[engl] Non-stop rocker Alien Nosejob, aka Jake Robertson, returns to earth with his second full-length record of 2020, finally bringing the high-octane hardcore punk side of the band to an LP. Hot on the heels of January’s "Suddenly Everything Is Twice As Loud" LP, Nosejob carries on their winning streak and wordy album titles with "Once Again The Present Becomes The Past", which instead follows in the footsteps of the November’s "HC45" 7; merging early 80’s hardcore and late 70’s NWOBHM. "Once Again The Present Becomes The Past" started life as a concept record about Australia’s first and largest air raid, the 1942 Bombing Of Darwin. However, while grappling with this heavy subject-matter, something from Norm Macdonald’s book, of all places, stuck with Jake: "The Present Became Past Again". History is forever repeating itself. It continues to happen. It will happen again. As the record took shape, it was fleshed out with the help of his new reel-to-reel recorder, turning crust and hardcore influences into the dark and cold array of songs documented within. Find out why Alien Nosejob is one of the rare signifiers of both quantity AND quality. 150gr vinyl come housed in a 24pt jacket with lyric insert and download card. Art by Ginklet. Mastered by Mikey Young. Everything else was done by Alien Jake themselves.

[engl] It’s been quite some time since the world last heard from Ausmuteants, they’ve been busy with more important things in life but the band is back with their silliest output yet. Ausmuteants are proud to present The World In Handcuffs, out April 26th this year on Anti Fade Records. Differing to previous Ausmuteants records, The World In Handcuffs was written (and narrated) entirely by guitarist Shaun Connor, as a concept album that explores a piss-take look on life from the perspective of a police officer. “Shaun joined this band cause he's into punk for some dumb reason that I don't understand. They've gone on all sorts of time-consuming tours, and Shaun just comes back broke and useless. They're always playing these loud shows that make sure Shaun is taken away from me for the night. We were walking around in Berlin once on holiday after tour, when Shaun and I were meant to enjoy some quality vacation time together. Some dude hit him up like "Hey man, do you play in Ausmuteants?" which was so embarassing. Ugh. Shaun looked pleased with himself, the worm. I'm pretty sure their most popular song is about jacking off, which probably tells you all you need to know about these idiots.” – Dom, the love of Shaun’s life. The record is split up into two sides that both include the exact same ten songs in different running orders – however, the A side features skits by Shaun in between songs and the B side doesn’t. So there’s a side for all occasions.

[engl] ‘The Beginning & End Of Cereal Killer” is the band’s first full length album to date and also their last release since 2016’s, “Demo’s EP”. The album was recorded over six weeks of tracking in the famous Geelong studios, “The Barracks”, before calling upon mastermind Mikey Young to sail his yacht across the bay and put his much practised mixing techniques into full effect. The result is mind-blowing. Cereal Killer gained worldwide success in 2016 after their headline performances at Glastonbury and Coachella festivals where they blew away hundred’s of thousands of adorning fans and reached international stardom. The band have not performed since 2018’s Old Bar show on August 17, in which a predicted 7,000 screaming fans crammed into the building. However, rumours of an album launch on August the 3rd this year are emerging, and tickets are predicted to sell out within the first hour of sale. "The Beginning & End Of Cereal Killer” will be out on all digital platforms from June 28.

[engl] "New Vietnam" is the first release from Melbourne rock and roll outfit Civic.

