LULU'S MAY 2024 NEWSLETTER
LULU'S MAY 2024 NEWSLETTER
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LULU’S MAY '24
This month:
MOM GALLERY NEWS
Lots of fantastic releases to celebrate this month. Hope your Hardcore Victim hangover is easing, big love to Yeap and Bernie for organising a killer weekend and gracing our city with a store favourite for many years, the mighty Kriegshog.
Til next month,
Love, Lulu's
MOM GALLERY NEWS
Hey crew
VAMPIRE are sucking and spitting the poison out, transmuting the ill-humours into something more hopeful and bountiful or at least making room for something . Their debut LP lacks much of the loose rock and roll flow that I feel really suits their Anarcho Punk sloganeering when they heat up the live stage but the remaining key elements are still present for the proletariat to spin at home. Nothing To Hold would be considered a classic of the genre if it were on one of the 80's compilations, likely spawning its own imitators, and Polite Words manages to sound like a spare from the cult cut BAD CHOICE demo. It might be easy to presume that anarcho/peace punk is a little too soft around the edges but don't be fooled you sucker because while they aren't shy about wearing a few feelings on their sleeve this record is filled with toughness flexed up to the high heavens. It's this flammable mixture of earnest pleas for sanity and gritted teeth aggression that makes VAMPIRE one of most vital punk bands in the country and likely one of the best in their genre the world over right now. I hope the next one is recorded on a busted 8-track in a dank squat somewhere just like CRASS intended because this band has the ability to wash away some sins for the rest of us.
Defeatist Sprawl is MidSizedSedance and Bayang (Tha Bushranger) and these two brought the absolute hard bangin' fire on this most auspicious and wretched day. There were only a dozen or so brain cells left intact leading up to their set and even less by the time they finished - but the critical damage done to brains was offset by a massive spirit buff. An excellent final boss experience after runnin' the dungeon. The music is legit too hectic to describe in accurate detail so I'll drop some scrawled study notes: Mean MC, high BPM, D'n'B, punk and metal colourings, "I will gabber on your grave." Proper naughty. Real Sydney shit. Long live the harder styles!!!
Traversing from the heavy industraliana to more cinematic, possibly even anthropologic sonicscapes, J CAMPBELL makes attempts to uncover the buried on his latest LP. "Deep contemplation" is probably the feeling I can most assuredly pinpoint across the album while musically feeling like middle period Ulver or an alternate universe Matmos. It's quite the feat to capture some of the feeling of watching the sun's beams dance through clouds in the sky while their cast shadows appear to have two left feet, as you ponder the view of a site most ancient and serene. There is no doubt that J CAMPBELL has thoughts far beyond "that looks nice" when reaching the zenith view at the peak of a mountain trail, instead feeling a reverence and understanding that one is stood where countless others throughout the ages have also stood. That there casts your mind to a special place, one almost outside of time, and that there is the feeling evoked across EROSION OF MEMORY's thirty-ish minutes. Awe, and deep contemplation.
MINIMAL IMPACT - "CONSUMPTION OF SIGNS #3" ZINE (Minimal Impact)
"Complete toner worship."
Each page was cut and glued into place to ensure utmost DIY authenticity in this Xerox Noise Thrashed Dead Tree assembly. While every care has been taken in the preparation of this document, no respoinsibility is accepted by the publisher and its contractors for any errors or inaccuracies. "Consumption of Signs #3" focuses on gritty reupurposing via combination and destruction, befitting an experimental electronic
LOLA EVE AND BENJAMIN BORE - "INVISIBLE CITIES" ZINE & CS (Self Released)
INVISIBLE CITIES is made of obscure glimpses, the zine was "initially imagined as a book constituted of Super 8 stills". Accompanying the CMYK and risograph printed material is a 16-track cassette made by the editors/artists and drop-ins to their residence in Paris. The project encourages you to make connections between sights, sounds, symbols, ideas, et al. To aid in that process we here include eleven thematic groups attributed to a literary marvel sharing the same title:
- Cities & Desire
- Cities & Signs
- Thin Cities
- Trading Cities
- Cities & Eyes
- Cities & Names
- Cities & the Dead
- Cities & the Sky
- Continuous Cities
- Hidden Cities
CHUCK SENRICK - "DREAMIN" LP (Numero Group)
Really sweet & charming DIY home recordings from a master of the Rhodes organ sound. A really beautiful rainy day mood board that lends its hand to some jazzier moments & vocal range on par with that of someone like either Rodriguez or even Cat Stevens. Plays around with a very minimal set-up that is very cleverly delivered with soft humility that never corns around or breaks you down, allowing listeners to just simply float along to the extremely pleasant & distinct marriage of the percussion patterns & natural sound created by the Rhodes Piano.
