Band shirt Friday

Listening to Forevernevermore by Moodymann and my funk, motown, groove playlist. Good morning, good afternoon (good evening, and goodnight). I'm writing from my bed, but contrary to previous entries, I haven't just woken up. I had an exam earlier today which wrested me out of my sanctuary. Got it done, had a little breakfast, made some coffee, and now I'm back to ground zero. It's 1:10pm, and it's a cloudy day. I'm watching the trees just barely start to bud outside my window. I'll only have…

I was intrigued when the Brisbane-based label Grog Records (re-)issued the Hello, Mr. Operator EP by New York electro punks Hand Helds on cassette, originally released late last year. A closer look at their bandcamp profile reveals not only that they’ve had a new EP out in January already but also that quite obviously they’ve been at it for a while already, churning out a ton of EPs in a varying spectrum of dark and noisy garage punk, minimalist and often quite harsh synth- and electro punk.…

After the grave diasppointment that was the too-slick-for-its-own-good, overly sanitized second Poison Ruïn LP recently, i’m glad to have come across this neat substitute drug created by a Philadelphia group, scratching some similar itch of strongly ’80s heavy metal-influenced, dungeon-adjacent punk, even if the overall style here feels more at home in the wider hardcore and d-beat landscape. Nonetheless, if you take a closer listen these tunes reveal an abundance of sophistication, attention…

Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard :: April 2026The time! Where does it go??? Who knows. But what I do know is that it’s the third Sunday in April — and that means there’s a brand-new edition of Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard hitting the dublab airwaves tonight at 4pm PST. I’m playing a semi-theme-less mix of favorites old and new, and Chad is hitting you with some tasty dream pop and art rock. Tune in, tune in wherever you are! It’s good for you.

You could easily file these swiss dudes away as yet another artifact of kinda fashionable, Pisse-induced german-language post punk but this stuff is operating on a high level and standing very much on its own two feet with enough identity and ideas of their own to set them apart with a sound that strikes me as just a tad more international, with Rien Pour Moi reminding me a bit of the likes of Ismatic Guru or Landowner for example, while Animal Farm has a bit of an old Giorgio Murderer Vibe.…

Nourishment’s past two releases have been on kinda shaky ground in terms of song material in my opinion but anyway, on their newest one, they’re really hitting the nail on the head again with a batch of new tunes that deliver the familiar thrills way more consistently and artfully and for now, i’ll still say they’ve carved out a micro-niche very much of their own with both their compositions and atmosphere having way more in common with ancient death rock and contemporary post punk influences…

Snarewaves’ discography can feel kinda confusing and overwhelming with tons of releases so far that may suddenly appear and then disappear again at any given time, have tracks added to or trimmed off them and most recently there’s also been that throughline of “haven’t i heard this song before” and “is this just a reissue or a re-recording?”. So yeah, that kind of situation is often the point where i choose to temporarily check out of the whole thing and take a step back while waiting for…

Fictional Days releases May 22nd via Reptilian Records.

Static Charge releases July 26th via Tapete Records.

[1962]One of these tunes you can't believe was hidden away on a b-side to an inferior track on the A side. What a blast. The entire production is an exercise in attempting restraint of the unhinged, incredibly unique unique. Dion was such a great rock'n'roll singer and then there's that creepy sax that then becomes the mental sax and what going on with the deranged blokes doing the backing vocals. Cult classic baby!

Just have such strong nostalgia for this song. Still slaps. Close second from MC Chris. Curious, this record isn’t streaming anywhere, and he just makes the album available as downloadable MP3’s in a Google Drive.

It’s a fairly quiet week for my latest chart, as The Neighbourhood remain on top with their charming “Hula Girl” and there are no new entries (though 16 “new” songs entered my chart over the previous five weeks). MISSIO move into second place with their exhilarating “I Remember When”, Twenty One Pilots‘ “Drag Path” jumps four spots to #6 and “The Old Law” by Father John Misty moves up a spot to enter the top 10 at #10. The song is the highest-charting for him, as well as his first to appear on…

After picking up an original 1977 pressing of The Strangler's debut album Rattus Norvegicus from my local record shop, it got me thinking why I always try and seek out the original rather than a reissue. Whilst it's true that reissues can sometimes be a better pressing, I think it comes down to having the object that first appeared at that moment in time, and how — like the idea of a stub in Gibson's The Peripheral — culture then splintered onto a different path because of this punctuated…

For most people, regular cheapie consumer grade headphones are more than adequate. I used them for years. But I also make and mix music, and the quality of headphones influences the technical quality of the mix. Therefore, I'm familiar with boutique and high-end professional grade cans (over the ear headphones to most people). I've been happily using Beyerdynamic DT 250 cans for more than a decade. Long-used in studio settings, Beyerdynamics are solid and dependable. My 250s have a mostly flat…

