Top Tens for 2024: Sydney's Simon Li of Balkan Grill, The Blistered Minds and The LangLangs

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By Simon Li

Simon Li

10 January 2025

Hits: 743

Top Ten reasons why you should have turned off the "moo-zak" of Taylor Swift in 2024:

1. Tay Tay probably wouldn't have heard "Woodland" by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings.

2. Tay Tay probably wouldn't have had 45 minutes in a day to hear "Tigers Blood" by Waxahatchee.

3. Tay Tay probably wouldn't have tuned in to 3PBS FM show "Studio 5 Live" to hear Pat Todd and The Rank Outsiders.

4. Tay Tay probably wouldn't have given a toss about "Heavy Lifting" by MC5.

5. Tay Tay probably would have zero idea of "The Dictators" by The Dictators.

6. Tay Tay was probably never likely to come across the 'Rebellion Punk Music Festival' and the band Convict Class (from Warrnambool, Victoria) who performed there.

7. Tay Tay probably wouldn't have wanted to have been caught dead at The LangLangs playing at either The MoshPit (Sydney) and/or 'RnR Klub' at Petersham Bowling Club (Sydney).

8. Tay Tay was probably no threat of being spotted at Balkan Grill playing at The MoshPit/Link and Pin (Woy Woy, NSW) etc.

9. Tay Tay probably had zero care factor for The Blistered Minds playing at Bar La Vida Loca (Newport, Sydney) and/or The MoshPit

10. Tay Tay probably never gave a single thought (or a flying f...) to Charlie Silky-Oak and/or Charlie Lethal playing at 'RnR Klub' at Petersham Bowling Club.

R.I.P.  Damien Smith, Dennis Thompson, Wayne Kramer, Slim Dunlap, Kris Kristofferson, Mary Weiss

• top ten
• mc5
• simon li
• 2024
• the dictators
• pat todd and the rankoutsiders
• taylor swift
• convict class

Two more shows loom for The Beasts

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By The Barman

The Barman

09 January 2025

Hits: 915

Homegrown supergroup The Beasts will play two special performances next month to celebrate their latest full-length studio release, “Ultimo” - with the prospect of more to come if drummer James Baker’s health holds up.

Melbourne (The Corner Hotel, February 21) and Sydney (Manning Bar, February 22) are the lucky cities and both gigs are expected to sell out. If you caught The Beasts last year on their national sold-out “Alive" tour you’ll know why.

The Beasts are surviving Beasts of Bourbon members James Baker, Tex Perkins, Kim Salmon, Boris Sujdovic and Charlie Owen.

The Beasts
Corner Hotel, VIC
- Feb 21
Tickets
Manning Bar, NSW
- Feb 22
Tickets

• manning bar
• the beasts
• ultimo
• corner hotel

Top Tens for 2024: Mike Foxall of Neptune Power Federation, Sick Fizz, Speek Evil zine and The Art of Fox and

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By Mike Foxall

Mike Foxall

07 January 2025

Hits: 1027

2024 TOP 10 THINGS OF A ROCK & ROLL NATURE -  BY FOX

1. “ROCANROL IN MONO” LP by PLEASANTS
This LP rocketed to my fave album of the year in March and has maintained its unassailable lead til now. The band first came onto my radar with their  adrenalin charged cover of the Troggs’ “A Girl Like You” a couple of years ago and the debut long player has transitioned me from keen listener to mega fan. Pleasants play up tempo pub punk along the lines of singer/guitarist Alex Patchings’ other (also great) band Dennis Cometti  but with a bit more of a llofi/egg punk flavour. What sets it apart for me is their ear for classic pop rock hooks - it really feels like high speed garage Cheap Trick or Status Quo at times which fuses it right  to my wheelhouse. Cruelly located in Perth and seemingly touring Europe more than East Coast Oz let me put on the record I am ready and willing to receive them here when they are. This album  fucken rules - I absolutely love it.

