introduce the guitars meeting the ocean as cymbals play waves to lumbini grove, a simple little line throbbing away as steve tells the tale, something very laurel canyon (the geographical area not the church song) sounding, the fade out is a clash of intertwined guitars into western, my fave. steve's lyrics are like reading a novel, again big concepts in small sentences. some awesome base lines, subtle shifts in gears and tones, oh yes, the western lands. when that guitar comes in we are in the space, no dimensions. it's a classic church song to me, huge in scope and expanse. 

ferrari, is a different story, it's named after a car but it sounds like a star, shimmering and glimmering, with that strange controversial line,  it's does irk me, neither good nor bad, it's just what it is, and it works, i guess, weird how one line can distort in my stupid mind. the song capturing the cold climate, the strange adventure, the disappointment. ahead, steve obtuse and cheeky, me thinks, its not space rock but it's rock filled with space.

sky river -  another fave of mine, the falsetto (keep that singer in the band), the harmonies, the effects on the guitars, precision drumming and percussion. steve speaks over some cool vibes, indian signatures and i wish i could turn this up but it's late and my neighbours would not approve, now i feel the spirit, it's in my blood, in my heart, it's the church. truth. what a brilliant song. this would be my single, although I like all the others but this would be a great reintroduction to the band. it's perfecto. summer in a song, into 

winter -more classic church, hologram of baal era maybe, having said that, it's fresh and new, more chimes and strange percussions, chords and lead. i love this to, sadness and melacholic vibes work for me these days...yet as usual, uplifting and gorgeous outro. 'as god is my shield.' by 'the church' good name for an album.

have you been here before-  let's just say, my fave song. oh me oh my, gimme that church groove, this would be the one for me. it was love at first sight in daves' car when i first heard it weaving along the pacific highway into the city. i wanna hear this live so bad, steve's lyrics, his voice, the guitars are divinity. it's rock and roll, inner space music for the post acid generation, the mescaline kids, the macrobiotic dot druids, it's expanding the boundaries and kicking down the walls, it's liberation in stereo surround sound. 

people get ready, for, the lemurian - oh no, more classical church vibes, how much can i take, it's fucking brilliant, he's got that command in his voice, the music is perfect. it's a stoned drone of love and freedom, a guitar that feels like the amazon, winding through deep jungle, a new territory, we want this stuff, it's the good gear. again it's got a live sound, i can see steve rapping his words on that windy bit as the guitars return. it gets a bit heavy, it gets a bit groovy, it's words weaving through the world on a bed of sound. 'you could expect just about anything,' steve says, in a voice you can trust.

everytime. - beauty in a song, such a sad overwhelming beauty it's emotional. some songs just get me in the old heart, and this is a classic one. no idea what it is all about but the feeling is like a memory of being in love with someone a long time ago before it all went wrong. when the fuzz guitars kick in everything seems to spiral upwards, chasing that stunning instrumental until steve returns. easily up there with the rest of them, wow!

the first time i played this album i fell asleep around this point. there's some sort of narcotic consistency, a maturity and laidback feel to the sequence, it's so calming and relaxing.

sky and hill- just such a classic. a hit single for the alternative universe i live in. radio's play it on high rotation, i hear it from the old tinny radios in convertibles that drive past me on the freeway, it's in the jukebox at the bar, coming blasting out the milkers and  everyone is singing along. everyone loves it, the whole world stops fighting and hold hands, singing this one. it reminds me of that first toke on a beautifully constructed joint.

paladin smokes black hash. strangeness and liminal, it's dreamy soft and sleepy, it's other worldly and haunting. there's a stoned feeling, the slow guitars, the washed out energy. the thing about the church is in a months time this could be my fave song ever but first listen it's making my eyes feel heavy and the smell of weed wafting though the lounge hangs heavy, and my head feels light.

martian skyline- more pop for the thinking man, such a radio friendly track, if only it was 1976 there's something very american about these songs, yeah, i guess it was recorded in the USA, I really like this one, it's a slow grow, 'two cats, gog and magog, familiars.' 
the percussion is fantastic. there's some nice synth pads, and as usual an interesting soundscape, harmonies and outro to die for. bliss.

i want it -  perfecto. so chilled out and smooth, a mature sound, i dunno, this new sound is very different, it's a wonderful thing, the band seem to be harmonised, in synch and inhabiting a new level of synergy, it's really organic and big, it's sexy and cool, it's chilled out without being light, it's weighty without being heavy, it's deep with no shallow. 

