THE NATION BLUE
(TYM001) A Melbourne three piece originally from the wilds of Tasmania, The Nation Blue forced themselves onto the Australian punk scene during the early 2000’s with a mix of eighties hardcore and post hardcore with incendiary live shows and, as of this point, four albums and one EP of frantic, abrasive and beautiful unmistakably Australian noise.
TURNPIKE
(TYM001/047) Turnpike are and will always be one the best bands you’ve probably never heard of and probably one of the best bands to ever come out of Brisbane. They have constantly flown under the radar of fame, or even notice for more years than they would care to admit. They are impossible to be a fan of as you can’t buy any of their music and they rarely play live, you can’t even get a T shirt.
NO ANCHOR
(TYM002/043) No Anchor started as a two-piece drum and bass noise band and made an instant impact on the “scene”. With the addition of a third member (and second bass player) the volume level was upped, and the intense noise level was pushed to new limits. They continue to release original and inspirational music while evolving within their chosen fields of abrasive walls of feedback and fuzz.
BLACKLEVEL EMBASSY
(TYM002) Blacklevel (one word) Embassy are three seasoned gents from Melbourne who play instant discordant music for an audience who largely don’t understand what they are seeing and hearing. Influenced by metallic abrasive punk they produce massive sounds that seem unlikely, or even impossible for a three piece to produce.
THE HYMIES
(TYM003/036) The Hymies were Brisbane’s answer to hardcore but with just the right amount of British punk thrown in to make it a little more interesting. They mixed eighties hardcore and seventies punk and glam to make fast, catchy songs that could tear your head off. On a good night, they were as good as it gets. On a bad night they were a shambles of drunken noise that sent everyone to the bar. Their songs (and sets) could over before you had a chance to ask the person beside you what they thought.
UNDEAD APES
(TYM003) These guys are a direct lineage from New York punk in ’74 straight through to Australia in the eighties and onto now. They proudly fly the flag for pop punk with catchy, melodic and fast songs worthy of anyone who considers themselves to be into this genre. Their songs are fast and short, and you can’t help but hum along.
EARTHLESS
(TYM004/038) The greatest power psych jam trio on earth are here on Tym records. TYM004 is a limited-edition release of 600 only, 7″ 33 1/3 RPM singles with one song, with the affectionate working title of “Earthless 10th Anniversary Jam”.
ADAM HARDING
(TYM005) Adam Harding is a film maker, musician and songwriter originally from Geelong, Victoria but has been living in LA for quite some time with infrequent trips back to Australia. The last time I saw Adam was at a friend’s funeral a few years ago. These are not the best places to see people. Adam is an amazing film maker having made film clips and docos for many bands and artists. He is also, annoyingly for us “normal” folk, a great songwriter and musician. His songs vary dramatically in style and genre, and he collaborates with some truly inspiring people. The song he’s done for my club is with Murph from Dinosaur Jr and Bobb from Best Coast. I think we’ll be hearing more from some of Adam’s incarnations in future club releases.
REGURGITATOR
(TYM005) Regurgitator are incredibly hard to nail down both musically and artistically. Since their inception in the early 90’s in Brisbane they have released songs in so many styles including punk, electronic, hip hop, hardcore, funk, noise, rap, and the list goes on and on. They were so far ahead of the game here seeing them live in the early days was ………. Confusing. In ’96 they released an album called Tu-Plang, which still sounds amazing and undated today, and I personally consider to be one of the most unique and interesting albums to ever come out of Australia. They have released seven albums and five EP’s to date and show no hint of losing their originality and creativity. The song here is a remastered version of a song recorded a couple of years ago but never officially released in this format.
THE ARCOLAS
(TYM006) The Arcolas are four gentlemen from Brisbane who bring rock, pop, punk, rockabilly and country into a mix of catchy two and half minute songs played with the skill you’d expect from four guys who have been in more great bands than I can count on my fingers. The song they’ve recorded here was done at Tym studios especially for us so it’s a very family orientated release. Punchy and catchy in equal parts it shows their love of Aussie pub/punk rock and sixties Mod with a definite Australian flavor.