[engl] Living Eyes debut LP

[engl] Thirteen perfectly balanced, keyboard saturated songs 7lutter like 7lags threaded on a string: a collection of 7leeting thoughts stirred by the winds of Eighties pop. Riffs soar, the drum machine gallops and vocals are as carefully blended as a mango smoothie on a white-sky day. Modal Melodies is the duo made up of Violetta Del Conte-Race (Primo! / The Glass Picture) & Jake Robertson (Alien Nosejob, etc.) The group stemmed from a loose chat at Geelong’s Jerkfest in early 2021, where they made plans to help each other complete some un7inished demos. After emailing ideas back and forth through lockdown, they were soon able to be in the same room together to structure their quickly blossoming songs. Vio added vocals from home and Jake mixed them into their sessions. Six to eight months after making their 7irst arrangements, Modal Melodies had matured into this debut record. There’s something about a duo - something intimate and serious: it requires full trust and an act of balance. These are people who have listened to so much music they know how to make tunes in a way that seems intuitive. Karen Marks, Saada Bonaire and Lena Platonos have been mentioned as influences, but it seems like the biggest inspiration to cite came from each other. There’s an untamed instinct for melody, and layers like clouds, slowly rolling in. Drenched with colours and understated tension in parts, coupled with reckless joy, this album speaks to this moment.

[engl] When the Tree Bears Fruit is the debut album from Melbourne four-piece Parsnip. Following on from two 7-inches in the last two years, Parsnip’s first full-length is playful, poetic, propulsive punk. An album perpetually in motion, When the Tree Bears Fruit is just over half an hour of absurd, understated energy. There’s an immediacy to the sheer joy, velocity and whimsy of Parsnip’s delivery. Bass player and most-of-the-time lyricist Paris Richens is the first to admit that she finds inspiration in children’s verse and the sonics of nursery rhymes – “Sprouts” is an ode to plants in their first form, and “Trip the Light” is about the sheer joy of dancing. That said, Richens’ bandmates – drummer Carolyn Hawkins, guitarist Stella Rennex and keys player Rebecca Liston – are quick to remind her that nursery rhymes are almost always pretty twisted. No one is being baked into a pie in a Parsnip song, but they deal in themes of loneliness, longing, the unknown and the mundane, almost as much as they dream of travel and make a romantic spectacle of the everyday. Across the album, transport and movement recur as an image, mostly alluding to a dreamy sense of possibility: lead single “Lift Off” is a plea for a quick flight away, “Seafarer” is a voyage against nature’s adversity, and “Lighthouse Beacon” sees a hope in the distance. Ultimately, this is an album that invites its listener to join in its celebration: the record’s title, inspired by the ideas of guru and poet Sri Chinmoy, refers to the idea that a tree will grow fruit and it will be offered for anyone and everyone to share in. The band see this principle as it applies to their work – to sharing their joy and nonsense with the world, and hoping people will enjoy it.

[engl] After the demise of the Ooga Boogas in the Before Time, the four band members went their very separate ways. Being in that band was such an intense high pressure experience, some chillax time was well- deserved. Stacky recorded under the name Leon, Per joined Voice Imitator, Mikey recorded with The Green Child and Rich played in Drug Sweat. All quite deserving projects, but it was Leon's solo outing that garnered the most interest from public and industry alike. The demand for live shows led Leon to recruit Per from Ooga Boogas and a guy named Brad into his touring lineup. The trio was red hot, but inevitably the venues they filled required a fuller sound so Leon recruited Mikey from Ooga Boogas on second guitar. The gruelling touring schedule became too much for family-man Brad, so Rich from Ooga Boogas jumped in to fill his size 11s and off they went for another lap of regional Victoria. Eventually the question presented itself to this freshly-minted foursome: should they continue as Leon's backing band or strike out anew with a fresh identity? The answer came in a moniker too electrifying to resist; a name as clever, enigmatic and indeed, as powerful as the band itself. Power Supply. Back in the shed, jams became songs, jokes became lyrics and long afternoons spent together became the record you're now half- listening to while you yearn for your inbox. Listen though, and you'll hear life through the lens of Leon and the tactile tentacles of his pals. In The Time of the Sabre-toothed Tiger contains ten songs that listen so easy, you'll barely notice when they're gone.