the place of eternal spring- oh yeah, now we are cooking with gas. psychedelic sounding, as we fall down the rabbit hole, and out the black hole of eternal springs comes forth many things, colours in sound form, emotions in flower form,  like 'dome' i want the fade out to carry on forever. is that selfish?

rapture- that's why there's a fade out, so we can get to the rapture. nice intro. exquisite. back into rock and roll. hang on, this is pretty fucking great. it's still so melodic, just when you think it's rocking out, it rolls in. ah, that's why i love the band, they always keep you guessing and do things unexpectedly. it's not rock and roll, it's roll and rock. with great lyrics. wow! the guitars rule!  my fave song, well i know i've chosen a lot from lacuna.

forever- oh no, more ambiguous love, ha, my personal curse, i really relate to this tune. simple piano but with the other instruments kicking in, the whole song just becomes something of a lament, a march through heartache and loss. yet, beautiful. i like the way the drums work in the mix, it's a clever use of mixing and juxtaposition, and that guitar outro is classic church. again i don't want it to end.

slight return to the grove - mmm, yeah gotta get me some enlightenment. it's a nice touch, it really is.

sacred echoes - so strange this was never released as an ep full length, two new releases sold separately a few months apart. it's a marketing gimmick but the church have always been incredibly generous to their fans and here it is. epic. the final song. it's a universe in itself. three parts, three echoes, it's a phenomenal piece. another film. it's another kind of lament to a world gone. magnificent and powerful. again, would be epic to see this live. in fact the whole album would be amazing live. 

so much music, such a large canvas and so much to absorb, i'm overwhelmed and 17 songs, all killer no filler, a new kinda sound, a complete sound, a band of equals, developed and embracing an evolved definition of musical collaboration, the band all of them have created something stunning and huge, it's honestly impossible to review or dissect. i can only paint impressions. and i must thank the church for their music, and what it offers me in this life, for without 'the church' i would have no reason to look forwards except for a new book release from a fave writer but they are all dead so not much new from them. long live the church.

exhausted i'm woken early by a friend who needs assistance with two escaped cows that are terrorising his wife, they have escaped an enclosure and need herding and isolating. my friend has a massive property with various animals, pigs, sheep, hens, cows and goats. 

im no cowboy, i'm no farmer but like a good friend i jump in the car and we head over to capture these beasties. these are angry animals, they have big horns and charge us. we use various non lethal garden implements for defence, a broom, a chair and eventually a tractor. i don't have a clue what i'm doing,  we feed them some hay as a peace offering but these beasties just want free reign of the place, they wanna go where they are not allowed and two two legged idiots are not going to get in their way.

eventually we enclose them in a field. on the way back we stop at the bamboo buddha, and get coffee and some vegan toasted thing. the vegan toasted thing is so yummy, we get another. in fact i forgot how much i like bamboo buddha and make a deal o return tomorrow. maybe i'll get some pics. while finishing my coffee I meet two people i met in the maldives who are church fans so we catch up, talk about the symphony gig, which they didn't see, hopefully i manage to convince them to catch the show in newcastle or adelaide.

 

 

