Browse by Label: MEMORANDUM (AUSTRALIA)

Artist:	KRYPTONICS
Title:	Rejectionville
Label:	MEMORANDUM (AUSTRALIA)
Format:	2CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	MEMO 003CD

Rejectionville is the definitive 37-track anthology of this perennially under-appreciated garage power-pop outfit from Perth, Western Australia. Kryptonics emerged in 1985 from the same creative melting-pot that spawned The Stems and The Triffids. Over a 7-year period they recorded some fantastic garage-soaked tunes, with an array of line-ups that included future members of Lubricated Goat, You Am I, New Christs, Hard-Ons, The Chevelles, Challenger 7 and (the reformed) Radio Birdman. The Kryptonics existed in the pre-digital era and their vinyl catalog (which now demands high prices on eBay) has never previously been issued on CD. Subsequently, they have remained one of the more enigmatic bands to emerge from the much-celebrated '80s Australian garage-rock'n'roll scene. A band that many have heard of, rather than heard. Rejectionville includes the band's entire recorded output plus an extra CD of unreleased live and studio tracks. It documents the band's journey from young Scientists/Cramps wannabes to a more mature, Detroit rock-flecked power-pop sound. This 2CD is presented in a deluxe gatefold card wallet with a 28-page booklet full of liners, photos and a "Pete Frame"-style family tree that maps the band's extensive genome. This is an essential purchase for the Australian garage/rock'n'roll enthusiast as well as those already familiar with the band.

Artist:	TACTICS
Title:	The Sound Of The Sound: Vol. 2 1984-1988
Label:	MEMORANDUM (AUSTRALIA)
Format:	2CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	MEMO 004CD

Sydney, Australia band Tactics existed for a decade from 1978 to 1988 during which time they helped define the Australian "new wave" sound. Along the way, they released five essential (and long-deleted) albums and a handful of now-collectible and impossibly rare singles and EPs. With influences ranging from The Velvet Underground and Television to Arthur Lee's Love and reggae, Tactics was difficult to categorize, and miles away stylistically from the identikit punk bands they often shared stages with. Lyrical themes of suburban displacement and uncertainty stemmed from singer Dave Studdert's awareness of existentialist writers like Rimbaud, Nietzsche and Foucault, as well as his appreciation and understanding of indigenous Australia, and in particular, Aboriginal song cycles. Sound Of The Sound Vol. 2 is a 42-track, 2CD compilation that focuses on the band's later output between 1984 and 1988, when they experienced their closest shave with Australian mainstream success. It features the Blue And White Future Whale album (1986), the previously-unheard demos for their final album, The Great Gusto (considered by the band to be far superior to the actual album), plus rare singles, B-sides and unreleased live tracks and demos. The package is presented in a handsome 6-panel wallet with a lush 20-page booklet stuffed with photos and Studdert's evocative liners.

Artist:	WRECKERY, THE
Title:	Past Imperfect
Label:	MEMORANDUM (AUSTRALIA)
Format:	2CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	MEMO 005CD

Melbourne 5-piece The Wreckery were one of the most popular Australian underground acts of the 1980s. They played a darkly-hued, twisted form of gothic blues, and were greatly influenced by The Birthday Party -- a band with which they were to develop several future connections. This double CD features 24 key tracks selected from the band's large recorded output. All tracks have been completely remastered and are presented here in a deluxe gatefold card wallet with a 24-page booklet stuffed with photographs, artwork and entertaining liner-notes penned by band leader Hugo Race. Hugo Race was a founding member of Nick Cave's Bad Seeds and has been based in Europe since 1990, where he pursues a successful solo career and is currently signed to Glitterhouse Records. Guitarist Ed Clayton-Jones has also performed with the Bad Seeds and collaborated with Nick Cave and Mick Harvey on the soundtrack to And The Ass Saw The Angel. Along with The Birthday Party, (and its many offshoots), The Scientists and Beasts Of Bourbon, The Wreckery helped pioneer the particularly Australian, "dirty-alternative blues" sound made popular again in recent years by other Australians like The Drones, The Stabs, The Devastations, Kill Devil Hills & Penny Ikinger.

