AMM 2021 Feature Album, Day 3

 Courtney Barnett is an incredible and unique songwriter from Melbourne, Australia. She has a unique style of singing, almost half sung and half spoken, but she tells a great story and plays a mean guitar. This live set for MTV Unplugged (who knew that was still a thing, huh?) is relaxed and gives her space to jam and to get some friends in the process. One of whom is Paul Kelly....

Recovery Revival This Weekend

RAGE on the ABC are having a celebration of all things 90s Indie rock this weekend with repeats of their now-classic Saturday Morning show Recovery.

The show ran from 1996 until sometime in 2000. Why would anyone in 2015 really care about this show?

At the height of the Indie rock boom in the mid-90s came this program on Saturday morning, live to air, commercial free, with live performances, interviews and stories of interest to the Triple J crowd of the time. It gave voice to a series of young people who had very little television experience and a public stage for many bands for whom we might not have been able to see live anywhere else.

Recovery was truly a unique animal. Sure there were crazy variety shows on TV at the time, like Hey Hey It's Saturday, but they were mainstream and had different intentions for their audience. Recovery was completely off the chain, a 3-hour blast of anarchic mayhem where anything that was possible would probably happen, however unlikely. Led by eyebrow-ringed, skate-show wearing host Dylan Lewis, this program was somehow held together with his patience and off-beat personality.



Lewis was also a lightning rod for some of the show's more memorable on-air mishaps. For example, Frenzal Rhomb were interviewed by him while they decided to take an electric razor to his head. Green Day came on for an interview completed off their faces and proceeded to spend most of their interview swearing live to air before kicking the house band off their instruments and launching into two verses of their most recent swear-along anthem "The Grouch".



Along with some memorable performances, it was a program of the sort that just doesn't occur on TV anymore. There's too much at stake for such risk taking these days.

Towards the end of its run the show's format changed, to a shorter show with fewer (and then, in the last few shows, none) live performances as the then Liberal government (with its anti-ABC bias) squeezed the broadcaster's budget.

Above all the show was just damn good fun. For those who think nothing good musically happened after the 80s, take a look at this special on Saturday night...

100 LPs Shortlist #44: Icecream Hands - "Sweeter Than The Radio"

An awesome name for a band: one that could induce a sugar craving.

And an apt title for an album, if ever there was one. Here is a bunch of songs so sweet and so well written that they seem almost too good to share the airwaves with most of the crap that commercial radio deems fit for broadcast...

..however, I digress.

"Sweeter than the Radio" is an album that is probably the finest work in the relatively thin canon of works by Chuck Jenkins and his band the Icecream Hands. On this album, the songs were the smartest, most clever and eloquently written pieces, up until that point, of the band's career. Deep and complex lyrics married to gorgeous melodies and arrangements that float delicately around the room whenever this album is playing.

Only a band like Icecream Hands could write a song about a girlfriend having an accidental wardrobe malfunction and make it sound like a lost pop classic ("Nipple"). "Dodgy" was the hit single that never was, a complex lyric set against a charging arrangement. Only Chuck, a former record store clerk, could write a break up song framed around the splitting up of a record collection.

"Sweeter Than The Radio" is an album that aches at its core but cushions the pain in uplifting music. It is music that will meet the listener where they are at and takes them to a better place, almost sympathising with them. This music really is sweeter than most radio fodder because it has a beating heart at the centre of it. It is real music, human music, where so much other stuff around is vacuous and shallow.

This was the album that should have broken the band nationally and should have sold double platinum. It earned the band two ARIA nominations but the band carried away no awards. This album was followed up by Broken UFO in 2002 and The Good China in 2007, both fine albums in their own right. However it is this one that stands tall as their finest, in my view.

Take a listen for yourself below.

New Music: Purple

Screaming and thumping their way out of Texas is a three piece indie-punks Purple. They are just starting to make waves in indie circles with a thumping, punk-infused sound that is full of energy and spunk.

The band is unusual in that it is led by singing drummer Hannah Brewer, whose riot-grrl inspired vocals set the tone for the band's music - huge mosh-pit anthems, high on energy, dripping with attitude and with heaps of memorable choruses. In Purple videos and in their press shots, Hannah has positioned herself with an image as one slightly unhinged and crazy girl. But her talent is undeniable, and her ability to sing with such passion and drum those intricate drum parts is incredible.

