Dollar Bar (NOT At Paddington Workers Club...)

Brisbane's premier purveyors of sardonic yet whimsical guitar pop Dollar Bar have returned like the fabled phoenix. It seemed that you couldn't step out your front door in the early 2000's without falling over the band. Yet after a series of slick releases and a debut eponymous album, the boys left us in 2004. But the last three years has seen the fire back in the bellies of the four-piece - there is no sense of purpose here other than for the band to get back together again, hang out as mates, just like you're supposed to. Why be in a band if you hate everyone unless you are 90s Lou Barlow, amirite?

Dollar Bar are launching 2nd album ten years on from the debut, and it's called Paddington Workers Club after the now sadly defunct establishment that many a Brisbane band of the 90s and early 00s cut their teeth and drank their weight in the amber stuff. Its fitting that as their "comeback" record, unlike Farnesy, actually means something - its self referential as always, but is looking forward as well as looking back, and what made things tick. The boys are older, worldlier and (assumedly) wiser, yet the cheek, wit and cagey shambolism remains intact. Tattooed hipster Canadian girls on bikes, sterilised currency, overdue bills, people from Brisbane moving to Melbourne to hang with people from Brisbane, Pollard and Salter references - these things only skim the surface of why this album is the shit. And it's short, so it's a bliss bomb as well.



Dollar Bar launch Paddington Workers Club tonight in Brisbane at the Beetle Bar. The supports - Roku Music, Tape/Off and Undead Apes - is outta this world too. This is seriously going to be one of the most fun music nights of the year, so you better be there, fools. Here's their great new video too. It's good to have you back, lads.

Vinyl Orgasm, 2013 Style

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL RECORD STORE DAY!

There isn't much I can tell you, other than if you aren't out and about celebrating this at your local record store, I don't know why we are friends. So many exclusive releases, it's incredible! Here is a massive list of some of the things on offer. There is a lot of local gear too, so keep your peepers gleaned!

Here are four I'm pretty excited about:

Baltimore's Dan Deacon is a cuddly maelstrom of gummi-bear electronica, a sugar rush of giddy proportions, yet on last year's America produced a sliver of gravitas that further accentuated his relevance in the 21st century. He has a 500-press only 7" through Domino Records that utilises four - count 'em, four - drummers, two for each cut on the wax. The two tracks, 'Konomo Ripoff No 1' (essentially ripping off the Congolese Konomo No 1 - naturally), features ex-Ponytail skinsman Jeremy Hyman and percussionist Kevin O'Meara on one cut whilst the other sees ex-Double Dagger drummer/current Roomrunner frontman (and regular Dan Deacon Ensemble participant) Denny Bowen and regular Deacon cohort Dave Jacober take control. It's vintage Dan Deacon - therefore, vintage excellente.

Then there is this beautiful absurdity. Indianapolis label Joyful Noise have somehow managed to collate some serious shit under a 7" serious they are naming Cause & Effect, with the premise being an influential, historically-significant solo musician on Side A, and the modern result of that musical influence on Side B. And they ain't fucking around - the first cabs off the rank include Thurston Moore coupled with Talk Normal, Lou Barlow synced with Dumb Numbers, and David Yow vomiting arm-in-arm with Child Bite. The special, limited edition run that is available only to VIP Joyful Noise members is pressed on silver/clear split colour vinyl, while the regular edition for all the other people, is printed on black/clear colour vinyl. Amazing? Fuck yes. You can actually order too - try that here - and try some of the results here and here.

And as I mentioned last week, there is the new (posthumous) Double Dagger record 333 - only 1000, so they will sell like the proverbial. You'd be insane if you had the opportunity to pick this up and didn't - DD are definitely one of the unsung bands of the past ten years, full stop.

Double Dagger - Heretic's Hymn

Finally, for some local flavour, the excellent Tym's Guitar started a record label late last year in the form of a 7" record club (which I am a part of), and it's drawing some pretty special exclusives (including an amazing Earthless one-off). This is another pretty rad one - Californian nutjob guitar rippers The Shrines. If you don't know what they are all about, think Fu Manchu, in your teens, on waaaaaaay too many Red Bull-tainted bowls. Sweet, I know.


So get there. It doesn't even matter if you buy anything. I love going to Tyms, or Title, or Rockinghorse, or Jet Black Cat, or Woolly Bully (RIP), as much to listen and to chat as I do to buy. Many friends have been made in such a place. If these places die out, so will an integral part of why music is the amazing thing that it is. And to remind you, Brisbane is having some pretty cool parties at its stores. Head to any one of the below, and trust me, it will prove to be an outstanding day - it may even change your life.

TYMS - opens at 10am. Second wave of new stock rolls out at 1pm. Bands start at 12pm, including The Nation Blue (most likely their only show in Queensland for 2013 - an absolute must-see!), Bruce!, Midnight Wolf, Emperors, Roku Music and Cannon.

