December Playlist

I took the last couple of months off from Roxy talks Music to recharge my batteries, binge on Netflix and try to make sense of this crazy thing called life. But now I'm back with a fresh new playlist for the holiday season. Of course it includes Run DMC's 'Christmas in Hollis' because, well duh.

On the subject of 'the holiday season', it can be a complicated time. Sometimes sad, sometimes joyous, sometimes riddled with anxiety. I'm getting some freaking awesome Lego this year, so colour me excited! Also, I suspect there may be a record or two waiting for me under the tree. Fingers crossed one of them is Juliana Hatfield's 1995 album 'Only Everything' recently repressed and released on coloured vinyl by Run Out Groove.

During my break from Roxy talks Music, I managed to catch the Mystery Lights at one of my locals. That's amazing for three reasons; one: I already knew and loved the Mystery Lights, two: they are a freaking fantastic garage rock band all the way from New York (which is worlds away from my regional Victorian city), and three: it only cost me ten bucks to see them live. Wow did they rock! They were super high-energy with a somewhat 1960's psychedelic, Westcoast sound. They sounded great, the crowd was pumped and it felt very much like an intimate jam session at times.

On a more sombre note, legendary Buzzcocks frontman Pete Shelley passed away this month. The Buzzcocks were hugely influential pioneers of pop punk. In Shelley's honour, I've included everybody's favourite Buzzcocks song 'Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)' on the Roxy talks Music - December Playlist. I hope you enjoy it.

May Playlist

I've been listening to a lot of new (and new to me) stuff lately and this month's playlist definitely reflects that. At the moment I can't get enough of the new album Blue Poles by Jack Ladder & The Dreamlanders. Jack Ladder is a singer/songwriter/guitarist from Sydney with a very new wave, Bryan Ferry sound (his real name is actually Tim Rogers, but there's already a Tim Rogers and, like the Highlander, there can only be one). 

When I'm not listening to Jack Ladder, it's got to be the glam/southern rock stylings of Kyle Craft, the post post punk rockers Parquet Courts or New Yorker, Shilpa Ray who blends punk rock with a 1960's pop sound similar to the The Shangri-Las or The Ronettes, but with a razor sharp edge.

And as the weather gets steadily colder, I'm embracing my fast approaching middle age by enjoying a glass of sherry in the evenings before bed. And with my glass of sherry, the smooth soulful sounds of Donny Hathway, or the great lady, Dusty Springfield. So pour yourself a glass of sherry, get comfortable, and tune into the Roxy talks Music - May Playlist...

Album Review: Dream Wife's 'Dream Wife'

2018
11 songs
Length: 34:39
Available to buy on vinyl or CD or digital download

Dream Wife are a British punk rock trio based in London. Comprising of Rakel Mjöll on lead vocals, Alice Go on guitar and Bella Podpadec on bass, the band released their self titled debut album in January this year to critical acclaim. Its super fun, sugar-coated punk pop, with Mjöll’s accent (she’s an Icelandic native) giving it a fresh sound.

Mjöll, Go and Podpadec met at art college and formed Dream Wife in 2014. The band is named after the 1953 romantic comedy starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr and romance is rife on the album; on songs like ‘Let’s Make Out,’ ‘Taste,’ and ‘Spend The Night.’ Although it’s a far more liberated brand of romance than the 1950’s version. The band count David Bowie and Madonna among their influences. I imagine this would be the kind of album Madonna may have made herself if she was a punk rocker in the 1980’s or 90’s.

The album mixes honeyed pop melodies and harmonies with raw garage rock. Mjöll’s vocal range is interesting; shifting from sweet to powerful with so many inflections in between. ‘Let’s Make Out’ is a prime example. On ‘Act My Age’ Mjöll seems to be channeling Karen O of Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Flashes of the 90’s rock band Elastica can also be heard throughout the album, in the mighty guitar riffs on ‘Fire’ and the catchy as hell, ‘Hey Heartbreaker.’

Dream Wife spruik a strong message of women’s autonomy. Songs like ‘Somebody’ (“I am not my body / I am somebody”), ‘Spend The Night’ (“Spend the night with me / I would like to know you better”) and ‘Let’s Make Out’ (“Or are you too shy? Or are we too shy?”) reject the notion of women’s sexual submissiveness; much like the Riot grrrl punk rock of the 90’s and bands like L7, Sleater Kinney and Bikini Kill. But Dream Wife are girly too, with the lush pop melodies of ‘Kids’ and ‘Love You Without Reason’ and herein lies their great appeal. Don’t get the wrong idea though, Dream Wife still have plenty of hardcore rage; ‘F.U.U’ attests to this.

