Music streaming giant Spotify, as Frontier Touring's Michael Gudinski told Sticky this week, has helped bring the likes of Californian darlings the Eagles to a whole new generation of fans. Three generations in fact, according to the man who also started Australian music behemoth Mushroom.
Meanwhile, there's far smaller, let's call them boutique outlets, for discovering and enjoying music. In the case of Tuff Cuff Records, a new record club that deals exclusively in vinyl releases, music lovers exchange their hard earned for the rare pleasure that comes with handling and hearing music that somewhat old fashioned way, on a turntable. Not on the train, or in the car, or while jogging. This is music for cranking up at home.
Hits
Launched a year ago by Melbourne-based rock 'n' roll fan Matt O'Meara and his equally addicted record collecting buddy; Tuff Cuff is unashamedly by record collectors, for record collectors. "There's a whole community of like minded music fans out there and by starting this club we've connected with some amazing people," O'Meara said this week. "It's also opened some doors we weren't expecting, collaborating with artists, designers and writers .. we've issued a special fanzine with our first release by Hits."
The debut Tuff Cuff 7" by Brisbane-based heavy hitters Hits, a previously unreleased track called Smash Hits (produced by Rob Younger) is the first of four limited releases that members will find in their letter boxes in the club's first year. Unearthing rare, never-before released, demos, live or even alternate mixes of songs is Tuff Cuff's specialty and something O'Meara hopes will appeal to folks like him.
As their newly launched website says, Tuff Cuff digs through the archives of "the greatest lives bands in Australia" to discover little known gems, then releases them on vinyl for the first time. For more information, go to tuffcuffrecords.com
album of the week
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever
Hope Downs
(Ivy league Records)
★★★★
It's already been out a few months and this debut from the Melbourne five-piece helped navigate some of the darker winter months with it's bright and breezy guitar sounds. It's an uplifting experience too, despite some of the weighty lyrical content from the band's main songwriters. "We were feeling like … the world was getting a lot weirder," guitarist and singer Tom Russo has said, about the period when the album was written. Harking back to the sweet sounds of bands such as the Go-Betweens and the Triffids, these 10 tracks more than deliver on the early promise of RCBF's earlier EPs.
selecta
The Scaners – the Scaners
City Slang – Sonic's Rendezvous Band
Quicker Ways To Blacker Eyes – Warped
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