I thought this was quiet year but, looking back at It, there were many more than 10 gems that stand out for me. So it’s a round-up - with only a slight concession to numbers.Albums
Wet Leg - “Moisturizer”
They exploded onto the music scene in 2021 with the quirky and simple genius of “Chaise Lounge “,a song that went viral and busted with originality and touches of post-punk and quirky Britpop. The lyrics were absorbing The debut album, “Wet Leg”, was raw with punk overtones. “Moisturizer” follows up with sheer brilliance and spark that grows and finally kicks in as a classic with its quirky guitars and fab vocals.
The Sugar Beats – “The Sugar Beats”
I saw them play at MoshPit Bar in Sydney in early January and they became the feature live band in the aforementioned doco about Bryan Cook; they were that good. I eagerly awaited the album and it did not let me down. It bursts off the turntable with guitar hooks, melodies and an amazingly tight rhythm section. Finally, there are top shelf vocals and harmonies.
It’s such a killer record I bought a spare copy Morgana, Sara and Adam almost get the Gold Logie.
Xani – “Keep Moving”
From a completely different place is the artful violin maestra that is Xani Kolac. This album is minimalist at times and the was recoded almost live with a looping station. Xani is one gifted performer floating around from influences from CAN and Kraftwerk to Eastern European melodies Simply stunning.
Woolworths Flu Shot - “Give Me Another Hœur Please God”
A wild and motley crew of Tasmanians still in their mid-20s, this could be my rock album of the year. It’s dark, explosive and intense. One part Pirthday Party, one part hard rap, one part Beefheart and one part Courtney Love/Hole.
The playing is inventive and creative . At the heart is Maddison Woods who hollers, raps, bellows and croons with one of the best rock voices since Chrissy Amphlett.
Jim Moginie and The Family Dog- “Thunk”
Jim goes back to his garage days of the Oils of the late 1970s. Recorded mostly live with lots of spill, it has big riffs, psychedelia and a giant nod to the classic garage-surf of the Northern Beaches sound that birthed the Oils of the “Blue “ album, The Hellmen and the Celibate Rifles. There’s a link to the latter as well with the presence of Paul Larsen and Kent Steadman As expected, there are strong lyrics about the environment and modern isolation. Jim was always the heart of the Oils.
The Owen Guns – “Songs About Fucking Idiots”
Meat and potatoes, old school pub rock crossed with punk. If the Cosmic Psychos had a mutant child with American 1980’s hardcore, here it is. There are lashings of in-you- face, street bravado, barre chord fat riffing and the best in social commentary, all delivered with a browneye.
Just when you have them pegged as old school punk rock, the band turns out a melody that recalls The Pogues. This band simply does not give a rat’s arse.
Full Flower Moon Band – “Megaflower Deluxe”
Little did we know there were well over 20 more tracks recorded at the session that spawned “Megalflower” What we have here is the expanded version and second part of those sessions and they are not the lesser part of the whole. These songs are psychedelic and Tony Buchen’s production has extended the band’s ideas. The guitars of Caleb Widener and Christian Driscoll are magnificent. Kate “Babyshakes” Dillon holds it all together with her amazing vocals and songwriting A very interesting record.
Van Ruin - Trauma Magnet
2025 was a massive year for Van Ruin. After their debut mini album over twelve months ago. A successful tour of Europe and an album proper. Phil van Rooyen has emerged as a fantastic songwriter in his own right and has gathered the Who’s Who of Underground Sydney bands in Stuart Wilson, Andy Newman and Al Creed. The shadow of the bands they’ve played in hangs over this record along with the traditional Northern Beaches sound of surf, beer and a four-to-the-floor rhythm section. A mighty effort that is raw and fresh. Released on Big Al’s Crakinhaus Records.
East Coast Low – “Badlanding”
Another rip-roaring rock record from the Steel City of Newcastle. For five decades, the place has produced bare knuckle rock ‘n’ roll. It was first place outside the Northern Beaches that Midnight Oil found an audience and the home of the Star Hotel Riot. A riot sparked by the beer being tuned off.
This record is full of the big, fat 1970s riffs of Aerosmith and KISS with the MC5’s styling and a horn section that pays tribute to The Saints. Al Creed again shines with guitar and the record is on his Crankinhaus Records. A special mention to Micheal Cornish on vocals.
Ed Kuepper and Jim White - “After the Flood”
A masterwork, and a masterclass. The album spans a cross-section of Ed’s work including the early 1980s and The Saints but the songs are sparer, more sensitive and, delivered by a two-piece, have more space and a heightened sense of drama. Jim is very musical in his approach and adds subtlety and Ed is at his most vocally strongest. And his guitar playing is sublime.
