmy Hawk & The Endless Party 7". Due out soon, or maybe even now. The 'Echo Park' album from last year is a real sleeper. Check J Hawk's 'Death Mix' from 2009 too.



Debut single from fresh new 3-piece Pearls. Torch songs for people with credit in the straight world. More songs due out soon.


Refrigerator - Ana Nicole by Girls Who Smoke Poke
Another ace 3-piece. Only a handful of gigs and they're already building a strong live following. Demo's are on the money. www.ananicole.net for updates.


Egg On Legs by Golden Fleece
Late night shifty business from Golden Fleece. Following his 12" on Mixed Blood Cuts and a great 'Death Mix' from last year. Due out soon on Golden Bug's new label La Belle Records.



New music from Crackpot. Lead off track from forthcoming album 'The Gentle Art of Making Enemies', also featured on the jam-packed 'Music From The Late Show' CD. Sweet as.

What I Learnt About Australia

I recently came back from a three week trip to Europe. Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam. Sometimes it's nice to be away from home, but whenever I'm overseas I inevitably find myself looking-out for references of home. Not because I feel particularly homesick. It's just interesting to see how different lands and people see your home. So, how do Europeans see Australians? Or more accurately, how did I see Australia in Europe?

frog + legs. Jardin De Plantes, Paris
On more than one occasion I was asked where I was from, and this was uniformly followed by "Australia? That's so far away". Which, I guess is pretty true. After almost 20 hours of economy air travel (one way), there's no room to hide. I managed to catch 'Crocodile Dundee' on both French and German television (dubbed into each respective language). In France it seemed to be on repeat for a few nights. Channel 9 rural drama-soap 'Mcleod's Daughters' was also on French TV. On German TV, I saw a talent show contestant attempt his best Brian Johnson / AC/DC impression. He sang 'Thunderstruck'. The judges laughed. He didn't win.

currywurst from Konnopke's Imbiss, Berlin
In Prenzlauer Berg, near where I stayed in Berlin, there was an Australian pub called 'Uluru Resort'. I didn't venture inside, but from the other side of the street it looked pretty busy. The English-Australian accent might be a beautiful and lyrical thing, but in a sea of French, German and Dutch, it did stick-out a little. I came across a few fellow Australians on my travels, and almost every time, I heard them before I saw them.

cake-like snack, Amsterdam
In record stores I dug up quite a few Australian artists. Black discs from INXS, Severed Heads and Hunters & Collectors. One store in Paris had a stack of Kylie picture discs filed away under the racks. Records from groups like The Triffids, The Church and The Go-Betweens also popped up. It was nice to see Robert, Lindy and Grant looking back at me (on the cover of 'Send Me A Lullaby') in a record store in Amsterdam. Sure, they might not have been as popular as Mick's knife or Linda Kozlowski in a pair of g-string bathers, but at least they made it over.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Umm Yeah, It's Hurricanes

The last great band to come out of Mount Gambier was '80s literate rockers Moodists (well, band founders Dave Graney and Clare Moore at least). From that SA town we now welcome Ross De Chene Hurricanes, a two-piece garage outfit, one-part surf punk/one-part Jonathan Richman rock'n'roll. The Hurricanes have previously cited fellow South Australians, and heritage listed '60s rockers, Masters Apprentices as an influence (alongside The Saints and Super Wild Horses), and it was heard in the raw sonics they achieved Saturday night, supporting Dirt Farmer at the Order. In light of the success by bands Bass Drum Of Death, DZ Deathrays and Jeff The Brotherhood, could 2011 be the year of the power garage duo?







Umm yeah I surf by Ross de Chene Hurricanes

Friday, June 3, 2011

Twitchin' For Sons & Daughters

Never too far from dance beats in the past, Scottish band Sons & Daughters have moved a little closer on their forthcoming Mirror, Mirror album (through Domino). Their last album The Gift was a fury of indie guitars and fiery beats produced by former Suede man Bernard Butler. But the band were already dabbling in the darkside having played at Glasgow club night Optimo and covering Adamski's 'Killer'. First Mirror cut previewed was the wonky wave of 'Breaking Fun' (think Fire Engines), followed by the Shriekback-esque 'Silver Spell'. Now they've unveiled a 'Silver Spell' remix by Optimo's JD Twitch, who has also produced the album at the infamous Green Door studio (check last year's Green Door Kids comp).







Sons & Daughters - Silver Spell (A JD Twitch Optimo Remix) by DominoRecordCo

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Adam Askew - Death Mix

are they real?
Recorded live last Saturday 7th May @ The Carlton, Melbourne.

'Death Mix' by Adam Askew (direct link)

In from the cold, within red velvet.
Somewhere under the palms...

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Death Of A Disco Dancer - Poly Styrene R.I.P.

UK punk icon Poly Styrene has died, age 53, on the eve of releasing her comeback album Generation Indigo (produced by Youth). As the lead singer of X Ray Spex she forged a unique place in punk - while others were screaming and being noisy, Styrene was being insightful, screaming and noisy. While best known for in-our-faces 'Oh Bondage Up Yours' and 'I Am A Cliche', it was later single 'Germ Free Adolescents' that unnerved the most. Her single 'Virtual Boyfriend' was only recently released.