2. “BIG BREAKFAS”T LP by HANS CONDOR
I discovered this unhinged Texan rock and roll machine a couple of years ago courtesy of the greatest music video ever made and have been ride or die with them ever since. They play vaguely Motorhead-y, AC/DC-y gear but with big swings into classic Americana and country which completes a super authentic, honest and sweaty sounding experience I cannot get enough of. Kind of feral, kind of soulful, super duper fun.

3. THE STRIKE OUTS LP by THE STRIKE OUTS
If you live in Sydney and are remotely plugged into the underground rock and roll scene you would have come across these guys at some point. Awesome straight ahead no-nonsense two-piece and a great example of the embarrassment of rock and roll riches we have in Australia these days. Absolute gentlemen. too, which is a nice touch if you don’t prefer your rock stars to be utter arseholes. Their debut long player rips - recorded with the steady hand of The Pet Food Factory at the tiller.

• top ten
• river rocks
• the saints
• neptune power federation
• jack white
• speek evil
• mike foxall
• the strike-outs
• 2024
• alien nose job
• the artt of fox
• sick fizz
• pleasants
• hans condor

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Little Murders deliver a powerpop masterwork

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By The Barman

The Barman

06 January 2025

Hits: 953

Under Northern Lights – Little Murders (Off the Hip)

Nine studio albums in and Little Murders might have this rock-pop caper nailed. Again.

“Under Northern Lights” showcases what songwriter, band leader and sole constant member Rob Griffiths and his current, and most enduring, line-up do so well.  So that’s a wrap for this review. 

No, you don’t get off that easy. At least not until you’ve been thoroughly sold the virtues of “Under Northern Lights”. It should be an easy task if you set the tracks running in the background on Bandcamp. Let’s get stuck in. 

• little murders
• rob griffiths
• under northern lights

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Top Tens for 2024: Career Records head, Donovan's Brain band leader and KGLT announcer Ron Sanchez from Montana

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By Ron Sanchez

Ron Sanchez

06 January 2025

Hits: 532

_{Ron and Karen Sanchez.}

The Third Mind and Rain Parade
Mississippi Studios Portland
January  

Herbie Hancock
April 14
Centennial Hall University of Arizona 

• top ten
• rain parade
• ron sanchez
• 2024
• jim hendrix
• dBs
• miles davis
• herbie hancock

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Filmmaker Jason Axel Summers and the Stuart Gray documentary "I Should Have Been Dead Years Ago"

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

06 January 2025

Hits: 1307

 _{Filmmaker Jason Axel Summers (right) with Stuart Gray. in Jason’s apartment. This “Stutue” was commissioned by Jason and depicts him with his Super 8 camera and light meter in either hand.  The white of the lens and the sensor on the meter are made of glow in the dark epoxy.  Stuart used his own hair as the hair on the Stutue}

US filmmaker Jason Axel Summers' documentary about Australian-born musical anarchist and visual artist, Stuart Gray, “I Should Have Been Dead Years Ago”, is a prime example of what fantastic music there is out there to discover, and an excellent example of 'if you had expectations about this man, leave 'em at the door”.

Many I-94 Barflies will know of Stuart Gray (aka Stu Spasm), but not so much his music. If there's any justice, as a result of this documentary, Stuart will become a TV star and take his latest band, the New York City-based Art Gray Noizz Quartet, on an international stadium tour, complete with middle-aged ladies heaving their undies at him, while his oddly-insightful sculptures will sell for hundreds of thousands.

But hey, we live in a real world of struggle, pain, indifference, beauty, sin and downright foolishness, don't we.

So let's have a little yak with Jason Axel Summers, the somewhat determined man behind “I Should Have Been Dead Years Ago”.

