LULU'S AUGUST 19 NEWSLETTER

Here is the August 2019 Newsletter, emailed at the start of the month to our mailing list and sent hard copy with all instore orders.

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Featured in this newsletter: 

ENDERIE / CALL COMPATIBLE - VALUED MUTUALS CS

THE LIVING EYES - LIVING LARGE LP

BODY TYPE - EP I & EP II LP [UPDATE: SOLD OUT]

LES RALLIZES DÉNUDÉS - KYOTO 1970 CS [UPDATE: SOLD OUT]

INSTITUTE - READJUSTING THE LOCKS LP [UPDATE: SOLD OUT]

R. STEVIE MOORE - PIANO LESSONS CS [UPDATE: SOLD OUT]

JUMA - SELECTED WORKS 2LP [UPDATE: SOLD OUT]

THE STROPPIES - ENTROPY, AND OTHER FIRST HAND FAVOURITES CS [UPDATE: SOLD OUT]

Another month; we’re still here. It’s a trying time of year, for both body and mind, but we have been sustained, as always, by community and creation. It’s been an unbelievable month for music, both brand new and rediscovered, and it brings us so much joy to be able to share that with you. Always new sprouts, poking through the dirt and grimy snow.
We would like to remind you that if you should ever be in need of assistance in the creation of materials and the distribution of creation, we are always here and very willing to assist. We have access to a   photocopier and tape duplicator on site, and all staff are knowledgeable in their use. Lulu’s was always intended to be a place for the people, and a space that inspires and encourages creation; if we can ever assist in any way we welcome you with wide open arms.
The following are some of our favourite releases and rediscoveries of the past month; we look forward to what August will bring.

ENDERIE / CALL COMPATIBLE - VALUED MUTUALS CS
Andrew McLellan and Del Lumanta are both long-time, low-key paragons of the Australian underground. McLellan has long pushed boundaries and comfort-levels (against jazz heds, then punk heds, now club heds) via his Cured Pink alias. Now Andrew's moved down to Sydders, changed his name to Enderie and, from all reports, enthusiastically immersed himself in that scene, for the betterment of all.

Del, on the other hand, has been an integral element of the Sydney UG for the past few years, performing solo and within groups like VIDEO EZY, BASIC HUMAN & SKYLINE. Their tireless work in promoting, strengthening and uplifting the Sydney underground arts community has been felt in ripples down here for years, and we have enthusiastically looked forward to hearing whatever project they had for us next.

This split tape beautifully pairs the two; sharing what Meatspin calls "a playful approach to dance music." Playful being the operative word here - the cassette perfectly exemplifies a distinctive aspect of the Sydney scene that sets it apart from the often self-serious Melb - the ability to not take oneself too seriously, without actually trying to be funny or silly. There is a sense of humour here, but it's dancing round the edges, each side of the cassette giving a wry side-eye to the other. Mostly, these tracks pound. They are DIY club trax, but not in a "DIY Club Trax" way, ya know? Watch the bum bags move to this.

THE LIVING EYES - LIVING LARGE LP

Re-discovered copies of the thought-to-be-sold-out Geelong's resident Radio Birdman fans' second album - if you like Keith Moon drum beats and hot guitar parts that remind you of surfing sometimes, then you will enjoy this waxed up little slice. Anti Fade cult heroes strike again, and hey, tell your folks about this one because it might remind them of being a youngster and being reminded of surfing sometimes. 

BODY TYPE - EP I & EP II LP

Sophie likes cryptic crosswords, Georgia likes TV, Cecil likes hommus and socks (WORD), Annabel likes fun. Sounds to us like BODY TYPE like making nice, catchy pop bodies with a rock'n'roll heart inside them. There's that off-with-the-faeries vocal delivery that is hard not to like when you've got three women with cool and sweet voices all doing their thing, and guitar work plans in a loose and lackadaisical way with the back beat word is on the street drumming, it's the bass that contains the true rock n roll ancestry in the bloodline of this sound. The songs occasionally move away from the land of dreams and ether into harsher territories, but harsh as in B-52's at their absolute wits end. So no matter your body type maybe you should try this one on for size, hun. And don't forget to give TV, hommus, socks, cryptic crosswords and fun a re-visit and get back in touch with your body.

LES RALLIZES DÉNUDÉS - KYOTO 1970 CS

Possibly the most singularly unique entry in the vast LRD oeuvre, this recording stems from a particularly chaotic time in the band's history. In 1970, Les Rallizes Dénudés bass player Moriaki Wakabayashi was involved in an airliner highjacking undertaken by The Japanese Red Army, a radical far-left political group operating at the time to whom many in the band had ties. Following Wakabayashi's flee to asylum in North Korea, LRD frontman Takashi Mizutani became highly paranoid and all but dissolved the band, deciding he would continue the project as a solo folk outfit. Though the idea was quickly abandoned, he managed to record a short demo in a Kyoto studio during that period, the tapes of which form the basis of this release.
Displaying a completely different side of the band than anything heard before or since, these recordings are hauntingly fragile, with a tenderness not seen in the usually chaotic Les Rallizes performance. Another piece of the puzzle for the world's most enigmatic rock group.

INSTITUTE - READJUSTING THE LOCKS LP

For those already under the spell of Institute’s (NYC via TX, USA) take on punk music you’re already ready, willing and able to absorb this album. For those who haven’t already gazed into the eyes of Institute, it’s likely to be a sound that feels familiar to you. READJUSTING THE LOCKS is a tight n intense 29-minute ode to political dissatisfaction, social isolation and unabashed fury. Sophisticated yet perfectly snotty delivery,  there’s something uncannily Australian about the band’s six string razor (guitar) styles, but there’s a deep rooted connection to the 70’s & 80’s sound of middle America punk (with more than a hintly shade of post punk, too) such as is heard on the numerous totally-not-official but totally-blood-boiling plastic releases like your Killed By Deaths, your Bloodstains Across Wherevers, the godlike reverberations of The Dead Boys still being felt. The record is a bad day at a grey beach to top off what was already a shitty vacation – and it doesn’t revel in the dissatisfaction, but throws it right back. So kick back and let the jams kick out, while you sit with the fact that nothing’s getting better any time soon. After all, why be happy when you can be real?

R. STEVIE MOORE - PIANO LESSONS CS

R Stevie Moore is a very hard man to categorise. He's spent his entire life seemingly avoiding and denying classification. So far he's released over 400 albums. Piano Lessons was first released in 1977 and it's got everything. Outsider disco, soft bedroom lounge songs which remind of Patrick Cowley's more intimate tunes, to songs that sound like MC5 dropped the vocals and got toy synthesisers instead. It's off its head. Writing can't do RSM any justice so give it a listen or catch the doco at MIFF.

JUMA - SELECTED WORKS 2LP

In a sea of reissue labels mining the rich vein that was the 76-89 Japanese underground, Bitter Lake Records have once again set themselves apart by daring to dig outside of the sure-fire YouTube algorithm hits.
Perhaps no BLR record has put as much faith in its source material than this; a compilation of choice cuts from the six long form cassettes released between 1981 and '82 by Hiroshima based collective Juma. Virtually unknown even within their home country, Juma were a constantly rotating, very short lived outfit based at Yamaguchi University and revolving around one K. Yoshimatsu.
Across these nine tracks and two LPs Juma display a baffling breadth of style; uneasy industrial, hooky new wave, soaring ambience, all delivered with the unquantifiable DIY spirit that has come to define this scene. Limited to 250 copies worldwide.