10 Records Worth To Die For. #216 mit Jake Laderman (Clowns, Leatherman)

As far as my taste in contemporary music goes, this band HAS to be my most listened to band in the last 18 months. Death By Unga Bunga from Norway are a delicious cocktail mix of rock and roll, power pop gold that seem to deliver the goods every *clap* single *clap* TIME.
This band was discovered pretty randomly after seeing their name on a bill, little did I know they’ve got the hooks, the lyrics, the guitarmonies and ripping solos. It’s joyful rockin’ pop, a soundtrack designed for cracking open a cold one with your mates, while dishing furious nods to late 70’s rock and roll, new wave heavy metal and melodic bubblegum pop.
Powerfully addictive stuff. Hope to catch this band one day. Shout out to my girlfriend Annabel for finding this on discogs for my birthday.

This 1977 gem is the second album by power pop legends: Cheap Trick. If the hunky bikers (Robin Zander and Tom Petersson) on the front cover don’t sell it to you, maybe the upside down, push-biking dorks (Bun E. Carlos and Rick Nielsen) on the back will.. The cover alone speaks volumes to why I love Cheap Trick — they do all the good things about power pop and rock and roll with a serious tongue in their collective cheeks!
In Color is an album of fantastically structured songs and big sing-a-long melodies, but differentiate from each other in clever ways while still flowing seamlessly together. I’ve had a binge moment in time with just about every song on this record, current standouts are Southern Girls, Downed and the closer So Good to See You.

Rot TV are a high-voltage Melbourne rock band that I’m lucky enough to catch at the local spots and every time is an experience of it’s own. This band is made up of people known for rockin’ good in other seriously great bands, such as Annihilation Time and Miss Destiny, yet Rot TV has really carved their own sound and presence in the sonic sphere.

Think a bit of the ghoulish, uniformed vocals of Dave Vanian (The Damned) masterfully paired with the powerful open chords and boogie rhythms of AC/DC. There’s a darkness to this record that sets a mood of nihilism in the air. It’s tough, gritty and could be the soundtrack for a scrap in the street. It only takes listening to the first song Ready To Die to recognise the aura around it, but a couple of songs in you know that you’ve gotta make it to the end. It’s absolutely worth it.

If there had to be a curveball in this list, this would be it. 2008’s heavy, electro-pop masterpiece; Apocalypso by The Presets is an album I first crushed on in my late teens. While I liked it when it came out, I think the 10 year anniversary hype around the album found me understanding the profoundly perfect party nature behind it. It’s not just heavy electro to take pingers to (even though it may be good for that), it also just happens to have crazy good songwriting hidden in there behind those eerie, distorted synthesisers and hard-hitting beats. Something that I perhaps could only understand after years of writing music myself.

I had to pick up the reissue when I saw the chance. It was a COVID purchase that accompanied many a drunken lounge room party, blasting through the home stereo. Front to back, cover to cover, it will always be an Australian masterpiece of electronic music that really influenced a movement and moment in the late 00’s.
Best song would have to be Yippiyo-Ay.

I love everything Sheer Mag has ever put out from the early 7”s all the way to this year’s new single All Lined Up, but if I had to pick a favourite (which is HARD) it would be this one. Sheer Mag seem to do everything just right and this record hits the sweet spot for 70’s rock, heavy metal and soul while somehow keeping it all cohesive in very warm, live production sound.
It’s a journey and somewhat of an emotional one in terms of each song’s feeling. It kicks off with gritting teeth and a punch with opener Meet Me In The Street, before drifting off into sounds of 50s/60s Motown with the sombre title track Need To Feel Your Love. There’s also many big chorus moments built on indie rock, such as the song Expect The Bayonet. It almost jumps between these moods simultaneously, which is perhaps what keeps you being reeled into each track. Either way, it’s all gold — vocally and on the axe.

Hydromedusa are a contemporary band with a 70’s rock and roll and totally powerhouse sound from Adelaide, Australia. I managed to catch them a couple of times — stoked to have done so, because I feel for anyone discovering them now after they’ve called it.

