LULU'S AUGUST 2020 NEWSLETTER

Here is the August 2020 Newsletter and Calendar, emailed at the start of the month to our mailing list and sent hard copy with all orders.

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Featured in this newsletter:

LOU REED "WE'RE NOT PLAYING: LIVE IN ALBURY 1977” CS

JAY AND YUTA “CONDEMNED COMPILATIONS” LP

CYBOTRON “COLOSSUS” LP

HAJI K “BLACK AGAINST AN ORANGE LINE” LP

FLOODLIGHTS “FROM A VIEW” LP [BACK IN STOCK SOON!]

V/A “NILE MIX 2” CS

FRAU “MIRA” 7"

FRAMTID “UNDER THE ASHES” LP

CIRCLE JERKS “WILD IN THE STREETS” LP

AUGUST 2020

2020, we at it again baby.

As we enter an official State Of Disaster, stage 4 restrictions grip Melbourne, and literal army officers patrol the streets, not much has actually changed for Lulu's. We continue to offer the same services we have been, and enthusiastically await a time when we’ll finally be able to open our doors to you all.

In the meantime we continue to offer free shipping Australia wide, and will endevor to offer you the most crucial that the Australian and international underground has to offer.

In this time of unparalleled uncertainly and widespread despair, it’s been nice to have things to focus on and an incredible community to fall back on.

In addition to what’s written about here, the following releases are also available and have been of high interest to us...

    ~ BÉLVER YIN “LUZ BEL” LP on EFFICIENT SPACE
    ~ ENDERIE “ENDERIE 3” USB on ANTEROGRADE
    ~ GELD “BEYOND THE FLOOR” LP on IRON LUNG
    ~ “OXY-ACE & RS6” BOOK from 550BC
    ~ BRENDAN PARKS “NEVER ALONE” ZINE
    ~ RADIO BIRDMAN “LIVING EYES” LP [REISSUE]
    ~ JON WATTS “MUSIC FOR 3 CDJS” 12" on BUTTER SESSIONS
    ~ “UNIVERSAL SOLVENTS #1” ZINE
    ~ PYRRHIC “PRESENT TENSE” CS
                                                                                XOXO LOVE LULU’S

LOU REED "WE'RE NOT PLAYING: LIVE IN ALBURY 1977” CS
Surgical Bootmaker

In 1977 Lou Reed embarked on his third tour of Australia in four years. Billed as "The Return Of The Rock'n'Roll Animal", the tour saw him driving down the east coast, stopping off at all the capital cities alongside, somewhat surprisingly, regional shows in both Newcastle and NSW/VIC boarder town Albury.

Upon his arrival into Albury, Lou didn't get off to a great start. A planned interview with newspaper The Murray River Rambler at the local pizza restaurant lasted all of one word, "hi", before Lou slipped into unconsciousness at the table. Apart from occasionally raising his head to take a sip of water, Reed was totally unresponsive and eventually had to be taken back to his tour van by his handler in an attempt to sober him up before the evening's performance. Said performance would also not go quite according to plan.

Held at the Regent Theatre, a still operating cinema that was briefly used for live performances in the 1970s, security for the event was handled by the local biker gang. The same bikies would lend Meatloaf a Harley to ride on-stage at his Albury show the next year; a show that also fell into chaos when Meatloaf became trapped under the bike as he attempted to dismount.

From the very beginning the vibe wasn't great. The show drew about 800 people, a sizeable amount for any regional town but one that nevertheless left the two tiered theatre auditorium looking half empty. Despite these perceived setbacks, the show actually gets off to a great start. Lou's band are in extremely fine form, especially local backup singer Jo-Anna Kamorin, and Lou himself warms up pretty quickly.

It all falls apart three songs in though, when ~someone~ throws ~something~ on the stage. Newspaper reports of the show say someone threw a lolly, whilst anecdotally it's also been said that somebody threw a beer. Whatever it is, Lou totally cracks the shits, stops the band and refuses to play any more, walking off stage.

In the following 25 minutes all hell breaks loose. The bikie security don’t exactly do much to quell the rising levels of violence and the police are called under the assumption that there could be a riot. Eventually, after a promise from the organisers that the audience would be on their best behaviour, Lou and band are persuaded to return to the stage.

Despite all that's happened, or maybe because of it, the rest of the set is red hot. I don't know if it was the antagonistic crowd, or maybe the extra lines they had the chance to do backstage in the downtime, but Albury is treated to stretched out and screwed up versions of all the hits, played with a ferocity that isn't often associated with this stage of Lou's career.

As both a unique curio of Lou Reed's relationship with Australia, and also a scorching document of this period of his career, "We're Not Playing" is invaluable. Highly recommended.
SE

JAY AND YUTA “CONDEMNED COMPILATIONS” LP
Research Records

Minimal Wave for Outsiders n Freaks. One of our favourite tapes gets the vinyl treatment from our comrades at Research Records.

Featuring Jay from Rangoons (etc.) and Yuta from Orion (etc.) making beautiful bedroom pop that recalls the sublime cleaners from Venus, the bizarre Legendary Pink Dots, Swell Maps more introverted moments.

