Australian Post-Punk (Updates)

laughing clowns had an underwhelming mix. rowland looks like a melting waxwork and his voice doesn't sound far off, but the gtr was still great. harmonia ruled. polly was on the last two rounds of reunion reels and was AMAZING at the first ones (I saw the Factory show) but on the second ones was training sc0tt saunder5 onstage and only playing keys, not keys and horns and percussion and sampler all at once. ATP line-up is dave and john-boy, plus s.s., some jazz-funk bassist in a jumpsuit that he's brought along, and brendan ga11agher. they were nothing compared to the original reunion lineup, coming off a bit "hotel bar reels covers show," but it's still dave healthy and active and singing those songs again, so: great. harmonia were totally ace, possibly best of the day (competing with necks), and mostly analogue (or analogue-sounding) and guitar.

The Systematics album is waiting at my house in Oregon, I won't be back in the States until mid-March. That said, "Vanessa Teratology" is one of my fave things ever in this vein of music. That band always had a great melodic and lyric sensibility.

atp - sydney - sunday 18th:

missed rowland howard (not particularly interested) and the reels (too old and tired to stay any longer); caught the later part of laughing clowns and they were good if not spectactular, some of their songs are superb but the playing was just a little off (but i did see them from way back which is never as good as close); robert foster was ok just not my cuppa - i kept wondering if the band were his kids; the saints were pretty good i thought with chris bailey not being too much of an arse and the band was nice and tight although they played the songs slower than expected and bailey didn't deliver them with the sneer i needed; nick cave was twice as loud as everyone else and they did their normal schtick.

non aus-post-punk: harmonia were terrific - highlight of the event (hugo weaving was in the front row next to me) ; the necks were great as well - very rhythmic and not at all soothing; spiritualized were good - i was up front and it made some sort of sense from there - 3rd song was wonderfull; bridezilla were cute - like the raincoats but with some musical skills (and we know thats not always a good thing); dead meadow have a lot of moustaches; beaches were a pleasant mix of krautrock groves and sonic youth; afrirampo were afrirampo.

the venue was spectactular - it's exactly the sort of industrial space that voigt/465 always wanted to play in.

did either of you guys see silver apples? i heard the spz support they did wasn't so good

no - they were on as we were waiting to catch a ferry back to circular quay

I went to the Melb ATP. Chris Bailey still behaves like the Saints never mattered. The Silver Apples were a low point to Harmonia's high. Also, I'm quite sure the Necks are from Townsville (or Sydney)?

I saw two songs of Silver Apples - one was an old geezer making lovely whooshing noises, toggling a phaser and singing a bit and was great, one was an old geezer making some clanking noises, toggling a phaser and muttering a bit and was dull.

Necks are from Sydney but are not post-punk. Were great though, second best after Harmonia for mine.

Conway solo was better than Rowland solo. Shame Rowland didn't get up for a couple with the Bad Seeds.

more like the Bad Friends

jim can we get that 'nick cave' youtube up here

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=YzToxxXS4vY

xposts Necks/T'ville confusion becoz they have an album recorded in Townsville (iirc?)

conway did spend approx 68% of between-song banter time asking for audience to bring him drugs

missed ATP. quite annoyed about that, as the venue is impeccable. i can take solace in having already seen a bunch of the acts before.
saw spiritualized and silver apples at the metro on the friday. both were below par.

spz were pretty terrible at atp too. new band looks like he'd found them in cheap rehearsal rooms and thrown them some charts, and j's gtr was completely inaudible down the front.

yep, it seemed like the new band members had been rehearsing the tracks individually - barely any semblance of unity throughout the performance. the show picked up a bit right at the end, but only after a slew of quieter numbers that did nothing for me in the live setting.

whereas the necks played to the atmosphere - all percussive and forward motion

whilst not strictly post-punk, i've recently got hold of the let's go naked retrospective on egg records. and it's totally great! bats + go betweens and a bunch of songs that could all be the a-sides of awesome little pop records. heavily recommended.

picked up the sekret sekret retrospective. it's great to hear some unreleased stuff from them, & the mastering has been excellently done.. but absolutely none of the live/demo songs are as good as what came out on the four 45s.

are the mooted additional editions of do the pop ever going to come out?

little murders retrospective out soon too.. seems ridiculous that there hasn't been one sooner

but absolutely none of the live/demo songs are as good as what came out on the four 45s

yes, that's true - it's a shame that they cdidn't record more and that the LP sessions they did have been lost completely.

just back here to rave some more about the let's go naked 'insides' album. where has this band been all my life??