BRAT FARRAR
(TYM006) Brat Farrar is a one man locomotive of pop punk catchiness. Some of you may know him as one half of Digger and the Pussycats. Some of you will know him as Sam. Some of you will know him as that guy from Melbourne who moved to ……………. Croatia to further his musical career. No matter how you know him, he writes and records ridiculously catchy, short, frantic songs that leave you wanting more and whistling for the rest of the day.
BLACK ELK MEDICINE BAND
(TYM007) Isaiah Mitchell is Black Elk Medicine Band, or is it the other way round? I met Izzy through one of my all-time favorite bands, Earthless, although he’s been in, and is in many other great bands and projects and we’ve since become what I’d consider to be very good friends with similar tastes and understandings. Black Elk Medicine Band is Isaiah’s first solo project, and this is the first song from it. Surf instrumental guitar set to electronic drumbeats and distorted bass, it strays from what most of you would know him for, but that’s what he’s trying to tell you. It’s not just late 60’s psych or early 70’s prog/rock that he has to offer, he’s a songwriter and guitarist on a level I can only marvel at.
CAM BUTLER
(TYM007) Cam Butler is a composer and guitarist who has been releasing solo and collaborative work since the early 2000’s. He has recorded under the band names Silver Ray and Ron Penos Superstitions and has also done six solo albums including Save My Soul (Symphony No 3) which is when I first heard, and “met” Cam by email. I knew him only as “the guy who arranged Ron Peno’s new album”, which I loved, but after hearing this symphony I went back and listened to Cams earlier work. His lush and atmospheric pieces seem to move through space almost like good shoegaze or psych does for me but with a real Morricone, or cinematic feel to it. It’s almost like the rock world meets the classical composer world. Whatever it is, I’m hooked.
MIDNIGHT WOOLF
(TYM008) Midnight Woolf are “old school” in the best possible way. Hailing from Melbourne via Spain, they take sixties surf and garage and fifties rockabilly and blues and grind it all through a mincer hastily assembled from bits of punk rock and classic seventies rock. It sounds traditional while somehow sounding new and fresh and different. I’ve known Raul for years and he’s a R’n’R lifer. All of his bands are inspirational and his dedication to music is second to none.
TREATMENT
(TYM008) Treatment (no “THE” for these guys) are a band from Sydney inhabited by a bunch of seasoned fellas who’s love of sixties garage rock and psych brutally attack your senses from all angles. Distorted vocals and fuzz guitars with everything pushed into the red, and they make no apologies for it. Equal parts catchy and nasty, and I love both of them. Between them, these guys personally know everyone in music and it’s that knowledge that brings this project together and makes it gel so well. It feels “old”, but like you haven’t heard it done this way before.
THE SHRINE
(TYM009/018) The Shrine are riff lords from California who aren’t afraid to show their love of seventies rock and eighties punk while packing it tightly in a cone of pool shredding, acid dropping and Marshall stacks. Infectious fuzzy riffs laden with long unwashed hair and crappy vans with Thin Lizzy blasting from the stereo. Rock, metal and punk really hasn’t been this much fun since, well, ever. If the idea of 3 filthy rock dudes heading down the freeway with too much weed and a bunch of mixed tapes of everything heavy and cool ever recorded on their way to finding the perfect abandoned pool to skate in appeals to you, then grab this wax to give you the soundtrack.
MUDHONEY
(TYM010/065) Mudhoney. They really need no introduction, but for those of you who don’t know them they are a garage rock band from Seattle. They got together in the late eighties and through Sub Pop and along with a few other notable bands, spearheaded a movement that bought the fun back into music, at least for me who was sick of listening to coke induced middle of the road “rock” bands with more hair than talent.
IOWA
(TYM011) Iowa are a Melbourne band who take great slivers of late eighties and early nineties fuzzy guitar pop/rock and meld it into something that seems very familiar yet always just a little surprising. Their debut album in 2012 was on my top ten list for this very reason. Like a lot of those eighties and nineties bands in this genre, they write songs based on what is now “classic rock” but with the grit and hindsight of punk.
SOUNDS LIKE SUNSET
(TYM011/023) Sounds Like Sunset aren’t that well known, but they should be. They released one of the greatest Australian “shoegaze’ pop albums ever back in 2005 and NO-ONE cared. Everything they’ve ever released has been noisy dirty guitar pop genius, and no-one listens. If you love the catchier side of the eighties/nineties alternative guitar movement, you have to love these guys. They’re as good as anything from Bellshill, Aberdeen or Amherst ……. and they’re from the central coast of NSW.
