May 16, 2025
You really used to be able to name your child Dick Diver and expect them to be taken seriously. Dick Diver. You really used to be able to fall in love at first sight with a man named Dick Diver.
seen from Türkiye
seen from Jamaica
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Germany
seen from Germany
seen from Singapore
seen from United States
seen from Germany
seen from Austria
seen from China
seen from Indonesia
seen from United States
seen from Türkiye
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Singapore
seen from United States
seen from Canada
You really used to be able to name your child Dick Diver and expect them to be taken seriously. Dick Diver. You really used to be able to fall in love at first sight with a man named Dick Diver.
4/11/26.
Oh, Steph Hughes, you have no idea how much I've missed your music. I've missed those you made music with in both Boomgates and Dick Diver, but there has always been something about your voice.
About 2 months ago I heard Hedge Burners "Fall Out Of The Future" and loved it, but noticed it had no physical release. Just recently, I was perusing the "best-selling" vinyl and lo and behold, there was Hedge Burners. Australian label, Legless Records, has released this (total quantity of 500).
Hedge Burners (Melbourne, Australia) does have that classic Aussie indie pop sound reminiscent of the bands named above. Also don't forget about other bands that Steph graced - Blank Statements, and the early years of The Stroppies. It should also be noted that other members of Hedge Burners have been in bands such as Stiff Richards, Split System and The Green Child - all fantastic in their own right.
Good news. Green Noise Records has copies available so those of us here in the US can avoid the international charges.
“If he had to bring all the bitterness and hatred of the world into his heart, he was not going to be in love with her again.” f. scott fitzgerald
Tender is the Night (1934) Moodboard
Reverberation #267 1. K. Leimer - Porcelain 2. The Electric Prunes - Holy Are You 3. White Noise - Love Without Sound 4. T.P. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo - Noude Ma Gnin Tche De Me 5. The Garbage & The Flowers - Love Comes Slowly Now 6. Un, Dos, Tres y Fuera - Machu Picchu 7. Dick Diver - Lonely Life 8. The Durutti Column - I Get Along Without You Very Well 9. Sensations Fix - Life Beyond Darkness
3/1/25.
Dumb Things are a Brisbane, Australia band who call their music "hangover pop". I found out about them due to an alert from James Southey (guitar), who is also in Soft Covers, a band I was listening to incessantly in late 2023.
"Time Again" is Dumb Things' LP from 2019, but they have a new album, Self Help, coming out in about a month. It continues in the same vein as this album. I automatically think of Go Get Mum ("Moving Day" is still one of my favorites), but I'll turn it over to the band themselves for the rest of the RIYL. They describe themselves as, "Another chapter in the long lineage of not just Queensland forebears like The Go-Betweens and The Apartments but also the next wave of Aussie bands who also mined that same fertile ground for inspiration like Dick Diver, Twerps and The Ocean Party."
"Time Again" was released by Coolin' By Sounds (also based in Brisbane). The last time this label was mentioned was for The Gametes in 2019.
7/22/25.
One of the first posts when we started this blog in December 2014 was Dick Diver's excellent 7", "Arks Up". But, that was the only post devoted solely to one of my favorite Australian bands from the early 2010s.
Soon after the the blog started, the band released their 3rd album, "Melbourne, Florida", toured the U.S. (stopping in Davis for a great show with Michael O. and G. Green), then broke up.
Now, they are re-uniting to celebrate the 10th anniversary of "Melbourne, Florida" and do 4 shows in Melbourne. Chapter Music is releasing 300 run opaque yellow version for this occasion and it seems like the band is not reforming permanently.
If you're looking for touchstones, you can't miss with The Go-Betweens, Paul Kelly, Apartments, and The Ocean Party. Members played in several other bands (especially Al Montfort!). But there really was something magical about this group.
4/3/25.
When I mentioned Mark Monnone yesterday, it made me remember that his project, Monnone Alone (Melbourne, Australia), has a new LP coming out. Aside from being a great person and the mastermind of Lost & Lonesome Recording Co., Mark is an outstanding pop musician in his own right. Micah and I saw it firsthand when Monnone Alone opened for The Zebras years ago in Sacramento. Additionally, he was a founding member of The Lucksmiths. Special guest appearances on the new album include Steph Hughes (Dick Diver) and Gary Olson (The Ladybug Transistor).
"Dry Doubt" has a definite Pavement-sounding guitar and feel. But Mark's voice and melodies are all his own. "Ways To Wear My Hair" was originally released back in 2023 on a lathe-cut from Royal Mint (Finland).
Bands like The Slow Summits and Chime School ply a similar sound to Monnone Alone. Meritorio Records and Repeating Cloud will be releasing "Here Comes the Afternoon" in early May 2025.
12/18/24.
Dead Painters (Brooklyn, New York) were active in the mid to late 2010s. Clearly I missed them back then. Hearing them in 2024, this doesn't sound in the least bit dated. There is a comfortable jangle going on here - sometimes this sounds like it could be a less poppy Pale Lights. Other times, their jangle kind of sounds like the early dolewave of bands like Dick Diver or of Flying Nun bands like The Bats.
This was self-released. I'm sure time will continue to smile on this understated gem of a release.