CYBOTRON “COLOSSUS” LP
Dual Planet

Melbourne's CYBOTRON created a total beast in the 1970's and it's name was COLOSSUS; an absolute classic of Australian underground music. Part psychedelic soundtrack electronica, part hard rock. Part progressive, part primitive. Part man, part silver machine. CYBOTRON looked out over the sea of heavy blues Australian swagger towards another land and honed their focus on a thumping, percussive style which was just as heavy and bruising as their contemporaries yet with markedly more electronic and dark current. Also, it would be a glaring and unforgivable omission to not mention just how bonkers and brilliant the album art is. The LP falls somewhere between the styles of TANGERINE DREAM or GOBLIN and BLACK SABBATH or HAWKWIND. It's a hell of a trip to take, and like most good trips it will sweep you away, bend your mind and open your senses. So pick your poison, get on board and take ride with COLOSSUS. You won't soon forget it.
AC

HAJI K “BLACK AGAINST AN ORANGE LINE” LP
Daisart

On his first LP under new moniker Haji K, Melbourne based ambient artist Nico Callaghan's ’Black Against An Orange Line’, moves away from the digital synthesis of his previous works towards more classical ambient instrumentation to explore the concept of ‘home music’ - background ambience that reflects the day’s creative process.

Over four long form compositions it plays on the give and take between the daydream and the chaos of the solitary creative process - the pursuit of a peaceful disengagement from the outside world flowing from meditative and blissful to unsettling and chaotic with the potential for intrusion always lurking.

Utilizing an immersive sonic palette that contains echoes the Berlin school and some of Eno’s more transcendental moments, ‘Black Against an Orange Line’ is a challenging, engaging listen and highly recommended to all you contemporary ambient fans out there.
BH

FLOODLIGHTS “FROM A VIEW” LP [BACK IN STOCK SOON!]
Spunk

Y’know what I love about this record? It’s some kids who found a voice. Some of it is theirs, some of it is someone else’s. When it’s theirs, it’s theirs and it matters. When it’s someone else’s, its someone else’s and it matters. The voice of the land, the voice of the guilty, the voice of the betrayed, the voice of the participants in a difficult conversation - the voice of regret, the voice of pride... the 20/20 voice that sounds like your own the day or month after realising what you could or should have said. Some honesty.

Some of the music sounds like 80’s Australian Rock or Pop (the kind that was geared towards political lyrics and motifs pertaining to the uncertain & uncomfortable reckoning of modern Australia’s relationship to the Island Home we stand upon) and some of the music rests upon the other clear methods and style which have nested in the ears of those malleable heads with an ear to ground of Melbourne‘s brand of “dole wave” sound of the last decade or so. But don’t pick that scratch. A wound will open, one we struggle to conceal. But we can’t continue to cover up a true history that’s real.

Definitely emotionally vulnerable and crudely poetic, there’s not much Shakespeare here. Instead it’s something which feels just as vital our the times; young people using their eyes, ears and voices to share what’s important to them in a thoroughly thoughtful and meaningful way. Across the length of an album, which they’ve used the longer format wisely and patiently, Floodlights express stories of regret & hopefulness, what was & what could be, tales of corruption, greed and power inequality; regaling us with intimate memories which clearly left a powerful mark on the people penning such words. Expressing these experiences in a way that is plainly earnest and, to be be quite frank; chilling. Chilling, because, if you’ve lived in Australia and had a mind of your own, it is so painfully relatable.

It feels like the only ‘trying’ here is to do themselves and their songs justice, gratefully acknowledging that they have something they’d like to share and to not waste your time by doing so. Yes, the music is basic (perfect melodies and arguably stupid ones.) Yes, the words are obvious (but they wrote them and you didn’t, but you agreed with them didn’t you?). Although there’s a sense of dynamics, the album never gets fast, sometimes it feels like it mostly remains slow and simple. Sometimes they bend some big guitar parts and let the harmonica speak louder than the vocals. Sometimes they play parts that you honestly can’t help but sway or dance to.

Isn’t this what we want from the musical underground we so dearly cling to and celebrate? Isn’t this what we want from music full stop? Something to relate to? Something to swing our hips to? It’s a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world. Thanks for understanding.
AC

V/A “NILE MIX 2” CS
Self-Released

Following the release of the first Nile Mix last year, Shah Sharafi is back at it with another mix of Arabic and North African hits. The tape opens with some classic Arabic pop; there’s some Egyptian disco, Turkish psych, and thumping Algerian bass. The second side is heavy with female fronted disco, a lilting folk tune sung by a Turkish movie star, mixed with some Egyptian sandal surf. If none of that means anything to you, that’s why DJ Shah Sharafi is here; to open your mind and free that ass. 100% killer music and 100% danceable.

Best enjoyed blaring from the sub of a passing car (or tuk tuk) for the authentic listening experience.
AC + YS

FRAU “MIRA” 7"
La Vida Es Un Mus

Ear splitting UK punk record from 2015 that we managed to score copies of for 2020! The sounds is like a messthetics UK DIY punk gone bad - very minimal compositions laced with a harsh array of feedback and squall. Do u remember when Desperate Bicycles discovered meth and Disclose?

FRAMTID “UNDER THE ASHES” LP
La Vida Es Un Mus

Horrific noise from this Japanese hardcore titan. A monument to the tragedies of war in breakneck pace expressing a profound and mournful regret, refusing to look away from the grim history of war and mutilation.

One of the modern hardcore masterworks that your grandparents expect you to listen to. Don't disappoint family!

CIRCLE JERKS “WILD IN THE STREETS” LP
Faulty Products
 
Classic LA hardcore record from '82 gets the reissue treatment and it sounds fantastic. For those late to the party, Keith Morris was the singer from the first Black Flag era and formed Circle Jerks after his brief tenure ended as result of his drunken lack of discipline and poor personal hygiene. His unhinged nihilistic vocal presence and exceptionally stupid lyrics inspired many a drug addled party hardcore record, and Wild In The Streets is one of the OG of this critically misunderstood genre, a soundtrack to sniffing paint, shoplifting piss and getting evicted.