The Wreckery: Fake Is Forever 2023

The Wreckery are an Australian punk blues group which formed in 1985 in Melbourne. The

founding members were Hugo Race on vocals and guitar, Robin Casinader on drums, piano, Hammond organ, guitar and violin, Edward Clayton-Jones on guitar, organ and vocals, Tadeusz O'Biegly on bass guitar, and Charles Todd on saxophone and organ. Within a year, Nick Barker had replaced O'Biegly on bass guitar. 
                         

                                   
Mark Deming of AllMusic opined that they were "One of the more important bands on the

Australian post-punk scene of the 1980s, Melbourne's the Wreckery played dark, atmospheric music informed by the blues and the same sort of chemical and cultural obsessions as their contemporaries Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds." Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, observed that they were "Led by the enigmatic, petulant Hugo Race, whose bleak visions stabbed at the heart of the human condition, [the group] defied conventional approaches to plough a deep furrow of dark romantic melodrama."
                                    

FAKE IS FOREVER

 

                     

After 35 years in the making, this is The Wreckery album that never was but always should have been! At

the height of the Australian post punk era, Melbourne's The Wreckery built a loyal audience by playing darkly atmospheric rock with film-noir swagger and true renegade attitude. Their early Rampant Records releases (1985-87) featured the band's inventive blend of swamp blues, noir-jazz, and deadpan rock (see the Ruling Energy video!) However, creative differences caused the band to disband just as they were hitting their pinnacle with the Laying Down Law album (Citadel Records, 1988). 
                        

Now, "Fake is Forever" reignites The Wreckery's signature sound with an unyielding fervour. Charles Todd's haunting baritone sax, Hugo Race's scathing lyrics and mesmerizing vocals, Clayton-Jones's

distorted angular guitars, Robin Casinader's eclectic multi-instrumental prowess, and the rhythm powerhouse of Nick Barker and former Plays With Marionettes drummer, Frank Trobbiani, collide to form an iconic lineup. Each track resonates with The Wreckery's unmistakable style, oozing from the deep, dark end of the musical pool. The range of "Fake is Forever" is as vast as it is intoxicating, conjuring a spell of quiet menace. To celebrate the album's release, The Wreckery will embark on an Australian tour starting in late 2023 and continuing through 2024

                                     

The Wreckery – Fake Is Forever
Label: Gusstaff Records – GRAM2406
Format: CD, Album, Stereo
Country: Poland
Released: Nov 30, 2023
Genre: Rock, Blues
Style: Post-Punk, Blues

TRACKS

                                   

01. Smack Me Down   3:10
Composed By – Alannah Hill, Hugo Race
02. The Devil In You   4:15
Composed By – Alannah Hill, Hugo Race
03. Stole It From Alpha Ray   4:29
Composed By – Edward Clayton-Jones, Nick Barker     
04. Whistle Clean   3:17
Composed By – Hugo Race
05. Get A Name   4:11
Composed By – Hugo Race    
06. Evil Eye   3:56
Composed By – Edward Clayton-Jones    
07. Garbage Juice   4:03
Composed By – Hugo Race
08. Dragon Fly   5:08
Composed By – Nick Barker 
09. Young People   7:09
Composed By – Alannah Hill, Hugo Race
    

LINE - UP

                               

Lead Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards – Hugo Race
Bass, Backing Vocals – Nick Barker 
Drums, Percussion – Frank Trobbiani
Guitar, Mellotron, Piano, Synth – Edward Clayton-Jones
Organ, Mellotron, Mandolin, Violin – Robin Casinader
Saxophone – Charles Todd

Flac Size: 245 MB

Dirtmusic: Dirtmusic 2007 + BKO 2010

 

Dirtmusic are Australian expat Hugo Race (The Bad Seeds, The Wreckery), and US citizens Chris Eckman (The Walkabouts, Willard Grant Conspiracy etc) and Chris Brokaw, who has worked with

The Lemonheads and Liz Phair, among others. They take their name from a novel by Australian writer Tim Winton, and came together through a shared resolution to escape the “digital sheen” of much contemporary rock for a more organic, back porch sound. Dirtmusic’s first album, recorded in 2007 in Eckman’s adopted home city of Ljubljana, Slovenia, somehow got into the hands of the booker of Mali’s annual Festival of the Desert who invited them to perform. 
                           

