pop

_{James Williamson in 2011 - Robert Matheu photo}

James Williamson staked his claim to rock'n'roll immortality based on just eight songs, but what songs they were...the ones comprising Iggy & the Stooges' epochal 1973 "Raw Power" album, still cited as a prime influence by purveyors of Rock Action from Stockholm to Seattle to Sydney.

The first record I ever reviewed was "Kill City". That was back in 1977 for Self Abuse fanzine. I wish I had a copy of the article so I could compare how I felt then and how I feel now. I wrote that review because everyone I knew was slagging this off at the time. West Coast bland was the popular consensus. I didn’t agree and I wanted it down for the record.

_{Nao of Stompin' Riff Raffs. 3PBS-FM photo.} 

Stompin’ Riff Raffs

Northcote Social Club
Minibikes

Merri Creek Tavern
Saturday, December 14 2019

One-time I-94 Bar writer Trevor Block once described Melbpurne suburb Northcote as "the capital of the People’s Republic of Darebin". Trevor’s colourful description had some currency at the time: you could still find Californian bungalows inhabited by half-a-dozen social security recipients-cum-performance artists, including an aging dreadlocked hippie who quoted Engels over late breakfast and invoked Proudhon in defiance of the sticky note instruction to avoid using the carton of soy milk in the fridge.

But times have changed. Northcote is still, according to psephologists, the hub of the Melbourne inner-city leftie latte culture, the loud, politically correct class who drown out the quiet Australians of the suburbs and regions. True, there is plenty of good coffee to be found in Northcote, but the fact that the only significant community uprising in recent times was about the council’s plan to restrict parking (“What? I can’t park both the Beemer 4WD and the Jeep Cherokee in front of the house? And where will I park Angus’s new Mercedes Sport?”) says everything about the sanctimonious hypocrisy of the middle-class.

If it’s a single of ‘60s sounds it makes perfect sense for it to be in mono. Suzi Chunk is a Welsh singer fronting a well-mannered band called Groovy Uncle and singing beat pop. If she was any more authentic her name would be Dusty Springfield.

Founding member of Little Lovers, Wintah Thompson was dragged around every decent ‘90s music festival with Glenn Thompson, who in addition to being known as Wintah’s dad was also a member of iconic Australian bands Custard, The Titanics and The Go-Betweens.

Over the years, Wintah’s parents would encourage him to pursue a career in finance, or at the very least seek a life of reliable employment. Instead, he started a band. 

Little Lovers proceeded to cut their teeth in the sunny backyards of Brisbane. They released their debut, self-titled, E.P. which shot to number-one on Australian independent charts. The track “Red Devil” became a Brisbane favourite and was regularly played on local radio and in Brisbane’s indie clubs. A bunch of shows and supports followed before it was time to relocate and reform in Sydney. 

After well over a decade, two cities, two drummers, 489 bassists and hundreds of gigs, both big and small, Little Lovers have finally released their debut album “Golden Decade”.

Wintah Thompson’s songwriting isn’t nationalistic, but – just like The Go-Betweens, Smudge, Sunnyboys or Custard – you couldn’t imagine it coming from anywhere but Australia.

“Golden Decade” was recorded across Sydney with sessions in an old Australian naval base with Tim Kevin and in the industrial backstreets of the Inner West in Marrickville with Glenn Thompson. It launches at The Union Hotel in Newtown on October 6 with support from Dick Pix. You can hear the single “June” here and find out more at the Mere Noise Records website.

Chirality - Michael Canning (Ghostjogger Records)

Michael Canning, a UK-based New Zealand scientist and occasional multi-instrumental character, has released his fourth LP. Which is joyful, groovy, interesting and downright fun. 

The word "chirality" comes from the Greek “kheir”, meaning “hand”; a familiar chiral object. It's a term used by chemistry and physics characters. To quote a textbook: "Stereoisomers are isomers that differ in spatial arrangement of atoms, rather than order of atomic connectivity. One of their most interesting type of isomer is the mirror-image stereoisomers, a non-superimposable set of two molecules that are mirror image of one another. The existence of these molecules are determined by concept known as chirality."

But you knew that, right?

It's easy to rave about things being unjust and how universally lauded a band would be if the world was different. Green Circles not only struggle with the fact they're domiciled in Adelaide, a remote and near geographically featureless Australian city that makes Sydney look like a happening musical town, they're existing 40 years too late.

Taking a Ride - The Chordites (Swashbuckling Hobo)

This ride’s got a lot of everything. Pop-punk, power pop and grimy garage rock spring from the 10-song vinyl LP like water from a leaky radiator. 

It’s a self-assured effort from a crew of Brisbane players who - to milk the travelling metaphor - have a bit of mileage on their clocks, doing duty in bands such as the Dolls-meet-the-Groovies Subsonic Barflies,Half a Cow popsters Daisygrinder and '80s punks Death of a Nun.

That’s a diverse background, so It may have been tempting to make a record with a side of pop and another of the rougher stuff. I have a feeling that such a contrived approach would have been too predictable for The Chordites.

Glad you asked. It's sharp and urgent rock ’n’ roll played by four old heads from Central Scotland who sound like they mean it. If Cheap Trick wore kilts, ate haggis and were hard to understand after 10 pints they’d be The Media Whores.

