Tuesday 31 January 2012

Grrr....

Anyway I'm gonna shutup  about that book now.  There will be my 5 or 6 posts about the major omissions coming up soon.  Apart from that these are my final words on the matter.

Where were these acts The New Christs, The Moodists, Celibate Rifles, The Hard Ons, The Stems, TISM, Diviynls, Spiderbait, Snout, Sea Scouts, The Frustrations Cosmic Psychos, King Snake Roost, The Fauves, San Hose Cow Muzak, Pray TV, The Glory Box, Harem Scarem, Max Merritt & The Meteors, The Atlantics, Purple Hearts, Spectrum, Madder Lake, Tamam Shud, Buffalo, Khavas Jute, Goanna, Fabulous Diamonds, Ooga Boogas, Sand Pebbles, Black Cab, Snowman, Machine Translations,Tumbleweed, Essendon Airport, Laughing Hands, Asphixiation, Severed Heads, Snog, Not Drowning Waving, Makers of The Dead Travel Fast, Laughing Clowns, Max Q  etc. put your favourite band's name here ____________ from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and the 00s.




I probably would have had Wa Wa Nee over Savage Garden, at least they had the funk. Apparently the authors can only deal with 80s synth pop/dance/funk/industrial with irony and from a distance of many years ie. Regurgitator, Empire of The Sun, Presets etc.  Give me a fuckn' Eurogliders album over Missy fuckn' Higgins anyday. Anyone remember Vita Beats?

Sublime Cambodian Music


This one goes out to my Cambodian connection.
You should check out this record.
Heaps of good gear on here.
If you likeThai genres like Luk Thung & Molam you'll probs dig this!

Cambodian Cassette Archives: Khmer Folk and Pop Music Vol 1
Various (Sublime Frequencies)

RE: Grr........

* I used to rate Midnight Oil highly. It was to such an extent that it was a battle between 10,9,8... and The Birthday Party's Prayers On Fire for my favourite Australian album of all time.  Ever since Peter Garrett joined the Labour party and become quite a shite politician I've lost all my respect for the man.  He just seems to be a Muppet. This makes me wonder 'Was he also a Muppet in Midnight Oil?'  Anyway I can't bring myself to listen to those albums from the 80s I loved so much back in the day.  Should activists become politicians or would they be more effective remaining an agitator/lobbyist ? What does he actually stand for? Hero to Villain! Stll love the sleeves though.

Shoulda' been in the book part 2




Monday 30 January 2012

More Elvis



The King
Suspicious Minds

Shout out to my 2 members!


Polk Salad Annie
The KING

This one goes out to member no. 2.  I just bought Greil Marcus's Mystery Train, cant wait to read it. Particularly the Elvis chapter.  I once won a karaoke comp doing a version of this.



Death Valley '69
Sonic Youth

This one goes out to member no. 1.  I've never seen this video, how excitement!

If you become a member you too could have a clip put on for you. Wow.

Sunday 29 January 2012

Re: Grrr that book.....

Well here's a fuckn' surprise, not!

The unknown 3rd author of The 100 Best Australian Albums, someone O'Donnell turns out to be a record company exec who signed Silverchair, Something For Kate, Jebidiah, Missy Higgins and Empire Of The Sun.  So the other 2 authors didn't see a conflict of interest with this?! Fuck me if they didn't bury their heads in the sand, praying nobody would notice while their $$$ came in.  Those aforementioned 5 acts were all included in the list and quite high.

I thought maybe I was being a bit harsh saying 'the book didn't ring true'. How fuckn' wrong I was!

In my You Gotta Be Kiddn' Me Category I listed 12 examples of 'Pure Shite'.  Funnily enough this O'Donnell  signed at least 4 of the acts included in that category. It's like Eddie commentating on Collingwood games.  Not acceptable! It's worse than that. This O'fucknDonnell is just tryin' to boost his reputation by sayin' 'look at these acts I signed, they're in the top 100 of all time. 

This is a fuckn' OUTRAGE!