How did the slow rip gig go Phil?
The new MSquared Boxed set was released on VOD last week.
We are also going to released an abridged CD version for Australia.

just ordered that motherfucker

arrived today, beautiful looking package.. nice tshirt too

scattered order prat culture cd reish out soon too i see

also scattered order / dead travel fast gig in july!! post punk FAP anyone??

M Squared web site: http://www.msquaredrecords.com

the box set and prat culture re-issues sound absolutely fantastic, btw.

just got my copy of the M2 vinyl box - an absolutely beautiful thing. great photos and text and design. well worth the money.

it is great. sadly my t-shirt fell apart after only one wash :(

Sorry about the T Shirt - i havent tried washing mine yet. Glad you all like the MSquared Boxed set we put much care and thought into putting it together.
It's triggered us back into activity again .. hence the Scattered Order/DTF gig in Marrickville in July and the A Cloakroom assembly debut in July.
Is anyone going to see Eno on Sunday night ?

yes, i'll be there michael - all 3 concerts - let me know where / when we can meet up.

After my service providor Bigpond decided to screw their customers yet again by removing all personal website in November, I've bitten the bullet and set up my NNS website (including the Sydney Post-Punk pages) at

http://www.nonightsweats.com

It was quite easy and inexpensive so I have no idea why I hadn't done it before.

There are no changes in content as yet but I plan a redesign later in the year or whenever I have the time.

Please let anyone who might be interested know about the change.

on 30th June 2MBSFM did a radio special on MSquared interviewing Mitch and myself. In the one hour show we talked about the early days of M Squared, the Barons, Scattered Order, A Cloakroom Assembly and played tracks off the M Squared Boed set.
The whole show will be available as a podcast in coming weeks. In two weeks they will tape Part 2 featuring interviews with Shane Fahey (Dead Travel Fast) and Patrick Gibson (Systematics). Thanks to John Bades for his support in putting the show together.

is there gonna be a cd version of that msquared box?

We are also going to released an abridged CD version for Australia.

but when?

^this is a good question tbf

^ i imagine when most of the vinyl has been sold

Hi all the plan is for a single CD compilation to come out on endgame in November.
We are currently talking to a number of companies interested in releasing the M Squared back catalogue including the boxed set.
I think the boxed set will come out after the vinyl version is sold out in Europe.

Sydney-siders don't forget - Sunday 26th July 5-10PM - http://www.cadfactory.com.au/ - Scattered Order and MotDTF + 3 newish bands

There is a bit of interest from some labels in releasing all the M Squared material we released on vinyl and cassette in australia

I'd love to plump for the vinyl set, but damn... I already bought one VOD box this year.

Must... resist....

it's completely worth it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXQYt9xoju8

a cunt of a life, it's a cunt life

just back here to rave some more about the let's go naked 'insides' album. where has this band been all my life??
Agreed, it's really good and has seriously fallen under the radar. There's not even a mention of them at AMG.
Just in case somebody's trying to Google them, I believe the name is actually Lets Go Naked (no apostrophe). At least that's how it appears on the album.

Psst:
http://indie-pop-heaven.blogspot.com/2008/12/lets-go-naked-insides-compilation-2007.html

sunday's gig at the cad factory was pretty terrific. neither band were significantly different in sound to when they used to play ages ago but they didn't sound at all stale.

MotDTF were good but not great - wonderfull tunes and arrangements but i really wanted then to enjoy themselves more or to impart their enjoyment to the audience: it was always thus.

SO were fantastic, surprisingly for me at least: mitch didn't sing for a couple of songs but when he finally did, it all made complete sense. michael t was consumately unflappable.

apparently there'll be another gig in November to launch the single CD compilation from the box set.

hopefully i'll be able to get it together to attend that one

I loved that Lipstick Killers 7" so much that. even though I had a copy of the Bomp release, I paid $75 in 1986 for an original Aussie one with pic sleeve. Popsike indicates that it should be worth about $40 right now. Another wise vinyl investment.