Rocknerd

B-Side #13, December 1985: Deniz Tek, Ku Klux Frankenstein, Ed Kuepper/Laughing Clowns, Huxton Creepers, X, Happy Hate Me Nots, Beach Nuts, Louis Tillett, Itchy Rat

7 October, 20217 October, 2021 Indie, Rock, Writing 0

And a four-page cartoon in the middle.

Ministry: Moral Hygiene (2021).

5 October, 20215 October, 2021 Industrial, Record 0

Frankly, I’m most surprised Al Jourgensen is still alive. Good luck to him.

Twitter roundup.

4 October, 2021 Links 0

I’ve had these long enough, now you can have them too and I can close some tabs.

Robert Brokenmouth: Nick Cave: The Birthday Party and Other Epic Adventures (1996).

16 September, 202114 December, 2021 Post-Punk, Rock, Writing 0

In fairness, as the big bloke with the long hair and the leather jacket, if I were the police I’d have stopped me.

B-Side #12, late 1985: Scientists, The Eastern Dark, The Stems, Deniz Tek, Behind The Magnolia Curtain, Mark Ferrie, Reactor Records.

10 September, 2021 Indie, Rock, Writing 0

More procrastination on other things!

B-Side #11, June 1985: Tex Perkins, The Shindiggers, Decline of the Reptiles, Eugene Chadbourne, 21 Faces, The Celibate Rifles, Harem Scarem.

5 September, 20216 September, 2021 Indie, Rock, Writing 0

I basically commend all of this coverage.

21 Faces: Red Hearts (1985).

3 September, 20217 September, 2021 Indie, Pop, Record 1

Well, this is an obscurity I never expected to hear online.

B-Side #10, April 1985: James Baker Experience, Triffids, Lipstick Killers, Saints, Tactics, New York garage psych roundup.

1 September, 20211 September, 2021 Indie, Rock, Writing 0

Remember when you could get this sort of goodness for a dollar?

B-Side 4½, June–July 1984: Celibate Rifles, True West, J.F.K. and the Cuban Crisis, Clinton Walker on The Next Thing

31 August, 2021 Indie, Rock, Writing 0

B-Side was the Australian indie rock fanzine of the time. Just slabs of text about good bands and records. I straight-up lifted its format for Party Fears.

S:Bahn: Queen of Diamonds (2021).

10 August, 2021 Post-Punk, Record 0

It’s all a rhythm instrument, dry and direct.

Vortex #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

8 August, 20218 August, 2021 Indie, Writing 0

And that about wraps it up for Vortex!

Vortex #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

6 August, 20216 August, 2021 Indie, Writing 0

I’m on a roll here, or I’m procrastinating like hell on other things.

Vortex #4, May–June 1987: Palisades, Scientists, The Cult, Sparklers, Reels, New Order, Matt Johnson/The The, Errol H. Tout, The Clash.

5 August, 2021 Indie, Writing 3

I said previously I’d have the rest of Vortex up by the end of 2020, no worries. This proved incorrect.

Snog: Lullabies for the Lithium Age (2020).

4 August, 20214 August, 2021 Industrial, Record 0

Snog have embodied the virtue of consistency for the past thirty years.

Various Artists: From the River to the Sea (2021).

22 July, 202122 July, 2021 Indie, Record 0

Jamie Halliday had stopped doing Audio Antihero, but has revived the label for this compilation.

Records: Slow Down Molasses (2021), Shriekback (1989).

8 July, 202112 July, 2021 Dance, Indie, Pop, Post-Punk, Record 0

Also: the Terminator comedy dick puppet remix technique.

Severed Heads: get the late-period albums while you can.

25 June, 20212 July, 2021 Industrial, Record 0

Art is ephemeral. The text changes out from under you. Particularly when the text is a Severed Heads album.

Daniel Sloss, Hamer Hall, Melbourne, May 4th, 2021

5 May, 20215 May, 2021 Comedy, Live 1

Daniel Sloss is certainly deserving of the credits that are lauded in his direction.

The Hummingbirds: loveBUZZ (1989).

1 May, 202112 July, 2021 Indie, Pop, Record 3

loveBUZZ is classic indie pop, and few are disappointed. But the story behind rooArt is a great saga.

Solar Fake: Enjoy Dystopia; Masked (2021).

13 March, 202112 July, 2021 Industrial, Record 0

A pretty good slab of extruded Solar Fake product.

Records: Throat (2018, 2020); Microlaxx (2021).

13 February, 202113 February, 2021 Punk, Record, Rock 0

Less Nirvana and more Fugazi, and no fashionability whatsoever. “The kind of rock that was 20 years past its expiration date.”

Records: Statiqbloom, AC/DC (2020).

5 December, 202012 July, 2021 Industrial, Metal, Record, Rock 0

A good new thing and an old new thing.

Links: Spreading the take at the top, custom ringtones, the Human League.

19 September, 202025 September, 2020 Industry, Pop 0

The black hit of space.

The War of the Worlds: The Book, The Drama, The Musical, the Film

14 August, 202014 August, 2020 Film, Record, Writing 1

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?

Art Damage through Self-Referentialty

30 July, 202030 July, 2020 Opinion, Rocknerd 0

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.

Links: Virtual Reality still useless, why vinyl was bad, the Problem with Music gets tha roni, Nile Rodgers.

15 May, 202015 May, 2020 Audio, Industrial, Industry, Links, R'n'B 0

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?

And One totally aren’t into QAnon and Trump, you guys. A hacker done it and run away.

12 May, 202013 May, 2020 Drugs, Industrial 1

Because in this cancelled year of our Lord twenty-twenty, you just can’t outdo real life.

Mark Burgess: View From A Hill (2007).

23 April, 20202 May, 2020 Writing 0

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.