Kano - I'm ready

Future electro from 1980 by Kano. For a start that bass....then the vocal science....the untreated vocal melodies are like something Ariel Pink was influenced by circa Loverboy. The glitz & the glamour of Italo-disco bliss...

Hadji Baba - Gus Vali

Hadji Baba comes from a 1974 LP that's never been reissued so perhaps the collector cult builders who run reissue labels don't like it. Reminiscent of Can's ethnological forgeries, 70s Miles and Turkish psych, it's a super session of 70s psychedelic jazz-funk-fusion. Recorded in NYC by Greek American belly dancing advocate Gus Vali. A Middle-Eastern Afro-Cuban jam with an all star lineup that features Charlie Palmieri on the Fender Rhodes.  

Iration Steppas - Iration Steppas vs. Dennis Rootical

Choice "digi-dub" reggae from the mid 90s. Nothing produced by the dubstep people 10 years later was anywhere near as good as this tune. Massive.

Skream - Midnight Request Line

I always thought this dubstep tune was a total Drexciya rip off. Listening to most dubstep still gets on my tits because it has all these elements from top genres like dub, electro, Detroit techno, jungle, dub-tech etc. but it's not as good. Plus it's got dub in the bloody name right but it's rarely dubby enough. I mean this track, even though it's undeniable, is virtually dub free.  

Infophysix - Dopplereffekt

Infophysix from 96 is classic Detroit electro. Dopplereffekt is one half of Drexciya Gerald Donald's side project that adds an ebm element to the sound. The subject matter is old school industrial style though: nazis, porn, eugenics etc. Don't let that put you off though as many of their 90s tunes have that luxuriant electro vibe that could only be Drexciya. 

Jaze - Wanna Get Down With You

Some funky psychedelic guitar action on this disco number from 1979. An ace production that gets pretty out there. If someone told you this was Can collaborating with a female vocal trio you might well have believed them. The mysterious Jaze did just the one record and this it. Wanna Get Down With You was released on 12" by the Leo Mini label.  Top jam!

Underground Lovers - Promenade

One of the great 90s live bands from Melbourne. They also did some terrific records. I guess they were indebted to space-rock, post-punk, synth pop, krautrock, neo-psych, indie-dance, shoegaze and everything else good in between. 1992's Promenade is just hits & memories for me and sure I used to sometimes have a beer at me local with the drummer on this record 30 years ago. Still I reckon it must be good. It stands up like say Ripe, their contemporaries don't. At 2.52 when it takes off into blissed out noise overload and the synth strings swell with the concrete into the sky...

Underground Lovers were signed to short lived 4AD sub label Guernica. The only other bands I can think of that were maybe on that label were Insides & Unrest. Am I right? The Undies killed it on the big stages like The Palace with epic performances but were also great on the small stages where they could pack a punch like The Punters or The Empress. The sound of my youthful soul wasting away. Who knew it would all turn into a dystopian nightmare 30 years on...

Dr. Strangely Strange - Dark Haired Lady

A haunting acid-folk tune from 69 that swiftly transforms when an eldritch stylophone enters at 2.47 and it becomes another song entirely. 

Sekret Sekret - New King Jack

The offbeat New King Jack must have stood out like a sore thumb amongst Sydney's inner-city post-punk scene in 1980. I guess at its heart this tune is pop, sixties and folk influenced with hints of retroactively named 60s micro-genres like baroque psych and sunshine pop and eventually it becomes undeniably psych when that sideways guitar enters and almost tips the song over. Anyway what's a delightfully enchanting number to me might not be for your you. Peculiar. 

The Moles - Tendrils and Paracetamol

An epic pop mutation from Sydney group The Moles in 1991. This inspired psych-noise-pop post-punk-funk odyssey was an anomaly then and remains so to this day.