BRETT NETSON
(TYM012/029) I met Brett when he was on tour here with his band Built to Spill and we bonded over pedals and politics. The meeting ended with a signature pedal I make for him and an understanding of how things should work. Brett’s an amazing guitarist with BtS but when I heard his solo album, I realized he was also an amazing songwriter and singer. So here we are, on Tym records.
KELLIE LLOYD
(TYM012) I first met Kel years ago when she moved to Brisbane and became part of the people I knew through music. She played in a few scrappy punk/grunge bands and then joined Screamfeeder (then known as the Madmen) and they played their first show with this name and line up in my lounge room at a party. I have watched as she writes songs and release records ever since.
HOT LUNCH
(TYM013) Hot Lunch are good time rockin’ skate band from San Francisco that meld sixties psych with seventies rock and punk into one brilliant little package that is so infectious it sounds like your best friends band, only better. They feel like a bunch of sixties Detroit punks moved to London in the late sixties to show the poms how to rock, and skate, and rock. They went into the studio to record a couple of songs especially for Tym records. An original, and one to show they KNOW where I am.
SWERVEDRIVER
(TYM014/045) Swervedriver burst onto a very healthy British noisy rock scene and instantly made an impact with their high energy, melodic, heavy psych pop with the release of an EP in 1990 featuring the song Son of Mustang Ford, on the incredibly versatile Creation Records who also boasted such visionaries as Jesus and Mary Chain, Ride, My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive and Teenage Fanclub. Followed by EP’s Rave Down, Sandblasted and Reel to Reel. Although this “movement” was dubbed “Shoegaze’ the overpowering factor of this scene was melody and noise, and both were in excess.
DOLLAR BAR
(TYM015) Dollar Bar are a pop band originally from Brisbane but now spread out over other capital cities in Australia. Their love of quirky, catchy, melodic guitar pop is totally infectious and always leaves you wanting more. They make songs sound so “normal” while always being clever and just slightly off kilter, which is a joy to listen to.
TINY SPIDERS
(TYM015) Tiny Spiders are a two piece from Brisbane featuring two people who are in some of the other best bands in the city. They’re hard to pin down musically which is exciting to watch and listen to. There’s bits of nearly everything thrown into the mix with loud drums and fuzzy, feedbacking guitar. The songs are catchy and melodic with lashings of garage, shoegaze, pop and rock. Never a dull moment with Tiny Spiders around.
LECHEROUS GAZE
(TYM016) Lecherous Gaze are a bunch of sleazy punks from Oakland, Ca who play punk rock the real way. Equal parts seventies rock and eighties punk, they lay slabs of riffin’ good time music that you can skate to. Born from the ashes of Annihilation Time and rolling that wrecking ball of rock forever onwards. These two songs were recorded exclusively for Tym records for their first ever Australian tour.
HEAVY BLANKET
(TYM017) Back in March 2013 while Dinosaur Jr were on tour in Australia, J stopped by the old shop to play an intimate and very loud instore as his alter ego Heavy Blanket. Bringing heavy psych, guitar solos and noise, lots of noise together in an amalgam of pure music. He enlisted the help of two friends to fill in on bass and drums as his original band had disbanded. Bringing everything together on March 14th the result was something to behold. 25 minutes of volume and screeching Jazzmaster backed by a heavy, driving rhythm section. The show was professionally recorded to 16 track and captured for future generations to be in awe of.
DIRTY FENCES
(TYM018) Dirty Fences are a rock ‘n’ roll band from Brooklyn, New York who play dirty, amphetamine driven skate rock crossed with classic NY punk. They’ve released an EP and an album through Volcom that will blow your Converses clean off. These guys make a sound like a New York subway train hurtling towards a bunch of stoner skaters with a little bit of ol’ school soul somewhere buried in the mix. They’ve been long time friends and touring mates of the Shrine, who need no introduction here. So, finally, they’re together on the same piece of wax.
