Clouds were an indie rock band from Sydney, active for about 10 years from the late 80s onwards. Thunderhead, released in 1993, was their third album. A friend of mine described it as Breeders-esque, and she wouldn't be far off. Off-kilter song-structures, prominent bass, distorted guitars, female vocal harmonies and catchy melodies, though perhaps a little abstract than the Deals. Another common comparison are fellow Sydneysiders the Falling Joys (who WILL get a write-up here at some point), who are even less abstract (and I'd personally favour Suzie Higgie's songwriting, but it's all good).
I implore you to purchase this album from a legitimate source (such as iTunes, though the legitimacy of DRM is debatable...) so that you can get higher bitrate mp3s and support wherever the Clouds royalties are going.
Their first album, released in 1991, was called Penny Century, which as a Love and Rockets (not the band or the stripclub) fan, I really like. Did you know I own a few of Dillon Naylor's old Love and Rockets issues? I do, it's true.
1. Kathy 5:10
2. Bower Of Bliss 3:03
3. Domino 3:26
4. Alchemy's Dead 3:59
5. Ghost Of Love Returned 6:31
6. Oooh 3:28
7. Red Serenade 2:45
8. Universal 3:07
9. Close My Eyes 4:31
10. Baby 3:00
11. Expecting 3:10
12. Motherson 3:28
13. Kitten 2:55
14. The Rocket 11:16
Thunderhead (1993) - Clouds
Saturday 18 February 2017
Kid Indestructible (1999) - 28 Days
After adding the 'Thunderbirds Are Coming Out' to the Suburban Superheroes post, I thought I'd add another band featured in that video. 28 Days came from Frankston (outer suburbs represent) and added an element of rap/nu metal to the pop punk popular in the period and begun to round out lineups of the Bodyjar/Frenzal ilk.
Here I've attached their first EP, 1999's Kid Indestructible. Of course it's produced by Kalju Tonuma (wasn't everything back in those days? Or Lindsay Gravina).
It's very brief and upbeat and was the first (?) record released on the Mushroom imprint Sputnik Records. By sending a stamped, self-addressed envelope to a PO box in Camberwell, you could receive your own set of 28 Days lyrics and stickers.
According to their period website, the band was formed in 1996 and featured members of Mindsnare, S.I.C. and Self Reliance. The discography page lists a single, album and 7" which are all probably difficult to find now.
Open up the booklet and you'll see spraycans. I've always found the punk/hiphop dichotomy interesting. There's a similar spirit embodied by the Beanz Baxter zine of the time, which covered 28 Days in Issue #8.
1. Never Give Up 1:34
2. La Tune 1:44
3. The Right Place 2:44
4. Kid Indestructible 3:36
5. Kool 2:26
Kid Indestructible (1999) - 28 Days
Here I've attached their first EP, 1999's Kid Indestructible. Of course it's produced by Kalju Tonuma (wasn't everything back in those days? Or Lindsay Gravina).
It's very brief and upbeat and was the first (?) record released on the Mushroom imprint Sputnik Records. By sending a stamped, self-addressed envelope to a PO box in Camberwell, you could receive your own set of 28 Days lyrics and stickers.
According to their period website, the band was formed in 1996 and featured members of Mindsnare, S.I.C. and Self Reliance. The discography page lists a single, album and 7" which are all probably difficult to find now.
Open up the booklet and you'll see spraycans. I've always found the punk/hiphop dichotomy interesting. There's a similar spirit embodied by the Beanz Baxter zine of the time, which covered 28 Days in Issue #8.
1. Never Give Up 1:34
2. La Tune 1:44
3. The Right Place 2:44
4. Kid Indestructible 3:36
5. Kool 2:26
Kid Indestructible (1999) - 28 Days
Cop It Sweet (1997) - Various Artists
Another evening, another late 1990s compilation. I picked this up from a Salvos in Newtown on a recent trip to Sydney. Not much springs to mind when I badger it about Antfarm Records. According to Discogs, they seem to have issued little aside from a series of comps whereby this is the second (with catalogue number ANT002), No Guts, No Glory being the first and True Grit the third. I'd initially tried to track down the first for... the Lustre track (see Suburban Superheroes)? Snorkel? I forget.
