Record – Page 9 – Rocknerd

New Order: Music Complete (2016).

17 June, 201625 August, 2016 Post-Punk, Record 1

At almost sixty-five minutes, New Order’s tenth studio album Music Complete. On vinyl it is provided as an impressive heavy-grade double album with an abstract cover design by Peter Saville, which reminds one of True Colours by Split Enz or a 1980s L’Oreal advertisement. With no sense of embarrassment, the album also includes a twelve page booklet of blank pages and uncoloured designs. This ill-considered use of the planet’s declining arboreal biomass can possibly amuse children for a couple of hours as they provide a more interesting expression of colours. As is the fashion with albums these days a digital download code is also provided.

Mos Generator: Abyssinia (2016).

11 June, 201629 March, 2017 Metal, Record, Rock 0

“doom heavy stoner metal band”, the press release bluntly announces.

No: Once We Were Scum, Now We Are God (1989).

6 June, 201625 August, 2016 Industrial, Post-Punk, Record 0

This is the finest album by the great Australian band No, featuring Ollie Olsen when he was still angry, before he discovered MDMA and made Third Eye. It’s a live album. I got the record when it came out in 1989 and played it every day for a few months. Invigorating and cheering music that will brighten your soul.

Pat & Mick: Use It Up And Wear It Out (1990).

1 June, 201616 August, 2017 Pop, Record 0

This record is … way better than it has any right to be.

Se Delan: Drifter (2016).

23 May, 201625 August, 2016 Goth, Metal, Record 0

The press release page (includes album stream) says “dark, alternative, new wave” and studiously avoids the word g*th, but OH COME ON.

Reviews: Airbag, Metroland, Suns of Thyme, Virus (2016).

21 May, 201629 March, 2017 Industrial, Metal, Prog, Record, Rock 2

When I was Official Shitworker on Lemon, we christened the review round “dogshit patrol,” after the regular Arlo cleanup. I promise I’ll stop before I start thinking of it that way here.

Elektroklänge: Mechanische Tänze Nos. 1-4 EP (2016).

20 May, 201625 August, 2016 Industrial, Record 0

The entire point of Elektroklänge is wanting to be Kraftwerk when they grow up. Not an uncommon aspiration, but not a bad one if you can pull it off, and they do okay.

Shriekback: Without Real String or Fish (2015).

23 April, 201625 August, 2016 Post-Punk, Record 0

For a band formed in 1981, Shriekback have certainly had a couple of notable breaks in their productive career.

Godzilla Black: Press The Flesh (2016).

27 March, 201624 August, 2016 Record, Rock 0

“Formed by two frustrated drummers” tells you about sixty percent of what you need to know. The rest is descended (through similarly-influenced ’80s indie rock, then the stuff that was left after grunge imploded) from the heavier ’60s psychedelic rock, rather than prog.

Records that have not stood the test of time: Models: Out Of Mind, Out Of Sight (1985).

13 March, 201611 February, 2018 Pop, Record 0

This album, which I played a few days ago for the first time in thirty years, is what the kids these days describe as a “hot mess”. A pile of good ideas mashed in with a pile of terrible ones; the result desperately pretends to work.

The Charlatans: Modern Nature (2015).

30 December, 201528 August, 2016 Indie, Record 0

As one of the great British indie synth-rock bands (hey, just call it “Madchester”) of the 90s, The Charlatans, left an indelible impression on

Last Words (EP) by Muzzle

24 December, 201514 October, 2016 Indie, Record, Rock 0

“Last Words” (2014), is the debut EP for young Fremantle independent rock band, Muzzle, with three-piece Daniel Panizza on bass, Daniel Prince on drums,

Reissues, past subcultures and the dead foot of the market.

8 December, 201512 September, 2017 Opinion, Record 0

Amanda Petrusich at the New Yorker writes a ramble on the reissue market. It’s not clear, but she seems upset these previously-unavailable classics are available again, because they’re available again for the wrong reasons.

Baron: Torpor (2015).