When the band attended the 2008 Festival in the Desert in Mali, they found common musical

ground with the Touareg band Tamikrest, jamming with them almost non-stop for three days. The following year, the two groups met again in the Malian capital of Bamako for an intense recording session, which produced Tamikrest’s accomplished debut Adagh and ΒΚΟ, an album named after the acronym for Bamako’s international airport.
                          

DIRTMUSIC - DIRTMUSIC 2007

                             

Digging back to their roots in search of the raw urban folkblues, Eckman, Race and Brokaw converge

paths in the European spring for full immersion in the journey of a brand new collaborative project: DIRT MUSIC. Three multi-instrumental artists from diverse backgrounds - three voices discovering a mutual language in the legacy of the frontier. Six strings, some keys, "found" percussion, steel bottleneck, roots feels, acoustic storytelling illuminated by an electronic vein. Dreams and memories carved from hard bedrock reality: Dirtmusic - a road movie in evolution...

                                   

Dirtmusic – Dirtmusic
Label: Glitterhouse Records – GRCD 676
Format: CD, Album, Promo
Country: Germany
Released: 2007
Genre: Rock, Blues, Folk, World, & Country
Style: Blues Rock, Country Blues, Folk Rock

TRACKS

                        

01. Erica Moody    3:06
02. The Other Side    5:37
03. Sun City Casino    5:30
04. Face Of Evil    3:35
05. The Returning    5:30
06. Still Running    5:37
07. Summer Days    3:30
08. Ballad Of A Dream    7:15
09. No Sorrow More    4:51
10. Panther Hunting    2:04
11. Wasted On    4:07
12. Morning Dew (Written-By – Dobson, Rose)   6:18

LINE - UP

                     

                         
Voice, Guitar, Banjo, Harmonium, Melodica, Percussion, Drums – Chris Brokaw
Voice, Guitar, Organ [Hammond], Electric Piano [Wurlitzer] – Chris Eckman
Voice, Guitar, Organ [Hammond], Harmonium, Percussion – Hugo Race
Written-By – Chris Brokaw (tracks: 1, 4, 7, 10), Chris Eckman (tracks: 2, 5, 8, 11), Hugo Race (tracks: 3, 6, 9)

Flac Size: 343 MB

DIRTMUSIC - BKO 2010

                         

Things open with Black Gravity, where the combination of electric and acoustic sounds as well as kit drums and hand-percussion suggests early T. Rex, with Tamikrest’s singer Ousmane Ag Mossa weaving a

chorus in Tamasheq between Eckman’s verses.  Other Malian stars paid visits to the studio: Fadimata Walet Oumar from the famous Touareg group Tartit lends her sublime vocals to “All Tomorrow’s Parties” and “Desert Wind”. Two master musicians from Toumani Diabate’s Symmetric Orchestra jam on several abstract pieces, with one of them, “Niger Sundown”, being included on the album, while guitar legend Lobi Traoré plays on closing track “Bring It Home”.  
                

Dirtmusic – BKO
Label: Glitterhouse Records – GRCD 704
Format: CD, Album
Country: Germany
Released: Apr 19, 2010
Genre: Rock, Folk, World, & Country
Style: Indie Rock

TRACKS

                        