DUMB NUMBERS
(TYM019) Dumb Numbers is the “band name” used by LA via Melbourne artist Adam Harding. I have known Adam for some time, and he has done stuff on my label before, but he never ceases to amaze me with his ideas and tones for his music. Here he assembles an amazing array of musicians to help him record an exclusive song inc Bobb Bruno (Best Coast) and Dale Crover (Melvins) and more resulting in a song that is eclectic and original. Adam has released quite a few singles and EP’s under his own name but this is his first foray as a “band”. The resulting album is amazing. That might be due to his collaborators, or maybe just because he writes great songs.
GOLDEN BATS
(TYM019/031) Golden Bats is a one-man powerhouse of riffs and ripped out vocals. Slow, dirgey and brutal in equal parts but without ever losing a sense of melody and purpose. Layered down tuned guitars and drum machines might sound like a combination that doesn’t belong on my label, but I like it when it’s done right, and this is done right. Golden Bats has a plethora of CD EP’s released so far but a long player would be a thing to behold.
THE HARD-ONS
(TYM020/042) Three kids from Sydney who exploded onto the Australian indie music scene in the mid 80’s with catchy, fast, noisy, catchy, fast, heavy pop punk played straight from the heart with no concerns of how others would take them or if they’d be considered cool, which made them even cooler, if that’s possible.
SWEET APPLE
(TYM022) A bunch of friends from a million other bands got together over a death and their mutual love of 70’s Cleveland/Detroit Rock and glam and realized pretty quickly it all gelled nicely. Bringing pieces from their other bands (Witch, Dinosaur Jr, Cobra Verde, Guided by Voices, Death of Samantha, Dusty Skull etc) to this mix of big riffs, big drums and catchy, swaggering choruses their new album shows they have lighter, more sensitive side. Here is the second single from the album with an Australian cover on the flip which seems to be becoming a “thing” on Tym records.
JASON SIMON
(TYM024) Jason Simon is the guitarist, singer, songwriter for US psych/stoner band Dead Meadow. With that project he unleashes an amazing array of noise, feedback, volume and melody as the three piece grinds the sprawling psych landscapes. As Jason Simon he writes and plays beautiful, acoustic folk and blues as an amazing counterpoint to the beautiful squall. His self-titled solo album from 2011 is one of my favourite “stripped back” albums ever.
PETER BLACK
(TYM024/052/058) Peter Black is better known around these parts as Blackie, the guitarist, singer and one of three of the nicest people in the Hard-Ons. When he’s not playing heavy, primeval punk rock, he’s playing heavy, primeval sludge psych in Nunchukka Superfly, and when he’s not playing that, he’s playing acoustic, melodic driven folk on his own.
ADAM FRANKLIN
(TYM025) Adam Franklin has been part of my musical landscape for almost as long as I can remember. Of course, there was music for me before him, but names that spin into my world and spin back out on irregular and erratic trajectories are now too many to remember. Then there are are those, like Adam Franklin that come blazing in and got caught in my gravitational field and continue to spin on a more and more stable and consistent path. With his band Swervedriver in the 90’s, and again recently, and with Toshack Highway, Bolts of Melody and under his own name he has consistently delivered amazing music to my world for over 20 years.
ED KUEPPER
(TYM026) Ed has moved through many innovative musical landscapes from the Saints to the Laughing Clowns to 30 years of solo recording and performing and still, to this day proves he can be original and inventive with his art.
It’s truly an honour and privilege to announce that I am is releasing a limited edition vinyl 7″ with two new songs recorded exclusively and available only through Tym records worldwide.
THE MEANIES
(TYM027/034) The Meanies are a pop punk band from Melbourne who through the nineties came to epitomize the catchy side of hardcore and pop punk in Australia. In their heyday of releases between 1990 and 1995 they released song after song after song of ridiculously melodic fast punk. Their live shows are crazy. Their songs are crazy good.
FREAK WAVE
(TYM028) Freak Wave are four old friends being nostalgic while moving forward from Melbourne who wear their 90’s US indie sound proudly on their sleeves while taking discordant pop and punk and giving it just the right amount of weight and Australian feel to make it sound like it couldn’t come from anywhere else but the great southern land. 4 old friends being nostalgic while moving forward.
