The Onyas
Six!

Efficient Space: ...Oz Echoes peels away another layer of Australia’s ‘80s DIY hive mind. The Oz Waves successor exposes a deeper circuit of micro-run cassettes, community radio archives and irrationally abandoned studio sessions, as Steele Bonus sequences a 10-track compendium of drone pop, psyche-electronics and agitated tape cut-ups.From the Sydney cassette network, The Horse He's Sick returns with an industrial car crash, alongside Wrong Kind of Stone Age’s pagan cacophony and primal riddims. M Squared dynamo Patrick Gibson appears in both Height/Dismay and Mr Knott, his respective studio-as-an-instrument collaborations with Dru Jones (Scattered Order) and ex-Slugfucker Gordon Renouf - the former’s worn out apparition hails from an instantly deleted 1981 7”, while Mr Knott entrust one of the compilation’s five previously unreleased tracks.Matt Mawson represents Brisbane music media-printed matter collective ZIP, as Adelaide’s Three D Radio grants access to their vaults of live-to-air recordings and aspiring demo submissions, rescuing the slap-happy punk-funk of The Frenzied Bricks and Jandy Rainbow’s prodigious beginnings in Les Trois Etrangers and Aeroplane Footsteps. Synchronously in Melbourne, Ash Wednesday (Karen Marks, The Metronomes) leads Modern Jazz’ improvised proto-techno and EBM pioneers Shanghai Au Go-Go home record their sardonic synth-wave.A cherry-picked cast of unusual suspects, Oz Echoes’ unfamed artist and non-band narratives are detailed by track-by-track liner notes with rarely published archival visions and artwork from Video Synth, prompting further rabbit hole ventures into this golden era of creative risk-taking and instant action.

Inversions: ...After the release of Technique & Rite in 2017, and the album Terminal Desert release under the name LaBrecque / Barakat earlier this year, here comes the second “official” Crème de Hassan record on Inversions.Whereas the two previous releases were based on longer instrumental jams, Tricontinental Circus is focused on rhythm and language, and the resulting 11 tracks are short and compact, exploring the possibilities of combining these into improbable hybrids.The tracks include Haitian voodoo rhythms, a Burkinabe flute player aligned with a sequencer and a guitar + synth jam with echoes of the sound of early 1970s Düsseldorf.The languages that are dispersed across the album come from Cambodia, Afghanistan, Kenya, Lebanon, Morocco and include an Arabic translation of Nietsche by friend of the band Ayoub El Mouzaine.

Drawing from a collective musical lexicon as seen in Amici, Sogni (which translates to 'Dreams') reflects on themes of decision-making, change, time, heartbreak and the practicalities of work and daily life. Primo!'s music is a study of duality, weaving through these themes with an idiosyncratic delivery that is punctuated by post-punk sensibilities, upbeat jangle and unexpected electronic flourishes.Sogni sees the introduction of Amy Hill on bass, adding to the original trio of Suzanne Walker (drums), Violetta Del Conte-Race and Xanthe Waite (guitars). There’s a freshness here, a breaking of new territory that's a testament to the group’s collaborative work ethic and experience in their associated bands.Spanning just under 30 minutes, Sogni’s twelve songs were conceived collectively in the rehearsal room and perfected in a live setting, before being recorded to an 8-track with Al Montfort across a number of home studios in Melbourne.The resulting LP comes with a languid and fluid pace. Opener “Things To Do” sets the tone for Sogni, a record that reflects Primo!’s day-to-day life, with sharp lyrics and a chiming encouragement. “Perfect Paper” propels the album into cruise, with splintering guitars, “Machine” highlights the work-hierarchy struggle (you told me just what I should do / but the problem is you’re only human / and I just can’t listen to you / machine, machine, machine”). “Best and Fairest” questions the idea of an ideal life, while “Love Days” reflects on past relationships and “Diamond Day” deals in accidentally being swept up in love. Before long, the LP is wrapped up with a hazy and intimate final track, “Reverie”.Primo! are making guitar music that explores the boundaries of everyday life with calm levity, tilted grace and grit.