Live Gigs
Belle Phoenix, Ken Gormly and Jeffrey Wegener with Fables at Easy Thinking in Dulwich Hill, NSW
A wild, mid-week gig in a newish Dulwich Hill venue. The Fables never let anyone down and are a unique duo that has been going for close to a decade with overseas tours to their credit. The sound moves from the Gothic, to The Cure to These Immortal Souls to dance beats.
Belle Phoneix is from the other end of the spectrum – think Lydia Lunch mixed with primal Iggy and looking like a Factory Girl from New York City circa 1966 with a cigarette dangling from her mouth. She is teamed up with Jeffrey Wegener, one of the finest and most musical drummers in the country and the closest thing we have to the late Charlie Watts . The gig had no rehearsal and Ken Gormly demonstrated his resilience as the songs meandered into nearly free-form jams. They played for 45 minutes; it was shambolic, chaotic and mostly hanging by a thread, but augmented by moments of brilliance, with Belle’s stunning vocals shining through.
Xani Kaloc- Newtown Arts Centre
A very special gig indeed This tiny upstairs venue that was once a film studio has a small room that holds about 50 people. Of course it had sold out. Xani gave us two 40-minute sets of looping and textures. The songs were stunning, ranging from dark industrial rock to gypsy melodies, Top shelf.
John Cale and Xani at the Sydney Recital Hall
First up, Xani gave us her stunning set that had so impressed John Cale so much that he asked her to guest on one of his songs. Cale himself delivered an expansive, two-hour set that covered at least 10 of his albums. His voice was in magnificent form and “Heartbreak Hotel” was as dark and sinister as expected. There was a 10- minute psychedelic version of “Waiting For The Man”. Cale did not disappoint. It was again a great choice to be up the back as the slide shows and visuals were glorious.
Lucinda Williams - Sydney Opera House
Lucinda Williams was sublime and this was possibly the gig of year for me. Lucinda has remained one of the finest singers and songwriters from the US over the past 45 odd years. The night was an autobiographical journey with tributes to those who nurtured her, influenced her and shared the stage with her. There was a stunning slide show of images form her childhood in the Deep South,. There was also a sprinkling of stunning covers of Dylan, Motown and the Stones. Finally, came a tribute to her late father who was one of significant poets of our time.
RUST at Wings and Tins, Dee Why, NSW
This year marked 20 years of the band’s existence. In that time, RUST has made five tours overseas, released four albums and played about 1000 gigs RUST is not for the faint-hearted. They are street level, uncompressing and mix Oi punk with the Aussie ‘70s street sounds of Rose Tattoo and Coloured Balls. Their gigs became regular events at Wings and Tins that were sweaty, packed and LOUD!!
Cat Power- Sydney Recital Hall
I missed Cat Power’s “Bob Dylan’s Royal Albert Hall” shows a couple of years ago. When this was announced as a second round, I was in. I was always reticent to see Cat Power live because of several appalling gigs 20 years ago. Over the years many artists have performed odes to Dylan, including Lucinda Williams and Chrissie Hynde. Cat Power was in amazing form and her band was “on” with sublime interpretations of this classic album. It was superb.
Woolworths Flu Shot at Nimbin Hotel, NSW
This was wild. The band are a bunch of Gen Y Tasmanians touring in a van up and down the Australian East Coast. Just like a band of yesteryear. At Nimbin, they drew a crew of locals from every tribe in existence, as well as people on every chemical known to mankind. The band were “on” with Maddison Woods bellowing and rapping against amazing guitars, a rhythm section that kicked, and assorted organ swirls.
Full Flower Moon Band at Hunter Street Hotel, Newcastle, NSW
A trek north on a hunch and a stay at an old school hotel in the docklands that made me feel I’d had stepped back into the 1950s. The venue was an amazing rock room that fitted about 300 and had an awesome vibe and sound. It was a mix of local and interstate bands and a full house for FFMB’s second-ever show in the Hunter. The band went off. For the last couple of years, Full Flower Moon Band has been one of hottest and most explosive live acts in Australia with tours of Europe and a global fanbase that’s growing fast. Guitars that are blistering and that supreme rhythm section – and Kate Dillion showed what being a Rock Goddess is all about. She gave a master class in being a Front Person. I must have become P.C.
Osees with Exit Mould at The Metro Theatre, Sydney
On their now regular trips to Australia, O’Sees have become more furious and ferocious. John Dwyer leads the band that blew the roof off The Mtro with full-throttle twin drums that make The Melvins seem lame. The guitars deliver an array of sounds and power for almost two house. The rhythm section was locked and intense with a locomotive drive. Local band Exit Mould were also cool and delivered a worthy set.