Artist:	GRONG GRONG
Title:	To Hell N' Back
Label:	MEMORANDUM (AUSTRALIA)
Format:	CD/DVD
Price:	$18.00
Catalog #:	MEMO 006CD

Hailing from Adelaide, proto-grunge outfit Grong Grong bludgeoned Australian audiences throughout 1983-1984, with their dark and aggressive take on punk rock. The band filtered its influences of The Birthday Party, The Cramps, Flipper and Pere Ubu through a suburban Australian mindset, sounding like no one before or since. In 1983, they supported Dead Kennedys and impressed frontman Jello Biafra so much, they became the first and only Australian band to release an album on Biafra's Alternative Tentacles label. This deluxe reissue on the much-acclaimed Australian archival label, Memorandum features the band's posthumously-released 1986 self-titled LP, plus rare studio demos, expanded live cuts, and nugget-y rehearsal tapes. All tracks have been digitally-remastered from original source tapes and are available for the first time on CD. The package also contains a DVD with concert and rehearsal footage, displaying the band in all their noisy, chaotic glory. Presented in a deluxe gatefold wallet with a detailed booklet stuffed with liner notes, photos, and original art, this will be a highly-desirable package for fans of this extremely influential band and connoisseurs of the Australian underground scene of the '70s and '80s. DVD is all-region NTSC format.

Artist:	CHAD'S TREE
Title:	Crossing Off The Miles
Label:	MEMORANDUM (AUSTRALIA)
Format:	2CD
Price:	$18.00
Catalog #:	MEMO 007CD

For the first time on CD, these are the long-awaited recordings of Chad's Tree, the band that introduced the singer-songwriting brothers, Mark and Rob Snarski to the Australian public. The brothers are best known for their post-Chad's Tree careers in The Jackson Code and the ARIA-nominated Blackeyed Susans, respectively. They also both sing with the remaining Triffids, when that band stages their tribute to the songs of Dave McComb in the Secret In The Shape Of A Song concerts. Emerging from Perth in the early 1980s and relocating to Sydney mid-decade, Chad's Tree were championed by fellow West Australians, The Triffids -- a band they more than shared stylistic and thematic similarities with. Chad's Tree's brittle, off-kilter sound evoked the sense of distance, desolation, harshness and loneliness of the Australian landscape. Crossing Off The Miles features both the Buckle In The Rail (1988) and Kerosene (1989) albums, every single and B-side and 11 unheard early demos and live recordings. All audio has been remastered from the original master tapes. Crossing Off The Miles is housed in a smart gatefold wallet with a 32-page booklet stuffed with rare photos and exclusive liner notes from eight contributors, including both Rob and Mark Snarski, authors Niall Lucy and David Nichols.

Artist:	BLOODLOSS
Title:	The Truth Is Marching In 1983-1991
Label:	MEMORANDUM (AUSTRALIA)
Format:	2CD
Price:	$18.00
Catalog #:	MEMO 008CD

For the last decade and a half, Bloodloss has existed spasmodically in Seattle with a line-up that grew to include Mudhoney's Mark Arm and Guy Madison. During this period, they released two albums on Reprise and Sympathy For The Record Industry and a number of 7"s and EPs. Formed in Sydney in 1983 by Adelaide ex-pats, Renestair EJ and Martin Bland, Bloodloss existed fitfully Downunder until 1991 when both Ren and Martin emigrated to the USA as members of Stu Spasm's Lubricated Goat. This retrospective is culled from recordings made in Australia between 1983 and 1991 when the band existed alongside better-known contemporaries like the Beasts Of Bourbon, feedtime, Scientists and King Snake Roost. Disc one features the entire, superb The Truth Is Marching In album (1990), along with the best tracks from their final, (and never released) Australian recorded album, The Hair Of The Future, from 1991. Disc two collects the best songs from their self-titled cassette-only album (1986), Human Skin Suit LP (1987), and unheard rehearsal tapes and recording sessions. Includes a 16-page booklet with extensive liner notes by Harry Butler (DNA fanzine). All Music Guide describes Bloodloss' music as "Blues/Vegas/Punk craziness" and over 27 sporadic years, the band's chaotic and pulsating jazz-influenced punk rock has won them many fans. This collection shows where it all began for a band that was always more than just a Mudhoney side project.

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