SEAPLANE
(TYM028) Seaplane are another one of Brisbane’s most underrated bands you’ve probably never heard of. This three-piece writes everything from perfect pop to slightly disconcerting noise while keeping it engaging, entertaining and a pure pleasure to listen to. Mixing slightly off kilter “lo-fi” and slacker pop with noise and shoegaze with hooks this good makes their albums, and live shows a genuine treat.
HYDROMEDUSA
(TYM030) Hydromedusa are a bunch of riffin’ stoners from Adelaide who’s love of sixties psych collides head on with seventies hard rock in a loud display of fuzzy guitars and bass and big thunpin’ drums rounded out with vocals from a throat that has pulled one too many buckets. In this era of “modern psych stoner” where anyone with a Fuzz Face and a valve amp with Marshall written on it can claim to channel the spirit of rock, these guys come out blazing like an Australian MC5 mixed with Blue Cheer with dueling fuzzed out guitar solos while the rhythm section settles in for the ride and genuinely feels ……. right. One listen to these guys will convince you that you need to see them in a room with the kick drum hitting you in the chest and the guitar amp hitting you in the head.
NATE HALL
(TYM032) Nate Hall is many things in many forms. As a singer/songwriter/musician he can be very hard to categorize or classify to any specific genre or style and even harder to describe. He’s also an artist, a poet, a noisemaker, an activist and a believer in the morality and dignity of humankind.
His musical exploits vary from psych to folk to rock and his peers and collaborators include him in everything from space rock to sludge metal to country to drone. He’s a chameleon who can adapt to many styles and forms while keeping an integrity and belief in what’s real and meaningful.
STEVE TURNER
(TYM033) Steve Turner is known to many but some of you who don’t know the name have almost definitely heard his music. After some smaller bands in the early 80’s he met up with future collaborator in distortion Mark Arm in Seattle and played in a band called Green River with Mark and Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament, who both went on to form Pearl Jam. Steve and Mark started the wonderfully noisy punk garage rock band Mudhoney with Matt from the Melvins and Dan Peters on drums.
Tym records and Steve have got together to offer you this 4 track 7″ presenting two sides of Steve’s personality and love of music. This little Tym records 4 track 7″ EP is called Steve Turner And Four Of His Bad Ideas and is available on this limited edition vinyl.
BUDD
(TYM035) Back in the late eighties a musical movement was forming in the north west of the US that was eventually going to kick the world into believing again. In Brisbane one of those bands was BUDD. Taking their love of this idea and adding that unique Brisbane attitude they started playing in the early 90’s and were the first band “on the scene” to wholeheartedly embrace this ethos. In Feb ’93 after releasing a cassette called FUZZGUTZN by themselves and then a single, and a double 10″ through Ecstatic Peace! records in the US, they released the cornerstone of this Australian movement. Only available on CD at the time this EP features 6 heavy sludge garage rock songs worthy of any band in the world involved in this genre.
GRINDING EYES
(TYM037/045/056/063) Grinding Eyes are a four-piece psych garage band from Sydney who combine modern and vintage noise into moving soundscapes laden with fuzz and reverb with the expertise you would expect from a group of seasoned musicians like these. This debut 7″ features two tracks of stomping drums and surf guitar weaved into a late sixties psychedelic twist with ups and downs to make you really enjoy the ride.
This 33 RPM 7″ was mixed by Owen Penglis of the Straight Arrows and the whole ride was mastered by Jim Diamond from the Dirtbombs, who worked on the first two White Stripes albums, especially for this release.
ANNIHILATION TIME
(TYM039) Annihilation Time were formed in 2001 and melded seventies rock with eighties hardcore and made a power punk force to be reckoned with. Constant touring with bands like Municipal Waste and Caustic Christ gave them a hard edge and honed their craft into a pummeling rock force.
Their second album, Annihilation Time II was recorded at Motorwolf Studios in Holland while on tour in 2004 and brings together all their influences on one glorious piece of vinyl.
FOREVR
(TYM040/053/054) FOREVER are a Brisbane band combining their love of real shoegaze with electronics to produce lush, loud, beautiful noise larger than the sum of its parts.
This 2 piece brings together massive driving guitar tones and ethereal vocals and heavy synthesizer, along with programmed drums to make an amazing soundscape reminiscent of their favourite bands revolving around Creation records in the 80’s and the bands that inspired them.
