Rocknerd

Collected thoughts: The War on Drugs

11 January, 202323 July, 2023 Opinion, Rock 0

I’m sulky mainly because of the band name, which causes me to think muffled cross thoughts about failed social policy. But the name harmonizes well with the band’s overall vibe, which is “skate park during the golden hour.”

Late Night Listening: Status/Non-Status: Surely Travel (2022).

6 January, 202323 July, 2023 Opinion, Record, Rock 0

The blogging equivalent of sitting in the garage twiddling radio knobs just to see what might be out there.

Mixtape: Songs for 2022

3 January, 20233 January, 2023 Country, Indie, Pop, Record, Rock 0

Some of these are old. Some of them are new(ish). They are all songs I listened to, with varying levels of obsessiveness, at various times during 2022.

RM: Indigo (2022).

29 December, 202230 December, 2022 Pop, Record 0

Indigo is RM’s first full solo record, released as BTS starts a brief compulsory-military-service induced break.

Riffusion: we’ve replaced these musicians with an AI model.

16 December, 20227 February, 2023 Esoterica 0

Can’t wait for Spotify to offer streams of generated nonsense music. And see if the record companies can spot the source tracks it was trained on.

Ride, The Forum, Melbourne, November 30

6 December, 20226 December, 2022 Indie, Live, Rock 0

In times past your author would have expressed a positive indifference to most of the bands of these broad British genres of the early 90s, and that opinion largely still holds.

Pop Will Eat Itself, Sept 10 Corner Hotel

5 December, 20225 December, 2022 Indie, Industrial, Live 1

It made perfect sense of course, that a thirtieth-anniversary tour would perform.

Father John Misty: Chloe and the Next 20th Century (2022).

14 November, 202214 November, 2022 Country, Indie, Record 0

Some of you may remember his aggressively caustic approach to, well, everything, but I think maybe the man has … mellowed? Perhaps?

Deep thoughts about Snow Patrol.

31 October, 2022 Rock 0

I am forced to begin with the fact that I began my descent into a Snow Patrol-shaped spiral by confusing them with the Arctic Monkeys.

An opera singer shattering a glass, redux.

19 August, 2022 Audio 0

Your mission: document the resonant frequencies, and come up with an enormously popular banger of a tune that hits all of them.

Maybeshewill: No Feeling is Final (2021).

29 July, 202229 July, 2022 Prog, Record 1

Always great, they have even gained in skill, orchestration, and passion with their latest album.

Valedictions, Vangelis

5 June, 20226 June, 2022 Musician, Prog 0

It seems to be all a little bit disturbing to write shortly after the death of Klaus Schulze, that one must also put finger to keyboard to comment on the loss of Evángelos Odysséas Papathanassíou, better known as “Vangelis” on May 17th.

An image carefully constructed to make musicians cry.

19 May, 202219 May, 2022 Classical, Musician 1

Musicians who have a casual attitude to the continued use of their eyes may want to look over this advertising image and see if they can spot a single thing right about it.

Valedictions, Klaus Schulze

7 May, 20227 May, 2022 Prog 0

We should reasonably expect that sizeable books will be released in the near future which in themselves will only provide a summary.

Records: P.H.O.B.O.S. (2021), The Birthday Massacre (2022).

23 March, 202223 March, 2022 Goth, Industrial, Record 0

Is this thing on? Have a couple of records.

Five slabs of listening from 2021.

20 December, 202114 November, 2022 Classical, Dance, Record, Rock, Writing 0

Two are actually from this year!

Records: Rhys Fulber, Poppy (2021).

2 November, 20214 November, 2021 Industrial, Pop, Record, Rock 0

Old industrial musician from way back makes a new album during lockdown; android pop star turns grunge rocker.

Arkady Rose: Nocturne (2021).

1 November, 202113 November, 2021 Classical, Record, Rocknerd 0

It’s blatant advertising time now, with the new CD from Arkady Rose of this parish just released today!

B-Side #14, early 1986: Wet Taxis, Porcelain Bus, Feedtime, Ups & Downs, Mick Harvey/Bad Seeds, John Kennedy’s Love Gone Wrong.

12 October, 2021 Indie, Rock, Writing 0

This is the last of the B-Side for the moment. I have a few scraps of other stuff to put up …

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.