The band is fleshed out with Taylor Busby on guitars and Smitty Smith on Bass. They provide a front line sound that is solid and accessible.

The band are currently making waves in England doing a small club tour in advance of their debut LP, which drops on November 10.

There's plenty of great music on the band's YouTube Channel. Check some of it out below. I think they have a bright future ahead of them and I hope they get to play in Australia in support of this album.

New Music: Forest - "Box"

Forest are a band based in Cambridge in the UK. The band are barely out of their teens and are pushing a style not unlike that of The Arctic Monkeys or the Strokes.

There is an adage relating to pop music that goes "Nice Video...shame about the song". That's not really the problem here. The song is interesting enough - it grows more appealing with each subsequent listen. But personally I probably wouldn't have listened a second (and third) time if it wasn't for the amazing stop-motion video. It was made with over 1300 unique Post-it Notes, hand drawn. It is a truly inspiring piece of art.

Check out "Box" by Forest. Here's hoping they come up with some more innovating clips.

Lake Street Dive: "Bad Self Portraits"

"Bad Self Portraits" is the latest album by Boston-based rockers Lake Street Dive.

Describing their sound is something problematic. The All Music Guide describes them as: "... a fascinating blend of influences and complexity: jazz at heart, with an alternative D.I.Y. sensibility and a passion for classic rock and garage aesthetics."

Yep, I'm none the wiser either.

What it boils down to is this: a four piece band, with a soulful lead singer in the form of Rachael Price, whose voice would make Amy Winehouse jealous. A double bass player, which adds to their striking sound, plus a garage rock attack in the rhythm section (at times) tempered with a southern fried groove.

In short, you HAVE to listen to this album. The band are so hard to describe but strikingly easy to listen to. Disparate influences rarely blend so well. From the first track (the title track, and lead single) "Bad Self Portraits" the warm and fuzzies start instantly.



Despite having a feel that could be describes as retro, it's a song with a thoroughly modern topic: the "selfie". The spin on it of course is the selfie after a breakup. However it has a killer hook and a seductive groove that lets you forget the pain of the lyric.

The pacing of the album has a few issues. It starts off right out of the gate with crackers like "Stop Your Crying" but the quality of the songs sags a little towards the end, before finishing off brilliantly with "What About Me" and the slow burning "Rental Love". It's still a great record for almost any occasion. Recommended!

Enjoy!

Life Coach

One of the best new discoveries I have made in recent weeks is Life Coach, a Washington DC based band that has evolved from another band, indie-rock darlings Trans Am.

The guitarist from Trans Am, Philip Manley, wanted to start a Kraut-rock styled experimental project, heavy on the electronics. He issued one solo album called "Life Coach" and then decided to flesh out a band with live musicians in order to play the music live. What you have is a band that pitches themselves somewhere between ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead's experimentalism and Pink Floyd's space-iness, with all the lumbering crunch of Tool.

Their debut album "Alphawaves", released last year on the awesome indie label Thrill Jockey, is 40 minutes of strategically organised noise that is as compelling as it is inviting. The instrumental first half contains so much depth, its layers unveil themselves with repeated listens. Track 5, "Fireball", features a Zeppelin-esque groove, but much, much heavier, with a solo so awesome it'd make Jimmy Page blush.

This is a record that is highly recommended, and well worth listening to a few times, especially to get the full benefit out of it. It requires VOLUME! So play it LOUD!

Enjoy!!

How to buy Indie label music

The independent record label is a curious beast. They can be both fun and troublesome in equal turns, both for fan and proprietor alike.

By fun, I mean that you can procure some of the most amazing music ever made that, in a lot of cases, has slipped under the radar. By troublesome, I mean you may have great trouble sourcing some of the most amazing music ever made that has slipped under the radar.

Most record labels that we now call "major" labels started out as simple businesses that grew to a monumental size. Some labels start up and are swallowed up by huge multinational companies. Others stay independent but secure deals with majors to press and distribute their product. But the one thing that often distinguishes the independent label from the major label is the fact that the people pressing the records believe in the talent they are supporting. It's not that major labels don't do that, but often the major label is focused more on sales and less about the music, while the ethos of the indie label is usually the other way around.