• black eye records
• lubricated goat
• art gray noizz quintet
• stuart gray
• jason axel summers
• I Should Have Been Dead Years Ago
• redeye records
• in the raw

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I-94 Bar Top Tens for 2024: Melbourne recording artist Ronny Dap

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By Ronny Dap

Ronny Dap

03 January 2025

Hits: 649

Robyn Hitchcock opening with the seminal ”I Often Dream of Trains” at The Tote in Melbourne
It was up there with the greatest set opener i’ve ever witnessed…hair on the back-of-the-neck stuff.

The Prize
They’ve got the looks, they’ve got the songs and they’ve got Nadine. Oh boy! Debut album drops around March.

The Saints
The double whammy of the superb box set and the shows was a 1-2 of the highest order.

The Mad Max Parade of Intercepors and other related vehicles down the main street of Clunes
It was mind-blowing. No Mel Gibson, though.

The Church
The “Already Yesterday” shows were amazing to hear all those early classics. If only Richard Ploog could have shown up.

Celebrating Ronald Brown’s birthday at Radio Birdman’s Croxton gig
A ripper. My third time witnessing Radio Birdman and the distortion attack had given way to a far more melodic approach - and I,  for one, appreciated it more. Go figure.

• radio birdman
• psychotic turnbuckles
• the church
• the damned
• ronny dap
• the prize
• robyn hitchcock
• bahne super-flex
• chainsaw 4

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Top Tens for 2024: Rob Griffiths of Little Murders and The Fiction

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By Rob Griffiths

Rob Griffiths

02 January 2025

Hits: 773

_{With Toyozo of The Fadeaways and a copy of Rob's memoir.}

Top 10 Gigs for 2024 in No Particular Order

Calexico @ the Melbourne Recital Centre
Not that Americana is my favourite type of music, but ever since hearing “Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash, I’ve been a sucker for Mariachi horns. Not that that is all Calexico do but it’s what pulled me into their orbit at first through the album “Feast Of Wire”. Which they played this night. And it was sublime. And sometimes you don’t want it loud! Especially with a lot of bands testing out my hearing lately. Oh and they covered “Alone Again Or” by Love. Sublime.

Jenny Jenny @The UFO Club in Tokyo. Japan
The Fiction played our second tour of Japan this year and one of the absolute highlights of these tours are the bands who support us. And we loved Jenny Jenny. 4 girls in matching outfits like cosmic airline hostesses playing garage rock. What is not to love? And the fact Suzu from the High Marts was DJing in between was even sweeter because if anything  we should get Jenny Jenny and the Highmarts down to Australia. In fact bring all the Japanese garage bands down for a tour.

• little murders
• rob griffiths
• the damned
• the fiction
• the fadeaways
• yard act
• jenny jenny

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Top Tens for 2024: John Kennedy of The New Originals, JFK and The Cuban Crisis, Love Gone Wrong and solo

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By John Kennedy

John Kennedy

02 January 2025

Hits: 954

JFK’s Top Ten For 2024

As some here will know, I’ve spent the last year on the road in Spain. So when I was asked for a Rock and Roll Top Ten, I couldn’t really scrape together a list of ten concerts or records because I just hadn’t attended or listened to that many. I’d done a lot of rolling down the road. But the only rock I’d experienced was at Gibraltar.

What I had been doing had more to do with bricks and mortar than rock and roll. While I spent most evenings in my life enjoying music, I’d been earning a living by day as an architect. So my travels around Spain were full of visits to architectural wonders. I can tell you, I’ve been enjoying architecture more in the last year than I ever did working in architectural companies. So here’s my Top Ten list of Spanish architecture listed in the rough chronological order that I discovered them in:

1. The Ferreres Aqueduct, Tarragona. I love Roman aqueducts. Finding a structure that’s still standing  and in reasonable condition 2,000 years after it was built is just amazing. The simplicity and geometric perfection of the design are so impressive.

• top ten
• australian tour
• john kennedy
• love gone wrong
• 2024
• the new originals
• jfk and the cuban crisis

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