LULU'S APRIL 2022 NEWSLETTER

Here is the April 2022 Newsletter and Calendar, emailed at the start of the month to our mailing list and physically available free in store.

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Featured in this newsletter:

ACOPIA "CHANCES" LP
UNSANITARY NAPKIN "ALL BILLIONARES ARE BASTARDS" LP
GAUZE - "言いたかねえけど目糞鼻糞" LP
GOOD LOOKING SON "FANTASY WEEKEND" LP
ERUPT - "LEFT TO ROT"
ANNA SAVAGE "QUEENS ROAD / SATURN AGAIN" 7"
CROW – “THE CROW” LP
THE PARTISANS – “THE PARTISANS” LP
RANDY UCHIDA GROUP – “DEATHLY FIGHTER” 7”
ICONS OF FILTH – “ONWARD CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS” LP
LES FLEURS DU MAL – LES FLEURS DU MAL” LP

Hey babes,

Sorry about the lack of a March newsletter; you know how it is atm. Got a bumper edition for you this month tho.

On top of all the beautiful and exciting new stock we have in, suss this month’s calendar! For better or worse, we’re well and truly back in it. March saw an opportunity to finally catch up with some old friends (thanks to Jerkfest), and see some new bands. Special shout-outs to Native Cats, Rapid Dye, R.M.F.C. and Pious Faults for making the trip - highlights all of them. Those new Native Cats songs are wild; keep an ear out.

Doesn’t look like that’s particularly slowing down in April, and that goes for us too. Got some cute things in the pipeline that we’re really excited to share with you all. In the meantime, stay safe, look after each other.

Love youse,

Lulu’s

NEW ARRIVALS

ACOPIA "CHANCES" LP
Companion

The sophomore release from Pjenné and Millú's Companion imprint sees another incredible Melbourne bedroom project excavated and beautifully presented. The trio of Kate Durman, Lachlan McGeehan and Morgan Wright have spent the last two intermittently locked-down years crafting this album of exquisite bedroom dream pop.

At first bringing to mind Psychic 9-5 Club era HTRK or a silkier Portishead, the depths and particularities of Acopia's sound reveal themselves the further and deeper you listen. The world they build is all of their own; ruminations of self and self-worth; songs about break-ups and moving on and un-break-ups. Swirling and creaking around some of the most effortlessly slinky bass lines in recent memory.

A perfect morning album, twilight album, 4am album. Very highly recommended.

UNSANITARY NAPKIN "ALL BILLIONARES ARE BASTARDS" LP
Slimebag / AlwaysNeverFun / Limbless

Much like society this one is racing towards annihilation as fast as it can, with the occasional pause to trudge a boulder up the hill. Probably recorded in a war bunker in the lands of Mordor, this Aotearoa/New Zealand hardcore punk goes for the throat a la Limp Wrist, Los Crudos, early Straightjacket Nation etc. Unsanitary Napkin display their flair for the quick and the abrupt with some very smartdumb elements designed to jar and destroy - a Crass cover sounding more like a Deep Wound outtake is testament to the flavour of their aresenal of sour warheads. If you need some music to bash your head against the wall while trying to forget the state of affairs, this one comes highly recommended.

GAUZE - "言いたかねえけど目糞鼻糞" LP
XXX Records

What more is there that can be said about Gauze? They’ve been making loud statement for over forty years. They’re fast, they’re freaky, they’re creative as hell, they’re still totally slaying it. Their ability to jump between anthemix beyond belief to simply beyond belief is mental to say the least and worthy of study. The only thing I can perhaps add to the conversation is that the old tale about Gauze not actually playing that fast is a crock, and although the drums do race quicker and their songwriting is versed in the art of deception like they’re the devil, this is testament to their utter and undying needs for speeds. Gauze Forever.

GOOD LOOKING SON "FANTASY WEEKEND" LP
Feel It Records

Wild solo debut from the illustrious don of Bloomington, Indiana's Cowboys; Keith Herman.

