Somnambulus

This post has been transferred to  Capriole . Pop songs are easy currency.  And like small change, they are often as worthy. But pop songs can be a very astute media.  Especially when they are more complex than easy lines and hooks. That's why we are grateful for bands like The Modern Lovers, for The Cannanes.  For those perspicacious folk who have given us impossibly upbeat songs that defy the meleé; because they they are wry, and they artfully combine the guileless with the percipient. Girlatones are canny modern lovers because they are insightful and because they are not afraid to entertain the affectual and the goofy; they bring it to light and give it a rightful place.  They remind us of what we care about, but may not want to admit.  That is what we magnetise to in the great songs of Richman and in the Gibson/O'Neill collaborations. You can listen to the album here . The album opens with  Share the Love.  Love is about idealism, and in good measure -- rea

This blog reviews seminal music, and to date, that has comprised of whole albums.  Tonight I am going to review an outstanding gig featuring the Double. If you are reading this you probably know the musicians: Jim White (Dirty Three, Xylouris White, Venom P. Stinger) and Emmett Kelly (Bonny Prince Billy, Ty Segall, The Cairo Gang).  Tonight, in The Tote band room we were treated to them playing an unrelenting single piece lasting 45 minutes. Take a minute to think about that. A drummer and a guitarist. One piece. Forty five minutes. One chord. It is either going to happen.  Or not. The band room was packed.  They were preluded by Taipan Tiger Girls and Ausmuteants.  Two pretty apposite draw cards.  Well, TTG were.  But so were Ausmuteants - in as much as they twisted the same musical elements as TTG.  The Tiger Girls riffed for about 30 minutes on one song.  Sometimes the synths were a little quirky; the guitarist played with distortion and a mallet slide to create a

Music has a fine wife in lyrics.  They can partner evenly, but often we focus on the carrier of the name.  Good music is enhanced by great lyrical content and form, that leads by sensitivity and purpose. Then there are songwriters who redefine the boundary.  That enable us to see the ordinary with a new perspective that encourages the recalibration of expectations. Rabbits Wedding are understated - and also in that strange way that you won't find too much written about them anywhere these days.  That ambiguous and beautiful legacy of pre-internet identity: when what you can uncover about the obscure and worthy is a truly rare and remarkable find. Even rarer, I would guess, is coming across the albums these days.  You will find a little of their work on YouTube.  But their output was more limited than may have been expected.  Or maybe it could be.  The unusual is often unsustainable.  Even in the fecund musical environment of Sydney in the mid to late 1980s, with so many venue

There is a good range of contemporary music playing in this town, but there aren't many gigs you can go to and would have the privilege to say -- in twenty or even thirty years time -- I was there.  These days, bands aren't as shambolic or erratic as they were: lead singers remember the words, band members turn up, dangerous items are not thrown to or from the stage, and punters generally do not walk out of a gig bloodied or harmed.  Not that it used to happen often, but it happened surely enough. Seeing music and live performances is pretty safe these days.  You can't even passively smoke, which is also a benefit.  I didn't grow up in Melbourne.  I grew up almost everywhere but here.  The best part of my time was spent in Sydney.  All of Australia's most influential music passed through that town, but not all of it got off the ground.  It was there I saw drunken lead singers slouch off the stage mid-song and mid-set after floundering in their own lyrics.  Where

A very good friend, and music aficionado, has done you a favour.  He has created a series of podcasts that give you a selective and very tasty selection of everything you should know about music that has influenced and changed the way we understand the sonic revolution over the last forty years. He has also done you another favour.  He is paying all the legal dues to ensure these fine, and sometimes overlooked musicians get their royalties. All you have to do now is log onto your Soundcloud account and like it.  Not only will you hear a kick-sass range of amazalicious music, you will be sweetly treated to commentary that is informed and insightful.  Your host was there and on the inside.  He also has a black and dry sense of humour to keep all your senses entertained. Do yourself a favour. Spend the first of many hours getting yourself an education about what you love most.  Episode one is about British Post-Punk Women Icons.  You are gonna be treated to Siouxsie and the Banshees

Seminal records are not written every day, and some are found in retrospect.  They are determined by the ground they break, the level of subtlety that most others cannot achieve, and their authenticity.  Authenticity that is derived from the connection and interpretation of a source that has crossed the track, often against volition.  The drive to resurface is fuelled by volatility.  That is what distinguishes vibrant, challenging, visceral work that redefines our understanding. It's easy to follow behind those who have already cut through ahead.  It is easy to write sweet, fluffy melodies that catch like cotton wool.  Anything that makes a difference to how we understand goes further and deeper.  And its impression lasts that long. Great music often has a great pedigree.  The collaborators on Sour Mash are epic in every respect.  Tex Perkins is joined by the imitable Kim Salmon, the spanking Spencer Jones, cardinal drummer James Baker, and underground bass god Boris Sujdovic.

This post has been transferred to  Capriole . It's a long time between posts, but music that opens the periphery in our musical landscape doesn't come along readily, even in our active music scene. Sometimes a lot of good creative work gets held behind the palisades of cultural immaturity.  Sometimes it takes a while for things to evolve, ripen and manifest. When I first met Romy Vager, she assumed a different monicker.  Her band was smaller, the first time I saw it.  Since then a lot has changed.  RVG has come out with more than a first album. Listen to it  here . A Quality of Mercy (AQoM) is a long time coming.  Compassion, forgiveness and forbearance take a long time to find their place in everyday lives.  That is what Vager brings to us in final overview, but not without the evidence of the bitter trail.  These condemnations are foisted by fear, intolerance and prejudices.  They are often a sordid vilification of gang mentality.  Sometimes we spend time in dark l

Sometimes, in the darkness, a little light shines. On that day when we are supposed to celebrate what defines us as a nation, I stumbled upon the gem that has become a little legendary.  Beside the pit in the Tote band room, Simon Bailey and his boys took me on a joy ride.  It's been a while since that's occurred.  Since I was taken by surprise.  But Pony Face do not need an introduction.  I wondered why it had taken me this long to make the time. I don't compromise on what I love, so I bought the back catalogue of their original work.  This album didn't take me as the others did at first listen, but after solid rotation on my car stacker I found stars are bright. The most beautiful things reveal themselves slowly and have deep resonance.  There are often so many things you sense, but cannot name.  Pony Face describe whole heart landscapes in music.  They present them visually and emotionally.  They release them with empathy and as souls' catharsis.  If you ca

There are so few musicians who create seminal work. Tonight I was at a gig in this musically-rich cultural hub.  In between they played great works from the late 1970s and 1980s.  That seems like a long time ago.  It has been a long time since musicians redefined what we love, to explain and explore it in extraordinary ways. They are a savvy group, these underground music makers.  They know their history, they know where to find the source. And they emulate it. This blog is dedicated to those rare few in this fine scene who are more than musicians.  They are craftspeople. If you see it here, read closely and follow your heart. Here is a close reading.  Just as we listen.  Especially when it confounds and confides. If you don't find the harmony here, listen back to the high profile, gleaned two and a half minute credibility accreditors you can find on most radio stations. For those others, you are welcome here.