THE PHANTOM SHIPS
(TYM041) The Phantom Ships are a 4-piece garage band from Portland, OR, featuring Steve Turner from Mudhoney along with three of his friends playing punk infused garage rock like the seasoned professionals they are.
THE TRIPWIRES
(TYM041) The Tripwires are a 4-piece power pop/rock band from Seattle and features Steve’s Mudhoney bandmate Dan Peters on drums with three of his friends showing the world how great this genre still is when it’s done right.
DEAD
(TYM044) DEAD are a Melbourne band featuring drums and bass that drive massive fuzzy riffs and pounding drums into infectious grooves and distorted vocals through your brain via your ears.
BARGE WITH AN ANTENNA ON IT
(TYM044) Barge WAAOI are another 2-piece consisting of guitar and drums that perform mathematical feats of riff ‘n’ roll into heavily distorted, slightly off kilter catchy tunes.
JOEL SILBERSHER
(TYM046) Joel Silbersher has been part of the Australian music scene since the mid-eighties when he wrote one of the greatest songs ever at the age of 15 with his band GOD. This limited-edition release features a version of Flappin’ on a Hook from his amazing album, Greasy Lens featuring Gareth Liddiard and Mike Noga.
ISAIAH MITCHELL
(TYM048) Isaiah really needs no introduction around these parts as he has done several releases on Tym records both with his band Earthless and as Black Elk Medicine Band. This is Izzy in solo mode recording a special song for Tym records playing all instruments and vocals in a beautifully haunting song called Comancheria.
SEEDY JEEZUS
(TYM048) Seedy Jeezus are a psych rock band from Melbourne who have released a slew of 7 and 12″ records over the last few years and show no signs of slowing down. They recorded a song, Warwhores especially for this release also.
ZEAHORSE
(TYM049) Zeahorse are a 4-piece noise-rock band from Sydney. Seven years of togetherness has built a dynamic and immersive live experience that has earnt them a loyal and underground following across Australia. Living in different states, writing and recording when it suits, their sonic evolution has ignored fleeting fashions in favour of a genuine energy to make music with one another and continually refine their craft.
DREAMTIME
(TYM050/060) Hailing from Brisbane’s underground DIY scene, Dreamtime aims to create personal journeys to help draw listeners out of their frontal lobe consciousness and into sonic fantasies. Drifting off during extended meditative jams, the music plays through Dreamtime. Inspiration comes from psychedelic bands from 1968 – 1971 among other places.
KIM SALMON
(TYM051/059) Kim Salmon is a legend of not only Australian music, but globally has influenced and inspired too many bands to name.
Playing in several local Perth punk bands in the seventies he moved to Sydney and by the dawn of the eighties the Scientists were laying down a sludgy blueprint for rock to follow.
LEAVINGS
(TYM057) These guys play angular, abrasive yet beautiful guitar/bass/drum driven punk with hooks and riffs everywhere interjected with catchy, melodic vocals.
This debut 12″ sounds like Brisbane and yet draws influences from far away in space and time.
This is an amazingly mature piece of work for three young people to make taking cues from DC hardcore, British post punk and Australian indie while keeping a familiar, but fresh feel.
NUNCHUKKA SUPERFLY
(TYM062) 3 of the hardest working people in music put other projects on hold to record one of the greatest indefinable albums of recent times. Crossing genres like they’re not even there this 2×12” is testament to what some kids from Sydney can turn into after years of writing music together. This is a future classic Australian album in the making.
TUMBLEWEED
(TYM063) The “WEED” from Wollongong went into their practice room and recorded this song especially for Tym records. Their heavy riff laden rock gives way slightly to bring you this surprisingly subtle and melodic cover of A Path Through the Forest by the Factory with likeminded 60’s influenced psych popper Grinding Eyes on the other side of this 7”.
THE SCIENTISTS
(TYM064) The Scientists need no introduction around here, probably anywhere really. Formed in Perth in the late 70’s, they are probably most recognizable as the early/mid 80’s “swamp rock” band consisting of Kim Salmon, Boris Sujdovic, Leanne Chock and Tony Thewlis who are all present in this recoding incarnation affectionately known as the Scientists Mk II.