Muss Blues in Japan

 The Hot Palms compilation CD is now available in Japan via Tobira Records:

 https://tobirarecords.com/collections/new/products/hot-palms-muss-blues-songs-instrumentals-2012-14-cd

It's also available at Repressed Records (Sydney), Franks Wild Years (Thirroul), Swoon (Wollongong) and Music Farmers (Wollongong).

SYDNEY SHOW WITH ESSENDON AIRPORT

 On Sunday 17 May Blue Divers will be performing at a concert with Essendon Airport, Warm Currency and Astrid. 

Prop Records presents:
ESSENDON AIRPORT

WARM CURRENCY

BLUE DIVERS

ASTRID

Sunday 17 May

[TICKETS HERE]

Essendon Airport began in Melbourne in 1978 as a duo—David Chesworth on Wurlitzer electric piano and Robert Goodge on guitar, with a homemade drum machine—quickly becoming a defining presence in the city’s underground through their minimalist, ironic, and experimental sound. Their 1979 debut Sonic Investigations of the Trivial captured this approach, later expanding to a four-piece for the 1982 album Palimpsest, an eccentric post-punk classic, before evolving into a five-piece punk-funk outfit, and then disbanding in 1983. Now reuniting with original players Paul Fletcher and Barbara Hogarth, and joined by Graham Lee (Triffids, KLF), the group return with new album MOR, revisiting early material in rich, full-band arrangements that retain their hypnotic, off-kilter charm still imbued with the band’s trademark sense of experimentation and wonder.

Muss Blues at Repressed

 The new Hot Palms compilation CD Muss Blues: Songs & Instrumentals, 2012-14 is available from Repressed Records in Sydney, as well as Franks Wild Years in Thirroul and Music Farmers in Wollongong.  Mitch from Repressed wrote some words about the release below. If you can't make it to one of these shops, buy it on BANDCAMP

Towards the end of high school someone showed me Emma Russack’s debut album on Spunk Records; a collection of songs that struck me for their honesty, bluntness, and their crystalline lead guitar lines played by this blonde mop-haired guy called Alec Marshall. I learnt those guitar parts by heart (and cribbed them in basically every band I’ve played in since) while starting to link together this constellation of artists playing in Melbourne and beyond: Soda Eaves, The Ocean Party and associated side projects (eg. Ciggie Witch), the splinter groups and solo projects of The Middle East (namely Stolen Violin and Rohin Jones’ solo material etc).

With each new link in this constellation came another reminder that this group called Hot Palms provided some sort of connective tissue between them. Although living in Sydney meant that I missed out on basically every release of theirs and was often relying on listening to Bandcamp streams to get an idea of what they were about.

This new collection of released songs and instrumentals finally gives an overview of their released output. Initially led by the duo of Marshall and Russack with a loose band of drop in drop out collaborators from this world before Marshall took over the reins on his own, Muss Blues CD captures everything from the open-ended and poetic songs sung by Russack (including a Pip Proud cover and others that would wind up on Soda Eaves’ debut album) to dreamy and drifting instrumental meditations that dip into the psychedelic and lightly dubby in a direct pre-cursor to Marshall’s later Blue Divers project.

Abstract music that draws upon rock traditions but splinters it (some would say, post-rock, but that comes with a lot of annoying baggage!), for fans of Primitive Motion, Tenniscoats, Wilson Tanner, Nagisa Ni Te, and Love Chants!
-Mitch

Comes with great little zine-liner notes from the one and only Nathan Roche!

Muss Blues: Songs & Instrumentals

Today I have released a compilation called Muss Blues: Songs & Instrumentals, 2012-14 by Hot Palms. Hot Palms was a band that existed for some years in Melbourne/Naarm. It’s an 18 track overview of the work we did, home recordings and live recordings.

The CD will be available at Repressed Records (Newtown), Franks Wild Years (Thirroul), Music Farmers (Wollongong) and Swoon (Wollongong) this week. It comes with a zine that includes liner notes by Nathan Roche.

'Muss Blues: Songs & Instrumentals, 2012-14' is an 18 track compilation of EPs, singles and previously unreleased material. Hot Palms was an always-changing Australian band led by guitarist Alec Marshall (Blue Divers), and at times Emma Russack, for a few years in Naarm/Melbourne. It was sometimes a 10-piece instrumental band, or a duo of vocals and guitar, but mostly somewhere in between. 'Muss Blues...' is a collection of home recordings and live recordings, with contributions from Ashley Bundang, Jake Core, Jordan Ireland, Zahra Khamissa, Jake Phillips and André Vanderwert.

You can buy the album on Bandcamp here.

Hope you enjoy the compilation. I will soon begin work on putting together a whole extra album of previously unreleased material from this period.

the necks

 i saw the necks at wollongong town hall, 27/2/26, and was reminded they are the best band in the world

this latest 3CD album 'disquiet' is a masterpiece

Stimulant film

 A surf film that features two unreleased songs I helped make is now available to see online, after screenings around the place. Check it out here. Blue Riders 'Rain Ride' and Loaded & True 'A Big Drop In The Eye'. I wrote the music for both songs, David Nichols wrote the lyrics and vocal melody for Big Drop. Big Drop I've been wanting to release for a long time, and I never would have guessed it would come out on a surf film. There is more material from this collaboration with David sitting around, hopefully one day the album will be finished and released. David's music is a big inspiration to me, from Huon, Crabstick, Blairmailer, The Cannanes and many more.

Blue Riders 'Rain Ride' feat. Ali Mollica (vocal), Jake Core (banjo), Jordan Ireland (fiddle) and Alec Marshall (guitar)

Loaded & True 'A Big Drop In The Eye' features David Nichols (vocal, keyboard), Jack Booth (guitar), Alec Marshall (guitar)

Loaded and True play a show

 Loaded and True will play a concert at the Thirroul Railway Hall alongside friends R.M.F.C and Expensive Music Band. 

Franks Wild Years Presents: R.M.F.C. + LOADED AND TRUE + EXPENSIVE MUSIC BAND // SAT 7 MARCH 2026, 7PM // TICKETS $20+bf

Buy tickets: HERE