01. Black Gravity  6:07
Bass, Vocals – Cheikhe Ag Tigly
Calabash, Vocals – Pino Ibrahim Ag Ahmed
Djembe, Vocals – Aghaly Ag Mohamadine
Drums, Guitar [Tremelo], Vocals – Chris Brokaw
Guitar [Distortion], Vocals – Hugo Race
Rhythm Guitar, Vocals – Mossa Ag Borayba
Vocals, Electric Guitar – Chris Eckman, Ousmane Ag Mossa
Written-By – Eckman, Ag Mossa
02. All Tomorrow's Parties   5:39
Bass – Cheikhe Ag Tigly
Calabash – Pino Ibrahim Ag Ahmed
Djembe – Aghaly Ag Mohamadine
Electric Guitar [Lead] – Ousmane Ag Mossa
Electric Guitar, Vocals – Hugo Race
Organ, Vocals – Chris Eckman
Rhythm Guitar – Mossa Ag Borayba
Vocals – Fadimata Walett Oumar
Vocals, Guitar – Chris Brokaw
Written-By – Reed
03. Ready For The Sign   4:16
Bass – Cheikhe Ag Tigly
Calabash – Pino Ibrahim Ag Ahmed
Djembe – Aghaly Ag Mohamadine
Drums, Electric Guitar – Chris Brokaw
Organ, Vocals – Chris Eckman
Rhythm Guitar – Mossa Ag Borayba
Vocals, Guitar – Hugo Race
Written-By – Race
04. Desert Wind  4:34
Banjo [Slide] – Chris Brokaw
Bass – Cheikhe Ag Tigly
Calabash – Pino Ibrahim Ag Ahmed
Djembe, Maracas – Aghaly Ag Mohamadine
Electric Guitar – Ousmane Ag Mossa
Organ – Chris Eckman
Rhythm Guitar – Mossa Ag Borayba
Vocals – Fadimata Walett Oumar
Vocals, Acoustic Guitar – Hugo Race
Written-By – Race
05. Lives We Did Not Live   4:40
Bass – Cheikhe Ag Tigly
Calabash – Pino Ibrahim Ag Ahmed
Djembe – Aghaly Ag Mohamadine
Drums, Maracas, Guitar [Distortion], Vocals – Chris Brokaw
Electric Guitar, Vocals – Hugo Race
Rhythm Guitar – Mossa Ag Borayba
Vocals, Electric Guitar – Chris Eckman
Written-By – Eckman
06. Unknowable   4:14
Bass – Cheikhe Ag Tigly
Calabash – Pino Ibrahim Ag Ahmed
Electric Guitar [Lead] – Ousmane Ag Mossa
Guitar [Tremelo], Bass – Hugo Race
Guitar [Wah] – Chris Eckman
Vocals, Banjo, Guitar – Chris Brokaw
Written-By – Brokaw
07. Smokin Bowl   5:13
Banjo, Vocals – Chris Brokaw
Bass – Cheikhe Ag Tigly
Calabash – Pino Ibrahim Ag Ahmed
Djembe, Maracas – Aghaly Ag Mohamadine
Guitar [Fuzz], Vocals – Chris Eckman
Lead Guitar – Ousmane Ag Mossa
Rhythm Guitar – Mossa Ag Borayba
Vocals, Guitar [Tremelo] – Hugo Race
Written-By – Race
08. Collisions   5:41
Bass, Guitar [Buddah], Organ, Vocals – Hugo Race
Djembe – Aghaly Ag Mohamadine
Guitar [Ebow], Vocals – Chris Eckman
Vocals, Guitar, Drums – Chris Brokaw
Written-By – Brokaw
09. Niger Sundown   4:19
Acoustic Guitar – Chris Eckman
Banjo – Chris Brokaw
Guitar [Slide] – Hugo Race
Written-By – Dirtmusic
Xalam [N'goni] – Issa Koné
10. Bring It Home   4:46
Acoustic Guitar [Lead] – Lobi Traoré
Banjo, Vocals – Chris Brokaw
Organ, Xalam [N'goni], Vocals – Hugo Race
Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Percussion, Harmonium – Chris Eckman

Flac Size: 322 MB

                     

TAMIKREST On Urban Aspirines HERE

4 Non Blondes: Bigger, Better, Faster, More! 1992

San Francisco's 4 Non Blondes burst onto the national scene with their massive, neo-hippie anthem

"What's Up" from their debut Bigger, Better, Faster, More? Although they failed to recreate the single's success, the album, as a whole, is a fairly engaging mix of alternative rock, quasi-funk, and blues. 4 Non Blondes formed in San Francisco in 1989. Their lineup comprises Linda Perry (guitars, vocals), Christa Hillhouse (bass), Dawn Richardson (drums) and Roger Rocha (guitar); previously in the band were founding members Shaunna Hall (guitar) and Wanda Day (drums).
                                   

The name of the band came from an experience the group had in the Bay Area with a blonde family.

