Blackstar - David Bowie (Sony)

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By Bob Short

Bob Short

17 January 2016

Hits: 7628

Well, this is awkward. David Bowie produces a new album. It's actually pretty good. Easily the best album he's produced since "Low". I know, right? A lot of people hate that one too but an album made by a coke snorting lunatic whilst driving around a car park at seventy five miles an hour is by definition going to sort the likes from the dislikes.

After the Seventies glory years of Glam and guitar solos, things took a turn to the weird. The so called Berlin trilogy featured two good albums "Low" and "Heroes" and the rather jumbled "Lodger". His production of Iggy Pop's "The Idiot" quietly changed the way we'd look at popular music. Joy Division and Public Image Limited were obviously paying attention as well as a veritable army of prissy nerds with their sister's make-up kits and Casio keyboards.

• david bowie
• blackstar

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Sonny Vincent needs your help after family tragedy

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By The Barman

The Barman

15 January 2016

Hits: 6492

Punk rock icon Sonny Vincent is in the middle of a family tragedy and desperately needs your help.

His son Robert Ventura, daughter-in-law Sarah and nine-year-old grandson Cayden are on life support in a North Carolina hospital after a gas fire engulfed their home.

Sonny has flown in from his own home in Germany with only the clothes on his back and is on a bedside vigil. 

A GoFundMe crowdsourcing campaign has been established to help the family here. A benefit show in NYC is also in the pipeline.  

Sonny is a former member of seminal punk band The Testors and has a long and storied career as a solo artist, collaborating with the creme de la creme of the underground rock scene. 

https://www.gofundme.com/xnvynbcc

• rock
• sonny
• vincent
• gofundme

Johnny Streetlight - Chickenstones (self released)

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By Robert Brokenmouth & The Barman

Robert Brokenmouth & The Barman

13 January 2016

Hits: 7918

Good god, what a fucking racket.

“Johnny Streetlight” is four-and-a-half bottles of joyous, fresh-faced old school rock’n’roll, soaked in piss and substance abuse and if you treat it right you’ll lose part of your hearing (just don’t eat the worm at the bottom). There’s no bad songs on “Johnny Streetlight”, they’re all good for gold. If this band had been around in the mid-‘80s they woulda been huge.

The inner sleeve pic by Leif Alan Creed makes the band look positively criminal (one gentle soul makes up for his lack of pupils by wielding a rather lethal saw).

• blues
• swamp
• sydney
• chickenstones

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Chris Masuak says don't be a "Bird Brain" on new CD

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By The Barman

The Barman

13 January 2016

Hits: 5124

Ex-Radio Birdman guitar slinger Chris Masuak has released a promotional clip to launch a crowd-funding campaign for his forthcoming album to come out on CD and it's likely to cause a stir with fans of his former band. The song's title is "Bird Brain."

You can get on board the crowdfunding campaign to grab anything from Birdman and Hitmen rarities, a Masuak show in your backyard to a copy of the album (when it comes out) here. Meanwhile, here's the clip:

• radio
• radio birdman

Conundrum - Thee Headcoats (Damaged Goods)

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By The Barman

The Barman

10 January 2016

Hits: 5856

This re-issue of a 1994 album by Medway’s finest sounds as brattish and vital as anything else around now, the perfect blend of punk rock and beat pop. Fashions come and go but Billy Childish remains a constant.

You think you work hard? By the time Thee Headcoats released this they had eight albums under their belts and fuck knows how many singles. Formed after Thee Mighty Caesars ground to a halt, they were an influence on everyone from Jack White to the Black Lips, Thee Oh-Sees and Jon Spencer.

• garage
• medway
• billy childish
• damaged goods
• thee headcoats

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Junkie Luck b/w Long Blonde Animal - Smash Fashion (Electric Pudding)

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By The Barman

The Barman

10 January 2016

Hits: 4994

There might be some irony in the band name considering their obsession with ‘70s glam rock, but Smash Fashion are from Los Angeles so maybe not. 

These veterans have been around for a dozen years in this form and call their music Dandy Rock. Even a cursory listen to the A side has Cheap Trick written all over it so it’s no surprise after some judicious online research to see them cited as a prime influence.

• junkie luck
• smash fashion
• los angeles

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Being With You - Brat Farrar (Hound Gawd! Records)

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By The Barman

The Barman

10 January 2016

Hits: 4958

Australia’s one-man punk rock machine Brat Farrar (aka Sam Agostino, of Digger and the Pussycats, Russian Roulettes! and Kamikaze Trio) emerges from the Melbourne lounge room with another cracker release. This one’s a three-track vinyl single limited to 100 copies so you’re advised to move fast.

The title track (full name: “Being With You That Night”) is a pounding electric beat that’s really a stage for duelling twin guitars. It’s over in a minute-and-a-half but leaves a large scorch mark. “Let It Go” is just as frantic but the guitar sheen sounds like it's been sonically buffed to take the edge off. Don't worry. It’s still terrific.

• sam
• brat
• farrar
• digger and the pussycats
• agostino
• electro-punk

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LAMF Live at The Village Gate 1977 - Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers (Cleopatra)

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By The Barman

The Barman

08 January 2016

Hits: 7230

In a world of shoddy, sub-par live releases and infinite re-issues of studio out-takes, this one lives up to the hype. Capturing the Heartbreakers briefly back on home turf after their first stint in the UK and in all their drug-infested glory, “LAMF Live” is the album your mother warned you about and your old man wanted banned.

Where’s the danger in rock and roll? You hear people asking all the time. It’s around if you dig deep enough but it was never so nakedly on display as back in the late ‘70s when the Heartbreakers were in full swing.

• heartbreakers
• live
• 1977
• jerry nolan
• johnny thunders
• walter lure
• billy rath
• village gate

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Be amazed by this Adelaide punk footage from 38 years ago

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By The Barman

The Barman

07 January 2016

Hits: 9934

Andrew Bunney is a 3D radio announcer and former member of the Coneheads and the Exploding White Mice. He shot and compiled this amazing piece of Adelaide underground rock and roll history in 1978, featuring rare live footage of three local punk scene originals.  

The footage features The Accountants playing “Elizabeth City Riots” (with Bad Boy Bubby star Nick Hope on bass!), The Dagoes delivering “This Perfect Band” and The U-Bombs dropping “Give Me A Medal”. 

Says Andrew: "There are a lot of people who are in this film (or would be interested in seeing it), however I don't have their contact details. Please feel free to alert any such people, especially Doug Thomas, Hugh Llewellyn, Ron Putans, Kate Jarrett, Doss (Frances) Grieve, Andy Steele, Nick Hope, Richard Gak, Neil Perryman, Bo Costerson and Roy Ersinger."

• adelaide
• exploding white mice
• dagoes