One of my favourite record stores in Los Angeles is Permanent Records (this weeks feature photo). It was previously located on Sunset in Echo Park but in recent years has relocated a bit further out, but with that comes more space and therefore they now as well as the record store down the driveway have a venue called the Roadhouse out the front (I saw Sydney’s C.O.F.F.I.N play there last year when I was visiting). As well as running the store and venue, owner Lance Barresi also curated the Brown Acid compilations for the Riding Easy label. We’ve just got a bunch of them in store, so I thought I’d highlight them this week. The compilations collect rare singles from the sixties and seventies from around the globe and compile them into great releases that are now up to their seventeenth release, with number eighteen due later this month. Basically, these releases are like a heavy rock equivalent to the garage/psych/beat compilation series Nuggets. Lance and the Riding Easy crew have collected riff heavy sounds from obscure bands, a lot of them who just have one or two singles to their name, that didn’t quite kick on in the fashion of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, or Blue Cheer. The curation is impeccable and if you are a fan of heavy/fuzzy/riff orientated music you really can’t miss with any of these releases. Here are a few examples of the sounds you can hear on the compilations below. BUY COPIES HERE
Adelaide pop/punk duo TOWNS are back with a brand-new single today via Farmer & The Owl/BMG. They spent a lot of last year working on a new record and ‘Birthdays’ is the first taste. You’ll also get the chance to see it live next month as they hit the road with Between You and Me for shows in Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane, and Sydney. These guys are so much fun to work with and they have boundless amounts of energy that is all captured in this single, check out the clip below!
If you’re a fan of artists such as Boards Of Canada and Blockhead, I’d highly recommend getting across the Russell W album Blue Moons & Happy Accidents. Russ who you probably know from Shining Bird recorded this record fifteen years ago and aside from gaining a small cult following via his Bandcamp page, it has never been more widely available. This week it has hit streaming platforms for the first time, so you can head over to your favourite service and give it a listen now, there are several calls to do a limited vinyl pressing, let me know if you think this should happen!
And if you’re a fan of nineties music, head along to Howlin Wolf this Friday April 5th as I’ll be playing all nineties tunes on vinyl from 8pm til midnight across lots of genres! If you’re a fan of nineties Australian indie music particularly and you haven’t got this record below, I’d highly recommend you do so.