last night the church transformed the opera house into a swirling, technicolour dreamscape.
they'd done something similar years ago with the magnificent george ellis orchestra, a collaboration born from george's long-standing devotion to the band and his friendship with steve. that earlier performance has become the stuff of legend among fans, and i think it was even released on CD. this time the orchestra was slightly smaller, but from where i was, planted right down the front and soaking up every note, it lost none of the magic.
in truth, it's difficult to fully describe what unfolded. the show was billed as a psychedelic symphony, and that's exactly what it became. perhaps that description was made even more accurate by the fact that a couple of hash cakes consumed earlier had chosen that precise moment to announce their arrival as the lights dimmed and the band walked on stage.
i've seen the church hundreds of times over the years, in every conceivable setting, but this performance immediately joined the ranks of the very best.
the setlist struck a fine balance between favourites and deeper cuts. personally, i wouldn't have objected to a few more of their stranger, more abstract excursions and a few less of the obvious crowd-pleasers, but that's hardly a complaint. even the hits felt reborn. familiar songs unfolded in unexpected ways, rearranged and reimagined with enough fresh twists to make them feel new again.
if there was a standout moment, it was probably the longer pieces. those epic, slow-burning songs that begin almost tentatively before gathering momentum, building layer upon layer until they break free of gravity altogether and disappear into the stratosphere. those were transcendent.
what impressed me most was the restraint and intelligence of the orchestration. the orchestra never overwhelmed the band, not once. there was no battle for space, no symphonic excess smothering the source material. instead, it functioned as a living, breathing extension of the music, adding colour, texture and emotional weight. strings shimmered around melodies and punched holes through the rhythms, and entire passages seemed to expand outward into vast new dimensions.
the result wasn't a rock band backed by an orchestra. it was something far more interesting. for two hours, the church and the orchestra became a single organism, creating enormous waves of sound that were by turns beautiful, hypnotic, melancholic and exhilarating.
the band themselves were all enjoying themselves, ash and ian seemed to have some beautiful interplay and the guy who was standing in for jeffery was wonderful to watch, his parts were intricate and subtle, yet powerful. nick beat the skins as though he had been playing with the church all his life and tim created some of the percussive sculptures that give the church an edge and depth. steve's voice was perfecto, 100% on fine form, and in many ways i wish he could sit in the audence with me and just enjoy how good he and his band are. i love where the church are now, this is beyond being masters of their art, it's being groovy with it, that creative energy is powerful and potent and they play with it, just digging their own synergy. but you know what was beautiful, the outstanding harmonies. i loved just kicking back and listenig to them, watching them play out, and i don't know. not many things to uplift my spirit these days but the church live. i'm soaring.
a psychedelic symphony? absolutely.
for once, truth in advertising 
ps. i have heard lacuna. it is fucking amazing. 

after eisenhorn comes ravenor, whom was first introduced as eisenhorns protégée and was almost fatally wounded in a terrorist attack, left for dead. he was reconfigured although with no limbs, no face and contained in an opaque box made mobile by a suspensor chair, yet he focused upon his psychic growth and maintained his position as inquisitor. his team is a small group of exceptional individuals, and they hunt down their nemesis molotec.

so far it's a fast paced romp with page turning situations, ideas and scenes that are descriptive and shocking. you just don't know what's going to happen next or where this story will take you. i'm about half way through the first novel and it's so intense i can't put it down, unless it's to catch a breath. there's a lot more humour in ravenor than eisenhorn but the story is more fast paced.  

where's the god?

you gotta love this, simple, raw, emotional and honest. i love this stuff. everything sometimes need to be stripped back, exposed, vunerable. it's true courage to be that naked.  

anyways sun blazes down, it's a glorious day and last night i went to drumming at terrible beach, the skies were pink and light blue, it was magnificent, pastel colours and a variety of colourful people parade by digging the tribal groove as about 10 of us pound out some deep jungle beats. there's dancing, hula hoop girls, hallo hope girls and fire twirlers. there's cake being passed around, some pumpkin organic spice thing, light and tasty. i beat my drum and make sure i don't bang it. after a sleep I return to the beach for a coffee and watch people pass me by, it's a different vibe, faster. the ocean is amazing, with huge surf and a lot of white wash, i won't go in yet but can feel the pull. instead i sit in the sun and read a chapter of ravnor, my new dan abnett warhammer book 40K. it's very different from eisenhorn, more psychic stuff going on and more characters as ravnor tends to direct his team from within his weird box that keeps him alive and mobile. it's refreshing to read a lead character so disabled and fragile yet with such a strong mind and will. the characters are complex, it's more challenging, yet the story is fast paced and intricate, as they chase a new drug called flect on a hive world called hustic majoris. my fave character is a woman called patience kys who has her own introduction in a short story at the beginning of the omnibus edition. anyways, it's quite brilliant.

the sun starts to get a bit intense so i return to mission control and the cool space of home. indecently the front garden looks quite good, lots of weeding and clearance completed. 

last night a storm blew through, it was wild, and after a long summers day seemed refreshing and appropriate but this morning it's cold and damp. i spend a nice morning chatting with a friend, she gives me some mushrooms,  which i will micro dose over the next few months. on the way home i stop and buy a plant for my bathroom, it's a bit spontaneous but i can't stand a room without some fauna and my bathroom has a spot for one. it's deprived of direct sunlight and remains somewhat darkened but there is a small window and in the afternoon sunlight floods it for a couple of hours. usually i have to rotate plants but i hope this one finds a permanent home.

