To Die With Pleasure b/w Waterloo Sunset - Bob Short (Full On Noise Records)

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By The Barman and Robert Brokenmouth

The Barman and Robert Brokenmouth

21 March 2015

Hits: 6647

Along with half of once-underground Sydney, I know Bob Short. Unlike the rest of Sydney, it seems, I’ve only seen the scrote play once and, because he was rather brilliant, he rates a decent listen and a proper review of his first 7”.

This isn’t an essential purchase, not in this world of freebie downloads and rubbish music. Surely?

Well, actually I rather love this little record, and it looks super in my collection. And, as I understand from Bob’s accompanying pitiful blurb that there’s an LP in the works, all this is as far as I am concerned, most certainly essential. Why?

So settle back on Granfer’s knee and I’ll tell ye a story young feller …

• kinks
• bob short
• to die with pleasure
• waterloo sunset
• dead rabids
• full on noise

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Unplugged Rifles will amp it up

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By The Barman

The Barman

17 March 2015

Hits: 5965

Reach for your ear plugs: Iconic Aussie firebrands the Celibate Rifles have extended their acoustic Brisbane performance by adding two extra amplified dates in Queensland.

Originally announced to be playing a one-off acoustic show at The Bunker in O’Malley’s Irish Pub in the CBD on 23 April, the band will play The Underdog Pub Co on 24 April and The Coolangatta Hotel on 25 April.

• brisbane
• live
• celibate
• rifles
• underdog

Bye Bye, Johnny

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By The Barman

The Barman

17 March 2015

Hits: 6207

Adiso Amigo: Johnny Casino is moving with his wife to Spain and there are just three chances for Australian fans to say goodbye.

The longtime solo artist and former guitarist for Asteroid B612 is playing send-off shows with his interchangeable band, The Secrets, in Sydney and Melbourne.

April 8 finds him at Newtown Social Club with The Secrets (Mark Horne and Ben Fox) and sharing a stage with touring Spanish party band Los Chicos. 

On April 12 he’ll be in solo mode from 5-7pm followed by a Secrets bracket (Michael Evand and James Saunders) at The Labour In Vain in Melbourne. 

Johnny’s final stand is Sunday, May 10 and a solo show at The Midnight Special in Enmore, Newtown from 6pm.

• live
• johnny casino
• farewell

Play mystLY For Me – Dave Graney and The mystLY (self released)

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By The Barman

The Barman

17 March 2015

Hits: 6278

Don’t call it cabaret. Dave Graney makes reference to the tag on one of these tracks, pointing that he and his band, the mystLY, would be on a higher pay-scale, and no doubt playing in a different class of gin joints, if that’s what they were.

In longevity terms, Graney is an “elder statesman” of the Australian music scene. He was a punk. He existed as expatriate dirt amid critical acclaim in London. He came home, entered the major label lifestyle for a time, became our King of Pop and decided that he could get along just fine on his own terms, playing music that didn’t fit radio programing templates.

• dave graney
• clare moore
• mystly
• moodists
• play mystly for me

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"Baby Please" by Thee Rum Coves

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By The Barman

The Barman

17 March 2015

Hits: 6656

Our new favourite New Zealand band Thee Rum Coves have released a video to go with their latest single from their debut self-titled album, which is reviewed here. This is “Baby Please”.

• thee rum coves
• baby please

Sunnyboys with the Riptides and New Christs in Sydney

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By The Barman

The Barman

16 March 2015

Hits: 10814

And so the return, and rise, of the Sunnyboys continues. If you said they could top this one, you’d need to back it up.

They billed themselves as Kids in Dust when they stepped back onto a stage for the first time in 21 years at the Dig It Up festival in Sydney on April 24, 2012. The nom de plume was supposedly to avoid performance anxiety or to ramp down expectations, maybe both. It didn’t matter; any tentativeness was swamped by a roomful of love.

Nor were there any misgivings in evidence at the same packed venue, the Enmore Theatre, last Saturday night. Just an irresistible king-tide of energy and good spirit.

• live
• new
• sydney
• sunnyboys
• jeremy
• oxley
• peter
• richard
• burgman
• enmore
• bil bilson
• christs
• new christs
• riptides

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First LP from HITS gets an upgrade

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By The Barman

The Barman

16 March 2015

Hits: 6181

A heads-up that the wonderful debut album from Brisbane’s HITS, “Living With You Is Killing Me”, is being re-issued in re-mixed and re-mastered vinyl format on both sides of the world.

Brisbane label Merenoise is doing the business in Australia with Beast Records  unleashing this baby in France for Europe and the Rest of the World.  

They won’t last long so avail of the links in the label names. We’ve heard a digitised version and even that sounds great, with greater dynamic range and new life in the bottom end.

• beast records
• Hits
• merenoise
• living with you is killing me

Addicted to The Victims? Do we have a deal for you...

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By The Barman

The Barman

15 March 2015

Hits: 4803

Snooze and you’ll lose: There are a handful of T-shirts left over from the recent hit-and-run Aussie tour by The Television Addicts, to celebrate the music of Perth punk pyros The Victims. These T-shirts mimicing the sleeve of The Victims’ "Television Addict" single were designed by mainman Dave Flick.

There are a few in various sizes and they can be obtained for the not so princely sum of $A38 (postage included) within Australia. Drop bassist Ray Ahn a line to arrange a bank transfer or Paypal him at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. We don't know about overseas orders but you can try your luck. 

• television addicts
• vicims

Shambolic And Other Love Songs - Donovan's Brain (Career Records)

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By The Barman

The Barman

15 March 2015

Hits: 5808

If “Shambolic” needed a Facebook relationship status, it would use “It’s Complicated”. 

It's a reconstructed Donovan’s Brain record, not intentionally written as a “concept album”, but becoming one along the way. It was recorded over the space of many sessions and three years, only to be left unfinished and abandoned for a decade-and-a-half.

The name’s a misnomer. It’s no shambles by any stretch, more a twisting and turning trip, set to words and music by principal band member Ron Sanchez.

• donovans
• career-records
• ron
• sanchez
• shambolic and other love songs
• ric-parnell

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