1 November, 201516 June, 2017 Prog, Record 2

Torpor is squarely an attempt to recapture early ’70s English folky progressive rock. With vaguely sci-fi lyrics.

If you’re gonna do martial industrial music, at least make it really gay. Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft.

15 October, 201514 October, 2016 Industrial, Post-Punk, Record 0

DAF were a Neue Deutsche Welle (New German Wave) band, covering the time from when NDW meant hideous post-punk noise to when it meant cheesy pop. Funnily enough covering a similar arc themselves.

Blacklisters: Adult (2015).

25 July, 201514 October, 2016 Punk, Record 0

Early 1990s grunge, reproduced with 100% authenticity. Really, I felt like I was a 26-year-old student/bum again, smoking Lucky Strikes on a front porch in Perth, wondering if I too would ever find some way to hit it big with Generation X.

Donald Fagen: Sunken Condos (2012).

23 April, 201528 August, 2016 Jazz, Record 0

This is light jazz funk rock with brilliant musicianship, and Fagen’s voice is still lovely after all these years. I could not remember a

Metroland: Triadic Ballet (2015).

20 April, 201528 August, 2016 Industrial, Pop, Record 1

Metroland is a Belgian electronic duo. Their publicity says “Kraftwerk” a whole lot, though my first thought was “the Kraftwerky end of Severed Heads”.

A new year of links!

1 January, 201520 May, 2017 Dance, Industrial, Links, Radio, Record 0

There’s a new Rowland S. Howard career collection, Six Strings That Drew Blood. Here’s an excellent review and history from the Quietus. I didn’t

Skinny Puppy: Weapon (2013).

10 December, 201428 August, 2016 Industrial, Record 0

As perhaps the most important industrial band of the 1980s, Skinny Puppy developed a loyal following with their harsh instrumentation, samples, and politically blunt

65daysofstatic: Wild Light (2013)

6 November, 201429 March, 2017 Prog, Record 0

It’s a cute fashion for the originators of subcultures to declare its ‘death’ just as it is starting; thus the hippies of Haight-Ashbury declared

Radio Birdman Boxed Set (2014)

4 November, 201428 August, 2016 Indie, Record, Rock 0

Courtesy of our friends at The Dwarf your author had the opportunity to see the legendary Radio Birdman as long as finger was put

Pop Will Eat Itself – New Noise Designed By A Sadist (2011)

5 September, 201414 October, 2016 Indie, Record 0

With their last and most successful general release album released in 1994 (Dos Dedos Mis Amigos), it is a long time between releases for

Archive: Axiom (2014)

20 August, 201429 March, 2017 Film, Industrial, Prog, Record 0

Archive are a pretty superb combination of electronica, trip-hop, with progressive elements, something like a fusion of 65daysofstatic and Portishead. To say that they’ve

A librarian reviews her husband’s “Stupid Record Collection.” All of it.

19 April, 20144 December, 2016 Record, Writing 0

In which a relatively normal person decides to sit down and review her husband’s entire vinyl LP collection. In alphabetical order. “I can’t believe

Renaissance by the Village People: the Highlander 2 of disco.

12 January, 20146 May, 2017 Dance, Record 0

It’s 1981. The disco empire has fallen. The Casablanca label has been bought by PolyGram and all the disco artists have been dumped. You

If only you could collect this well.

21 December, 20136 May, 2017 Record 0

How a working-class couple amassed a literally priceless art collection. “They were artists, and the collection was their work of art.” If only I

Also I really like the jangly guitar music used to promote touch screen technology with a mid-range price point.

7 August, 20136 May, 2017 Record 0

Daily Mash: “THE unlimited availability of free music means that an album will not change how you see the world for more than a

So what was Maxicut?

31 October, 201218 December, 2016 Audio, Record 0

In case you ever wondered what the EMI “Maxicut” process you saw listed on all those Australian LPs was, learn about the rationale and

Album cover cliches, 2012.

14 September, 20127 May, 2017 Record 0

Cracked delivers. “The Sign Says ‘Fire Your Graphic Designer’.”