strange sleep, restless and filled with herds of wild horses, unicorns, fuans and satyers. i twist and turn, up and down and moving around like a tiger with a magazine. the sunlight breaks the morning, and i throw some laundry in, make a coffee and check mail etc. i dunno, checking mail these days just means deleting spam and junk. i dunno why i have the internet, it's 99% rubbish i don't need.

porn i guess. oh and music. and then there's book reviews and this blog, mmm, i guess it comes in handy.

well i drive down to a busy beach, it's kinda nuts but i manage to park and grab a coffee with two ladies, one is called summer although i call her lizard brain and one is called vanessa. anyway's i join them for my coffee and later we go over to the beach where the sun penetrated everything biting our skins like naughty needles, i see my pals moneque, andrew and peter who have just stepped out of a wild ocean. very dangerous. 

summer goes and we all sit around chatting and laughing, disclosing secrets, stories and tales. it's really great and horurs pass, when i look at my car clock on the way home, it's 1pm. nuts the day has reached past the halfway point. crazy. 

i do a little shop, i get home and do some writing, some sleeping, some cleaning, some listening and then some thing. it's dark now.

 

the papartments live from paris

casino life 

more from the apartments. 

 what's beauty to do

great guitars, mixed together, simple tones ringing out. another classic tune from australias least known band 'the apartments.'

these guys should be massive.

no song no spell no madrigal

i've always loved the sad songs, the really heartbreaking ones and this is one of those that i have recently discovered by an australian band based mostly in paris it seems although i think the main man lives in sydney now. i wish i had discovered them earlier as i would have seen them play. they seem to have slipped right under the radar and yet are magnificent. anyway's this reminds me of bubbles. last word on that subject.

the magos is the final book in dan abnetts eisenhorn series, it's the best one so far, although not really the conclusion, it is a conclusion. i can't decribe the perfection of this book, it all comes together very well and has more humour than the other books, it has pathos to and a story that will blow your mind apart. it's war but not like the war you imagine, it's cosmic and vast and on scales that trancend space and time. i loved it and am stright into the next series of inquisitor books sequence known as 'ravnor.'

the magos sees esienhorn older, frailer and at the late stages of life, his war against the warp has cast him far, an outcast on his singular mission. eienhorn is now embracing the weaponary of his enemy, he comes full circle, right back at the beginning. he is also exploring his singular force that has driven him forwards while loosing those he is closest to, the people who followed him. friends. 

 

big rain, heavy and unrelenting. i'm trapped in a cafe that is so bad it becomes entertaining. danni and i are in hysterics, we have never experienced anything like it. we have been coming here for a few months, it gets worse every day. the waitresses all hate being there, they hate their jobs, their customers and they resent everyone who seems to come in. they serve the wrong coffee to us, they forget the cutlery, they forget condiments, they get confused when you ask for toast and think you want a sandwich, they are rude, without humour, they are just angry and don't hide it.

it's hilarious, rain leaks in under the umbrellas, everywhere is wet, it's cold. but we laugh. danni just won a court case against a domestic violent situation, her neighbour has tormented and attacked her, the police have been hopeless and finally after two years she won. he's finished. i'm happy for her, i hate bullies, and before you judge me, i hate women bullies just as much, women are also manipulative, exploitative and play the victim, but in this case danni is just. and justice was done. 

i hope the sun returns tomorrow, may take a trip with her to the city, she needs to see dr. ranga. however, if it rains i'm staying home.  

as soon as i walk into work catastrophic events occur, a colleague has a brain tumour, he's a good guy, it's awful. a tree falls down and blocks the road, i just miss it hitting me. it's a big tree. a massive pipe bursts inside my workplace and we have to turn of the water. i put a protective shield around myself, it's extended out to my clients. whatever bad energy attempts to attack me will be deflected.

the rest of the day is uneventful, i'm getting tired again, maybe i need iron or maybe a good snooze. i listen to some ancient music, the sensational alex harvey band, very innovative and inspirational. i listen to some dylan, he's got the droll sneer i like in a lyric delivery, the attitude. i do a little writing, a lot of reading, sleep comes out of the darkness, it must be gone 2am and before i know it it's coffee and a shower. the days bleed into one another, one more to go befiore a break. 