‘Dream Wife’ is a brash and sparkling punk rock debut. It is party punk rock at its best and I can’t wait to hear more from this exciting new band.

Album Review: The Ghost Wolves' 'Texa$ Platinum'

2017
16 songs
Length: 39:31
Available to buy on CD or vinyl or as a digital download from Bandcamp

The Ghost Wolves are a two-piece garage, punk rock band from Austin, Texas. Comprising Jonny Wolf on drums, synthesiser and vocals, and Carley Wolf on vocals and guitar; the band’s name was inspired by Carley’s upbringing among hybrid wolves on her family’s Texas ranch.The duo merge a variety of musical styles like blues, rock and roll, punk rock, roots and swamp rock to create their own style, which they’ve dubbed ‘stomp 'n roll.’

The Ghost Wolves formed in 2010 and released their debut EP ‘In Ya Neck’ in 2011, followed by the seven inch ‘Getchya Hip Thrust.’ The band released their first full length album ‘Man, Woman, Beast’ in 2014 through the Nashville label, Plowboy Records. ‘Texa$ Platinum’ is the second full length album from The Ghost Wolves.

‘Texa$ Platinum’ has a raw sound that blends the genres of punk rock and blues masterfully. Searing, dirty guitars and untamed, pounding drums characterise the album, while the tracks are all really short and sharp. The opening track ‘Attitude Problem’ is distinctly punk, with high energy, distorted guitar riffs and Carly’s jarring vocals preaching rebellion and non-conformance. Other markedly punk tracks are ‘Journey On’ with it’s up tempo, simple and repetitive guitar riff, and ‘Whettin’ My Knife,’ which incorporates the band’s signature dirty guitars and Carly’s defiant vocals with some simple piano and synth that sounds like laser guns from a low-budget, 1960's science fiction film. Incidentally, outer space inspired synth springs up on various tracks throughout the album.

Most of the tracks on ‘Texa$ Platinum’ are blues heavy though. ‘Strychnine in My Lemonade,’ combines a bluesy bassline and up-tempo boogie style drumming with some crunchy guitar work for a blues rock feel. ‘Bunny Run,’ is tinged with bluegrass and ‘Triple Full Moon,’ is punk rock infused hillbilly blues. Blues rock is The Ghost Wolves bread and butter and they know how to serve it up every which way. The band has a sense of fun too, and their jovial style and blues country twang remind me of another American rock band, Southern Culture on the Skids.

Carley’s southern drawl and ‘heavy on the twang’, crunchy guitar riff coupled with Jonny’s easy going, pounding blues drumming make ‘Shouldn’t Have Lied’ the stand out track on the album. They could be channelling The White Stripes here, and they do it superbly. It’s a dramatic, impossibly cool number on which Jonny’s drumming shines.

The Ghost Wolves are an awesome punk rock band with a knack for a multitude of blues styles. With ‘Texa$ Platinum’ they have fused them all together to make one fine psychobilly album. It’s fun and it freaking rocks! ‘Texa$ Platinum’ will be on high rotation at my house for some time to come.

Album Review: Aye Nako's 'Silver Haze'

2017
12 songs
Length: 37:08
Available to buy from Bandcamp

Aye Nako are a four-piece pop-punk rock band from Brooklyn, New York. Self-described as a ‘queer punk band,’ Aye Nako write sad punk songs about being queer, trans and black. Comprised of vocalist/guitarist Mars Dixon, bassist Joe McCann, guitarist Jade Payne, and drummer Sheena McGrath, the band formed in 2008 and self-released their first album, ‘Unleash Yourself’ in 2013. They followed up with the EP, ‘The Blackest Eye,’ in 2015, released through Don Giovanni Records. Their new album, ‘Silver Haze,’ is a fuzzed-out, melodic expression of what it’s like to be queer, black and American.

Aye Nako’s identity as a trans band of colour is central to their art. Payne and Dixon identify as people of colour, while Dixon and McCann identify as trans or multi-gender. Their songs are political, exploring the experiences of LGBTQ people in the punk/indie rock scene; a scene that is predominantly male, white and cisgender.

Opening track ‘Sissy’ begins with the screech of dissonant guitars and a classic punk sound. Dixon’s vocal style is reminiscent of Mac McCaughan from Superchunk, desperately emotive. ‘Tell me what I need to stay safe on the streets,’ he sings, ‘spit in my face.’ These words evoke experiences of public displays of vitriol that must be far too common in Dixon’s world. Dixon’s anguish is laid bare, ‘I want to see you suffer like me,’ he wails on ‘Spare Me’.