Bon Scott's ACDC records miss out, so this o'donnell's signings get a place in a joke 100 album list.

The Great Unwashed


All you need!
Classic.

Living Legends A Guide Part 1 - The Clean










All you need!
Or most of it is on the first disc of this.


er.....almost forgot.....this was bloody good too.


2 more from '11

Just catching up on these as they were Xmas presents. Both probably would have been in the 2011 list had I heard them in time.



Kourosh Yaghmaei
Back From The Brink

Fabulous Middle Eastern psych folk/funk/rock.This is from Iran in the pre-revolution 70s era.  If you loved the Pomegranates and Googoosh compilations on Finders Keepers or have an interest in Turkish Psych/Anadolu pop you are gonna dig this. Beautiful book/2 cd package on Now Again. Thanks to the  Mrs for this bewdy.




Ekoplekz
Intrusive Incidentalz

I've got Volume 1, the Pontone tape and the epic Memowrekz but this could be their best yet.  BBC/Cabs influenced sinister electro sonic smears from deep within a crumbling empire.




The Clean. You bewdy!

What's not to like?!
One of the Great Bands.
Flying Nun one of the great labels 
The music Speaks for itself!


Beatnik
The Clean
Saw them last year. They were in fine form as far as old Geezers go.


Tally Ho!
The Clean
What a ripper!
Puts a smile on my face every time.


Neck of The Woods
The Great Unwashed
Who were pretty much an old line-up of the Clean who got
together after the first Clean split up! Got it?


Anything Could happen
The Clean
Unbeatable!

Grrrr..that book

So they released this book a coupla' years ago 100 Best Australian Albums written by 2 old farts and some unknown guy and fuck me if at least 50 % of it wasn't pure shite.  So I'm gonna be quick because I don't wanna give these turds (er... authors) too much attention. Let's just start with the 'You Gotta Be Kidding Me' category.
#36 S/T-Savage Garden
 #39 Echo wa wa like a fuckn' baby- Something For Kate
 #97 Tea & Sympathy-Burn yer Fanny
 #96 S/T- Baby fuckn' Animals
 #93 Bear Witness- No I'm fuckn' Talking
 #91 Awake is The New Sheep- Ben Lee
 #89 Get Boon-Jet
 #86  The Sound of Shite er...sorry White-Missy Higgins
 #78 Highly Shite-The Vines
 #74 Suburban Shitebook-Bob Evans
 #57 The Living End-Will it Ever End
 #25 Neon Bullshit- Silverchair.

There's 12 examples there of pure shite. What no Uncanny X-men? At least they were fuckn' funny.

Next.  Can't comment haven't heard them category.
#19 Sarah Blasko-As Day Follows Night, finding it hard to believe that this is a better than The Saints classic debut I'm Stranded.
#30 S/T-Gurrummil ,finding it hard though to think this could be a better record than The Saints classic 3rd LP Prehistoric Sounds.
#47 Augie March-Moo, You Bloody choir, finding it hard to believe that this is a better record than Eternally Yours, the best Saints album (their 2nd) which is not even on this list.
#82  Bliss N Eso -Flying Colours, finding it a little hard to believe this is better than anything by Geisha, Electric Pandas, Cattletruck, 1927, Margaret Urlich or Gian.
#98 Kylie Minogue- Fever, finding it hard to believe this could be better than Collette.

