Soul A Go Go

Soul A Go Go

By Chris Mineral

The Melbourne-based Soul Messin Allstars, comprising some of the best producers and studio musicians who live and breathe soul, have a brand-new seven-inch single called Soul A Go Go with a film clip featuring choreographer Fortuna Kebebe. 

This is a sonic delight that is now available at all good record stores in the CBD, as well as Northside Records in Fitzroy. If you love The JB’s you will love the Soul Messin Allstars. 

The seven-inch Soul A Go Go single is a black vinyl pressed in Germany with a Soul Messin disco sleeve. This song is a salute to the legendary Soul A Go Go night that happens every Thursday night at venues located both in and surrounding the CBD. 

Written by Jake Mason from Cookin On Three Burners and Eric McCusker from Mondo Rock, Soul A Go Go will fine tune your chakras. Musicians from The Putbacks, Cookin’ On Three Burners, The Teskey Brothers, Fulton Street, The Meltdown, The Wolfgramm Sisters and Cara Robinson performed on this track recorded on the leafy east side of the city. 

Soul A Go Go the club night is a mainstay of Melbourne’s soul music scene, with DJ Vince Peach and Pierre Baroni at the vanguard of great soul music selectors. Vince Peach of course has the superb Northern Soul music show on 3PBS.

Magic Dirt’s second EP, Life Was Better was one of the sonic highlights of the grunge scene in the ‘90s. It propelled Magic Dirt onto the main stage of The Big Day Out festivals. Life Was Better was released in 1994 and is now available on orange and black deluxe vinyl wax. Magic Dirt at that time was Adalita (guitars, vocals), Dean Turner (bass guitar), Adam Robertson (drums) and Daniel Herring (guitars). This gem of an album will be a collector’s item in years to come and all CBD record stores should have this great electrifying album available. 

This is the type of rock music heard from the speakers of an orange-coloured Holden Torana SLR 5000 fanging it on the highway past Avalon in the ‘90s. Magic Dirt formed in 1991 in Geelong, and Life Was Better received four nominations at the 1995 Aria Awards. Magic Dirt played Big Day Out around Australia in the summer of 1995 playing songs from Life was Better to great acclaim. Lindsay Gravina and Michael Alonso were at the desk engineering the sound for the band. 

Emergency Music/Remote Control are issuing this edition of the album. The 10 minutes of feedback that follows the third track Amoxycillin is up there with Neil Young and Crazy Horse in terms of sonic mesmerisation, akin to Arc/Weld at its face-melting best. Neil Young and Crazy Horse’s Ragged Glory from 1991 is an influence on the sonic approach of Magic Dirt. The thing about Ragged Glory is the way that many songs finished, in that, they didn’t, as the band explored feedback potentialities. Many years ago, when Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds were playing Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Magic Dirt and Rowland S Howard played The Corner Hotel in Richmond on the same night. Rowland S Howard was playing with Brian Hooper on bass guitar and Mick Harvey on the drums, playing songs from his glorious Teenage Snuff Film album and they managed to win over the Magic Dirt crowd. The Magic Dirt posse stepped forward through the Rowland S Howard set, indicating that the Magic Dirt fans could appreciate the fineness and greatness of Rowland S Howard.

Later Magic Dirt blitzed the stage, rocking the house. Adalita has performed on the Pop Crimes night celebrating Rowland S Howards music, a highlight being her version of Shivers. She has also performed with many other bands including These Immortal Souls. 

Before embarking upon a tour of the United States Melbourne band Amyl and the Sniffers will be performing at iconic rock and roll venue 170 Russell on Friday, March 27. They will be taking part in the Coachella Festival among a whole clutch of dates across America and Canada. It has been a busy year touring overseas for Amyl and the Sniffers and no doubt they will put on an awesome display of rock and roll before catching the jet plane across the equator. Their debut album is available on vinyl at all cool record stores in the city. Their version of Monsoon Rock on Later … With Jools Holland is well worth checking out, capturing the band at the height of its powers. 

Gigs:

Aldous Harding: Forum Theatre – March 6

The Darkness: 170 Russell – March 17

Amyl and the Sniffers: 170 Russell – March 27

Cherry Sunday Blues Sessions: Sunday Arvos in March, 5pm

Breakfasters, 3RRR: Monday – Friday, 6am - 9am

Since Labor has been in power …

Since Labor has been in power …

March 20th, 2024 - Evan Mulholland
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