It’s all a rhythm instrument, dry and direct.
Read MoreVortex #6, Dec 1987–Jan 1988: Kryptonics, Kim Salmon, Stems, Stolen Picassos, Errol H. Tout, Bacen Asagai, Cremator, Scarlets, Die Monster Die, And An A, 10,000 Maniacs, White Cross, The Cult
And that about wraps it up for Vortex!
Read MoreVortex #5, August 1987: Durutti Column, A Certain Ratio, Go-Betweens, Stolen Picassos, Gay Marvins, Martha’s Vineyard, Weddings Parties Anything, Chad’s Tree, Concrete Blonde
I’m on a roll here, or I’m procrastinating like hell on other things.
Read MoreVortex #4, May–June 1987: Palisades, Scientists, The Cult, Sparklers, Reels, New Order, Matt Johnson/The The, Errol H. Tout, The Clash.
I said previously I’d have the rest of Vortex up by the end of 2020, no worries. This proved incorrect.
Read MoreSnog: Lullabies for the Lithium Age (2020).
Snog have embodied the virtue of consistency for the past thirty years.
Read MoreVarious Artists: From the River to the Sea (2021).
Jamie Halliday had stopped doing Audio Antihero, but has revived the label for this compilation.
Read MoreRecords: Slow Down Molasses (2021), Shriekback (1989).
Also: the Terminator comedy dick puppet remix technique.
Read MoreSevered Heads: get the late-period albums while you can.
Art is ephemeral. The text changes out from under you. Particularly when the text is a Severed Heads album.
Read MoreDaniel Sloss, Hamer Hall, Melbourne, May 4th, 2021
Daniel Sloss is certainly deserving of the credits that are lauded in his direction.
Read MoreThe Hummingbirds: loveBUZZ (1989).
loveBUZZ is classic indie pop, and few are disappointed. But the story behind rooArt is a great saga.
Read MoreSolar Fake: Enjoy Dystopia; Masked (2021).
A pretty good slab of extruded Solar Fake product.
Read MoreRecords: Throat (2018, 2020); Microlaxx (2021).
Less Nirvana and more Fugazi, and no fashionability whatsoever. “The kind of rock that was 20 years past its expiration date.”
Read MoreRecords: Statiqbloom, AC/DC (2020).
A good new thing and an old new thing.
Read MoreLinks: Spreading the take at the top, custom ringtones, the Human League.
The black hit of space.
Read MoreThe War of the Worlds: The Book, The Drama, The Musical, the Film
Is it not the most appropriate time to consider the great disaster story The War of the Worlds, as a pandemic continues to sweep the globe, with no end in sight?
Read MoreArt Damage through Self-Referentialty
In the early 90s I was introduced to the notion of “art damage”, appearing as an editorial rant in the glorious glossy cyberpunk magazine, Mondo 2000, now sadly forgotten by most.
Read MoreLinks: Virtual Reality still useless, why vinyl was bad, the Problem with Music gets tha roni, Nile Rodgers.
Here in the plague, I’m bored enough to write about music again, for my beloved audience of about a hundred. How are you all?
Read MoreAnd One totally aren’t into QAnon and Trump, you guys. A hacker done it and run away.
Because in this cancelled year of our Lord twenty-twenty, you just can’t outdo real life.
Read MoreMark Burgess: View From A Hill (2007).
Sitting on my “to do” list since 2011, and already at that stage four years old, View from a Hill provides the autobiography of Mark Burgess, frontman of The Chameleons and associated acts.
Read MoreProtodome: 4000AD (2020). A chiptune jazz-funk EP played entirely on a 1-bit square wave.
Art as a response to limitations.
Read More65daysofstatic: replicr (2019).
Dark and morose, ambient and industrial, with occasional contrasts, replicr is an album for particular moods.
Read MoreRecords: This Frilly Ape (2019), Amelia Arsenic (2020).
Yeah, need more abrasive bleepy shit.
Read MoreMaximum Joy: Spotify, new album “Peace” out shortly.
Nice to just have a band occur to you and discover they’re alive and well and doing things.
Read MoreGrum: Deep State (2019).
Experientially and holistically, this is a thoroughly enjoyable piece of work of which Grum can be pretty proud of.
Read MoreValedictions, Andy Gill
Elder statesman, co-founder, and guitarist and vocalist of post-punk legends Gang of Four, Andy Gill, died on 1 February, aged 64.
Read More2019 in music: your comprehensive and reliable global guide.
The punishment of luxury is in the air for all to see. And it’s ugly now, and it’s getting worse every day. Hey! Hey! Hey!
Read MoreWe Lost The Sea, Howler Bar, Melbourne, 30 November 2019.
The Howler Bar in Brunswick initially looks like a large open-plan bar but has an enclosed back-room which is just the right size for bands with a moderate following, and a brilliant second bar which provides a windowed view to the stage.
Read MoreWe Lost The Sea: Triumph & Disaster (2019).
The band started off pretty firmly in the metal genre, but transmogrified into something that is a cross between math rock and metal, like a love-child of 65daysofstatic and Dream Theater.
Read MoreGang of Four, Croxton Bandroom, November 2019
After being a music reviewer for over 30 years, and being a Gang of Four fan for a similar period, it is about time I owned an electric guitar.
So I picked up Andy Gill’s from the Gang of Four concert last night.
Read MoreJeffrey Lewis & The Voltage: “LPs.” I feel seen.
If the year was from the ’80s it was guaranteed to totally suck.
Read More