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.
Comet Gain - Beat Of The Veins
The Grogans - Oh Boy
The Lemonheads - Deep End
Wednesday - Elderberry Wine
The Bordellos - Liam Gallagher
Viagra Boys - You N33d Me
Hunx and his Punx - Alone In Hollywood On Acid
Alan Sparhawk - Not Broken
Ty Segall - Buildings
Ezra Furman - You Hurt Me I Hate You
Atlantic Thrills - Out In The Light
Les Robots - Robo Diddley
De Keefmen - Pity The Fool
Split System - Chemicals
The Bad Beats - Have Love Will Travel
Civic - Fragrant Rice
The Grogans - In My Heart
The Lemonheads - Sad Cinderella
Split System pounds its songs so hard, jacking ragged sing-along choruses up on pummeling beats, stringing barbed wire tangles of guitar slashing over antic, mobile bass. There’s nothing fancy going on here, just block simple punk songs walloped to extremity, but the ferocious drive is the thing. This band, from Melbourne, channels a rambunctious garage punk vibe that is 100% pure.
The band came together in Melbourne during the COVID lockdown—indeed, their first album (Vol. 1) was recorded remotely with all five members emailing in their parts. Now after a steady stream of local gigs and one, much-discussed rampaged across Europe, the band has honed an unstoppably live aesthetic. One guitar cowers under the assault of Arron Mawson, the force behind Stiff Richards, Doe Street and others and the head of Legless Records. Ryan Webb of Speed Week mans another. The singer is the rail thin, heavily tattoo’d Jackson Reid Briggs, best known for his band Jackson Reid Briggs and the Heaters. Deon Slaviero puts a bouncing, driving low-end under Split System’s frenzies, while drummer Mitch McGregor batters at blur speed on the kit.
You can hear Split System’s Aussie roots in these blistering cuts—the butt-headed primitivism of the Chats, the force and simplicity of Eddy Current Suppression Ring, hints of Royal Headache’s overdriven hookiness. You might even catch a whiff of the Saints in “Dave” in the clashing rush of guitars and hoarse, wounded sweetness of the vocals. There is, as the Bible tells us, nothing new under the sun, but conviction and commitment will go a long way towards making things fresh. Split System’s songs rock hard enough that you forget what they remind you of.
Vol. 2 starts in a fury (“The Wheel”) and manages to pick up steam as it goes. The second half of the disc is better than the first. “End of the Night,” just after the midpoint, sticks a defiant fist in the air, its chorus ravaged and god-damned catchy. “The Drain” juddering into view on a stripped wire bass line, flares into doomed lyricism with its splayed power chords. “Just want to wash it all the way,” yowls Briggs, as the song swirls like forest flames or melted ice caps around him. And holy cow, what a way to end things with “Kill Me” a rain of guitar strums beating down, a charged rush of rock desolation crashing around. “Everything’s trying to kill me,” Briggs sings. Here’s a band yelling into the maelstrom. Here’s a rock group not backing down. Here’s a bunch of guys sticking middle fingers into the air and they’re not dead yet — and neither is rock and roll.
Split System - On The Edge
The Roxies - Lost Control
Shogun - No Home
Tropical Fuck Storm - Goon Show
Voom - Trouble
Shannon and the Clams - I'm A Fool
The Limanañas - Tu Viens Marie?
Sha-La-Lees - Birds
Wesley & The Boys - Ruin My Life
TVOD - Uniform
Turtle Skull - Into The Sun
Hurray For The Riff Raff - Pyramid Scheme
Patterson Hood - The Forks Of Cypress (feat. Waxahatchee)
Jason Isbell - Gravelweed
House Of All - The Devil's House
Abi Ooze - Tall King
Twisted Teens - Circus Clown
Winky Frown - Public Pool
The Jesus Lizard - I'm Tired Of Being Your Mother
Split System - On The Loose
Automatic Lovers - Boston Brats
Mdou Moctar - Sousoume Tamacheq (Injustice Version)
I've been noticing some classic Aussie sounds being released lately. By classic I mean that rocking sound that Eddy Current Suppression Ring perfected in the early 2000s.
Split System (Melbourne, Australia) is the vehicle for Aaron Mawson's (Stiff Richards) music. The Bandcamp page mentions the "riffage" of both the aforementioned ECSR and The Saints.
This is being released by a holy alliance of Goner Records (US), Drunken Sailor (UK) and Legless (Australia).