Rockinghorse - opens at 9am. Bands start at 12.30 and include Per Purpose, Living Eyes, Brainbeau and Half Spoken.

Jet Black Cat Records - opens at 9am. Bands start at 12 with We All Want To, with Thelma Plum at 4 and Morning Harvey at 6.30, with a mystery band thrown in for shits and giggles.

SEE YOU THERE!!!

Barlow Is Having Another Bakesale!

Sebadoh released Bakesale in 1994 some years after progenitor Lou Barlow's unceremonious yet somewhat funny ousting from seminal act Dinosaur Jr, and along with Jason Lowenstein and new drummer Bob Fay created a masterpiece of concise heartworn pop that they, or many others, have failed to match since. Bakesale swings like a metronome between Barlow's rumpled affairs of the heart and Lowenstein's passive/aggressive stoner stoushes, the seesawing effect of which was the formation of an album that spoke - and continues to speak - on a multitude of levels.

There isnt a mediocre track on here; hell, most of them surpass the term "good". And this is coming from someone who believes that Barlow's ouevre is patchy, whilst also really despising the man himself as a major jerk. Be that as it may, Im uber excited that Domino Records are re-releasing Bakesale next Friday (April 15) on double CD and via digital download, with a bonus disc stuffed with singles/EPs/rarities from the period complied by the titular twosome, Barlow and Lowenstein. The tracklisting, plus a bit of 'Skull', is below. Start saving, yeah!

Bakesale Tracklisting:
1 License To Confuse
2 Careful
3 Magnet's Coil
4 Not A Friend
5 Not Too Amused
6 Dreams
7 Skull
8 Got It
9 S. Soup
10 Give Up
11 Rebound
12 Mystery Man
13 Temptation Tide
14 Drama Mine
15 Together Or Alone

Bonus disc:
1 MOR backlash
2 Not a friend
3 Foreground
4 40203
5 Mystery Man
6 Drumstick Jumble
7 Lime kiln
8 Fancy-ass / Destitute
9 Perfect Way
10 Give The Drummer Some
11 Cementville
12 Social Medicine
13 On Fire (acoustic)
14 Magnet's Coil (acoustic)
15 Rebound (acoustic)
16 Punching Myself In The Face Repeatedly, Publicly
17 Sing Something / Plate Of Hatred
18 III Screams (wet synth mix)
19 Monsoon
20 Rainbow Farm
21 Hank Williams
22 Careful
23 Dramamine
24 Not Too Amused
25 Shit Soup

Sebadoh fails to go Missing, come good once more

Here's a couple little anecdotes for ya, to start off your Saturday whilst drinking your coffee/tea/finger of amber. Both involve Lou Barlow's Sebadoh.

And before I get started - no, i don't like Lou Barlow, he's a twat.

But after being notoriously ousted by his bandmates J Mascis and Murph of Dinosaur Jr, to then go and be infinitely more popular than when he was involved, he continued on with indie band Sebadoh, who in 1994 put out Bakesale, one of the best albums of the 1990s. I still remember the first time I heard about them, AND the first time I heard them. There was a review of Bakesale in Rolling Stone magazine, the 1st one I had ever bought (it had Smashing Pumpkins on the front, with d'Arcy of course, before Billy Corgan became a full blown douche and dated Jessica Simpson). It certainly piqued my interest - and for some reason the cover art was burned into my brain. So about a year later Im in my cousin Greg's room. This was a seminal afternoon for me, as I also properly listened to Sonic Youth for the 1st time - but that's another story. I noticed, peeking out of the myriad of scattered CDs littering the floor, that cover art for Bakesale. Greg put it on - and it killed.

My love affair with Sebadoh has been always off and on, short torrid bursts of indulgence followed by long troughs of disdain. But that album is still amazing...

2nd anecdote - my friend Si (or my sister's boyfriend Si, however it should be put haha!), mentioned that he always thought that Lou Barlow was a ballbag and never really gave Sebadoh the time of day, writing them off as incredibly shit, possibly (nay, most probably) shitter than shit. Then for whatever reason he heard Bakesale - and although it doesnt change the fact the Barlow can shit off, the album is a true testament to proper slacker indie rock.

Now, finally, some songs! First up is 'License to Confuse' off - what else? - Bakesale (I think Harmacy is pretty good too - not iii though, or most of Barlow's solo excrement). The second is from the band Sentridoh, Barlow's collaboration with The Missingmen. Stereogum claim that the EP that's coming out wont be as exciting as iii; if that's the case, avoid it like the plague. But Im pretty sure they're wrong on this account - 'Losercore' is a pretty cool song. Enjoy!

Oh - and I dont like Lou Barlow, just so's you know's.

Sebadoh - License to Confuse

Sentridoh - Losercore (Sebadoh + The Missingmen)