Each issue of KINDA A MAGAZINE comes complete with its’ own mixtape. This one’s a doozy. Follow it on Spotify and play it next time you’re on a road trip or having a big argument or going for a walk or doing gardening or something. It’s a ride through some spectacularly good weird pop.
A1 - Homosapien - Pete Shelley
The guy from The Buzzcocks died at the end of 2018 and if you never took the chance to explore his frothy solo synthpop record… well, just do it now. Sex in the 80s sounds like it was weird.
A2 - Frank Sinatra - Miss Kitten and The Hacker
Unstoppable electroclash classic from the early 2000s. Put it on and pretend to smoke for three minutes.
A3 - War And Porn - Joni And The Moon
This local Perth artist put this out, caused a stir and then basically vanished a couple of years ago. She seems to be resurfacing a bit at the moment, so hopefully that’s a sign of more enormous tunes like this one.
A4 - I Dance Electric - Machine Gun Fellatio
I remember seeing this lot play when I’d just turned 18. I was sober, dancing in the front row of the gig by myself and still managed to feel like I was in the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
A5 - Sur Le Cul - Bertrand Belin
This guy wins my Guy Who Sounds Like An Old Man On Record But Is Actually A Kinda Hot Guy About My Age award. His records give me the slow, grumpy French disco feels.
A6 - Footwork - Grievous Bodily Calm
I saw these guys open for Donny Benet a couple of months ago and holy hell if it wasn’t a huge set. Their keyboardist is a hyperactive idiot after my own heart and their jazzy hip hop thing felt like an adventure to watch.
A7 - Aquiles - Borja Flames
This album floored me - it’s the best and weirdest spanish language synthy EDM semi-ironic-80s lo-fi thing I have heard for a long time. This is my favorite track, but the whole album is a treat.
A8 - Love Is In The Air (Strictly Ballroom Mix) - John Paul Young
I mean, after the last tune, you’re gonna need a pallette cleanser. And this is a doozy.
A9 - The Ghost Of The Chateau Marmont - Lady Rizo
The first lady of screwy American cabaret. If you haven’t seen her, go see her, it’ll make you very happy indeed.
B1 - Wake In Fright I: Kangaroo - Tomás Ford remodels Alex Elbery And The Strangers
I liked making this remix so much that it ended up being a whole EP about being lost and scared on the Nullabor Plain. People seem to like it.
B2 - Looking For Light - Sam Perry
Sam saw huge success last year on The Voice in Australia (Boy George hated him) but he’s been plying his wares around Perth and on the fringe circuit (with the 360 Allstars) for years ‘n’ years. This is his first post-win single and it is pretty uncompromisingly Sam-ish, which is great. I think it’s gonna take him a few records before he cracks a proper big hit, but this is a helluva start.
B3 - La La Land - Green Velvet
Another electroclash classic. Still can’t tell if it’s warning me off drugs or trying to sell them to me. Don’t care.
B4 - Girls And Boys (Live In Rio) - Pet Shop Boys
This is a full-on cover of a song by Blur. It’s a big call, but it just might be the best Pet Shop Boys song and they didn’t even write it.
B5 - I’m Not Like Everybody Else - Jimmy And The Boys
I wish I’d gotten to see this band in their pomp. A gender-fucking oz-rock institution that never really had a big recorded hit but who could fill beer barns all over Australia. It’s like if Split Enz weren’t just playing pretends.
B6 - Stop! In The Name Of Love - The Bible Bashers
One of Perth’s weirdest, best punk rock spectaculars - Laith Tyranny running around preaching at the crowd between slabs of sludgy gutter rock. And… well, this is a Supremes cover, obviously.
B7 - I’m In A Band - Die Roten Punkte
One of the best music-based fringe acts around. They’ve only gotten better as they’ve gone along, but this first album has stupid Stooges & White Stripes fantasies galore.
B8 - Diptych - Laura Imbruglia
A quietly weird, fiercely independent songwriter from Melbourne. You might’ve seen her very worthwhile YouTube thing, Amateur Hour. This single’s video features two epic drag queens and will blow your face off.
B9 - Goodbye Stranger - Supertramp
I haven’t been able to escape this song for the last three months. It seems to play whenever I’m supposed to feel sad, as though the universe is trying to sabotage my ability to express emotion. If it is, it’s not working - once the falsetto kicks in, I’m a puddle of sads.
The link to the Spotify playlist is here. Let me know if you reckon I should be doing this on whatever thing it is that you use to listen to the musics and I’ll do my best.
