Os Mutantes
Fool Metal Jack

P-Vine: ...“Phew” is a Japanese female vocalist, well known as a member of the legendary punk band “Aunt Sally”. Undoubtedly, this album is one of the important records of Japanese new wave and German krautrock history. This album was originally released in 1981 as her solo debut album.

Efficient Space: ...Three emotional years in the making, Be With and Efficient Space finally present Steve Hiett’s Girls In The Grass. Pressed alongside the long awaited reissue of his one-shot masterpiece Down On The Road By The Beach, these ten balearic soul instrumentals are of equal necessity; unrivalled beauty rescued from the fashion photographer-guitarist’s Paris Tapes (1986-1997).While recordings unintended for release should often be approached with caution, this is a rare case of unheard material being assembled as an indispensable and coherent piece. Girls In The Grass is something super special. The light and shadow that defines Hiett’s music is arguably more compelling here. It speaks to us in a language that feels profound, yet entirely comforting and familiar.Girls In The Grass reintroduces Hiett’s languid electric blues boogie, crafted on Saturday afternoons with fellow art director Simon Kentish. Kentish would cook, pour some wine and then utilise his arsenal of technology. He’d dial up a chugging rhythm, together with some ambient pads or keyboard textures, and anchor the weightless gauze of Hiett’s six-stringed touch.Hiett’s guitar sings with the same clean, crisp tone as Down On The Road, animated by a carefree weekend groove. Unlike his defining album which was boiled under pressure, these subsequent sessions have all the time in the world. The naïve melodies chart a missing link between Vini Reilly’s ventures into electronica and Booker T, sounding like sun-warped takes on wordless, fractured non-hits from his heroes The Beach Boys.Remastered for public pleasure by Simon Francis, these private moments are adorned with Hiett’s singular photography and feature typically idiosyncratic liner notes from Mikey IQ Jones.

Following two excellent singles, Jake Robertson finally gets serious with the ALIEN NOSEJOB solo series with this, his debut LP. While those two stuck relatively close to the rock’n’jerk’n’pop that we’ve come to enjoy over the various bands Jake has been a part of, this LP is a whole new beast (alien?). Taking a notable step to the side, off the path, and into the brush, this album sees Robertson flirting with calypso and goofy pop. It rules. We finally have our punk Paraiso, and who better to bring it to us than the man who brought us other Fox Network Specials such as “The Five Fabulous Weeks of the Chevy Chase Show”.Alien Nosejob is Jake Robertson (of Ausmuteants, Hieropants and Frowning Clouds) and the four songs are bedroom recordings, augmented by a full-blown horns section in one instance. Sounds like early Devo on a meth trip with its stuttering guitar and jerky rhythms fitting perfectly.

Creating their own world of cheerful melodies, playful rhythms and absurdly catchy hooks, Parsnip carry on with what they do best but only with more charm and charisma than ever, resulting in the the four fine tracks that complete “Adding Up”. The members of the band share around the song-writing and even throw a cover of Fire’s “Treacle Toffee World” into the mix!Celebrate the new Parsnip record however you can best, in your own time, space and home!

EM Records: ...Imagine being a punk rocker before there were any others, or a hippie whose message of peace was infused with a sardonic whimsy. That’s what it must have been like to be Pip Proud, in Sydney in the late 1960s, railing against the media and its hypocrisies, making a music that cut through all lies. — David NicholsPip Proud, sui generis, could be considered an Australian outsider, with his untutored and uninhibited singing style, his primal guitar playing, his resolutely personal vision captured on recordings from 1967 to the early 70s - except that, unlike most outsiders, he was loved and accepted, with two of his three album releases on a major label, with frequent television appearances and coverage in music magazines. Heralded in his native land though he was, he maintained a low profile from the early 70s, never made an impact overseas, and his recordings have been difficult to access.This collection has been selected by Proud's biographer David Nichols and will engender a new appreciation of Proud's music. Considered by some as a sort of Antipodean Syd Barrett, listeners will hear that Pip was clearing his own private and primal path, more poet than pop star, despite the media attention. Other than one Velvets-style band track, all songs here feature Pip solo, some with appealingly primitive overdubs. Fans of ramshackle oddball weirdo portastudio lofi bedroom pop of the 80s, 90s and beyond, whether of the NZ, UK or US varieties, will find a precursor here.