[engl] Rory Heane and Jonno Ross-Brewin have been best mates since their first year of primary school in Melbourne's south-east, and have been playing music together since forming two-piece SeeSaw when they were 18 years old (Rory has also kept busy with the likes of The Blinds and The Stroppies). The seeds for Program were sown in the duo's sharehouse in 2016 when they began writing songs together on guitar for the first time, and the band sprouted in earnest the following year when old friends James Kane (The Faculty, Meter Men) and James Tyrell (Meter Men) were roped in on bass and drums respectively. Since then, the group has graduated from jams and house shows to regular gigs around Melbourne, adding keyboardist Jessie Fernandez (DARTS) along the way. October 2018 saw Program record with Anti Fade mogul Billy Gardner in his Geelong studio. The lightning sessions yielded the band's debut LP, Show Me. Also mixed and soon to be released by Gardner through Anti Fade, the LP will be the band's first release of any sort. The nine tracks on Show Me channel the deeply personal and often unfathomable nature of modern being through snarling, tangled riffs and power chords into a fresh brand of unhinged, modern Australiana - just as easy to dance to as is it to cry to. "It's personal heartache, disappointment, broader social panic, everyday confusion and a general acceptance of it all" says Jonno of the record's themes. The lead single "Motorbike", penned by Rory, showcases the band's knack for tight guitar harmonies, effortless noodling and endless charm. It's the electric twang of Neil Young with the cool swagger of Pavement. The Go-Betweens burning the Midnight Oil. Rory describes it as an anthem of frustration and self-doubt: "The protagonist sits static in traffic while a woman on a motorcycle whizzes past. It's a metaphor for your position in society: feeling stuck and watching haplessly as someone else zooms ahead".

[engl] "Smarts are a relatively new Australian band who began playing shows around Melbourne and surrounds towards the end of 2018. Combining frantic, yet taut and rapidly-paced rhythms amidst playful, almost child-like riffs and melodies that just about make you want to pull your hair out, Smarts are a sound of their own. The band stemmed out of a bedroom demo that was recorded for fun a year earlier by Billy Gardner (bass, vocals) and Mitch Campleman (guitar) in Geelong. After letting it collect dust for 12 months, they assembled a band to perform the songs live featuring Jake Robertson on drums and Sally Buckley on synth; and released the four-song demo cassette, “Smart World”. Stella Rennex later joined the band, largely filling out the sound with her eccentric saxophone parts. “Who Needs Smarts, Anyway?” was recorded by the band themselves over a weekend slumber in Geelong at the DIY studio setup; The Barracks, with finishing coats added in Melbourne before sending off to mix-master-Mikey Young in Rye. There’s a feeling throughout as if the whole thing could collapse into pieces at any moment, and just when you think it’s about to, Smarts weave their way out and into a new direction. Points of reference could be compared to the quirkiness of LA’s Suburban Lawns or Geza X, as well as citing influence from modern sounds like Japanese band Vodovo and the ever-evolving Midwest American punk scene. It could even be viewed as a refreshing and original extension of the so-called “egg punk” genre. The North American pressing of ""Who Needs Smarts, Anyway?"", limited to 400 copies, comes packaged with a double-sided risograph insert and download code. "

[engl] Alfresco is the debut album from Spiritual Mafia. The band played a handful of shows a few years ago, but found it near impossible to continue due to members spread across the far reaches of Australia. Try organising practice when some live in Victoria, another in Queensland, and another in the Northern Territory. Somehow Spiritual Mafia managed to record an album, and look forward to re- establishing their existence in a much-craved post-lockdown world. Validating the band’s semi-ridiculous name, there is something ‘spiritual’ about this album. Alfresco breaks things down to their basic elements. Lyrics focus on themes of water, food, and the human body. Primitive, yet timeless stuff. The themes are complimented by music as equally unpretentious. The riffs neglect any grandiose changes and keep hammering down upon the listener like a violent Mafioso collecting the interest and the principle. It’s a different kind of spirituality that one wouldn’t find in the background of a yoga class. But it does have a Zen aspect. Think Stooges or Brainbombs for no-brainer comparisons. But on top of the standard rock band instrumentation, add some cosmic synths, and healthy amounts of turntablism littered throughout the jams. Alfresco tries to remind the listener that if we forget our troubles for a moment and go for a swim (20 minutes after eating), then the world would be a happier place.