The label was run by Laura Bailey and Stu Kahn, ostensibly (and appropriately) out of Newtown. The email addresses supplied have an UNSW domain, so perhaps this was a uni student affair. The Scruffs, who contribute the track 'Stand & Rocky' to this disc, also had their debut EP (Take A Bath) released on Antfarm. A quick peruse of their period website reveals their catalogue ca 2000:
Overall, a standard period overview of Aussie indie rock. Personal standouts include the Kombi Nation track 'South Easterly' (which is almost proto-dolewave, but less irritating), God Is My Co-Pilot's 'North Coast Holiday' (not to be confused with the NYC band of the same name; like a Pavement/Dino Jr cross but with a singer that sounds suspiciously like Kevin Mitchell) and Plastic Maracas' 'The Publican's Friend' (if only for the lyrics). El Mopa, who also appeared on Au Go Go's Wonder From A Quarter Acre comp after becoming more post-rockified (or is that brit-popped?) Similarly, 2 Litre Dolby make an odd appearance with 'All Hail! King Presser', a cut staunchly different to their later work, sounding (by name and virtue of the actual song) like an all-in Gerling tribute. Kim Salmon's track, closing the comp, is also good.
Surely the most bizarre moment on here is Spurs For Jesus' country and western rendition of Rowland S. Howard's 'Shivers', made famous by the Boys Next Door. It needs to be heard to be believed. Some may shout 'sacrilege'. I murmur 'entertaining'.
I just listened to the entirety of this walking over Gardiner's Creek and the Outer Circle trail multiple times. You too!
1. Step On The Gas 4:02 Orange Humble Band
2. No Return 2:23 Free Moving Curtis
3. North Coast Holiday 3:51 God Is My Co-Pilot
4. The Publican's Friend 3:10 Plastic Maracas
5. Stand & Rocky 2:51 The Scruffs
6. The Single 2:49 El Mopa
7. The Soulthieves 3:57 The Soulthieves
8. Graves Of Saints 5:24 The Harpoons
9. Catfish Loves Naughty Stu 2:34 Scuffy
10. Menacer 2:42 Jim Cobail
11. Another Relationship Fatality 3:04 Half Miler
12. South Easterly 4:45 The Kombi Nation
14. All Hail! King Presser 3:48 2 Litre Dolby
15. Out Done & Maybe 3:14 Catch 22
16. Void 3:42 The Honeyhunters
17. Olympic Gold Medal 3:28 Grapefruit
18. Mess Me Round 4:57 The Goodfight
19. Matchbox Cars And Marbles 3:38 The Shouties
20. Shivers 3:35 Spurs For Jesus
21. Seven Ways 2:30 Seventeen
22. When Your Blood Is Up 3:44 Kim Salmon
Cop It Sweet (1997) - Various Artists
The label was run by Laura Bailey and Stu Kahn, ostensibly (and appropriately) out of Newtown. The email addresses supplied have an UNSW domain, so perhaps this was a uni student affair. The Scruffs, who contribute the track 'Stand & Rocky' to this disc, also had their debut EP (Take A Bath) released on Antfarm. A quick peruse of their period website reveals their catalogue ca 2000:
| ANT001 "No Guts, No Glory", various artists | $10 | |
| ANT002 "Cop It Sweet", various artists | $10 | |
| ANT003 "Take a Bath", The Scruffs | $10 | |
| ANT004 "Crunchtime in Rocketown", Half Miler | $20 | |
| ANT005 "True Grit", various artists | $10 | |
| ANT006 "Golgi Apparatus", Naughty Stu's Nerdburgers | $10 | |
| ANT007 "Im In Love With That Song", Replacements Tribute | $25 | |
| ANT008 "Jubilee Park", Love Me | $25 | |
| ANT008b "Love Me" tee shirt -tell us size, colour etc! |
Overall, a standard period overview of Aussie indie rock. Personal standouts include the Kombi Nation track 'South Easterly' (which is almost proto-dolewave, but less irritating), God Is My Co-Pilot's 'North Coast Holiday' (not to be confused with the NYC band of the same name; like a Pavement/Dino Jr cross but with a singer that sounds suspiciously like Kevin Mitchell) and Plastic Maracas' 'The Publican's Friend' (if only for the lyrics). El Mopa, who also appeared on Au Go Go's Wonder From A Quarter Acre comp after becoming more post-rockified (or is that brit-popped?) Similarly, 2 Litre Dolby make an odd appearance with 'All Hail! King Presser', a cut staunchly different to their later work, sounding (by name and virtue of the actual song) like an all-in Gerling tribute. Kim Salmon's track, closing the comp, is also good.
