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The planned Radio Birdman CD box set of previously released albums paid with bonus material from the vaults is now tracking for a late July release, it has been announced. 

Guitar pop like this has no equal. Rob Griffiths has been writing and playing it longer than anyone can remember. Little Murders are a Melbourne institution and the current line-up is the longest serving. Each of these facts is connected.

HITS are an important band: for those who really care about Australia Rock, the history, the character and breathtaking urgency that some bands at certain times can produce.

The chaotic, unpredictable and, dare we say it, dangerous thing that is Brisbane band HITS have announced that their long-awaited second album is on its way on Queensland label Conquest Of Noisein April. 

The New Christs have a long history running through possibly the most convoluted list of line-up changes any band has endured and still retained a moniker.  This has meant new albums have held a certain fear factor.  What will they sound like this time?  Can anything they do compare to the towering peak of “Distemper”?  Let’s face it.  If that’s your five-star album, you have a lot to live up to.

“Incantation”, the first New Christs studio album in five years, hits the shelves on June 6. Recorded by Jim Moginie (Midnight Oil) in his Sydney studio and mixed at the famed Alberts Studios by award winning engineer Wayne Connolly, you can see the cover artwork at right and can hear the first single, "Waves Form", by clicking More (if you're on the front page) or by scrolling down (if you landed direct.)

This one’s an excuse for a trite throwaway line like: “Rock is back”, right? Because that’s what a mainstream music publication would do. Well, fuck that. You can use the fingers of a one-armed man to count the number of Aussie music mags that would give “Transmission” anything more than lip service - and you’d still have digits left over. The Volcanics deserve better than that.

This Perth band has been doing the hard rock thing since the early half of last decade - mostly in and around their hometown (although they're on their way to Europe soon.) There’s only one man standing from the original line-up (that’d be singer Johnny Phatouros) but the vision has been consistent throughout. They’re all about delivering straight-up, high-energy rock and roll that goes for the throat. Simple in theory but not easy to pull off without coming off like a re-heated and inferior version of your influences. Which “Transmission” is not.

It’s finally arrived. Years late, but well worth the wait.