The best Australian LP ever?
Are you sure you got their best album? category.
#94 X-X-Aspirations, At Home With You is also brilliant.
#87 Go-Betweens-Before Hollywood, I dunno I like Spring Hill Fair better.
#84 Tex, Don & Charlie, over the 1st, 3rd & 4th The Beasts of Bourbon albums. I don't think so.  Over Thug, no.
#72 Died Pretty- Doughboy Hollow, over Free Dirt and Lost. Not me.
#66 Paul Kelly-Foggy Highway, over all his 80s output (except Gossip) and  Comedy. Wrong.
#63 The Cruel Sea- Honeymoon is Over, over This is not the way home. No way.
#58 Barnesy-Working Class Man over his duets record. No.
#55 You Am I-Hourly Daily, over a bowl of turds, I doubt it.
#50 ACDC-Highway to Hell, Why aren't all Bon Scott era LPs here.  This is as high as Bon gets what a fuckn' outrage!
#45 Eddy Current Suppression Ring-Rush to Relax, over the first 2 records-nay.
#43 Powderfinger-Odyssey No. 5, over squealing possums that wake you up in the night. What?
#33 The Church-Starfish, I also love Of Skins and Heart, Seance and Heyday.
#26 Nick Cave- Boatman's Call, what about Your Funeral, My Trial, Kicking Against The Pricks or Henry's Dream ?
#17 Birthday Party-Junkyard, where's Prayer's On Fire ?
#3  Crowded House-Woodface, their worst album! Where's the debut?
#1 Midnight Oil-Diesel and Dust. What about Place Without a Postcard, 10,9,8.... or Red Sails mate?!
Next.
Category of their own.
#65 Hummingbirds - LoveBuzz.  I loved their early singles as well as this albums Blush and Word Gets Around but when I got the LP home I thought What the fuck's happened here?! The production was fucked. It sounded faulty and not in a good way. A lost opportunity!

Great tune.
This book just does not ring true.  It's like they've worked out what is going to please the lowest common denominator to get the most sales then chucked in a few cool bands The Drones and Beaches for a bit of cred. I had this idea to do Australia's best rock albums about ten years ago after remembering an excellent list in Edge magazine from maybe 1989-90.  I thought if I could get some of the cats who wrote on that article with some younger guys and me, it would be a great book.  I like to think it wouldn't have been anywhere near as faulty as this or as cynical. Another lost opportunity!

More on the glaring omissions soon. Most notably 3 artists who didn't make it in at all.

Where's this ya wankers?

Saturday 28 January 2012

Ron Peno & Mick Medew

* I didn't realise the connection at the time of writing the previous post.  I knew both Screaming Tribesmen and Died Pretty had origins in Brisbane.  I did not know that Ron Peno co-wrote Igloo.  You learn something everyday.  So Igloo was recorded in 1982.  What a tune! Anyway it's all a little bit confusing but I'll try and explain the connections.  Ron Peno (lead singer of Died Pretty) was in a band called The Hellcats circa '77 whose drummer was Mark Kingsmall (later of Hoodoo Gurus fame).  The Hellcats would sometimes support Radio Birdman in their heyday in Sydney.  Ron then turned up in a band in Brisbane circa'79 called The 31st who included Mick Medew (later of Screaming Tribesmen) on guitar.  This is when the two wrote Igloo and A Stand Alone.  Before Peno left they played their last couple of gigs under the name The Died Pretty circa early '81.  Peno left they became The Screaming Tribesmen.

There was another band in Brisbane called The End who contained Brett Myers (future Died Pretty guitarist/songwriter).  apparently Ron loved em and used to say you need a frontman ie. Ron Peno. Myers and Peno became friends.  To cut a convoluted story short The End broke up in Sydney.  Myers started a collaboration with keyboardist/music journo Frank Brunetti (future Died Pretty keyboardist) doing Suicide-esqe tunes they eventually became a band called Final Solution with Peno out front.  Ron then revived the name Died Pretty and the rest is history.  Clear enough?

Anyway the early singles, eps and first 2 lps Free Dirt and Lost are quintessential 80s Sydney rock.  When Brunetti left they were never quite the same in my opinion.  The convoluted prehistory of the band is explained in more detail in the liner notes of the Aztec Music deluxe reissue of Free Dirt (which pretty much contains everything they did from 84-86 ie. pure fuckn' gold!).

Shoulda' been in the book part 1


This is beginning in my series of albums that should have been in the top 100 Australian albums book published a couple of years ago.  As stated above pure fuckn' gold.  Mars Needs Guitars by The Hoodoo Gurus was included over this ?  That record was so disappointing after Stoneage Romeos, one of the greatest debut albums of all time.  I remember thinking at the time 'a coupla great tunes doth not maketh a good follow up album!'  Don't get me wrong it's ok but...... 