On ‘Muck,’ which sounds a bit like a Polvo song, with distorted, angular guitars that punctuate the emotion; Dixon yells, ‘when you see me, all you see is the muck.’ Dixon explains, ‘I know it makes some people feel uncomfortable, but I’m uncomfortable too. I was born and raised on feeling so ugly because of my blackness. I saw it from my family. I saw it on TV and in the movies. I saw it at school. Blackness was not to be valued. It wasn’t a positive trait. How is a child supposed to feel comfortable in her black skin if all these external voices are directly and indirectly pounding into her that her blackness is a thing to be ashamed of?’

Swirling, fuzzy guitars and a solid rhythm of bass and drums are a constant throughout the album. Dixon and Payne are a vocal tag team, a first for Aye Nako, as Dixon was previously the sole songwriter and lead vocalist. Although the themes are no less melancholy, Payne’s songs have a softer edge brought about by her more melodious voice. It works gorgeously with the crunching guitars and twanging bassline on ‘Particle Mace,’ and similarly on ‘Arrow Island.’

A lament about a broken, toxic relationship; ‘Half Dome’ begins in a similar way to ‘Sissy,’ with abrasive guitars that then give way to an up-tempo, 1990’s indie rock infused riff and the melodic voice of Payne. Sonic Youth’s ‘Daydream Nation’ also springs to mind here. ‘Nightcrawler’ could be a Speedy Ortiz song, although this is not surprising given the bands’ ongoing association with each other.

Aye Nako’s pop-punk presentation of their politics is stunning and speaks of their 1990’s influences. ‘Silver Haze’ can be a heavy, uncomfortable listen. Both Dixon and Payne write songs about the painful experience of otherness, but it’s something that we shouldn’t shy away from. Said best in their own words, Aye Nako were ‘originally formed to subdue boredom but now operating on another frequency, they are actively seeking a planet where those who fall in the margins can feel OK about being themselves.’ I hope they find it.

The Punk Rock/Hip Hop Alliance: A Short History

The connection between hip hop and punk music may come as a surprise to some, but it is one that runs deep. Both movements were a reaction to commercialised music and the social climate of the time and embody the same anti-establishment ideals; championing free-thought, rejection of the corporate mass culture, and non-conformity. So when punk rock merged with hip hop in early 1980’s New York, it was a natural progression.

By the mid 1970’s, rock and roll had lost touch with the people. It had become commercially-oriented, radio friendly and increasingly inaccessible to the masses. Successful rock bands were playing at larger venues to tens of thousands of fans with increasingly elaborate set ups and ‘arena rock’ became the norm. The backlash to this began in Britain with the pub rock movement and was led by musicians like Elvis Costello, Joe Strummer and Nick Lowe, who played in bands at small pubs, reverting back to a raw sound that rejected commercialism and spoke to the disaffected youth. Punk rock came soon after.

Times were tough in Britain. Unemployment among young people was high, and dissent among the working class was rife. A number of protest marches and strikes lead to clashes with police, and police racism seemed to be at an all-time high, which lead to rioting and a widening class divide. From this social climate, punk rock was born. Bands like the Sex Pistols and The Clash played in small, poorly lit clubs to crowds who became less like spectators and more like active participants.

Punk rock was also gaining traction in New York in the late 1970’s. Rock and Roll had become tame and sentimental, and punk rock was a move back towards rock in its more rebellious form. Music journalist Robert Christgau described it as ‘a subculture that scornfully rejected the political idealism and Californian flower-power silliness of hippie myth’. Punk music’s ‘DIY’ culture emerged; promoting the idea that anybody could make their own music. Many bands were self-recorded and self-produced. Punk gave music back to the people.

Hip hop also stems from a ‘DIY’ culture. It began as an African-American movement in the economically depressed inner city South Bronx neighbourhood in New York City in the late 1970’s. Hip hop music was only one element of the movement, which also encompassed graffiti art and ‘B-Boying’ also known as breakdancing. Like punk music, hip hop music was a reaction to the creeping opulence in popular music; the disco scene particularly. Disco had infiltrated the mainstream by the late 1970’s and was playing in all the New York nightclubs. Studio 54 had opened in Manhattan and was the place to be seen for celebrities. It was a subculture characterised by extravagance and decadence and discotheque-goers often wore expensive, extravagant and sexy fashions.