Indie label releases are usually fewer in number than that of a major label, and often pressed in smaller quantities. Distribution can be somewhat limited as well, meaning that upon original release a record may not have even made it to your local record store. Legendary U.S. indie label SST, home to Black Flag, Husker Du, Minutemen and the early Sonic Youth albums, had major distribution problems. So while critics in major magazines and trade publications were raving about albums like Husker Du's "Zen Arcade", it barely sold any copies because they had major problems getting the records into shops around America. Ditto legendary Memphis band Big Star - their first two records are mandatory listening for any music fan, but they sold poorly due to distribution problems.

In Australia, it was no different. We have had many brilliant labels that sprung up in the major cities; many of whom were also shop-fronts, stocking the records for retail sale and also stocking records by their local peers/competitors.

The roll call of awesome labels in the 1980s include:

Phantom Red Eye Citadel Waterfront Half a Cow M-Squared Aberrant Hot Missing Link Au-go-go Mushroom/White Label Rubber Cleopatra Able +1 Savage

among many others. The great thing about these labels is that they often supplied the world with amazingly great music that the major labels thought was uncommercial or that no-one in their right mind would touch. That's why The Saints released their first single independently, and why Radio Birdman formed their own label.

And the Indie label phenomenon hasn't stopped there. There's still plenty of great ones out there: Matador, Elephant Stone, Dischord, Inertia, and hundreds of others. The trick to buying music from an indie label is to try a sampler disc first, which is designed to introduce the listener to the bands and releases on the label. Failing that, take a plunge, buy a single and take a listen. Chances are if you like that one release, you'll love other releases on the same label.

I happened to chance upon a 10-inch EP on a Scandinavian label called Bad Afro about 10 years ago. The band was The Royal Beat Conspiracy. It took a few listens to get into it, but when I did, I loved it. I investigated the label catalog a bit deeper and discovered a heap of great bands on the label, many of whom released some killer 7-inch singles: bands like The Burnouts, The Maggots, Sweatmaster, The Rockets, The Dialtones. It's not that they necessarily sound identical to Royal Beat Conspiracy, but they are like-minded, inasmuch as they play hard-driving guitar-based garage rock.

It often pays to dig a little deeper and to find something unusual. You may find the next big thing, as tiny indie label SubPop found when they signed bands like Soundgarden, Band of Horses, and some bunch calling themselves Nirvana...

Have you ever uncovered a gem of a record on an indie label? What was it and what label was it on? Let us know in the comments below.

Enjoy!

The Lovetones

image source

This is just a quick post for tonight as I'm wrapping up from the long weekend ready to head back to work in the morning.

Sydney band The Lovetones provided this blog with its meta-song "The Sound and the Fury", from their 2003 debut album "Be What You Want".

Heads up for the last quarter of the year. Let's do it. Enjoy!

Super Best Friends film video in Parliament

This video has garnered quite a lot of press this week, and so it should. It's bloody good!

Super Best Friends are a Canberra punk band who just so happen to have a bass player, Matt Roberts, who works for the ABC as a member of the press gallery in the Federal Parliament.

Matt Roberts has the enviable (or deplorable, depending on your viewpoint) privilege of having access to many high profile politicians and media personalities. So when he wanted to make a video for his track about the repetitive nature of the news cycle, who better than to ask than these guys? Over three months he filmed bits and pieces of various pollies having fun and mocking themselves, lip-synching to the lyrics of the song. It's a masterstroke, I reckon.

Probably the funniest part was when shadow treasurer Joe Hockey was asked to be in the video, he declined saying he hated the song and that he'd do it "if it was more like Nickelback"!!!! That's hilarious!

Even Joe's boss, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, conceded to making an appearance. It's great fun to play spot the Pollie and media personality. It's a very clever video for a pretty good song too.

Check out the video below. Enjoy!

Sunday Sessions: Header

Here's a great song from a now-obscure Perth band who shone brightly and briefly in 1996.

They left behind one great LP "On High Street" and a couple of great singles, of which this is one.

Stylistically they had a retro yet modern grunge sound with heaps of melody attached. They sounded a little bit like Bob Mould, a little bit like Teenage Fanclub and, I didn't realise it until I saw the video for the first time the other night, they looked one hell of a lot like Oasis. I was pretty horrified to see that actually - the clip looked like a recreation of the "Definitely Maybe" LP cover.

Still, despite the fact they folded in 1997, this song still rocks. Enjoy today's Sunday Session: "Restoration" by Header.