Errr....couldn't resist
Everybody Moves
Died Pretty
Classic!



Friday 27 January 2012

Invasion/Australia Day




Happy Invasion Day.

Igloo
Screaming Tribesmen
Legendary.
When I first heard leaked demos of nevermind on the radio I thought fuck this reminds of that old Australian band.  That being The Screaming Tribesmen.




Also Legendary.
Died Pretty
Next to nothing
Alert! This one is an actual performance and a cookin' one at that!

Both tracks from when Sydney used to rock!





Just one more 60s Aussie classic, you say.
The Elois
By My Side
That's it for the 60s Aussie classics, coz none of 'em have bloody clips!
Anyway this is a bewdy!
Rock on Maryborough!




Wednesday 25 January 2012

One more for Australia Day




Couldn't resist this Aussie 60s classic
The Throb
Black
It's a bewdy!

Cheap Shots II



Theses capture my second day of my commute shots.  From morning to evening.
Melbourne in August.
17/8/11





This one is Spectral!







I struck Gold here! Thanks to the Melbourne weather gods.






Cheap Shots











Here's some photos taken with my $50 mobile phone.

RE: knowledge is power!

"Knowledge is power, the power to maintain free government and preserve constitutional liberty"  This is actually a quote by American Senator Vorhees in 1880 talking about Libraries.  Now, do you reckon he was a communist or very dedicated to democracy?!

He would have been on the Megaupload don't you think.

This is all a bit serious.




What about another Aussie 60s Classic then? I hear you say.
The D-Coys
Bad Times
What a great pop song!
How about the clip?
Rock on Adelaide!

Tuesday 24 January 2012

RIP MEGAUPLOAD!

Wow who'd have thought he was such a kook or is that the FBI's attempt at brainwashing us.  I think he's a fuckn' legend!  Maybe the FBI are workin' for hipsters, who were so mortified that everything obscure was now attainable thus losing their status as some kind of cultural gurus coz now we all know the score about everything.

You're downloading communism! Fuck off.  You were downloading the end of elitist pricks. 

Did you ever  borrow a book from the library? You didn't buy that book you enjoyed it for free along with hundrreds of others.  Have a little think about it.

Knowledge is power.

This is dedicated to my sister's flat in Bondi


She could do with some of these!
Did you know cockroaches fly?


I'm glad I live in Melbourne.

Kim Salmon
The Cockroach




Well what did you expect?

nobody here



Nobody Here
By one of Oneohtrix Point Never's side projects

This reminds me of John Oswald.
I dig this, but I can seperate this sample from its original context.
(It's become it's own song to me)
Something the Mrs can't, it makes her sing Lady in Red all day.
What do they call it ?
The sample stain or something?
Or is that the opposite?,
When a favourite old song is sampled by a modern act and then it ruins your enjoyment of the old tune forever.

Monday 23 January 2012

This has become too retro!

One of my fave current bands!
Sun Araw
Crete

big ups to the Bondi possie!


ALMOST WITH YOU - THE CHURCH



ALONE WITH YOU-THE SUNNYBOYS

Both of these songs became staples on 3MA in the early Eighties, thank God!
Sometimes regional radio had it's charms!
Like when they played 'This Charming Man'
for my friend's birthday on 3MA.
The Smiths
Hearing that at 8 in the morning was fuckn' priceless!


the mac



Hmmm...Do you think The Flaming Lips, Built To Spill, My Morning Jacket and Turdlake were into The Mac?
So don't tell me all of a fuckn' sudden you like The Mac!

Sunday 22 January 2012

the best



I don't mean to be obvious but speaking of best songs of the eighties, how could you go past this?
Any track on MBV's You Made Me Realise 12" could be a contender!

the best...