up early, it's cold and damp but outside awaits two friends who are taking me n a mystery tour. we cruise around the coast, a few coffees here there, stop at macmasters for breakfast with whales, the ocean looks angry and powerful, it's the type i used to love for surf but now i look at it with horror and fear and respect. the girls in the cafe overcharge me and come out to correct their mistake which i end up leaving in the tip jar. the cafe is high up and across the water is cococabana beach. you can see the profile of the indian on the rocks. we drive across to coco, travel past some homes my friend built. he tells stories of his wild youth and who he was loaded. we listen to new music, young upcoming bands, nothing i particularly like, call me old fashioned. we stop all over the coast, hidden places, little beach, putty beach, lobster bay, coasters retreat, wagstaffe and end up at avoca. 

i have to take a moment to promote my friend iggy whom is also known as ed, he's out there feeding the rat. 

possibly one of the most exceptional people i knew in the old days, i encountered him on the bus when i think he was studying art, and he was the only other person who was reading a book. so when i asked him what he was reading it was always something good. ken kessy, burroughs, HST, tom robbins or something of that nature. anyway the guy was really smart switched on and had the kind of personality you don't find in small coastal towns. years later when he was no longer studying we crossed paths on an off, had some groovy conversations, at one point he was living the doaist monk life. and then decades later as a green haired punk he hung out with me for a few years, great conversations, dmt,  weird extreme stuff. i have to confess iggy was far more extreme, he was physical and did marathons, climbing and military commando stuff whereas i liked the surf and a good book.

ever since i knew him he had told me he would marry a japanese woman, and have a japanese daughter, and of course he did. i met her a few times and she is fucking amazing as well, as is his wife. anyway they are based in japan and iggy started an amazing extreme adventure company called, 'feeding the rat.'

they began as extreme ice climbers but i think they just do anything that involves high altitudes, ice and extreme cultures. occasionally we swap e mails and iggy is still the same, the most interesting guy i know, outside the box and sees things very differently from most people. unique perspective, part cosmic but from a highly evolved human. in fact I am certain iggy really comes from the future. 

anyway, here's his website. please check it out, if you like challenges and ice go book a trip, he's worth the experience and you will come away a changed organism.

FEED THE RAT

a vivid entry in the exit, skin up that wild one sister, we got hot bodies and alien flesh and there's no dancing at the end of this century. fragmented light vessel, bouncing from the disco balls, orbital mirrored walls, satellite of lust, crashing through the atmosphere, penetration penetrating, penetrating penetration. 

i uploaded into a new version of myself, he's better, faster, smarter and attractive, yeah from beast to beauty. he gets laid, he gets paid, he no longer gets the killing joke he tells it. he's got whiplash aura, he's got psychic splash, he's the elegant australian with a harem to match. no woman is safe from his raw gaze, as he slides into this new phase.

the babylon hoards outside the door, the cross street movements falling on the floor, you turkey attached morons, the idiotic fools, the zombie massive, i don't hear you any more. i'm far to gone, gone awol, m.i.a outta the door. catch me if you can't, i won before you start, i'm the olympic spirit and the beezulbub counterpart.

ah we do the fascist tornado, the ambient groove, it's a jungle stomp in the nude, it's the got no shame, it's the played my part, it's the fuck you baby, it's the end at the start. yeah do the holographic tango in yer heels and boots, jump out that space ship without a parachute, you got no class, no style, no grace but you got a nice ass and a real cute face. 

oh i had a late night, the day seems to slip by and work looms ahead. it's been lovely to have some time off and catch up on a few things, so grateful to have a lot of junk removed from mission control. heaps of books, a massive movie camera, lots of computer stuff, all found a good home and now i have a little space. i've been thinking about converting the loft into an office or something, one large room, nothing too complex. my one problem is access, where to put the steps plus all builders who specialise in this type of work are based in greater sydney not the coast. anyways, i have no idea what's possible until someone advises me on the structural issues. fortunately i have a friend who can do just that. so seeing as though the day is in slow motion i generally stay home, read, write, clean up and prepare for the next few days. it's going to be big, lots going on. i can't believe how exhausted i must have been, dangerously close to collapse but as usual i pull through. 

oh, i was sent two brand new church songs, from their overdue album lacuna, and they are all spectacular. yeah, it's exciting for me, a good motivator when your fave band inspires you. i mean not much else does these days. 

'hereticus' is of to a fantastic start, i mean it's quite brilliant and in context with what came before. my god, this type of writing is insanely good and the story telling although slightly adolescent is twisted enough to make it interesting. it's a mix of science fiction meeting dark fantasy and there are many nods to moorcock as well. well with no spoilers it's hard to explain, but I'm up to the part where eisenhorn has just crossed over the line. far out!