At blistering speed, Herman pulls at all the different threads he'd previously explored during The Cowboys' five albums and seventy odd tracks. We hit his now familiar (but no less affecting) take on 70s power-pop, but then quickly dive into michevious garage folk and proggy pop numbers with similar ease.

An essential next chapter for anyone who's been following The Cowboys, as well as a perfect onboarding opportunity for fans of local contemporaries Traffik Island or even fellow power poppers Romero.

ERUPT - "LEFT TO ROT"
Cool Death

Erupt offer up five fiery tracks on Left To Rot. Treading the blurry lines between extreme punk and extreme metal, Left To Rot is a cacophony in all the right ways. Fast as, heavy as, nasty as. Featuring members of Sheer Mag, Geld and Gutter Gods - Erupt brings its own molten explosions to the surface. These burnt offerings are recommended for fans of Sodom, Celtic Frost, Iron Age, Warthog, Mindsnare and the other hordes of apocalypse old and new.

ANNA SAVAGE "QUEENS ROAD / SATURN AGAIN" 7"
Altered States Tapes

At first seeming like a departure from Altered States' usual mucky beautiful throbbing fare, the longer you sit with Frematle artist Anna Savage's debut 7" the more pieces of it's place in the lineage start falling into place.

Two tracks of spell-bindingly genuine folk that at times recall, if not strictly in sound then in feel and listener affect, similarly "music as magick spell" artists such as Reiko Kudo or maybe even the less grandiose moments in Virginia Astley's catalogue.

I feel like records like this used to come out of the Australian underground faster than you could keep up with them - mysterious missives that are beautiful and kind and playful and operate entirely within their own world. Maybe that's still happening and I'm finally getting old and slipping out of touch; either way, this 7" feels like a beautiful reminder of what underground music can be and what it is at it's best.

CROW – “THE CROW” LP
CROWMANIAX

Ironfist legends Crow rip and bloody tear it! Treble up your ears! Viva beating wings of hardcore! Falsetto era CROW is true! Are you?

THE PARTISANS – “THE PARTISANS” LP
Puke N Vomit Records

Their original line up consisted of people nicknamed Spike, Shark, and Savage. They started out playing covers of songs by The Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Ramones. They released an album in 1983 on a label called No Future Records. This is that album. It is right proper. Need I say more?

RANDY UCHIDA GROUP – “DEATHLY FIGHTER” 7”
CROWMANIAX

The mythical Randy Uchida of infamous G.I.S.M. brings the sounds of guitar in the schizoid mind – no longer held back by the rusty chains of punks hippies bondage this is glamouring heavy metal mania. Not for the false. Only Iron Maiden is real. Iron Maiden and Randy Uchida. R.I.P. R.U.G.

ICONS OF FILTH – “ONWARD CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS” LP
Puke N Vomit Records

This is just magnificent. Heavy (, man) Fight Back/Realities Of War era Discharge scourge here with enough grit to leave you mentally murdered and trampled six feet under foot. “Now We’re Getting Warmer/Sod The Children/Show Us You Care/Death Is The Only Release” is as raw and cynical a quaddie as you’ll find on any record, anywhere, any time. Go and lie face down in the mud with cold water trickling into your boots and a slight buzz on to get an approximation of what this feels like. Just embrace it, because despite what your survival instincts tell you, this is what real music sounds like.

LES FLEURS DU MAL – LES FLEURS DU MAL” LP
Puke N Vomit Records

Previously unreleased early 80's new wave punk featuring members from France and the UK. Really clappy and dusty recording the way it should be. Flat, moody vocals and a rhythm section that sounds like they hadn't played together for more than a couple months. Except for A-Side closer, “Warm Love” which belongs on every tragic romantic hand-dubbed mixtape from now until the end of time. A brilliant example of what made first-decade punk sound so vital - simple songs that didn't need great musicianship but relied on energy and a fuck off attitude. This has it all in spades.