Buddy by Snapper
This is probably my favorite song of the 80s.
Their albums were good too.
Apparently there is unreleased material from this era.
I'd like to hear that.

more Bendigo Rock


Tol puddle Martyrs
Social Cell
Well they released 4 tracks back in the day.
Peter and the Silhouettes released 2.
Got it.
Anyway this one is a bewdy!

best song ever


The Church
Bel-Air

According to my computer this was my most played song of 2011.  This really is the best ever (along with about 40 other Church tunes) song.   Thirty years later it still sounds grouse!

best song ever



Well the funniest.
Danny Boy
The Muppets

Friday 20 January 2012

LA or Bendigo

My fave band of the 60s is Love.
The only other band that comes close is The Tol-Puddle Martyrs!
Time Will Come
They were from Bendigo!
Rock on Bendigo!
Their first incarnation was Peter and the Silhouettes who recorded this fuckn' classic!
All together for both bands I think only 4 songs were recorded!
I've only heard 3 but what a 3!
Claudette Jones

best song ever

The best song ever
Roxy Music
Virginia Plain

Thursday 19 January 2012

....best crouching ever............

Best crouching film clip ever
Simple Minds
Glittering Prize
If you know of a better crouching video than this let me know.
Bono & Hutch were all good crouchers, but I dunno if they can top this.

...Best Song Ever?.........

How fuckin good is this?
Black Diamonds
I Want, Need, Love You

.....The best song ever...err..best cover version ever.......

This is the best song ever!
Right?
This Mortal Coil
Song the Siren

.....best song ever..............

The Mac
Beautiful Child
yes!

Best song ever?


Love this Flying Nun classic.
Verlaines
Death and the Maiden

I'm So Agitated!...................


Who would have thought? Here's my theme tune of recent times. Shrinks! What the fuck do they do again? Oh yeah they make a shit load of money off vulnerable people while pretending that they are somehow helping them. The word scum comes to mind. Is there any lower human form than a psychiatrist/psychologist? Thanks to Derrick in the 90s for getting me into The Electric Eels!

Tuesday 17 January 2012

........................more blah.....................

*Pan Am Stories was reviewed by turdfork eventually! Whatevs!

*PJ Harvey: I loved Dry, To Bring You My Love & others but my head right now can't engage.

*Tom Waits - Swordefishtrombones, The Black Rider, Bone Machine, Mule Variations  etc. all classic. Rain Dogs would be in my top 20 of all time.  But my head right now...............see above! I can't explain it.  It is what it is.

Sunday 15 January 2012

...more on 2011...

*When I first heard Peaking Lights' 936 I thought what is this shite? It sounds like lo-fi z-grade trip hop, who'd wanna listen to this?  Dunno what kept me comin' back but now I love 936's hazy vibes.

*I must admit when i first heard Rangers I thought this just sounds so generic or like Ducktails.  Anyhow something made me keep goin' back to their brilliant Suburban Tours many times last year......whatever happened to Ducktails anyway?

*Replica to me was disappointing.  Rifts and Returnal were big faves of mine.  On Replica I just kept thinking 'Why make this beautiful music less so, by making it more difficult?'.  I thought maybe Oneohtrix had been reading his own critics, who wanted less kosmiche and more noise.  Anyway if it was anyone else I'd probably be praising it to the hilt. It's still growing on me.

*Now a bit about the telly.

Breaking Bad is still my favourite drama even though the last couple of episodes of season 3 seamed a bit directionless  Is there a season 4? 

The Trip- I saw it at the cinema and thought it was great, barring the heavy handedness of the director's contrast of the two characters. Then I caught episode 4 of the telly version and was shocked by some bits that weren't in the film.  These really changed the context of Rob Brydon's character.  In the theatrical version they left out the ultra sleazy Delilah scene.  One of the most awkward 'OMG please don't be coming onto her!' scenes in the history of TV.  Making him much more respectable in the film. Why did they even edit the series into a film?  After watching all 6 telly episodes the film seamed pointless.  Get the telly version on DVD it's longer, better and more funny.  An instant classic.

