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By The Barman

The Barman

03 April 2026

Hits: 688

• the jane does
• ROCKS
• matt allison
• joanne bennett
• rebecca halley

The Jane Does – The Jane Does (self released)

It seems hard to find good bands fronted by women no longer aged in their teens in Sydney these days. The reality is that the city’s small roster of rock and roll venues means the sisters (mums? aunts?) aren’t hiding, you just need to look for them at the right time.

Along with The Sugar Beats and Raising Ravens, The Jane Does are the pick of the semi-femme crop (although technically you could say that the former come from Wollongong.)

The Jane Does are  Rebecca Halley (vocals and guitar) and Joanne Bennett (bass and vocals) sharing front-of-stage duties with guitarist Matt Allison. Rebecca and Jo are cousins and have shared stages before. They’ve had a series of drummers but Tim Savage now seems firmly sequestered on the stool, barring spontaneous combustion or bizarre gardening accidents.

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By Steve Lorkin

Steve Lorkin

25 March 2026

Hits: 951

• radio birdman
• citadel records
• deniz tek
• chris masuak
• jim dickson
• pip hoyle
• russell hopkinson
• zeno beach

Zeno Beach - Radio Birdman (Citadel Records)

By Steve Lorkin

Quick quiz: Which legendary band who broke up in the 1970s but reformed several decades later and recorded a album of new material which actually honoured their original legacy?

1) New York Dolls

2) MC5 (aka MC1)

3) The Stooges

4) Radio Birdman

If you answered “Radio Birdman” you win a million in prizes!

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By The Barman

The Barman

14 March 2026

Hits: 829

• flippin' kick outs
• johnny gretsch
• sonic maze

Sonic Maze – Flippin’ Kick Outs (self-released)

The splintering of what used to be called mass media has put a universe of sounds at everybody’s fingertips and they only need to pay a pittance - if anything at all. The onus really is on you and me to step carefully. lest we tread in dog shit.

It really is a maze out there – as the title of the second album from Sydney’s Flippin’ Kick Outs attests.

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By Edwin Garland

Edwin Garland

03 March 2026

Hits: 1178

• ollie olsen
• rowland s. howard
• 1978
• jeffrey wegener
• young charlatans
• janine hall
• eminent vinyl

1978 - Young  Charlatans (Eminent Vinyl)

If you go on YouTube you can see a remarkable clip of two 18-year-old kids, Rowland S Howard and Ollie Olsen, being interviewed by the ABC. As the teenagers walk down St Kilda Road in Melbourne, they are jeered at for looking like aliens with art school aesthetics.  

It was 1978 and a vastly different time in Australia. In the beige, conservative world ruled by the Tories and the Country Party. Every second house had porcelain ducks on its wall and a framed picture of Queen Elizabeth the 2nd. The Robert Menzies vision of Australia ruled and the fashion mindset embraced Dennis Lillee’s porn star moustache and safari suits.

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

28 February 2026

Hits: 1187

• charlie marshall
• harem scarem
• family affair
• gaian soul
• louie marshall

Family Affair - Gaian Soul (Charlie Marshall)

Because I've been in a tunnel several years long it's been a while since I reviewed a CD. I won't say I'm out of the tunnel because I'm not. As most music writers know, LP or CD reviews always take up a lot of time (the book I'm currently beavering away at doesn't get much of a chance when reviews come tapping at the door. Poor little thing).

However. I was asked if I would do a CD review to get The Barman out of a hole and I rashly said yes, so this will probably be the last for a while, so there.

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By Bob Short

Bob Short

28 February 2026

Hits: 1157

• the damned
• brian james
• captain sensible
• not like everyone body else

Not Like Everybody Else – The Damned (earMusic)

Growing up in Sydney in the ‘70s, betrothed to the rise of punk music, you and most of your fellow travellers understood that this music had roots.  It did not appear out of vacuum.  It was a folk art built upon a tradition.

While folk art maybe sneered upon by some, it creates a sense of community and shared history.  And punk rock is counter culture.  It celebrates the outsider by counter-intuitively placing the outsider within the shared myth of the outsider.

Humans love our smoke and mirrors.

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