A Chance To Relax…with The Smart Folk – The Smart Folk (self released)

With a changing of the political guard in Australia, we’ve been assailed with talk about a new, genteel and respectful way of doing business in the Federal Parliament - as if none of the fuckers are going to revert to type and we won’t end up with the same shit-fight on our hands. It’s just as well that 90 percent of the population doesn’t give a rat’s arse.

Rock and roll may be similarly set in its ways, but there are band chosing different pathways to tread. Sixties-derived pop with a jangling edge is where Sydney’s The Smart Folkchose to reside and they're making their mark in their own way.

“A Chance To Relax…with The Smart Folk” is the latest EP from this band of ex-mod scene regulars and if it doesn’t wrap you in a stranglehold and impress with its urgency and energy, that’s fine. It’s mid-paced, obviously freakbeat-influenced guitar pop that has a warm charm – maybe more so than the records that have come before.

The Rosemary Beads are a band that sound completely original yet wear their influences as a badge of honour. 

Emerging out of the West Australian indie rock music scene during the ‘90s, they released three exceptionally good EPs that ranked as some of the best pop from that side of the country. It was music that was highly ignored and startlingly brilliant

“From 3 EPs” is a compilation of their output ("Breath", "Dog" and "I'll Come When I'm Good And Ready" - two of them on Citadel) from the band’s original run that ended in 1995. “Shine” is their first full album and ther comeback recording (they disbanded after the death of their drummer, Cam Munachen) and arrives after 20 years of silence.

“The Diving Song” opens “Shine” with a huge splash of classic alternative rock. It is melodic and there was a time this would have been on high rotation all around the country with a good chance of crossing over to the mainstream. Of course that was back when there was a glimmer of hope for new and exciting bands to be given airplay.

Been waiting for this for some time so expectation levels were primed. If the prospect of another Igdisc doesn’t fill you with rabid anticipation after the ups and downs of the last two decades, the prospect of four tracks reuniting him with the Asheton brothers certainly should…

It’s OK to like pop. Real pop, that is. You won’t hear it on mainstream radio. What they play is a watered-down variant that’s polished and homogenised within a centimetre of its life. So go straight to the source, go online or (gasp) experience it at a gig, cherry-pick what sounds good and forget the rest. That’s where a band like Some Jerks comes in.

Recommending music is such a personal thing that we behind the bar are often criticised for going over-the-top in some of our evangelistic rants. Well, fuck you: No, there won’t be an apology for that, because we (mostly) review the shit that we like. Speaking of evangelism…

It's the Festive Season and everyone's meant to be full of the spirit of good cheer, with peace on Earth and goodwill to all men part in evidence all over the place. There's no place for cranky editorialising, just happy thoughts. Yeah, right. So here we go.

Sure sounds a lot like ‘em. Has it really been 31 years since their last new release? That question’s rhetorical, by the way.

Ups and Downs were a Brisbane garage-pop band that was swept up in the signing madness of the 1980s, captured by a major label and transplanted to Sydney where they enjoyed fleeting success. All these years later, they’re more or less intact, but it's an accidental and organic reunion.

One of those online dictionaries defines "freakbeat" as "a sub-genre of rock and roll music developed mainly by harder-driving British groups, often those with a mod following during the Swinging London period of the mid to late 1960s".

Fair enough. This review is written by someone who used "The Rubble Collection" of UK freakbeat as the soundtrack to painting a dining room wall. There are 10 discs in that box set and, no, it didn't all of them to get the job done. Almost.

The point is that if you don't know the tag, you'll know th sound. Odds are you've probably heard, latched onto and loved a freakbeat band without consciously knowing it. In which case, you're a candidate to be equally besotted with The Galileo 7.

The best re-issues are a reminder of how great an album was the first time around. “Turn On With” is exactly that - 11 songs of prime garage pop, exhumed and revived after 15 years.

The Stoneage Hearts started as a vehicle for drummer Mickster Baty (Finkers, Pyramidiacs, Crusaders) to play with some mates and collaborate on writing some spiffing tunes after he moved from Sydney to Melbourne. It was also the first CD on his own Off The Hip label and 160-plus releases later it’s still going strong. There have also been several incarnations of the band, with Dom Mariani a notable member. Another version of the band lives on today.

No Limit: Collected Works 1985-89 – Love Minus Zero (Method Records and Music)

From the Never Quite Made It Department comes this collection of gems.

Love Minus Zero was a Sydney pop-rock band that was around in the mid-‘80s who managed to release some tracks on Waterfront label compilation and a self-titled EP on Citadel spin-off Green Fez before packing their tent.

“No Limit” is a pubic service of sorts, not the least reason being that it serves as a reminder of the embarrassment of riches that was the Sydney music scene 35 years ago.

This could alternately be known as “Touch Me, I’m Sick.” And I do mean sick.

Let's not understate the awesomeness of this package, which is a leap forward from its predecessor in both desirability and sonic quality of the shows therein. While the first volume gathered some higher quality versions of existing bootlegs as well as material from an offbeat period (the time of the "Party" album), this one goes for the throat.