Dead Farmers - Wasteland lp

“The band has a deep appreciation (as opposed to shallow, retro-chic appreciation) of pre-punk ’70s rock such as The Stones, Faces, Neil Young, Blue Cheer, The Saints, CCR and The Stooges via a take-charge, masters-of-your-own-universe Minutemen-esque ethos and work ethic.” – Nic Warnock

Exhaustion lp in this week

EXHAUSTION w/ KRIS WANDERS

This one sided LP documents the first collaboration between Melbourne psych rock thugs Exhaustion and the Dutch-born tenor saxophonist Kris Wanders, a veteran of the early days of European free improvisation who performed widely with legendary figures like Peter Brötzmann, Peter Kowald, and Han Bennink and recorded some classic sides with Alexander von Schlippenbach, Fred van Hove and the obscure Dutch pianist/clarinetist Kees Hazevoet before moving to Australia in the late 1970s, where he has continued to perfect his brand of raw, soulful free jazz.

Considering the roof-raising intensity usually achieved by both Exhaustion and Wanders’s regular Unit, it might be surprising for some that this recording is less of a post-Last Exit blowout than a spacious exploration of group dynamics. But this is certainly no casual jam session: Wanders and Exhaustion manage to imbue both peaks of manic ferocity and descents into near silence with the same feeling of concentration and intensity.

Wanders often grounds his playing here in mournful blues phrasing recalling both Brötzmann and Frank Wright, releasing slow arcs of notes that build into guttural cries and rapid-fire fragments of post-Coltrane scalar exploration. Duncan Blachford’s FX-saturated guitar playing moves between shimmering feedback and explosive reverb-tank interruptions, and the way his lingering pause over each note, allowing it ring out into feedback, combines with the cymbal-heavy pointillism of Per Byström’s drumming is reminiscent of the atmosphere of suppressed violence in Masayuki Takayanagi’s classic mid-70’s New Direction Unit recordings. At other moments Byström builds up thudding, irregular pulses that, accompanied by Ian Wadley’s wandering bass lines, bring the quartet into classic free jazz territory.

Blachford’s vocal interjection, ranging from ghostly humming to rowdy grunts, push the group into a truly unhinged meeting point of intuitive psych-rock excesses and speed-of-thought free improv interplay. The group sound, rather than the contribution of any individual player, is the focus here: even Wanders, whose enormous tone and constant invention can’t help but occupy the listener’s attention, often recedes back into the group’s primordial soup, building up delicate and sometimes piercing microtonal harmonies with Blachford’s feedback tones.

Captured in fittingly raw room fidelity, this is the first document of a powerful new group, and a perfect contemporary companion to the recently unearthed Brötzmann/Fushitsusha recordings. 
– Francis Plagne

Constant Mongrel

new 7", The Law, just came in

Wonderfuls - Only Shadows Now lp

just came in

New stuff in

Got Low Life - Dogging, Chook Race - About Time lp, Wireheads - The Late Great lp in

Led Zepplin and Guns and Roses.....

Kicking things off, the ironically titled (obviously) Young Liberals casually go about their business. Their dorky style gives them an innocent edge, which they quickly dispel as they blow the unassuming crowd’s ear drums with primal punk-rock.

They’re rough as guts; all distorted guitar and heavy rhythm that slides back and forth between The Stooges and The Strokes. The mulleted frontman never gets animated, but has a perfect rock scream that cuts through the chaos and energises the room.

Most of this created atmosphere is lost during Exhaustion’s set, though. It all starts out sounding a bit like a sound check, because they’re really just jamming along together. The three-piece play an unenthusiastic first few variations that seem to confuse the crowd.

A bit like Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love breakdown, the band members are all on their own planets, mashing away on their own tangents – they might as well be playing in different rooms. There’s simply nothing for the audience to hold onto until the drums and bass start their own, more succinct, rhythms. Now it’s a bit easier to sink into a deep focus and appreciate the subtle variations, but it still feels over-indulgent. Perhaps they’re simply not the right band to open for Geelong’s Ausmuteants.

The headliners’ first song Freedom Of Information has guitarist Shaun Connor taking over the vocals and he does a great job, chanting angrily, “I don’t wanna touch!” and firing the crowd up straight away. The guys look super-cool, especially bassist Marc Dean who, wearing a singlet and tight jeans, channels rock gods like Slash as he jams along, seemingly lost in his head (but definitely not).

Lead singer Jake Robertson plays pretty corny synthlines that add a meatier, pop element to the band’s otherwise lo-fi garage sound – he’s a great frontman and gives the band a strong core to work around. Robust drummer Billy Gardener also helps.

This disco-punk quartet is about to head off to tour the States. They are well-oiled and go through the motions of playing their biggest crowd-pleasers. That’s not to say they’re doing so passively; all four band members bring heaps of energy to their short, punchy songs and deserve the recent attention they’ve been getting. They might occasionally come across as young and naïve, but Ausmuteants definitely know what they’re doing.

School Damage

School Damage are  Carolyn, Jeff, Jake and Danielle. They come from Melbourne and Geelong and probably somewhere in between too.
This is their first record , its round, black and has 3 songs on it:  "Sick of You" opens with Danielles' monstrous bass growl, swelling with tom toms from Jeff (that really should have been played standing up) and guitar feedback into an ice cool verse and throwaway chorus that will make any fan of the Shop Assistants swoon.  Jakes' guitar kicks off "Butt Hurt" which promptly explodes into a full blown keyboard driven Fairground/Carousel orgy of boy/girl Vox that is pure pop-methadone.
B-Side Ballad "Break Up" is the Big-Haired Indie-Rock slow-burner that also-rans like the Vivian/DumDum/West Coast Girls would kill for, like all good FM rock the song goes on forever, Carolyns' keyboard eventually fading into the sunset over the Bay.
more....

The debut 3 track 7" will be released in early August, available to preorder now from the Detonic Recordings store!!!