LULU'S MARCH 2024 NEWSLETTER
LULU'S MARCH 2024 NEWSLETTER
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Here is the MARCH 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 MARCH '24
This month:
LOU - "SOUNDTRACK" LP
ACIDWASHBIBLE - "MATERIAL GESTURES" 12"
We are still nursing the comedown from the Lewers and Rocky joint launch in Melbourne, and send our love and gratitude to everyone who helped make it happen. This is what we believe in. Above are some photos from the night.
What a strange little green band. They've been leading the growing army of egg punk infants for years now and it's not too hard to understand why. Their odd steps seem to be a few ahead of most others. In a subgenre ultimately being known for being "quirky" I think there might be some additional authenticity with Uranium Club that is missed by a slew of their contemporaries. It's still weird, but it feels a bit real. I guess I was always gonna mention Devo and this is where they come in; it's kooky but you still bite on it y'know? The immediate cross-pollinated comparison is Straw Man Army meets Fucked Up's Hidden World LP - but way more sci-fi. 2001: An Ovum Oddysey.
PHIL & THE TILES - "DOUBLE HAPPINESS" LP
(Legless Records)
Phil & The Tiles are one of those groups we've seen emerge locally in the last half decade or so who have taken advantage of a rich history of punk tunes. Instead of picking a narrow lane and monkey-see-monkey-doing, they've absorbed the spillage of decades, wrung it out into a nicked pot glass and downed it. While there are gems and killer licks and leads scattered across the whole album, my personal highlight is "Ode To Phil" which might just be an all timer. It serves as a prime example of Phil & The Tiles' secret weapon; lethargy as a tool. They'll sucker you in, invite you back to their place for a beer then rinse you of all your cigarettes but it's cool; they're in the band and you like their songs. Double Happiness indeed.
LOU - "SOUNDTRACK" LP
(Nice Music)
LOU (mostly solo project of Sarah Hardimen; ex-Deaf Wish, Moon Rituals, Brickhead) has taken a stark turn with their latest LP offering ten compositions to an imaginated film - or perhaps real life scenes through the lens of a window. Impressively heavy and direct in stretches, contemplative and folkish in others but always entirely experimental by its very nature, SOUNDTRACKS is a mighty and elusive piece of work. I'm imagining bad things happening in cars, rain streaked bleakness, Super 8 happiness, the fruits of copulation, examples of animal kingdom truths. LOU has done the hard work and it paid off, now you get to sit back and let the images flow. Beautiful record.
ACIDWASHBIBLE - "MATERIAL GESTURES" 12"
(Reprobate Recordings)
MATERIAL GESTURES is a talisman of toil and acid wash denim as a sign of salvation. The story goes that Charlie Monsoon (ACIDWASHBIBLE) was absolutely fed up and couldn't finish a song. Divine intervention intervened in the likeliest of places - a crappy motel - and the spark was back. A busy and tasteful record, it's a touch frayed and raw as far as production goes and sometimes that's the way it should be when the compositions are enthusiastically held together by sheer willpower. IDM (Intelligent Dance Music) always seemed an oxymoron because there ain't nothing that intelligent about dancing, maybe Think House doesn't have the same ring to it (I think it does) but it's nice to hear a dance record so finely straddling the erogenous zones of bliss, chaos, serenity and confusion. If Tuning Circuits was more influential in Europe this sort of music might have been more of an everyday affair (perhaps it is - I've never been there) but until I find evidence of that I'll be grateful for the trials and tribulations and unbreakable spirit that led to this disc.
ORDER - "ORDER" CS
(Self released)
Not a single piece of information is available about this tape. Other than it's the fact it's sick throbbing engorged electronic music.
A darkly frenetic collection of stabby, pulsating, and unnerving tracks which feel like they exist to be heard by or perhaps were created by sentient electronic beings. Reverberating 4/4 beats interlace with pneumatic sounding whooshes and high pitched whirrs straight out of the steel mill. This is total machine music, which the occasional droning key note only further asserts by making itself seem alien and galling. A highlight is the crushing crescendo on Anab when a stuttering synthetic drum pulse is forced out by mutated cacophonies of clicks and flickers like a hive of robotic bugs invading the heart of an android to feast and dance. Fans of Surgeon, Bladerunner. Listen at the gym for a surreal workout!
The second instalment in a masterfully curated series of ‘Sad Music’ from the good folks @anthology via Mikey Young features a bunch of ‘melancholic, good natured’ artists traversing the AOR landscape. One of which was predominantly otherwise dominated by more commercially backed contemporaries of the 1970’s. Every track featured here is a desperate outpouring of longing, loneliness, regret, remorse & above all else…..sadness. The beautiful melodies, jaw dropping arrangements, deliciously tasteful licks & ginormous sounding choruses make this feel like Nashville & Yacht Rock bonding over shared experiences of heartache & a fondness for malt liquor. Any fans of Sweetheart Of The Rodeo-like nostalgia/the Numero Group’s Wayfaring Strangers comp should ready themselves for some tears on this one.
Taxes, Shipping & Returns
Taxes, Shipping & Returns
MELBOURNE - INSTORE PICKUP AVAILABLE AT CHECKOUT
AUSTRALIA - FLAT RATE $9, FREE SHIPPING ON ORDERS OVER $75
INTERNATIONAL - POSTAGE CALCULATED AT CHECKOUT