30 Rock- 5th season was good but were they getting tired or something?
100th episode though was pure gold.

Wednesday 11 January 2012

A Bit Late, Whatevs....

2011

11 Records of 2011



936-Peaking Lights
Most played album of 2011. Some vague-hypno-lovers-dub. As good as Melbourne's very own Fabulous Diamonds. Get off yer head and dig on the grooves man.

Night Dolls With Hairspray-James Ferraro
Sounds like The Residents grand kids demented account of American High School life.  Killer nerds, perverted teachers and TV watching roaches. Better than a John Waters film.

Pan Am Stories-Rangers
The most underrated group in the world. Did they end up in any end of year lists. Their 5th classic in a row. Epic.

Ancient Romans-Sun Araw
More trippy grooves for another wasted generation. Big hit round here.

Far Side Virtual-James Ferraro
Apart from sounding like an 80s Italian synth library LP this sounded like the music to the bits in an 80’s teen flick where they start to get their shit together and have a glimmer of hope, not all the future/technology bullshit theory every critic espoused. Up cheese.

Cabaret Cixous-Maria Minerva
Top woozy tunes from the Estonian songstress. If it was the 80’s it would have been on 4AD.

The English Riviera-Metronomy
How the fuck did they do this? Deceptive and unique pop. Familiar and alien at the same time. Name an influence, it won’t stick.

Glass Swords-Rustie
Originally this was to be in a category of its own, Best/Worst record I’ve ever heard.  Due to closer inspection I now believe it to contain much awesomeness. It makes me wanna wear something shite, score some Es, put on $1 sun glasses and get some glow sticks.

As The Crow Flies-The Advisory Circle
I thought Hauntology was over but hold your horses. This is a cracker of melancholy electronic music. The sound of brown.

Nordsee/Contemplating The Observatory-Panabrite
A little bit new age, a little bit kosmiche and a tiny bit John Carpenter. This is the biz at 3am when you can’t sleep or don’t want to.

Luminaries & Synastry-Motion Sickness of Time Travel
All the Vs: Vaporous, vague, vacuous and very ..... 

Other Bewdies
Tallinn At Dawn-Maria Minerva
A Young Person’s Guide To-Mark McGuire
KWJAZ cassette-KWJAZ
Urban Gothic-Xander Harris
Underneath The Pine-Toro Y Moi
Midnite Crimes-Sand Circles
Memowrekz-Ekoplekz
Tapeswap-Ekoclef
Clutch It Like A Gonk-Moon Wiring Club
Replica-Oneohtrix Point Never

Music for Thomas Carnacki-Jon Brooks (er...forgot about this one. Should have been in the top 5 really.  Spooky sounds for weird scientists and satanic magicians.)

Who cares?
John Maus (he is Chapterhouse to Ariel Pink’s MBV)
England blah blah-pj Harvey (not listened don’t care)
Tom Waits (see above)
Amerifuckn’cana! (when will it end?)
Australians doing Amerifuckn’cana! (worse than above)*

Good Tunes
This would be usually full of top 40 tunes but Video Hits went away. However I do spend time in my wife’s car.

The Look - Metronomy
Ruff Trade – Maria Minerva
Zeke’s Dream – Rangers
Fanta – Psychic Reality
Someone Like You – Adele (sorry/up yours hipsters)
Guilty – Kasey Chambers (just up yours hipsters)**


Reissues/Archives/Compilations

Those Shocking Shaking Days: Indonesian Hard, Psychedelic, Progressive Rock & Funk 1970-78 - Various.

Thai Dai: The Heavier Side Of Luk Thung Underground - Various.

Flipper Psych Out: Original Italian Library Music From The Vaults Of Flipper - Various.

Mellow Mellow: Original Smooth Grooves & Chilled Beats - Various.

Psych Funk Sa-Re-Ga!: Seminal Aesthetic Expressions Of Psychedelic Funk Music In India 1970 - 1983 - Various.