Surely the most bizarre moment on here is Spurs For Jesus' country and western rendition of Rowland S. Howard's 'Shivers', made famous by the Boys Next Door. It needs to be heard to be believed. Some may shout 'sacrilege'. I murmur 'entertaining'.
I just listened to the entirety of this walking over Gardiner's Creek and the Outer Circle trail multiple times. You too!
1. Step On The Gas 4:02 Orange Humble Band
2. No Return 2:23 Free Moving Curtis
3. North Coast Holiday 3:51 God Is My Co-Pilot
4. The Publican's Friend 3:10 Plastic Maracas
5. Stand & Rocky 2:51 The Scruffs
6. The Single 2:49 El Mopa
7. The Soulthieves 3:57 The Soulthieves
8. Graves Of Saints 5:24 The Harpoons
9. Catfish Loves Naughty Stu 2:34 Scuffy
10. Menacer 2:42 Jim Cobail
11. Another Relationship Fatality 3:04 Half Miler
12. South Easterly 4:45 The Kombi Nation
14. All Hail! King Presser 3:48 2 Litre Dolby
15. Out Done & Maybe 3:14 Catch 22
16. Void 3:42 The Honeyhunters
17. Olympic Gold Medal 3:28 Grapefruit
18. Mess Me Round 4:57 The Goodfight
19. Matchbox Cars And Marbles 3:38 The Shouties
20. Shivers 3:35 Spurs For Jesus
21. Seven Ways 2:30 Seventeen
22. When Your Blood Is Up 3:44 Kim Salmon
Cop It Sweet (1997) - Various Artists
Friday 3 February 2017
60 Songs (2003) - Various Artists
Compilation released by Building Records in 2003, comprised of artist offerings from both Australia and overseas. The focus here is on hardcore, grind, emo, screamo and various manners of punk. The juxtaposition of Aussie bands such as St. Albans Kids (whom I'm pretty sure weren't kids from St. Albans, but may have been - the name is a movie reference (Firting), Love Like... Electrocution and Conation with overseas groups such as Hot Cross, Off Minor, pg.99 and Melt-Banana is apt for the cross-talk attempted by the compilers. In the search for the Great Australian Emo Analogues, this is a nice little missing link.
I first came across Building Records when I heard an Us Versus Them track on the PLF #4 compilation and tracked down the original release, which was released on building. There's quite a following for this kind of stuff, especially from the Blackwire Records camp (see the Home Taping Killed Music bandcamp for downloads of some of these artists, including the lovably named 'Iron Sausage' whose music is as far a cry from Zappa as I can think of. Well, maybe not...) who I guess sprouted from/continued this scene.
There's a Days of Iris track here, whose eponymous EP will appear in due time (it can be downloaded from bandcamp here). Come to think of it, there's a non-EP track of theirs on the aforementioned PLF compilation, another reason to go download it.
There are two Building Records sites, beyond which information is somewhat sparse. The first is a more cut down homepage with mushed together text and is well worth getting lost in - it seemed to have been taken down ca 2002 (i.e. prior to the release of this comp). There's a small discography page sadly with pictures missing in this iteration (and a reference to Beanz Baxter!). The second appears to have overlapped with the former and was taken down sometime prior to 2008 (though the label ceased operation in 2005). There are lots of artist profiles here and links and you should spend a few hours browsing.