According to Christa Hillhouse, "Right next to us, there's a trash receptacle with a piece of pizza on top and the kid wanted to pick it up. The mom said, 'No, it's probably dirty, what with the pigeons and people.' And she stared right at us. We were Non Blondes." They said the experience became a symbol that they did not fit the California stereotype. They got their start in the San Francisco bar scene, especially lesbian bars, gaining a significant lesbian following.
                               

The focal point is on lead singer Linda Perry who also plays guitar and was the primary writer of

the material. Perry has a powerful set of pipes akin to Johnette Napolitano, but, unfortunately, she tends to cut loose when a little more restraint would benefit the proceedings. However, "Superfly" is a feel good, funky number and "Spaceman"'s yearning lyrics are delivered over a quiet, martial drum rhythm. A solid debut that got lost in the wake of its mammoth hit. 
                       

The video for "What's Up?" became a smash on MTV, propelling sales of the album to over six

million copies worldwide. "What's Up?" was selected as Best Song by the Bay Area Music Awards; moreover, Perry was chosen as Best Female Vocalist and Bigger, Better, Faster, More? won for Best Album. The group toured with Neil Young, Pearl Jam, and Bob Dylan. The band recorded tunes for the soundtracks to Wayne's World 2 and Airheads. The first single was "Dear Mr. President", which bass player Christa Hillhouse told Songfacts "was about the hierarchy of power and government." 
                            

The second single, "What's Up?", reached No. 1 in several countries and went gold in the United States,

while the album itself went platinum, accumulating sales of 1.5 million copies in the United States alone and 6 million copies worldwide. However, Perry felt that the group had become too pop; consequently, she left 4 Non Blondes. She released her solo debut, In Flight, in 1995. Perry departed from Interscope Records in 1998 and recorded her second full-length, After Hours, for her own label, Rockstar Records. 
                                   

4 Non Blondes – Bigger, Better, Faster, More!
Label:Interscope Records – 7 92112-2, Atlantic – 7 92112-2
Format:CD, Album, Stereo
Country:US
Released:Oct 13, 1992
Genre:Rock
Style:Alternative Rock, Folk Rock, Hard Rock

TRACKS

                          

01. Train    3:47
02. Superfly    4:37
03. What's Up   4:55
Engineer – Mark Hensley, Kent Matcke
04. Pleasantly Blue    2:27
05. Morphine & Chocolate    4:41
06. Spaceman    3:40
07. Old Mr. Heffer    2:16
08. Calling All The People    3:17
09. Dear Mr. President    4:43
10. Drifting    3:30
11. No Place Like Home    3:09

LINE - UP

                      

Linda Perry – lead vocals, acoustic guitar
Christa Hillhouse – bass, background vocals
Roger Rocha – lead guitar (credited but joined after the album's completion)
Dawn Richardson – drums

ADDITIONAL MUSICIANS

Shaunna Hall – guitar
Rory Kaplan – Mellotron
Suzie Katayama – cello, accordion
Louis Metoyer – guitar
Dave Rickets – keyboard
Andy James – drums
Laurent Tardy – piano

Flac Size: 280 MB

Psychic Ills: The Early Years

 

When it comes to following the beat of their own drum, New York’s Psychic Ills have exemplified the phrase since their beginnings in 2003. Initially spawned from electronic-centered home recording experiments, they progressed into all-night full-band exploration in a neighborhood where noise wasn’t a

problem. They soon after evolved into a live band seemingly at home within the extended jam, exploring a variety of musical terrain. The early years saw several releases for Social Registry, tons of time on the road, and collaborations with artists as diverse as Gibby Haynes (Butthole Surfers) and Sonic Boom (Spacemen Three/Spectrum). In 2011, their first effort for Sacred Bones, Hazed Dream traded in the synthesizer space-outs and raga rumbles, and delivered  records of sunburned psych pop, awash in warm tones and blues damaged songwriting. 
                       

