Power-poppers Lava Fangs poised for album launch
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- By The Barman
- Hits: 447
Melbourne's internationally acclaimed power poppers Lava Fangs have finally announced a launch for their new album, "Sub Auroram", which was recorded with Paul Maybury of Rocket Science and The Pink Tiles.
The launch at Mama Chen's in Footscray, Melboutne, at 2:30PM on Saturday November 2 will be a rare live outing for the band, and follows their rapturously received set last month at the Gem in Collingwood as guests of power pop all-star combo Benny J & the Psych Ward. That band features Benny J Ward (Rinehearts), Davey Lane (You Am I/Pictures/Todd Rundgren), Link Meanie (Meanies) and Matt Cotter (Even) so they keep good company.
Last will and testament or an American ruse?
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- By Bob Short & The Barman
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Heavy Lifting – MC5 (earMUSIC)
I made an oath to not write reviews about albums that gave me the shits. But The Barman sent me a copy of “Heavy Lifting” and I gave it a go.
As far as an MC5 album goes, it's not even a good Wayne Kramer record. I hoped for more after the MC50 shows and Bob Ezrin's recent work with Alice Cooper.
I made track-by-track notes as I listened. I'll just give you my notes as written rather than an actual review. You can work it out from there.
Saddles aren't the only thing blazing on new Cowboys collection
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- By The Barman
- Hits: 1977
Cowboy Logic – Garry Gray & Sacred Cowboys (Kasumen Records)
It was 1982 when Sacred Cowboys emerged. It was a time when an Australian music tidal wave sweeping over pubs and clubs full of punters across Sydney from Palm Beach to Darlinghurst to Cronulla, and Melbourne from St Kilda to Frankston to Geelong.
Garry Gray was in his mid-20s and already a veteran of the Melbourne music scene when he formed the Cowboys. He already had street cred with foundations that stretched back to 1975. His influences came from the pages of Creem magazine and life in a blue collar suburb, rubbing shoulders with Sharpie gangs and devotees of AFL footy. He and his mates were discovering The Modern Lovers, the Stooges, the Stones, the Velvets and Alice Cooper, one record at a time.
Vale Ollie Olsen and Andrew Picouleau
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Ian "Ollie" Olsen.
Australian underground music has lost two important figures in Melbourne’s Ian “Ollie” Olsen and Andrew Picouleau.
Picouleau was best-known as a member of Dave Graney and the Coral Snakes, The Metronomes and Sacred Cowboys, while Olsen was in Whirlywirld, Orchestra of Skin and Bone, Noand Max Q, the short-lived but high-profile collaboration with Michael Hutchence.Both passed last week after protracted health issues.
Multi-instrumentalist Olsen was a key driver of the Australian post-punk electronic movement of the late 1970s whose punk lineage went back to The Young Charlatans (home to Rowland S Howard) and The Reals. Her was musical director for “Dogs in Space”, Richard Lowenstein’s gritty 1986 depiction of Melbourne’s underground music scene, and went on to make a mark internationally in electronic music and soundtracks.
Light up your life with Little Murders
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- By The Barman
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Under Northern Lights – Little Murders (Off the Hip)
Nine studio albums in and Little Murders might just 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.
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.
A table for three and spare the eggplant
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- By The Barman
- Hits: 632
A Trio of Hommus EP – Hommus Idol (self released)
Bet you’re sick of bands conceived in the darkness of COVD that have emerged into the light like maggots hatching from fly eggs? Cooker! Leave your conspiracies at the door of your local Lebanese restaurant because Hommus Idol have arrived bearing physical product.
Hommus Idol is from Wollongong, south of Sydney, and has a lineage going back to that city’s onetime shining New Garage Rock Hope, BRUCE. Just like a North Gong Hotel pot dealer, Hommus Idol peddles its wares in the carpark shadows - but in this instance they’re guitar songs of distortion and Jello Biafra-like warbling.
If Jeffrey Lee Pierce had moved to Lismore...
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- By The Barman
- Hits: 700
SLUG has been making a name for itself in the sub-tropical climes of the northern New South Wales city of Lismore for many years. Fronted by ex-No Man’s Land singer Dave Slade, SLUG’s heady mix of big riffs and powerful rhythms has made it the local must-see band. Despite being battered by floods in recent years, Lismore itself has become a magnet for tree-changing Sydney rock and roll types.
SLUG released a video this week, shot by Peter Frare, and it’s a cover of The Gun Club’s “House On Highland Avenue”. WSe reckon it captures the dramatic homicidal foreboding of the original.
"Punk Grandma" video premieres for Mick Medew and Ursula
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- By The Barman
- Hits: 472
You've come to the right place for the premiere of the filmclip for "Punk Grandma" by Mick Medew and Ursula. It's the lead track from their "In The Zone" album being releases on I-94 Bar Records on November 1. It will ship before then and pre-orders are open here.
The video was filmed and produced by Tracey Walker. Thanks to Delilah Moon Willsteed and Lucas Ciechanowski for playing the punk grandkids. Also appearing are the amazing rhythm section of Mick Medew and Ursula 4, Lois Andrews and Stuart McLaughlin.
Mucho Sonar hit the road on the back of their new album
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- By The Barman
- Hits: 742
They’re a six-piece, face-melting, horn-infused punk rock band from Newcastle in Australia, if you didn’t know, and Mucho Sonar are hitting the road to promote their fifth and first live album, “Live at Punkfest”, in October and November. You can have a sneak preview of the LP here.
- New single to greet Pat Todd and the Rankoutsiders
- Chomp down on this triple deck sandwich, pardners
- Granny get your gun 'cos the fun's just begun
- Combat rocker John Dissed presents "Phoenix Rising"
- Hard-Ons tour and doco to mark 40 not out
- Kim's new offering is grooviness with a side of Smoked Salmon
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