Introducing the Counter Culture blog, I started this as a virtual version of the conversations over the store counter where I can recommend records, tell you about shows to go to, let you know about new music and relive stories. I was also inspired to do this from a recent guest host spot that I did on Heavy Demo (2SER FM) which you can listen to here.
Anyway to get started, the fresh tunes are rolling in at a rapid pace this week and we also released the first single of the year on Farmer & The Owl. It is the first single from Richie Weed, the brand-new project for Tumbleweed frontman Richie Lewis. This one was recorded at the shed in Stanwell Park by Jez Player and has a band featuring Natalie(The Dandelion), Matt(Mudlungs, Dettol), Steve(Tumbleweed) and Luke(The Pinheads) with guests including Karl Webber(The Escarpment/Shifter) as well as Dropping Honey members Damien Lane and Jolyon Pagett.
Alongside the Richie Weed single my new music playlist that you can check out below has been updated to include another preview from the upcoming Obscura Hail album, a great new single from Sydney’s Dead Witch, an incredible new pop track from Sydney artist Hannah Brewer, another hit from Newcastle duo Raave Tapes and solid new tunes from long running noisy guitar bands Sleater Kinney and Pissed Jeans.
Last week we got a restock of the album from Detroit band Death titled ‘For The Whole World To See’. If you haven’t seen the documentary on this band titled ‘A Band Called Death’ go and watch it now! It is an incredible story of pioneering punk music that probably would have been lost forever if it wasn’t for a few chance encounters. I’ve been getting deep into the story around reissue records and compilations over the last few years and look forward to bringing some more to life via my labels this year!
Staying on Detroit, last time I was there was in 2017 and before I’d started doing my Record Stores Of The World features but the record digging there was incredible. I was on tour with Hockey Dad at the time, it was heading into winter and while they were doing sound check, I headed out into the cold streets of the city to find some of the best and most reasonable priced record stores around. I didn’t even get a pic of the stores but just the street, so I have no memory of what stores they were but they were nearby to the shot below. Anyway if you're there at some point, it's a highly recommended city for digging.
This week I’ll be jumping on the decks to spin records on Friday January 19th at Howlin Wolf Bar and then on Saturday January 20th at La La Las for Spinning Around with a bunch of the Sultans Of Spin crew. It’s always a fun night spinning party hits from across the decades on vinyl. Richie Weed is also launching the ‘Pure Evil’ single locally on Friday night at La La Las with support from Tropical Strength.
It's also the last few days to vote in the Hottest 100, a couple of tracks we released via Farmer & The Owl last year are in the voting list so it would be great if you could swing them a vote, they are Hockey Dad’s ‘Still Have Room’ and Bad//Dreems ‘See You Tomorrow’.
Picking from the eligible tracks on the Triple J web site, here is how my list ended up:
Hockey Dad – Still Have Room
Bad//Dreems – See You Tomorrow
Gut Health – Uh Oh
Genesis Owusu – Stay Blessed
Sesame Girl – Hey X
Belair Lip Bombs – Stay Or Go
Olivia Rodrigo – Get Him Back
Gretta Ray – Don’t Date The Teenager
Dua Lipa – Houdini
Jungle – Back On 74
