Back from a week in Byron for Splendour fun. Supposed to play records at the launch of the latest Cyclic Defrost tonight, but discovered when I got there that it was CDs only. So I played the three discs I had with me, then headed home to catch the Big Brother eviction. Hopefully I will get a moment and record the set I planned to play tonight.

Anyway, this week my radio show’s all about Factory Records. Matthew Robertson, former University of Western Sydney design lecturer, and author of the definitive new book on the hugely influential record label will be on the show to talk about discovering New Order thanks to his sister in Georges Hall in western Sydney and going on to work with Peter Saville.

The new issue of Cyclic Defrost gets the launch treatment in Sydney tomorrow night. It’s really the only magazine for deep down music coverage in Australia at the moment, especially on the music tip, the cover was designed by Traianos from Meupe (and I interviewed him for the mag) and there are loads of killer interviews and reviews buried between its lovely white pages.

The launch is at a new intimate venue in the centre of Newtown called Madame Fling Flong. I’ll be playing records as well as some good mates like Bec Paton, Lars from Ollo and Seb Snarl. The mags will be there and the free CDs too.

Travelling sample masher Faux Pas has an on-the-road Gotye remix on his site that, he says, takes extra ingredients from Konk, Liquid Liquid, Man Parish and Oscar Sulley. It’s ace.

This week my radio show Join The Dots was all about the new record from former Bad Seed and Magazine bass player Barry Adamson, the show jumped from the Go-Betweens and INXS to This Mortal Coil and Pan Sonic.

The Go Betweens – Darlinghurst Nights
Sleater Kinney – Combat Rock
The Go Betweens – Draining The Pool For You
Smudge – Don’t Want To Be Grant McLennan
The Lemonheads – The Outdoor Type
Ratcat – Depression
INXS – Hear That Sound
The Heads – The King is Gone (feat Michael Hutchence)
The KLF – Kylie Said To Jason
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – There’s No Night Out In The Jail
Barry Adamson – Set The Controls for the Heart of the Pelvis (feat Jarvis Cocker)
Pulp – Bar Italia
Brian Eno – Here Come The Warm Jets
Gavin Bryars – Jesus Wept – Tramp with Orchestra (Full Strings)
Barry Adamson – Free Love
Magazine – Thankyou (falettinme be mice elf agin)
The Durutti Column – Sketch For Dawn
Mansun – Lemonade Secret Drinker
This Mortal Coil – Holocaust
The Buzzcocks – Ever Fallen In Love
The Buzzcocks – God, What Have I Done
Barry Adamson – Officer Bentley’s Fairly Serious Dilemna
Magazine – Shot By Both Sides
Pan Sonic – Diminsher

Look at the facts. Sydney band Pomo Mofo do a messy mix of indie rock, talky rap, grungey guitars and electropop in a lo-fi amateurish way that seems to aim for ironic but not quite make it, but it’s still kinda cool. I’m saying this on just one listen of a song of theirs, which Dan played on The Bridge tonight as I was heading over to FBI.

I was chatting to a couple of friends about The Return of Grebo (TROG) a couple of months ago. It’s not hard to imagine, I’m sure the various players would love the opportunity to relive past glories: Pop Will Eat Itself (PWEI), Mega City Four (MC4), Ned’s Atomic Dustbin (Neds), Jesus Jones, EMF; plus local supports, the resurrected Caligula and Def FX. And just to prove it’s for real, you could set Pomo Mofo for the night. What do you think?

Just about to go on air, tonight the show is all about the new record from former Bad Seed and Magazine bass player Barry Adamson, plus bits from Pan Sonic, This Mortal Coil, INXS and the Go Betweens.

Sodastream was great at the Hopetoun a few weeks ago. Supports were Seaworthy and Grand Salvo. Although I’ve quite liked a few Salvo songs, I was not too impressed by his earnest folkiness – though that could have been influenced by the killjoy boors/obsessed fans standing in front of us. Seaworthy played a pretty great set, I will need to hear more of these guys. But I’m a big fan of Sodastream, and although they played a very typical set, it’s so heart melting that I couldn’t help but enjoy it.

On the first Monday of every month, FBI opens its doors for musicians loaded up with demo CDs. Last time, we got a great Aphex Twin versus Bowie demo from Milkrun, and the man behind the milk, Robert Miller, was a guest on Join The Dots this week.

Dsico That No Talent Hack – Gut Feeling
Robert Forster – The Tower of Song
The Go-Betweens – Bachelor’s Kisses
Micah P. Hinson – Don’t You
The Last Cord – The Last Cord
TV On The Radio – Snakes and Martyrs
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Cheated Hearts
Milkrun – Modern Romance
Empty – Blue
Milkrun – Want From You
Soma – Soma Romanz
Nine Inch Nails – Gave Up (Coil remix)
DJ Hyper – Ant Music
Adam and the Ants – Kings of the Wild Frontier
Phil Collins – In the Air Tonight
Karton – Northbourne
C-Jay and D19 – Nethercutter (Aston Shuffle Dub)
The Spirit of Vampyros Lesbos – The Lions and the Cucumber (Rockers Hi Fi mix)
Rockers Hi Fi – Push Push
Voom Voom – Baby

Can I just say get The Monthly as soon as possible this month. If you’re a fan of the Go-Betweens that should be enough because resident music critic at the magazine, and half of the band, Robert Forster is back, and this time it’s with a tribute to Grant McLennan.

I got the magazine in the mail and left it unopened for a good 12 hours, just to savour the thrill of reading Forster’s tribute. I know that sounds awful, getting excited about a tribute to a dead friend. But his tribute is like a Go-Betweens song, all sharp non-sequiturs that are strangely poetic, vignettes on Carver-esque moments and a pretty great insight into McLennan and Forster’s friendship. It is bittersweet and very melancholy, and I was going to quote it, but I’ll let you savour the thrill too.

Brisbane six-piece Anal Traffic is not completely serious, well not at first. Check the name for starters, and if you need more, they double as librarians, lawyers and bankers yet still manage to knock out stoopid punk rock that sounds hedonistically silly. If you’re not down with titles like Six Beer Queer and In Past Your Wrist, rude words, graphic gay lyrics and punk rock, you may not appreciate what the band’s press release describes as ‘queer punk rock in a latex glove to the shoulder.’ But I was into their self-released debut EP from the first listen. How could I not, it’s like Turbonegro and Warren G with a solid dose of the Buzzcocks. I didn’t hold out much hope for the second listen, I might add, the overtly promiscuous nightclub sex and low-fi camp rock soundtrack seemed unlikely to bear up for the long term. But something about the anthemic Two Pumps and a Squirt sticks. “I don’t want you to love me / Just take your cock and stick it right up me.” The laughs and dancing are cool, but it’s the descriptions of bleak sex like something out of Michel Houellebecq that have kept me listening.

Find out more from Anal Traffic’s website. I am getting more hits on my blog from this review than anything else, mind you it’s also the exit point for most of those visitors. If you haven’t found what you’re looking for, hope it’s not too disappointing finding out about Anal Traffic, the band.

On the first Monday of every month, FBI opens its doors for demo-laden local musicians. Last time, we got an Aphex Twin versus Bowie demo from Milkrun, otherwise known as Robert Miller, and he’s coming into the studio for an interview on JOIN THE DOTS this week (Thursday 9-11pm) and streaming online at the FBI site.