Seneca's Last Breath
(Quemada) 7-inch $7.00
The vinyl debut from these residents of Hobart, Tasmania (also known as the Australia of Australia), who channel earnestness, naivety and lyrical inspiration from the weirdest loner folk. They're obsessed with Joy Division, and because of an inescapable Xpressway filter, sound less Manchester and more like a Jefferies brother Peter and Graeme would rather people not find out about, and so have forced him to live in the attic deprived of voice lessons, friends and food. So you gotcher heavily melodic ode to the Roman stoic philosopher on one side, and your quieter, more seductive affair on the flip, a pledge of devotion to another man's wife. Why not?
Stoned Rehearsal
(Quemada) LP $18.00
The fragile and melodic pop of The Garbage And The Flowers sways and stumbles just enough from its center to avoid calcification. Stoned Rehearsal risks falling apart, but the deviations always drift back to the song. The opening anthem is followed by a nice and slowly sentimental whiskey-sippin’ number; and of course you can’t end the side without getting revved up first. Side two starts with an almost baroque take on “River of Sem,” followed by the sweetly casual “Elizabeth” and a breathtaking dirge to wrap things up. Originally released as a cassette (Near Tapes 2008).
Crossed With Leaves
(Quemada) 7-inch $9.00
The bleak punk / dark folk solo outlet for Sean Bailey’s not-so-cheery take on the world picks up where Winter’s Blade (Inverted Crux) left off — with an extra level of heavy and gloom. Bailey’s been a constant presence in the Melbourne musical landscape for years, running his label and doing his bit for the sprawling hypnotic tinkering of Paeces, the stripped down punk of Wasted Truth, the goth punk of Tax, and the new wave shenanigans of The [Australian] Vivian Girls.
I Hit A Wall
(Quemada - QUE004) 7-inch $8.00
An anthem for the ages that lurches and stumbles, makes strides, waltzes and wobbles, backed with a track that charges through the muck and rides an early '90s Port Chalmers groove. Artwork by Anthony Riddell of Volvox.
Hey Come My Way
(Quemada - QUE003) 7-inch $8.00
The debut of prime bummer pop by members of Mad Nanna and White Woods, with a bit more jangle and hook than is typical of the former, sloppier than the latter.