LULU'S MAY 2020 NEWSLETTER

Here is the May 2020 Newsletter and Calendar, 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:

AMYL & THE SNIFFERS “LIVE AT THE CROXTON” 7"

ENO & THE WINKIES “LIVE AT THE BBC” CS

PRIMO “SOGNI” LP

MAY 2020

How’s everybody doing? Settled in a bit? Going stir-crazy? Terrified of the outside world, or itching to get back amongst it?

I know we said this last time but it bears repeating - fuckin’ weird time huh? Thanks to everyone who’s grabbed mail order over the last month and kept us afloat. We’ve got some really exciting things comin’ in the next few weeks; some great new records, zines and tapes on the way that we can’t wait to share with you.

We’ve continued to work on the new shop, trying to make the best of a shitty sitch and have it set up as nice as possible for when we’re able to open.

If you’re able to, cop one of our new Yuta Matsumura designed tote bags, or one of the extremely fresh t-shirts and crews with the Jimmy Numann design, and you’ll be all set for your hot dates and rock shows once this is over.

Much like last month, we will continue to operate mail-order only until we feel it's safe to open the new doors. Free postage for all Australian orders. We ask that if you live outside of Melbourne that you please order more than one item if taking advantage of free shipping. Orders on the north side of Melbourne will be hand-delivered by one of our friendly staff in an effort to minimise postage costs, (hi to everyone we’ve seen over the past month!)

We are practising hygienic handling of records and packing materials and we have a post office right up the street. Every measure will be taken to ensure our staff and community are safe while trying to keep Lulu's going.

This newsletter features the first of a two-part series on Great Sports Docos for you to injoy in iso. Penned by our own Tom Bradford, let him show you the path to entertainment AND information.

On top of the releases written about here, we’ve also been smashing the following;

~SUNNYBOYS “MELBOURNE UNI 1981” CS
Unbelievable live tape of Sunnyboys playing Melb Uni six months before the release of their first LP.
~MOLLY DYSON “INTERFACE” ZINE
A series of illustrations by Molly Dyson inspired by spectrum computer game package design. Risograph printed in three colors.
~LIFE STINKS, I LIKE THE KINKS “#5” ZINE
WRITING ON THE KINKS, DRUNKENNESS AND CRUELTY, SALT N PEPA, RUBELLA BALLET, THE SOPRANOS, 50 CENT.

 AMYL & THE SNIFFERS “LIVE AT THE CROXTON” 7“
ATO Records

Amyl and the Sniffers played something like 250 shows in 2019. If gigging was a sport they’d be fucking Olympic athletes, that might explain the whole tracksuit thing too. If you haven’t seen them live you’re a dickhead, they really are one of those bands that explode on stage with equal parts magic and chaos. This recording does a great job at capturing some of that energy. The band sounds huge, Amy sounds pissed off, what more could you want? Now that gigs are cancelled, this 7” recorded live at The Croxton is probably the closest thing you’re gonna get to hearing some live music for a while.
YS

 ENO & THE WINKIES “LIVE AT THE BBC” CS
BBC

Shortly after the release of Here Come The Warm Jets, Brian Eno began preparations on his first solo tour. His studio mates who played the record were tied up with their own projects, so he instead commandeered English glam pub-rock band The Winkies as his backing band and hit the road. The Winkies were a far cry from Fripp and the rest; adding a (arguably) much needed dose of spontaneity and backbone to Eno's tightly crafted tracks, admittedly at the cost of technical proficiency.

The tour itself was a total disaster, falling apart six gigs in when Eno's hard partying left him with a collapsed lung and extended hospital stay. After this Eno gave up touring altogether, and his stint with The Winkies would be all but forgotten if they hadn't tracked two BBC sessions during their short time together.

These tapes offer a glimpse into a alternate reality in which Eno, instead of branching out away from rock music, took what he was doing with Roxy Music to its logical conclusion. We hear classic Eno tracks disconnected from his studio wizardry and instead played hard and loud. Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch is near unrecognizable, a goofy prog number transformed into a swaggering glam anthem. Their cover of Fever a swampy, camp dirge.

Eno reportedly hates these tapes, which is why they've never been officially released in any form. He's wrong though; they rule, and are an essential document of a period of wild experimentation.
SE

PRIMO “SOGNI” LP
Anti-Fade

Primo's mastery was hinted at on their Primo Casseto demo (2016) and confirmed on their Amici LP (2018): short, sharp songs that distilled everything vital about the generosity and purity of expression in the TV Personalities, the crafty minimalism of Wire, and that entire community of UK DIY post punk bands celebrated for their messy-aesthetics and resilience through economic depression and social disarray. Sogni is their new LP, and it's the affirmation we needed in 2020. Primo rules.
DX

BRADFORD’S SPORTS DOCO ROUNDUP
Isolation has Tom digging deep into the great cinematic genre of the sports doco, sorting the muck from the gems and providing you with only the best there is to offer. Let him take you on a tour of the greats. This is part one, do your homework and watch these over the next month and we’ll see you in June for part two.