The disco scene was a contrast to the reality of life in the Bronx. Property values were at a record low, crime and unemployment were high and poverty was widespread. DJs began to play at block parties, sampling percussive breaks of popular songs using two turntables and a DJ Mixer to create ‘breakbeats’. Soon afterwards, rapping developed and MCs would accompany DJs with their lyrical stylings. Artists like DJ Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa were some of the pioneers of hip hop.

The similarities between hip hop and punk did not go unnoticed. In the late 70’s/early 80’s, ‘b-boys’ from the South Bronx were rubbing shoulders with new wave/punk kids in downtown Manhattan. Acts like Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa started playing at clubs like the Mudd Club or the Roxy, which were popular with new wave and punk kids. There was a cultural exchange going on. While hip hop was starting to get played in the punk/new wave clubs, punks were given safe passage to the Bronx. This was a big deal and marked the mutual respect between members of both subcultures.

The influence of both subcultures on each other was beginning to be heard in the music. In 1980, while The Clash were in New York recording their fourth album ‘Sandinista!’, Mick Jones and Joe Strummer caught the hip hop bug. The album’s third single ‘The Magnificent Seven,’ with its funky beats and Strummer’s rap about the human machinery of capitalism was one of the first rap songs produced by a rock band, and one of the first instances of a hip hop song with socio-political content.

Blondie’s ‘Rapture,’ which debuted in 1981 and is featured on their album Autoamerican, was ground-breaking for being the first rap video ever broadcast on MTV. Set in the East Village section of Manhattan, the video portrays Blondie frontwoman, Debbie Harry, at a ‘b-boy’ party where Grandmaster Flash is playing. In the song she performs a rap in which she expresses respect for Grandmaster Flash and rapper Fab 5 Freddy, another of hip hop’s pioneers.

Soon afterwards, Afrika Bambaataa collaborated with John Lydon (of the Sex Pistols and Public Image Ltd) on the socio politically charged ‘World Destruction’ and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were opening shows for The Clash. After hip hop group Run-D.M.C. broke into the mainstream in 1984, things really took off. Ex punk band Beastie Boys released the first rap album to hit number one on the Billboard album charts with ‘Licensed to Ill.’

Meanwhile, on urban radio and in the hip-hop clubs of New York, new wave hits like Thomas Dolby’s ‘She Blinded me with Science,’ David Bowie’s ‘Let’s Dance,’ and Devo’s ‘Whip It’ were getting plenty of play. Producers from the new wave and punk scenes like Thomas Dolby and Rick Rubin were trying their hand at hip hop production. Both the hip hop and punk/new wave scenes were mixing in a big way, which would break ground for the ongoing influence each would continue to have on the other.

Examples of the fusion of hip hop and punk can be seen going forward. The band Bad Brains mixed reggae, rap and punk to become one of the most influential punk bands of the 1980’s. In 1990, hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest sampled proto-punk Lou Reed’s 1972 classic ‘Walk on the Wild Side,’ for their breakthrough hit, ‘Can I Kick It?’ Most notably, Rage Against the Machine has combined punk and rap to produce some of the most prominent politically charged music of the 1990’s-2000’s. We saw the rise and fall of nu-metal, which combined elements of heavy metal music with hip hop, alternative rock, funk and grunge. It was popular in the late 1990’s, but petered out by the mid 2000’s due to the oversaturation of nu metal bands. More recently we’ve seen bands like Death Grips, who’s experimental brand of hip hop blends elements of punk rock, electronic, noise and industrial music.

The commercialisation of hip hop has led to the overshadowing of its original message by a money hungry, capitalist system. It has become the very thing it began as a reaction against. The richest hip hop stars in 2016, Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, Andre ‘Dr Dre’ Young and Shawn ‘Jay Z’ Carter, are all worth more than $600m each, with holdings that include a clothing line, a television network, real estate portfolios and a music streaming service. The same can be said of punk to some extent. The richest punk artist is Blink-182 drummer, Travis Barker, clocking in at a net worth of $85m. Incidentally, Barker had a lot of crossover success in hip hop, starting punk rock/rap group, The Transplants with Tim Armstrong from Rancid and Operation Ivy.

Nowadays, the crossover between hip hop and punk tends to be one sided. Writes journalist and hip hop historian Davey D, ‘It’s one sided in the sense that you have rock oriented outlets with a predominantly white audience embracing Hip Hop. However, you will not see similar attempts in many urban outlets that target African American audiences.’

Before they became commodities, when both the hip hop and punk movements were new and fresh and embodied the same anti-corporate ideals; collaboration was natural. It happened organically. It would be good to see that happen again. To see both movements come full circle and rebel against their own commercialisation. Together in a grass roots, unifying movement. Just like back in 1980’s New York.