Rocknerd

Cryptorave: Arpanet, M.E.S.H., Amnesia Scanner — Romantso, Athens, Saturday 16 February 2019

9 March, 20199 March, 2019 Dance, Live 0

Excessive quantities of pseudish babble wrapped around a surprisingly good live techno gig.

Boy Harsher: Careful (2019).

3 February, 20193 February, 2019 Goth, Industrial, Post-Punk, Record 0

Darkwave disco. I’ve been hanging out for this one, and I’m thoroughly delighted. You will be too.

Gary Numan: Savage (Songs from A Broken World) (2017).

7 January, 20198 January, 2019 Goth, Industrial, Post-Punk, Record 1

For those most familiar with the classic synth-pop Gary Numan, this will be quite different. For those who have followed Numan in the past thirty years this is not a surprise.

Mono: Nowhere Now Here (2019).

6 January, 201912 July, 2019 Prog, Record 0

Tell you what I love about Steve Albini recordings: the drums.

The The, October 5 2018, Melbourne

1 January, 20191 January, 2019 Live, Post-Punk 0

A long concert, though more amiable than epic.

Christmas links: 500 Songs bonus podcast, Lindy Vision.

25 December, 201825 December, 2018 Links, Post-Punk, Writing 0

Give yourself what you deserve today — both of these.

Links: Bauhaus, WFMU Free Music Archive saved, post-punk indie labels, Pete Shelley’s XL-1 videos, Boy Harsher.

21 December, 2018 Esoterica, Goth, Industrial, Links, Post-Punk, Punk 0

What’s important to understand about entertainment from the 60s or 70s or 80s is that the entire audience is lead-poisoned, poisoning their kids with lead, pumping drugs cut with industrial solvents bought outside their kids’ schools, which are also poisoning the kids with lead.

Records: Nora Roy, Laibach (2018).

25 November, 201825 November, 2018 Indie, Industrial, Record 1

An indie singer-songwriter and the return of an old favourite with a slab of excellence.

Records: Frog, Keen On Keys, Metal Disco (2018).

15 November, 2018 Audio, Indie, Industrial, Record, Rock 0

Metal Disco is today’s pleasant surprise winner.

Links: Threatin’s faked tour, WFMU archive closing, Winamp 5.8, streaming as the last format.

13 November, 201813 November, 2018 Industry, Links, Metal, mp3 0

The Threatin story is this week’s winner.

Andrew Hickey: A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs. Subscribe to this podcast now.

10 November, 201811 November, 2018 Radio, Writing 10

I want you to go right now to 500songs.com and download every episode. And if you follow podcasts, you need to subscribe to this one. Every record nerd needs this.

Records: Dew, Irk, Transmaniacon featuring Lydia Lunch and Maya Berlin (2018).

6 November, 20187 January, 2019 Indie, Industrial, Metal, Punk, Record, Rock 0

Dew and Irk are both remarkable finds and produce the correct horrible racket, though the loved one compared Irk to a sack of hammers falling down stairs.

Records: Nosound, Trash Deity, a Cabaret Voltaire tribute (2018).

3 November, 20187 January, 2019 Industrial, Prog, Record 3

Popular US industrial music has always tended less Throbbing Gristle and more alternative buttrock.

Links from the past month: post-punk, pop and piracy

16 October, 201816 October, 2018 Industry, Links, mp3, Pop, Post-Punk 0

I’ve moved house! And oh my goodness, the backlog …

Blue Man Group, 20 July 2018, Berlin.

6 October, 20188 October, 2018 Live 0

The BMG themselves in this particular incarnation are Martin Marion, Kuba Piezchalksia, and Stefan Ruh, supported by the band of Jan Burkamp, Tim Neuhaus, and Nils Westermann.

Links: BitTorrent “web” client, the women of Rolling Stone, Deerful how-to, “Despacito” on kazoo.

17 September, 2018 Indie, mp3, Musician, Pop, Rocknerd, Writing 0

I can kazoo this on my own.

Owen Kentauros brings you the 1980s on ukulele, in Japanese.

13 September, 201813 September, 2018 Esoterica, Pop 1

1980s New Wave on ukulele and occasional kazoo, on a grainy old webcam in 4:3. Bow to the viewer, play.

I ran the Perth indie record charts, from 1989 to 1991. Corruption! Manipulation! Propaganda!

10 September, 20183 November, 2018 Indie, Opinion, Record 1

An excuse to get Perth bands into a published record chart, so they’d get some publicity and could use it in their marketing. And to propagandise Australian indie to the masses. Includes THE HITS OF 1989!

Records: The Rolling Stones, Deerful, Benjamin Shaw (2016, 2018).

7 September, 20181 June, 2019 Esoterica, Indie, Pop, Record, Rock 0

A party that everyone’s been looking forward to for weeks. They seem to be having a wonderful time.

Lords of Acid: Pretty In Kink (2018).

6 September, 20187 September, 2018 Dance, Industrial, Record 0

Everyone’s familiar with Lords of Acid at a basic level, right? Dark electronic erotica? Techno songs about fucking? It’s all very nineties. Pretty in Kink was released in May 2018 but still puts out the oldschool LoA vibe.

Blacklab: Under The Strawberry Moon 2.0 (2018).

5 September, 20185 September, 2018 Record, Rock 0

Hey, are you interested in letting a couple of women from Osaka just completely melt your fucking brain? If so I have found the album for you.

The Twinkles: We Come Along (2018).

4 September, 20185 September, 2018 Pop, Punk, Record 0

A 10 song album that is everything you’ve been looking for if you’re sad that The Vandals haven’t had a full length release since 2004.

Links: EBM is trendy, managing the Rolling Stones, Swiss modernist post punk, egregious YouTube content filtering.

3 September, 20185 September, 2018 Dance, Industrial, Post-Punk, Rock, Your rights 0

Post-punk albums in the style of 1960s Penguin nonfiction paperbacks.

Reviews: Aboleth, Zanias (2016, 2018).

23 August, 2018 Goth, Industrial, Metal, Record, Rock 0

Writing about music is the most ridiculous notion, and the review pile is only getting larger. So I’ll give just embedding players and mumbling something a go. This works for me, and that’s the important thing.

Links: Spotify metadata, VU meters, songwriting camps, Disney defends fair use, the history of Smash Hits.

20 August, 2018 Audio, mp3, Musician, Pop, Writing, Your rights 0

Twenty deadly diseases.

Pastoratet: THLM (2018).

10 August, 201810 August, 2018 Punk, Record 0

A nice combo of hardcore and surf punk, it’s got a mellow, melodic feel that edges toward pop-punk but brings in just a tiny bit of metal to keep an edge to the sound.