MoshPit Bar Birthday Gig with Jupiter 5, PocketWatch, and Aria Nova at MoshPit, St Peters, NSW
An extremely solid bill that packed the MoshPit. Over the last few years, Jupiter 5 have evolved into the best exponents of ‘60s rock-meets-Black Sabbath that Sydney has. All guitars and frontman Jay’s wild and unpredicted routines and outfits are always a welcome relief from the shoegazing bands. PocketWatch have fine-tuned their act to be the most explosive three-piece in Sydney with musical nods to The Jam and You Am I. Angus Ross’s vocals are ever-improving and they simply rock. Finally, Aria Nova was another young band that really impressed me. With a diverse sound reminiscent of The Breeders and Sonic Youth, the guitar lines were impressive and they delivered killer vocals.
Big Wheels at the Hardboard Hotel and South by South West, Sydney
This band has made huge ground over that last six months since I first saw them. A huge vibe on their shows and they are a class act. They don’t really flirt with alternative, just rely on well-crafted songs and superb vocals and superb guitar lines. The influences are Tom Petty, Oasis and mid-1970s Fleetwood Mac. This is one of the hardest-working bands in Sydney at moment and the members are full-time musicians, busking (where Mayor Clover Moore permits it) and playing in a pub duo. Big Wheels are talented and committed.
Books
There are three blokes who have written memoirs for their grandkids…
“The Silver River” by Jim Moginie
Simply a beautifully-written book: Jim actually is a stunning wordsmith and at times his writing hints of Tim Winton. His description of being a teenager who was blown away by the landscape of Burnie in Tasmania (and other parts of Australia) underlines him being an environmentalist with a deep love of nature.
Jim has always been gifted and wrote some of Midnight Oil’s earliest songs that would end up on their first album whole in his teens. Jim’s humbleness shines through, and his self-refection carries no hint that at one time that he was playing in the biggest band in the land. When they are asked to perform at the Grammys, they turned their collective backs because they wanted to play a charity event back home.
This is the story of an outsider at school who always felt a loner - even when playing to audiences of 40,000 and selling 25 million records. Jim remains self-reflective of this rise to international fame. That said, that is not the only central story. It includes a heartfelt back story of being an adopted child, the sense of loss and tracking down his birth family who were of Irish descent. Finally, as Midnight Oil ends, he rediscovers his love of Ireland and its traditional music and it’s where he spends half the year these days. The book is quite touching at times.
“The Night Comes Down” by Bob Short
Bob tells a dual story that flicks between Australian and the UK. This is at times a dark, bittersweet account of Bob arriving in Wollongong from the bleakness of post-war England as an immigrant who lands in beautiful Illawarra with its stunning beaches, then-thriving industry and the home of the Dapto Dogs . Bob’s is a classic rock ‘n’ roll childhood where he feels alienated and discovers punk rock. He lands in Radio Birdman’s Funhouse scene and the streets of Darlinghurst, making train trips to inner-city Sydney. Bob captures the nastiness of the era of cops like Rogers Rogerson’s reign of corruption and beige safari suits The world of a few hundred like-minded kids that had their own punk scene .
Bob heads to the UK and falls into a time shaped by punk’s fallen subcultures, a land of squats, economic depression and the crusty punk scene. The woes of getting a band up and running in sheer poverty to become the darlings of fickle British press for 40 hours are well told, as is the self-destruction of his band mates. At times, Bob’s in a war zone of Nazi skinhead, violence and malnutrition - all on bad drugs. It’s all told with sense of dark gothic overtones and brutal prose and self-depreciation . Almost no-one here gets out alive. Bob did, and tells the tale.
“Craic As It Happened” by John Foy
John Foy’s book is not so much of a deep personal insight as Jim’s or Bob’s but in its own way it is equally as essential Foy is not a musician or songwriter, but his role in the Australian music scene cannot be underestimated. Also raised in the ‘60s and ‘70s, John’s insights of the Sydney of that time are about growing up in the suburbs with a love of music. Foy fell into graphic design and retail, working at Phantom Records and Redeye, and founding the legendary label of the same name. That right there is the punk DIY ethos.
Foy is responsible for the strongest images, posters and designs of the Australian music Industry, post-1980. His is an important book as it gives the backstory of the mechanics and machinations of the Australian independent scene As well, there are wild anecdotes about a stream of rock ‘n’ roll characters. An essential book on the Australian music Industry.