There are 34 Michael Jackson hits featured in this medley of his hits by the King's Return a capella group of singers. So, the chances are that your favorite Michael Jackson songs are in here somewhere! It starts off gently with Human Nature, and transitions from there into so many different Michael Jackson hits that you might have difficulty keeping up with them all as they speed by. The transitions are pretty amazing – and I would not like to imagine how long it must have taken to first of…

Four weeks at number one from 25th April 1987Prior to the release of “Sheila Take A Bow”, it might have felt as if The Smiths were treading the backwards path, understanding their initial appeal and returning to their original ideas. Craig Gannon was out of the group, and previous single “Shoplifters of the World Unite” was (instrumentally speaking) chock-full of Smiths tropes, all bowed together into a fresh new song. And for “Sheila”, Sandie Shaw was invited back into the studio to do vocals.…

A bit late on this. Things are a bit busy in these parts at the moment. Here’s a round up of what I got up to during February and March. Disquiet Junto Over the course of March I found myself getting back into the swing of participating in Disquiet Junto assignments on a consistent basis. It’s been really nice to reacquaint with the assignments and the community after what has been a bit of a break over the summer. As has always been the case, participating in the Junto also provides some…

Daily writing promptJot down the first thing that comes to your mind.View all responses I’ve got an earworm this morning and it’s been unbudged. It’s the song ‘Neeye unakku endrum’ from the 1962 Tamil film Bale Pandiya. The film is highly okay, at best, notwithstanding many of the social norms of that time no longer being acceptable (to me at least), but this song in particular is quite good. Of course the music video isn’t, with both Sivaji Ganesan (as usual) and M.R. Radha trying too hard.…

Back in the 1980s, I was (among other things) a writer and singer of satirical folk songs. Going to the National Folk Festival in Canberra at Easter, I caught up with old friends and was reminded that I had produced a book of my songs. Returning home, I dug out a copy, and decided to scan it. You can download the result here (big file) A lot of the songs were topical and are now very dated. But the theme of the title song is one that, sadly, never gets old (true also of the Irish original) Here…

If you're in an appropriate timezone, Nine Inch Noize are on stage RIGHT NOW.

As part of his ongoing Late Bush project, Belgian composer Pierre Dozin recently released this dazzling piece as the second single from his upcoming album Hoarses. The album is based on the idea that baroque music no longer exists—at least not as actual sound—because the experience of hearing it is pure historical relic. Any performance of the music is only a reconstruction, an attempt to envision the music’s form based on historical documentation alone, since all that’s left with us is its…

Examples of The Eponymous Trifecta: “Black Sabbath” by Black Sabbath from the album Black Sabbath “Motörhead” by Motörhead from the album Motörhead “Iron Maiden” by Iron Maiden from the album Iron Maiden Hopefully you’re starting to see the pattern. (There’s way more of these out there. Let me know your favorite!) Let me throw some variety in: 🤷‍♂️ by Metallica from the album Metallica “Bo Diddley” by Bo Diddley from the album Bo Diddley Ergo: You’re not metal if you don’t have a trifecta.…

Boots On The Ground is a collaboration between Massive Attack and Tom Waits. Announced on April 16th, this is Massive Attack’s first release since the 2024’s Medicines San Frontieres fund-raising single Ceasefire, and Waits’ first new recording since 2011’s Bad For Me. The 76-year old Waits raising himself out of what appeared to be retirement. Illustrating, without a doubt, how strongly he feels about the song’s subject matter. A clanking music concrete collage, the track echoes the anger of…

It was today in 1938 that Action Comics no. 1 (June 1938) hit newsstands. Of course, it marked the debut of Superman. While Superman was not the first superhero, he proved to be a phenomenon and as a result cemented the superhero genre. Not long after Superman's debut, there would be many more superheroes to follow. Some, like Batman and Captain Marvel are still significant today. As might be expected, Superman would inspire several songs. Here are a few of them.Here is "Superman" by Dale…

Happy Sunday, hope you’re having a good one. I thought we’d start with something lighter this morning with a list I’ve been thinking about for a while, and one of critical importance (cough). Top five Bergerac. Clara and I have been borrowing the DVDs from our local libraries, and may currently be obsessed. George Fenton’s funky reggae and French accordion tune is perfection. Star Trek: The Next Generation. It was science fiction, but optimistic! Screw cyberpunk, inject this right into my ears.…

This is an RSS-only post. Two records I wanted, two that found me. One of them is a children's orchestral album. No regrets. View Post