Ed Kuepper's exploding all over Australia

Ed Kuepper is marking his 50th year as a recording artist with an Australian tour backed by The Exploding Universe of Ed Kuepper in July and August.

This line-up of The Exploding Universe off End Kuepper will feature the talents of drummer Mark Dawson, bassist Peter Oxley, keyboard player Alister Spence and brass arranger Eamon Dilworth and naturally they will tackle material from right across Ed’s illustrious career.

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• ed kuepper
• australian tour
• 2026
• the expoding universe of ed kuepper

Grab a No Wave Tex-Mex Lunch

New York No Wave Queen, Lydia Lunch, is teaming with Beasts of Bourbon and The Cruel Sea frontman Tex Perkins for three shows under the banner "So Real It Hurts" in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney in June.

"So Real It Hurts" shows will be sandwiched between Lydia's already announced "Songs of Suicide & Alan Vega" gigs with Alan Coates of Black Cab in Wellington, Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth.

Lunch will perform her shockingly real spoken word while Perkins, as Tex Perkins Basic, will perform an electronic soundscape set with laptop, guitar and voice.

Lydia Lunch & Tex Perkins
So Real It Hurts
JUNE
19 - Kew Courthouse, Melbourne
Tickets
20 - Brisbane Powerhouse, Brisbane
Tickets
27 - Riverside Live at Phive, Parramatta, NSW
Tickets

• tex perkins
• lydia lunch
• so real it hurts

Scandi Rock strips down while Dave and Clare signal new album

Two Headed is a Swedish duo comprising Kurt Dräckes (The Sewergrooves, The Royal Cream) and Robert Eriksson (The Hellacopters, KSM3, Strindbergs, Black Weeds),

Unlike most of those bands, Two Headed keeps things stripped to the essentials: guitar, drums, voice. No excess, no detours — just songs that hold their ground without needing anything added.

Dräckes and Eriksson first crossed paths in the mid-’90s before going their separate ways, eventually reconnecting years later. That history doesn’t come through as nostalgia, but as clarity — a shared sense of what stays and what gets left out.

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• dave graney
• clare moore
• hellacopters
• sewergrooves
• two headed
• kurt drackes
• rovert ericksson
• Laburnum Of The Mind
• i ain't got no float

The On and Ons' "Luminary" shines bright

Luminary – The On and Ons (Jem Records)

Just when you think it’s safe to go back in the ring, The On and Ons deliver a triple combination of power-pop punches to open their new album and leave your critical faculties flat on the canvas.

“White Ships”, “Constance” and the stunning single “Speck of Smiling Faces” are the opening tracks and as good as anything the Sydney band has recorded. Even better news is that it doesn’t end there and The On and Ons’ sixth full album, “Luminary”, is their best to date.

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• the on and ons
• luminary
• jem records

No need for the drug that killed River Phoenix as Full Flower Moon Band owns Melbourne

Full Flower Moon Band
+ Drunk Mums
+ Smoking Single Party (aka TISM)
Howler, Brunswick, VIC
Sunday, 29 March, 2026

Photos by Garry Gray

It's been almost three years since I stood at a small festival in Sydney’s Marrickville on one of the hottest days in recent memory, watching  new-ish Brisbane band Full Moon Flower Band in awe.

Their album “Diesel For Ever” had just been released and they were making some serious inroads online, with their intelligent, dark and cinematic videos.

The band was the vision of the mind-blowing talent that is Kate Dillon who was already a filmmaker in her own right. She’d collected a mob of like-minded, tough street-level rock and roll players who had one foot in the 1980s roar of outfits like The Bad Seeds and PJ Harvey and the other in Stoner Rock territory with a glazing of psychedelia.

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• tism
• kate dillon
• full flower moon band
• howler
• drunk mums

Smith has a TV eye on the world

TV Smith’s Adverts
+ The Dark Clouds
+ Cammy Cautious and the Wrestlers
Landsowne Hotel, Sydney
Friday 10 April 2026

Words and images: The Barman

There's no time to waste so this will be succinct and to the point: TV Smith and his Adverts (aka the Hard-Ons) were every bit as great on their Australian tour as reviews would have it. There’s only one show left in the tour (tonight at La La La's in Wollongong.) If you have the ability to be there, do it.

TV who? Listen up…

TV Smith and his band The Adverts were part of the first-wave of UK Punk. Along with the Pistols, The Damned, The Clash and Buzzcocks. The Adverts might have been the most literate of the bunch, with their observations on mass media, society and “the system”. As fitted the times, they were urgent and angry.

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• hard-ons
• lansdowne
• australian tour
• the dark clouds
• tv smith
• adverts
• 2026

Get your dose of Hommus at The Mile High Club

One of the good things to come out of Covid was Hommus Idol, a quirky and fuzzy musical outfit from the breeding ground that is Wollongong, south of Sydney. We reviewed their debut EP here.

Hommus Idol is launching “Mile High Club”, a new single and video, with shows in April and May, kicking off this weekend.

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• the dunhill blues
• hommus idol
• mile high club

Brian Jonestown Massacre's Ricky Maymi will give Penny a piece of his mind

Melbourne songwriter-bandleader Penny Ikinger is launching a series of conversations with musical peers, starting Sunday April 19.

The first “A Penny For Your Thoughts” features Brian Jonestown Massacre founding member Ricky Maymi at One Star Lounge & Gallery in West Melbourne, from 5pm and tickets are here.

“A Penny For Your Thoughts” is an intimate series that invites audiences to delve beneath the surface of music and art. It’s all about exploring the forces shaping musicians and creative minds, revealing the stories behind the sound and wil include an audience Q&A.. 

San Franciscan Maymi is a multi-instrumentalist with a long history that stretches way back before his recent Australian with the Brian Jonestown Massacre.

Maymi’s collaborations include Australian artists Steve Kilbey (The Church), Glenn Bennie (Underground Lovers, GB3), and The Triffids. He has also toured internationally with The Wild Swans (UK), Flavor Crystals (USA), and others.

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• penny ikinger
• a penny for your thoughts
• brian maymi
• brian jonestown massacre

A tale of The Stooges and The Velvet Underground in high-fidelity

Fun House (High Fidelity Edition) - Rhino Records (Rhino Records)
Loaded (High Fidelity Edition) - The Velvet Underground (Rhino Records)
 
Theoretically, an album pressed in 2026 should sound a lot better than an album pressed in the 1970s. I mean, haven't there been vast technological advances in the sound world? Or for that matter, just about anything and everything since the 1970s?

Judging by the majority of LP reissues these days it seems not. Quite often those pre-digital era 1960s/1970s pressings sound a whole lot better than today's "$95 at JBHiFi 180 gram remastered by some genius" reissues.

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• stooges
• fun house
• velvet underground
• loaded
• rhino high fidelity