DAVID NANCE - "DAVID NANCE & MOWED SOUND" LP (Third Man Records)
The Omaha native returns with his first cut for Third Man. Recruiting a bunch of Omaha players, Nance stays true to his ever growing brand of an Alt-Country aesthetic backed by a suitable yet tasteful southern drawl. Those familiar with the Nance should know what to expect with the front bar anthems, extended jams & nods to Neil Young, a bit of Gram & maybe even some more Kinksier moments here. Side note: Rolled through The Tote a couple of years back to rapturous applause.
LINDA SMITH - "NOTHING ELSE MATTERS" LP (Captured Tracks)
A lot of folks might’ve been first introduced to the work of Linda Smith via the now legendary Efficient Space ‘Sky Girl’ compilation which opened with the ethereally beautiful & warm acoustic remedy of ‘I So Liked Spring’. Following the release of Sky Girl, Captured Tracks released an excellent collection of 4-track recordings from the New York native in 2021 & have now released a further two full-length LP’s this year, including the really really brilliant ‘Nothing Else Matters’. Recorded on a more expansive & less tape-y sounding 8-track sometime around 1995, the alluring charm of Linda Smith’s DIY pop energies are reminiscent of fellow masters of the craft such as Cleaners From Venus, Tall Dwarfs or Young Marble Giants (covering the latter on the final track ‘Salad Days’). The delightful choruses & sweetener than sweet melodies play into the spirited poppy ethos as the minimal snare, floor tom & tambourine percussion arrangements tag along to increase the charm. Any fans of the recent Julia Macfarlane’s Reality Guest LP or anyone who was anticipating the long awaited return of Parsnip should be absolutely chuffed with this little gem. Easily one of my favourite listens of the year so far.
THE MEN - "TOMORROW’S HITS" (Sacred Bones)
‘HITS’ indeed. The Men shamelessly going full-blown Stones & it absolutely bangs. Showcasing depth & innate ability to write a fucking tune. Maybe flew under the radar at the time of release/is the least psych leaning thing i've heard from 'em but its a hell of a goddamn time. FFO The Cowboys' From The Bottom Of A Rotten Flower.
SAADA BONAIRE - "1992" (Captured Tracks)
Originally conceived as a genre exercise in blending dub, reggae, disco & Arabic music, Germany via New York’s Saâda Bonaire is a bonafide floor filler. The collection of tracks found here on ‘1992’ were scrapped & placed into the ether after an extended period of dissatisfaction with the shift towards a more new jack swing/trip-hop territory. After founding member Ralph ‘Von’ Richthoven re-discovered these demo tapes sitting in the attic of a relative's house, he struggled to remember the exact reasons why they were ever ditched in the first place &. re-discovery of the Saâda Bonaire ethos was unearthed - ‘togetherness & harmony in impossible fashion/the foreign becoming familiar’. Feeling as if this was somewhat under appreciated upon its 2022 release as the breakbeat genre melting moods & sultry vocal delivery of 90’s Saâda Bonaire feel like an absolutely spot on accompaniment to the legendary status of the self titled 80’s era LP. Hell of a thought provoking boogie for the right reasons.
PARSNIP - "BEHOLD" LP (Anti Fade)
PARSNIP at their most self assured, this is surely their coolest material yet. Playing nice and loose with a confident-but-still-a-little-
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