The Barman has already reviewed "The Sound ..." EP, but I thought I'd have a listen as well.

"The Sound of My Broken Heart" leads and it's a firmly-driven tubercular guitar snarl which allows Bob to vent in his rather strangulated vocals. I was never able to see the Dead Rabids, unfortunately - and I suppose that's the thing we find to our horror as we get older - other stuff gets in the way of us getting out the door.

There are about five or six local bands I enjoy seeing, and if I were able I'd be at pretty much every gig. Did the Dead Rabids deserve that kind of love? I've no idea, but "The Sound of My Broken Heart" is, as the Barman says, a stone cold classic. Buy yourself admission and freak people out when the track comes up on your mix cd in the car (no, I won't buy a car without a CD player) or your (snigger) mix stick - "My god," they'll squeak, "What's this?!"

Yes, it sounds more dated than Beta format videotape and borders on twee but therein will lie the charm for lovers of what was once called New Wave. It’s a limited edition, seven-inch single of three previously unreleased songs by Sheer Fun, a short-lived 1980 Melbourne band.

Formed by Adelaide expats Jude Ladyman and guitarist Grant Lang. Ladyman, vocalist and associate/occasional songwriter of The Aliens. The Aliens were an Adelaide band that briefly threatened to cross-over into the major label-owned mainstream. Lang and Ladyman had headed to Melbourne in search of a place in its arty punk scene. As Jude Stapleton, Ladyman went on to co-own Kings Lane Studios in Sydney, a home for many of that city’s bands in the late’80s.

This four-song single and accompanying 10-track CD is a labour of love, a mission completed at the request of the late Chris Wilson, the celebrated Melbourne singer and X collaborator who was claimed by cancer in 2018.

Steve Lucas is backed by a San Diego band on the single, and augmented by Melbourne players on the rest. The majority of instrumentation is by Lucas, The CD includes the vinyl tracks so you're good to go in whatever format you please.

This is the X singer as you haven’t heard him - unless, of course, you’ve been to one of his thoroughly entertaining solo shows where he does away with stylistic boundaries and sings whatever takes his fancy. Mostly-acoustic, largely recorded live but augmented by sympathetic players, it resonates with raw spontaneity.

“By Request” has a distinctly Americana mood to the music. That should not surprise - the EP tracks were recorded with Mexican musicians in America, as Chris Wilson asked. Their number includes Hector Penalosa of The Zeros but they are all accomplished local players.

Don't listen to Beast Bones if you have a hangover. Genuinely disturbing, eerie and quite quease-making, "You Will Not Be Spared" comes from Aussie label  Iceage Productions (who brought you the mighty Monolith ... what? you must have this CD. No? Get on it), and a slew of other underground musics which can be found here.

Over the years Iceage has released "music by Arthur Cantrill, Primitive Calculators, Robin Fox, Bonnie Mercer, Ollie Olsen, Ernie Althoff, Mad Nanna, Shane Fahey, Matthew Brown and Sean Baxter amongst others"; and describe their label as "specialising in electronic, experimental, noise, drone and industrial music from all over the globe" - which I suppose is true enough.

Dead Rabids main man Bob Short was a member of seminal Sydney punks Filth before he fucked off to England to become a goth and live in abject poverty. He’s also penned the odd vituperative review for the I-94 Bar. So now it’s your turn. Do your best.

There’s no hint of hyperbole in you being told that the A side is a fantastic song. A stone classic. Dead Rabids are no more and never pulled a lot of people when they were a going concern, but don't let that stop you plonking down your hard-earned virtual cash and picking up a copy before it goes out of print. 

The pathos runs deep on "The Sound of My Broken Heart" and it sounds like something the early Saints would have turned out in one of their more reflective moments. Put away any sharp objects and lock the medicine cabinet.

Flip the single and switch the mood to bathos: "Do the Harold Holt" is an old Filth song (I think) and you can imagine singer Peter Tillman spitting out its message for poliical leaders to jump into the sea three times and surface twice. A resuscitated classic. The Rabids' abbreviated take on "White Rabbit" sounds positively doom-laden and there's a harsh beauty in its acrid chords. Feed your head some squat food.

Buy it

The latest in a spate of singles. Just when you'd pegged these veterans as a freakbeat-psych band, the A side has a vaguely surf sound to the guitars; the B side is ’60s-infused pop with a reedy keyboard texture and a slightly dark edge. Welcome to the sound of The Neighbourhood Strange, the English quintet from Salisbury.

“Russian Spy” references the Skripal poisoning scandal that put their home town in the news in a way that the Druids never could. Marcus Turner’s elegant yet edgy vocal gives the song a touch of cool reserve while the guitar lines play tag. “Many Secrets” takes a couple more spins to make an impact and then makes itself right at home. The guitarwork is a stand-out.

There’s a CD edition that adds three bonus tracks: “Mary Mary” is a moody chugger. “Walk on Water” is a lost love tale with spacey guitar and an impassioned, out-of-sorts vocal. “Desert Sand” is a rambunctious near-instrumental and the pick of the bonuses. With this sort of variety, you have to wonder where the album will land. 

Buy it