Additionally, you can purchase a very reasonably priced, physical copy of the comp from Trait Records here. I encourage you to do so, not only for better quality sound but also to support small labels and distros. Plus you can play in in your car without having to muck around with an aux or USB cable. It feels better.
One day I hope to have done enough research to tell the whole story. Enjoy the comp.
[Disc 1]
1. And Then The Chuds Came 1:26 Daughters
2. Static 2:40 Bright Calm Blue
3. Five Days Of Shit 1:23 Deadstare
4. The Process Is Set 1:44 Kaospilot
5. 44 4:03 Division Of Laura Lee
6. Tips For Avoiding The Clap. One. I Wouldn't Piss On A Scorpion If It Was On Fire 2:26 Love Like Electrocution
7. Herald Scum 2:12 The Identity Theft
8. Sliding Scale 3:57 Bats & Mice
9. Beautiful Corpses 2:51 Ed Gein
10. Who's Driving This Thing Anyways? 3:18 Four Hundred Years
11. Churches And Bricks 0:35 Charcoal Human
12. Action Items 2:41 Pilot To Gunner
13. I Think I Know Where Elvis Lives 2:43 You&I
14. In Harm's Way 4:31 Fin Fang Foom
15. Distress Of Ignorance 5:45 envy
16. Girls, Girls, Girls 0:18 Iron Sausage
17. Dreaming In Dog Years 3:02 The Red Chord
18. Neck On B1 0:41 Melt-Banana
19. Drones Dream 3:55 Bird Blobs
20. I Am Hiphop 1:21 St. Albans Kids
21. Afternoon 2:42 The Cassettes
22. Constant Nonsense 3:11 Blood Like Water
23. Rogue Rodeo 1:54 Crestfallen
24. Last Name 3:20 Maximillian Colby
25. A Martyr Apart 3:15 Staying At Home
26. High Maintenance 2:17 Transistor Transistor
27. Some Call It Vertigo 2:44 Syndicate
28. Its A Beauty 1:08 Off Minor
29. Looking Back On The Way You Want To Be In The Future 0:57 Neil Perry
30. Landscapes 5:22 Black Sea
[Disc 2]
1. Fortune Teller 3:27 Hot Cross
2. Wet To Dance 2:52 North Of America
3. Crow Quill 2:44 Circle Takes The Square
4. The Flirtcraft Case 2:26 Light The Fuse And Run
5. The Meaning Of Life... 0:55 ในใใใ
6. When Tyrants Orate 1:16 Conation
7. Autonomous 2:14 Oil
8. Fighting On The Streets 1:58 Upside Down Flag
9. Grendel 0:41 Tyranny Of Shaw
10. Nanomachines Are In My Bloodstream 1:41 A Trillion Barnacle Lapse
11. Fungry 1:29 Rah Bras
12. It Would Not Have Altered, In Any Way, Our Decision To Participate In This Operation 6:51 Limit Of Shunt
13. Songbird 5:27 Engine Down
14. She's Heroin 1:22 The Now
15. Red Dragons 3:09 Stockholm Syndrome
16. Dead Men 2:27 ShIkaRi
17. Name And Number 3:15 Stop It!!
18. I Wanna Sex You 2:16 Mr. Hyde And The Jeckyls
19. Dismembered With Paper Cuts 2:01 Pure Evil Trio
20. Music Is Done 1:39 Mannequin
21. A Heart Filled Reaction To Dissatisfaction 2:35 City Of Caterpillar
22. Summary Treatment 3:38 Forstella Ford
23. Home 3:26 Days Of Iris
24. Stranger 3:30 Mere Theory
25. Know Something 2:45 Mid Youth Crisis
26. 30 Equals 3:00 Sleepytime Trio
27. Well-Calibrated Moral Compass 3:49 Pine Bender
28. Pride, Honour, Loyalty And All I Hate About Hardcore 0:31 Far Left Limit
29. Forces Of Habit 1:10 A Days Refrain
30. Your Face Is A Rape Scene 3:48 pg.99
60 Songs (2003) - Various Artists
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)