01. PSYCHIC ILLS - DINS 2005

                          

Dins is the full-length debut of New York City's Psychic Ills; a band known for their squalling live shows that combine post-punk sonics, deafening drones, psychedelic weirdness, rhythmic tribalism, and loose, shambolic, improvisational jams that have everything to do with chaos and intensity. That weird Eastern

tinged mental drug orgy thing that seems so elusive to so many nowadays drenches these proceedings. Check the hand drumming and snaky guitar in "East" for starters. There's that eerie blues thing going on with the modal guitar line, with hypnotic bass lines and hand drums. It's the payoff before the seduction where everything that's delivered in a haunted, wooly sanguine blur was never promised. Who knows what's being sung, and who cares? It's silvery, slithering melodic fabric has no seam, everything lies down together in a psychedelic rock & roll orgy of acid-guzzled, dark-thrummed bliss. Dins does it, over and again. 
                               

Psychic Ills – Dins
Label: The Social Registry – TSR024
Format: Album, Digipak
Country: US
Released: 2005
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock, Ethereal, Electroacoustic, Experimental

TRACKS

01. East    1:39
02. Electric Life    5:26
03. (Untitled)   4:25
Effects [Stereo Parametric Equalizer] – Charles Burst
04. January Rain    5:38
05. Inauration    1:57
06. I Knew My Name    8:33
07.Witchcraft Breaker   2:12
Horns – Jesse Trbovich    
08. Another Day Another Night    8:08

Flac Size: 244 MB 

02.  PSYCHIC ILLS - EARLY VIOLENCE 2006

                              

Early Violence, a 35-minute album with a December 2006 release date, marks the first time that some of

Psychic Ills' pre-Dins recordings have been available on CD. This disc unites the contents of Psychic Ills' first two releases, "Mental Violence I" (a 7" record) and "Mental Violence II" (a 12" record), with two previously unreleased songs: "Highway of Death" and "Diamond City Redux." Although Psychic Ills were still finding their creative way during those first few months, they had an attractive style early on: a spacey and hazy yet distorted, gritty, and rockin' style that drew on influences ranging from shoegazer bands of the '90s and 2000s to '60s and early '70s psychedelic garage rock. 
                   

Psychic Ills – Early Violence
Label: The Social Registry – TSR032
Format: CD, Compilation
Country: US
Released: Dec 5, 2006
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock

TRACKS

01. Vice    2:25
02. Killers    4:25
03. Diamond City    4:01
04. Days    7:09
05. Highway Of Death    3:51
06. 4AM    6:14
07. Red-Split    3:35
08. Diamond City Redux    4:20

NOTES

Tracks 1 & 2 from: Killers 7" single 2003
Tracks 3, 4, 6 & 8 from: Mental Violence 12" single 2005
Track 5 from: Various Artists CD compilation xgLA: Sophistication Meets The Streets (U.S. Pop Life Vol. 19) 2005
Track 7 from: Various Artists 2xCD compilation Every Day Since Sixty Six / Ascension Days (When We Rise) 2005
(Unlisted Track 8 not mentioned on packaging).

Flac Size: 207 MB 

03. PSYCHIC ILLS - LIVE AT LEVITATION 2012 (2022)

                         

The fifth LP in this Live at LEVITATION series features New York psych legends Psychic Ills capturing

the band’s spellbinding performance in 2012."The first thing that grabbed me when I listened to our 2012 performance at Austin Psych Fest is Tres declaring at the start of the recording “It’s good to be back in Texas” because that simple sentiment captured everything we felt in that moment—the nostalgia and privilege of coming back to our home state for such an iconic festival." - Elizabeth Hart (Psychic Ills)
                        

Psychic Ills – Live At Levitation
Label: The Reverberation Appreciation Society – RVRB-053
Series: Live At Levitation 
Format: Vinyl, LP, Limited Edition Sep 30, 2022
Country: Europe
Released: 2012
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock

SIDE A.

                   

A1. Midnight Moon    4:19
A2. Mind Daze    3:31
A3. Incense Head    3:58
A4. Ring Finger    4:16
A5. Electriclife    4:02

SIDE B.

             

B1. Meta    3:57
B2. Diamond City    3:41
B3. January Rain    6:32
B4. I'll Follow You Through The Floor    4:35

NOTES

2012 performance at Austin Psych Fest

Flac Size: 219 MB