Blue, too

Yes, you've already seen photos from The Silver Hearts' April 21 gig - but there were a few I wanted to post. Since I have no new photos to share thanks to a week long on work and short on music (at least not at this time of morning ... pictures from last night's punk rock show will be forthcoming) and have received a copy of the Silver Hearts' collaboration with Andre Ethier of The Deadly Snakes, what better time to praise that album and other cool music that I've received of late. First, a few pictures.

Charlie Glasspool is a colourful character. The original version of this picture was very washed out. Hurry for graphics programs that let you alter the contrast!



Andre Ethier gets a grip on things.



Wyatt Burton and Sam Allison. Damned if I can figure out why I didn't use this picture first time around.



Sam on the banjo, Brian Sanderson on the sousaphone and a fuzzy Patrick Walsh.



Canasta power!



Kelly Pienault; a bit similar to the picture I did use, but nice nonetheless.



This picture of Mikey Begin was an also-ran because of an inconvenient elbow. One elbowectomy later and it's good to go!



I had enough good pictures of Jesse Pilgrim this one fell by the wayside. I still have a few spares laying around ....



And group action!



Apologies to the barely visible Paul Vernon on drums - I've already run my one good picture of him.
As for the album, Dear Stranger makes an ideal companion piece to The Snakes' Porcella, and if you're a fan of either band you'll want to get yourself a copy. Come to think of it, if you like The Snakes you'll probably like The Hearts and vice-versa. And probably you'll also like Brisbane's Gentle Ben and His Sensitive Side. I picked up a copy of GB's second album, The Sober Light of Day, at Birdman Sound yesterday. It's late-night gin-joint rock'n'roll makes me think of The Flaming Stars and, at times, Elvis Costello. It's on the Spooky Label, always a recommendation of quality (by the way, is it just me, or has the price of Australian imports dropped by a good $4? No complaints, you understand ...).
Among the padded envelopes of swag I recently received from pennyblackmusic.com were a few items of interest: It turns out Australia has a band called The Exploders as well, and their self-titled debut is a tough slice of power trio rock'n'roll, with a touch of 1960s psyche and garage thrown in. Another tasty pop-psych effort came my way from Mazarin, We're Already There. Bad Wizard made the wise choice of getting Jennifer Herrema of Royal Trux to produce their latest album, and you can definitely hear how the 1970s drug fog lifts the appropriately titled Sky High to another level.