What can I say? This band and album hits f***ing hard. Big Zeppelin, Sabbath vibes, little bit of boogie, little bit of kraut, psych and jam. No band I’ve heard authentically ticks those boxes since the 70’s rock gods themselves.

I picked this record up from a distributor as a little gift for myself (perks of running a label) and it’s a regular on my turntable. Star Song and Lovin’ Man kick off side A with strength. Part One and Part Two, while separated by opposing sides of the LP, are songs that connect as if they’re one — the same steady paced riff continues on after flipping the disc over. Distorted vocals wail over all the songs and it’s simply just the perfect addition to an LP of fantastic warm production.
Leaving is a wild instrumental album closer that feels like it could be a movie score for Clint Eastwood film. 10/10.

The Belair Lip Bombs are a super special band. Hailing from Frankston (the beachy south east of Melbourne for those playing from overseas), the ‘Lip Bombs play indie rock that’s feels like it could well have slotted into Lollapalooza in the 90’s. I would compare them to the sounds of Stephen Malkmus, yes it’s kinda like Pavement, but to me it’s more than that — less slacker, more well-oiled and just amazing.

I’ve been lucky to watch this band evolve from teenagers into seasoned musicians and songwriters. They’re all amazing, unstoppable now I reckon, but they were pretty insane as teenagers too. It makes me stoked to see them killing it after this release because I always knew they had it in them.

This album is their debut. My favourite songs are Gimme Gimme and Easy on the Heart, but it’s a record that needs a listen all the way through. Watch this band — they’ll be massive.

I have a decent collection of Thin Lizzy LPs, but lately this one has been my go to because it really shows them in their live element. Controversial opinion, I like it more than Live and Dangerous. Not sure if it’s a bootleg or not (pretty sure it is), but it’s a compilation of various live recordings, mostly from on-air radio performances that even has some of the host back announces on it. There are also demos of songs with alternate lyrics. So much of it is blown out and lo-fi — it’s just perfect.
I picked it up in Münster, Germany in the Green Hell warehouse, sometime in 2017-2019 while on the road. I don’t think I really knew how much I’d dig it, but it’s so cool.
Any Lizzy fans would dig it so hard. I’d recommend tracking it down!

The Unknowns are a punk rock, power pop, rockin’ band out of Brisbane, Queensland who dropped this insane LP this year that’s easily one of my favourites. Fast, melodic and clever. They’ve got a big major-chord, joyful Ramones sound about them, perhaps even an early Green Day part to it, but what is especially unique is the all time classic vocal call-and-response choruses not too dissimilar to writing of 50’s/60’s rock and roll.

In a live setting, I often think of this band as the Australian Marked Men, it would slot so perfectly into the Dirtnap label (do your homework on that if you haven’t!). Every member is crucial on the stage. Josh with countless great songs and melodies, Eamon with the unfaltering downstroke work, Tom with the hi-hat wrist of steel and Nathan (the true unsung hero, in my opinion) shredding the bass, but also singing my favourite song on this record, the closer ‘Supersonic Love’ — Nathan’s voice is charismatic and mega-as-heck, I’m really keen to hear more.
Album of the year?

Last, but absolutely the furthest from least is Milk Music’s Beyond Living. This 6-track LP is a hell-fuzzed out collection of songs performed by Alex Coxen and Joe Rutter, just drums and guitar — though you wouldn’t think it from how thick it all sounds. This band proves that bass is absolutely “N/A”, as stated on the back cover.Think Dinosaur Jr and late-Wipers, a total wall of noise with a method to all the madness. Through the live dirtiness of this record is a sweet, warm current that wraps you in a sonic blanket — the perfect Friday afternoon LP for blazing one and easing into the weekend. Title track Beyond Living is the one that hits a homer for me, a perfect song that exists only on wax (none of that Spotify bullshit) — perhaps why this LP is special to me.Another honourable mention to the track The Burning Light, an instrumental song that proves the power of tones and volume. This band doesn’t need to be anything more than chords, drums and noise turned to 11, because in the end that’s the core of every rock and roll band.
Thanks Milk Music.

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