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Thought I should pop in here, though Loomis and others seem to have it covered.
If i'm not mistaken, the celibate rifles were Aussy, right?
Marvellous band, though had a saints-like conversion to MOR rock towards the later half of their career.
Celibates are Aussie, yeah. They are horrific now. Last single - I shit you not - was called "Butt Town". As in "We're all goin' to butt town.. dah de dah..." Horrific. Saw them supporting Mudhoney recently and they were awful. Lead guy's a yoga teacher now, and I think the mindset's not exactly aiding his Rawk Powah.
Grant: wash your mouth out. Ben Lee is cancerous. Though, to soften that soap, I must add that Dave McCormack (from Custard, who's also released great solo stuff and stuff as Dave McCormack & The Polaroids) has teamed up with Peter Fenton in a new, as yet unnamed project. They play their first gig this Sunday, which should be pretty interesting.
Fenton is fabulous. Solo stuff is mature but still pretty angular. That, and he worked "lugubrious" into a new song 'cause I asked him to. Which is fun. But yeah - anyone who can get their hands on Crow stuff, really should.
Has anyone mentioned Ed Kuepper now? I mean solo stuff, instead of Saints stuff? The guy's amazing. As are, unrelatedly (really) The Screaming Tribesmen, The Sunnyboys, The Triffids, The Stems and the Hoodoo Gurus. The last band is a guitar-pop institution, and I contend that "What's My Scene" is one of the finest Oz-pop songs ever released, perhaps only second to "Friday On My Mind" by The Easybeats.
What else is good at the moment? Gentle Ben & His Sensitive Side are brilliant, in a sort of Cash-meets-crooner kind of way. The Tremors and SixFtHick are awesome live - particularly the 'Hick - and I've heard very good things about Airbourne, who are basically like a younger, more obnoxious AC/DC. The guitarist, at a recent gig, walked over to the venue payphone and made a call during a guitar solo. Over the top and great. As are The Specimens, who play a very Hellacopters kind of music, and Bugdust, who have all of the stadium-playing moves but none of the self-indulgence of The Darkness. Also in this camp are the M-16's (their apostrophe, not mine) and the great Asteroid B-612 who are some of the loudest bands you will ever hear, short of a Fushitsusha gig. A new band that's impressing me a whole lot is The High Society, who're very energetic in a kind of The Bronx-y way.
I like Dallas Crane a lot, in a sort of '70s rock way. Their last self-titled album, released on Alberts (home of AC/DC's early stuff, Rose Tattoo, etc) is pretty good. And though they're now mainstream as fuck, Powderfinger's last disc Vulture Street is a cracker, as has been mentioned.
If you're a birthday party fan, grab Rowland S. Howard's solo album Teenage Snuff Film. Worth it, least of all for the best cover ever of White Wedding.
If you're into that whole Blood Brothers thing, The Scare are worth checking out. Bird Blobs were pretty good when I saw them in support slots recently - sort of shardy guitar over the top of a Bo Diddley kind of beat. Speaking of that beat, a two-piece called The Mess Hall are getting a lot of press currently, and they're pretty good. Simple, great drummer, and cheekbones-to-die-for frontman singing songs about redemption and pills, pretty much. A winner live, certainly.
Nobody's mentioned The Beasts Of Bourbon? Genius, heavy, evil rock. At their peak, the world's most intimidating bunch of smackrockers. Now, not so good, but still able to churn out the darkness. Lead singer Tex (yes, his real name is Greg, so Tex sticks) Perkins also has released some wonderfully relaxed solo albums, both as himself, and as Tex Perkins' Dark Horses. Featuring Joel Silbersher of Hoss - who also has a recording project with Charlie Owen called Tendrils. Very good 3am music, as is The Devastations, who have toured with Tindersticks and (in my view) do it a lot better.
Related to Beasts is Kim Salmon. Originally was in the band, and released some of the most primally-sleazy albums ever. Sin Factory is a must. Now, though, he's kinda dodgy, though his three-guitars, two-drummers outfit Salmon offers possible redemption.
Psychedelia-wise. I'm digging The Lovetones, which is Matt Tow from Drop City's new band. (Drop City is another great pop act, and his solo project Colorsound is well worth it if you're into ambient or experimental stuff.) Similar side of the fence is The Dolly Rocker Movement, who are very '60s-sounding and very, very good.
Wolfmother, a band with a LOT of buzz to them here last year, are pretty good in that sort of funk-prog way. They'll be in the UK in September.
Also, The Morning After Girls are worth a look. They'll be hitting the US circuit with The Brian Jonestown Massacre for a couple of dates, and are also playing the UK. They're very much in that sort of BJM/Spiritualised frame, and I think they're one of the best bands around. Their myspace page is here, and they play London on October 7 and 13th. Dates on the site; tell Aimee that Luke said hi if you go along.
Currently digging lots of stuff on the Reverberation label. It's set up by the drummer from You Am I (EVERYONE should own their first three albums - well, the second and third particularly, if you're into The Replacements or The Kinks with an Aussie tinge) and is basically a whole stack of garage-style bands. Loving a band called The Fuzz at the moment, who're basically a tight combo with a vocalist who's a cross between Adalita from Magic Dirt (who're about to deliver a new album) and Bon Scott.
Snog's stuff is consistently good, as is Black Lung - which is more of a Lustmord kind of tangent, really.
I cannot wait to see The Necks next month, or Dirty Three later in the year. Dunno how I feel about them having Chan Marshall sing on the new album, though.
Then, of course, there's the band I'm about to start which will be - of course - awesome. Maybe.
God, there's so much more I haven't mentioned - Hard-Ons, Bloodduster, Rev Kriss Hades... gah. Too many! I can suggest, though, that if you're interested in exploring Oz music, that you do have a look at the site I write for, Fasterlouder.com.au. There's lots of local reviews there - both live and album - and there's some great writing floating around. The forums always have lots of "Who's hot in Sydney?" kind of threads going on, making it a good place to grab some new names from. |
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