Holy fathers: (l-r) Derek Smiley, Marcus Goodwin, Douglas Lee Robertson, David Milne, Charles Jenkins TIME FLIES? Well it doesn’t dawdle Charles Jenkins, erstwhile frontman of a bunch of Melbourne pop bon vivants, sometime teacher, user of cricket metaphors and weekly maker of instant songs for a radio station that can’t believe its luck. Jenkins, the most active but by no means only songwriter of the bunch in Icecream Hands is surprised to realise that that it has been five

It’s coming on Christmas, they’re chopping down hymns, they’re putting up Buble and songs so bad it’s a sin. Oh I wish I had headphones I could hide away in. (With apologies to J. Mitchell.)   YEAH, IT’S THAT TIME of year and it’s happening: Christmas songs and Christmas albums and Christmas albums of Christmas songs sung by Christmas people in Christmas gear wishing you a very Merry Bloody Christmas. Everyone who has access to a microphone and mixing desk is tempted to cash

Keep this up and they might get somewhere eh? Not a bad ARIAs last week for little Melbourne triers, Amyl And The Sniffers: album of the year, best group, best rock album and best cover art. All while Amy Taylor declared herself the new PM (which wouldn't be the worst result ) . You ’ve no doubt read the reviews of that album of the year, Cartoon Darkness , maybe even the one I published here – hi Mum! Thanks for reading – and possibly seen them live (also reviewed here a bit

Actually, bugger that - cross lanes, mix metaphors, play songs. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN Find more multi-discipline musical athletics like this playlist under my name at Spotify.

Gentlemen and players: (l-r) David Milne, Dougles Lee Robertson, Charles Jenkins, Derek Smiley and Marcus Goodwin SHALL WE BLOW OUT the candle together? Who booked the stripper? In a relatively bare-walled room in his Melbourne home, or at least the part of the room visible from his desk, Charles Jenkins has a gig poster from a favourite Melbourne venue on one side and a Beatles one from Help  on another. Core principles you might say for a member of a very very fine pop band

ROSALIA Lux (Sony)   THIS ALBUM IS NUTS. Properly, completely, outrageously, wonderfully nuts. It goes to places, so many places, places that are unlikely to have ever been thought of in the same suburb let alone the same mind before. There’s drama, beatific moments and spiky balls that cut; religious intensity, dance and abandonment; florid waves, songs that are cursed with love, and others that want nothing more than to hurt hard. Instrumentally and sonically it is both ana

Kasey Chambers wondering the same thing you are. Photo by Stuart Spence Here we have the next instalment in What Comes To Mind, a new occasional series in the Wind Back Wednesday space, based on the work of the brilliant photographer Stuart Spence. Each time, he will dig out a photo out from his archives going back almost 50 years and challenge me to respond with what comes to mind when I look at that image. It might be serious or ridiculous, personal or historical. It might

THE BELAIR LIP BOMBS Again (Third Man Records) TEEN JESUS AND THE JEAN TEASERS Glory (Community Music)   SOME PRELIMINARY, not exactly about the music but not not about the music observations. Every so often – let’s be honest, any day since about 1957 – you’ll hear some prematurely old fart muttering under his breath about how all the good band names have been done and look at the stupidities we have now. And this was mostly before King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard appeared.

Cons to the left of us, clowns to the right, here I am stuck in the middle with you. Let these songs then be an antidote for us. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN As clown time is never over - Elvis Costello got that wrong - find more antidote playlists by me at the home of evil, Spotify.