LULU'S FEBRUARY 2024 NEWSLETTER

Here is the FEBRUARY 2024 Newsletter and Calendar, emailed at the start of the month to our mailing list and physically available free in store.

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LULU’S FEB '24

This month:

J. MCFARLANE'S REALITY GUEST - "WHOOPEE" LP

550BC / POURIA KHOJASTEHPAY - "CRIME WAVE T—-—N" BOOK

550BC / POURIA KHOJASTEHPAY - "5" BOOK

THE COMES - "BALLROOM OF THE LIVING DEAD" LP + MAGAZINE

EXIT PLOOM - "DEMO" CS

ACOPIA - "ACOPIA" LP

HACKER - "PSY-WI-FI" 7"

SIN TAX - "ABNEGATION" 7"

New year, new Lu! 

LSD Club’s latest hitmakers, The Lewers, will be making the journey down south for the first time to launch their gorgeous debut album - ‘518A’.

Joining them are rocky who make their live debut after releasing their fantastic album on LSD Club in 2023. Along with the experimental ambience of Troth, local les enfants terribles TB Ridge As The Director with their rock and roll hearts, and a-brand-new-band-you-do-not-want-to-miss Casino.

A portion of ticket sales will be used to fund support for Palestinian families. All proceeds from records and posters sold at the event will be donated to El Rahman Inc. and Pay The Rent. Bring your friends, bring your heart.

MOM GALLERY:

THE ARTWORK OF WINTER GARDEN RECORDS

An exhibition by @spiderxdeath

Opening Friday Feb 2nd from 6pm.

Need I say more? No, but I will.

MOM is very proud to present a retrospective exhibition of Winter Garden records, a boutique lathe cut record label, founded by tattoo artist Spider X Death.

The name is taken from the apartment back where the label was first born, many years ago in the turbulent suburb of Kings Cross, NSW.

After decades of playing in many punk and hardcore bands, Spider stepped away from the mic and lived in the shadows…

Each wintergarden release is hand crafted and cut on a record lathe in true diy fashion.

This method can create a lofi sound in the records (especially in the earlier releases), so to compensate, Spider creates over the top artwork, packaging and concepts for each release.

These records are extremely limited and usually sell out in a day or sometimes an hour . Record fanatics would murder each other just to get a glimpse of a WG record.

With that in mind, for the first time ever, Spider is exhibiting all the artwork from the majority of these releases. To coincide with this event, Winter Garden will be releasing a limited Straight Jacket Nation fanzine 7” pack, which also comes with a beautiful poster and patch!

Come down early to avoid disappointment and witness Spiders first ever solo show in Melbourne .

Record collectors are potential millionaires….


Ticket link here!

J. MCFARLANE'S REALITY GUEST - "WHOOPEE" LP

In the House of Lu, we love a sonic heel turn. Truly the time for it; we're a month into 2024 and on reflection New Blue Sun might be my album of 2023. Also, have you heard the Alanis Morissette ambient album from 2022? It's not necessarily good, but it is weird in a fun way (which makes it a specific kind of good). J. McFarlane's Reality Guest place themselves firmly within that creative zeitgeist with Whoopee, a delightful dip into trip-hop and murky breakbeats from the weirdo-pop outfit.

While Ta Da felt like the logical conclusion of the direction Jules was moving through late-era Twerps, Hot Topic and then Blank Statements, I wouldn't have guessed how literal a conclusion that turned out to be. With Whoopee, McFarlane moves into entirely uncharted territory - a sharp turn away from stripped back hooky skronk, plunging into a deep lake of dreamy fog and breaks.

Employing a new breathy, off-the-stip vegas voice, Julia leads us through what might be her most cohesive record yet. Notably less playful than previous projects, Whoopee instead marks out a space to stretch out in, and as a result is able to take us on much more of a guided tour of its little world.

Lead single Slinky feels like the one connective tendon between Ta Da and Whoopie; structurally it feels like a classic Jules track, albeit with buried breaks and a dubby trumpet lead. From there on it's all new; exploring similar territory to contemporaries Acopia, Th Blisks and YL Hooi, Whoopee leans very much towards the pop end of the current trip-hop revival.

Like many trip-hop turns of the mid-90s before it (Ryuichi Sakamoto's Smoochy springs particularly to mind), Whoopee rewards repeated listens. Trust it, let it wiggle under your skin.

550BC / POURIA KHOJASTEHPAY - "CRIME WAVE T—-—N" BOOK

December 2023
Edition of 550
Hardcover with duotones and red foil title
164 pages, 95 images
36 images with gloss spot-UV treatment
Dimensions: 26 x 20 cm

The First Edition was published in December 2018

‘‘In life, a man must either become angelic or human or animal. I have become none of these things.‘‘
Explore the gritty underworld of Tehran's gangland through the captivating story of a notorious gangster known as ''The Eagle of Iran'' and his associates. Dive into their criminal mystique, marked by tattoos with poetic stories, facial scars, and flashy rings. These gangsters, unapologetically flaunting their masculinity, draw inspiration from traditional notions of strength and control. Posing in tea houses to sharing snaps from notorious prisons, and revealing a complex bond with Shīʿa Islam. Unravel the profound impact of martyrdom on these criminals, as they navigate the echoes of war and seek redemption in the sacred shrines of Iran. Step into their turbulent reality, where the line between sin and sacrifice becomes blurred.

Live recordings of the Japanese hardcore punk legends!

EXIT PLOOM - "DEMO" CS

Bomba crusting punnkk noise from the upper crust of Southern Lands (QLD, duh). Think mid temping paces ala His Hero Is Gone & Tragedy (perhaps those bands have fallen out of fashion in recent years but we all know they wrought thorough destruction and deserve their place in the enormous halls) with a uniquely arid take on vocal protestation. EXIT PLOOM will carry on into the atmosphere and this nucleustic beginning ushers an age of a new eucharust to come.

ACOPIA - "ACOPIA" LP

ACOPIA built a lot of buzz across 2023 and this record encapsulates it nicely; gorgeous downtempo electronic dream pop. There's a nice sponginess to the production, everything sitting gently, never hitting too sharply which aides the process of total absorption. The production is high caliber even if it's more of a sway record than a dance record. ACOPIA recalls the prettiest moments of Slowdive (probably more so the remixes than the album cuts) but it doesn't look to the past too hard, there's more of a modern sadclubkid energy, a little more pastel meets fluro with ironically fitting denim jeans y'know? Anyway, after the record has been spinning for a little while it's hard to turn off. It just sounds so damn nice, and more than that, it feels... like it's meant to be heard. Rather than begging for your attention it just gently takes you by the hand. Like a quiet walk when you peel away from the bar for a minute with someone your heart is intertwined with, at least for a moment. That's what this record feels like.

HACKER - "PSY-WI-FI" 7"

“You wouldn’t download a car.” Yes I would and I’d blast this loud. Slammin’ fresh dose of hardcore virus from HACKER. Released by genre stalwarts @heltaskeltarecords and @beachimpediment they have provided 32-bit tracks to power up to. The easiest sonic reference would be The Rival Mob, HACKER crunch their way through Nu Scene Bostonian swingin’ riffs with rude punchy drums and a vocal delivery that is frankly intimidating. Nell was on one. And that bass tone is so gluggy, just submit and gulp it down I reckon. This joint is mean. Let it drip out all over the place. How do you kill it? Ask HACKER: they know.

SIN TAX - "ABNEGATION" 7"

ABNEGATION IS A FANCY WAY OF SAYING YOU REJECT EVERYTHING. HARDCORE FOR DUMB. SOUNDS OF BEAST. SIN TAX. YOU ALREADY PAY.