Today sees the release of the debut album from Steve Bourk via the Silhouette label! You man Steve from his band Step Panther or as the touring bass player with Hockey Dad, but on his own record he gets more personal and reflective. In his own words “I was writing most of the songs during a transitional period when I moved from Melbourne to Wollongong. I had a temporary living arrangement in a warehouse space which was also a rehearsal space so there was a bunch of instruments there’d it was a good place to work on music. A lot of themes started popping up in the songs like isolation, adjustment, examining my personal flaws, transition and whatever the opposite of transition is, constant things in life that keep going the same over and over again.” Musically it sits somewhere between nineties bands such as Pavement and Wilco and recalls last year’s great album from MJ Lenderman. It is streaming everywhere now, and you can also get the limited-edition vinyl right here.
Back when Hockey Dad released their fourth album Rebuild Repeat mid last year there was a competition for anyone that pre ordered it to win a chance for the band to come and play in their backyard. It took a while to happen but recently it took place in a Marrickville backyard, it was a super wholesome day and we couldn’t have asked for a better crew of people to host the event. These kind of things are simple but special moments that reminds me of why I love working with bands. Speaking of Hockey Dad, they have just kicked off a New Zealand tour with special guests Crocodylus. I’m actually going to head over to the Auckland show next week and check some record stores around Auckland for a few days, so catch you there if you are at that one and there will be an updated Record Stores Of The World incoming for Auckland.
Speaking of New Zealand, back when I first started working in music, over two decades ago now, one of the very early international bands I connected with was a New Zealand psych/stoner trio called Datura. They released two albums that were up there among the best of any stoner rock bands globally at the time. I managed to pick up a reissue of their first album Allisone a few years back but their second full length Visions For The Celestial hasn’t been in my collection on vinyl until now. Thankfully Ripple Music has just done a reissue as part of their Beneath The Desert Floor series, if you want to grab one for yourself it is in stock now right here.