ESPN 30 For 30: The Two Escobars (2010) Football
The crown jewel in the ESPN ‘30 for 30’ documentary catalogue. The Two Escobars follows the involvement of Pablo Escobar, along with various other South American drug cartels, in Columbian football. You can’t make up how wild this story is; Pablo hosting private games at his estate against rival cartel bosses, fielding teams with the best players in the continent (flown in on private jet planes) for the enjoyment of these crime kingpins who all own Football clubs in the domestic Columbian competition. The film features a look into the notorious and shocking incident involving Andreas Escobar - a Columbian football star being murdered the day after scoring an own-goal in the 1994 World Cup. Part sports film, part true crime thriller - this one is essential viewing.

The Final Quarter (2019) AFL
The AFL likes to trump itself up as a leader on social issues, more woke (or at least less problematic) than the NRL, it’s rival competition in Australia. Whilst that’s true in a lot of ways, it would be fair to say that the lip service paid to Indigenous athletes and the league’s addressing of the plight of racism around the game over many years has left a lot to be desired. The Final Quarter tells the story of the Sydney Swans’ Adam Goodes; a club captain, premiership footballer, and Indigenous Australian, and his treatment at the hands of fans, media, and the AFL governing body during what were to become the final years of his career. What began with a person in the crowd yelling a slur directed at Goodes during a match, spiralled into chaos and led to a premature retirement. The events which unfolded were, for the lack of a better word... intense (to say the least) and it’s almost hard to believe they took place just a few years ago.

The Final Quarter’s raw storytelling genius is that its narrative is formed only by the stitching together of an array of clips from the Australian media at the time as it transpired. What we’re left with is a stark, compelling and confronting look at the league, the crowds, the media, the culture, the attitudes, and the nation as a whole. What we’re left with is the reality that Australia’s past is still very present. What we’re left with is the emphatic reminder that we’ve still got a long way to go.

When We Were Kings (1996) Boxing
A surreal look at the famous “Rumble In The Jungle” fight that took place in Zaire in 1974 between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. Getting a candid technicolour look at Africa in the mid-70’s alone would be enough to have made this a great doco, but there’s more to it than that. The event transcended sports in a way that has since made it a reference point for the power of sport as a cultural phenomenon, its capability to unite and divide, its platform as an agent for social change.  It’s easy enough for the boxing match itself to almost become an afterthought as it’s dwarfed by the immense impact of everything surrounding it. But this is Ali at his spitting best - the sharpest tongue there was – an immortal figure both inside and outside the ring. One of the most significant moments in modern sporting history and one of the most unique sports documentaries you’ll ever see.

ESPN 30 For 30: Steve Bartman - Catching Hell (2011) Baseball
An unnerving look at the role of scapegoating in sport. Catching Hell looks at one of the most infamous moments in baseball history. Chicago Cubs fan Steve Bartman has a ball come his way during a playoff game, he tries to catch it. Due to a technicality, the ball isn’t called a foul ball, therefore negatively affecting Cubs score. Subsequently Bartman is singled out on live national television, booed by thousands of fans around him, and escorted from the stadium. Bartman is blamed for keeping the Cubs out of the World Series for the 58th straight year and becomes a recluse requiring police protection. Bartman has never spoken since. There’s a parallel plot of the similar condemnation Bill Buckner (you might remember him from Curb Your Enthusiasm) faced after letting a ground-ball go through his legs at a critical juncture in a Boston Red Sox World Series game. Buckman’s story alongside Bartman’s almost feels like a footnote but makes for an enthralling watch the whole way through.

Year Of The Dog (1997) AFL
There’s a severe lack of quality behind the scenes AFL documentaries, but this warts-and-all look at the Footscray Football Club from the mid-nineties almost makes up for it. A rare look at the proto- professional era of our game, at a time when the game was undergoing the growing pains of its expansion from a strictly Victorian sporting code to a national competition. Year Of The Dog follows the sacking of coach Alan Joyce and the subsequent handover to Terry (read; Plough) Wallace, who steals the show. What this doco lacks in slick production value is made up by its rawness, honesty and sincerity. The best AFL doco there is. Carn the Year Of The Dog.

ESPN 30 For 30: This Was The XFL (2016) NFL/Pro Wrestling
Vince McMahon is better known for being the outrageous CEO of the WWE but did you know in 2001 he attempted to start a rival American football competition to the NFL? Of course you didn’t.  Can you guess what the X in XFL stands for? Of course you can. Partnered with NBC head Dick Ebersol, the two promise to deliver a competition with more violence, wilder characters, different rules and an overall a better product. What transpires is a hilariously wild series of events that ends in a 60 million dollar failure. The most entertaining 30 for 30 to date. Side note: they just got this project off the ground again in early 2020 and it has since been crushed by the near universal halt of live sports which followed not long after. Rumour has it that Vince is PISSED.

Senna (2010) Formula One
Ever wondered about Formula One racing? Me neither. This film makes good sense of the sport that most don’t really consider a sport. Senna’s excellence lies in it capturing what was quite probably the most interesting era of its history; a time when it had fierce rivalries, scandal, deaths, and… well, wild crashes. From a time before the on-board computers took over and the sport was much more reliant on a driver’s skill. Senna predominantly focuses on the rivalry between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, as well as the political machinations of the governing body. A brilliantly made movie from the director who gave us documentaries on Amy Winehouse, Oasis and Diego Maradona (reckon this guy likes cocaine?) so you know it’s good.