Dead Dad Dictum

  Spacemen3 - Suicide This song is my generation's Sister Ray. 

  Oh, monarch Cut grass underfoot   Naked in the backyard as a kid   Garden hose offers relief from the summer heat   And hidden   In the oleander   A chrysalis   Metamorphosis

  One of my earliest memories of Pastor Peter Carblis is him leading us in exercises before school assembly. It would have been around 1983 and I was in fifth grade at Northern Beaches Christian School, my parents having transferred me from a local state primary school at the end of year 4.   Back then the school had about 100 students between third grade and year 12, and it was held in demountable buildings on a sloping bush block in Terry Hills, Sydney. Peter Carblis, or Pastor Carblis, as we addressed him, was Principal, while also sharing ministry duties at Northern Beaches Christian Centre, which was held every Sunday morning at a community hall in Mona Vale.   Religion was part of my life from the day I was born. My parents were part of the early 70s Pentecostal revival movement which, to the best of my understanding, was founded by Christians wanting to have a more direct, authentic relationship with God and the scriptures than what they found in mainstream, denomi...

When metal cools, it contracts A car ticking in the driveway Butcher bird visits Hooked beak searching for snacks But I have nothing So I offer my hand Take a leap, bird friend, take a leap

  I get that people have different interests, passions and desires. One of the lessons I have been trying to learn in recent times, as I strive to grow, is addressing the fact I have a hard time understanding when folks don’t connect to something in the same way I do. If it means so much to me, then why doesn’t it impact on you? Surely it makes you feel … something?   I’m still struggling to learn this lesson. Taylor Swift has helped bring me a degree of insight into my blind spot. So many people are passionate about her work and so, being curious and always wanting to learn, I asked my FB fam about which of her songs I should listen to, and there were a bunch of responses.   I dived in. What did I learn? Her music is beautifully written and immaculately produced, but I didn’t connect with it. I’m not the target audience anyway, so that’s OK. But what it did make me appreciate is the fact people connect deeply with her work. It speaks to them and becomes part of their ide...

  Galaxie 500's music invokes that sense of melancholy you feel on a grey day at home by yourself, with only a cup of coffee, a pack of smokes and your thoughts to keep you company.

I think a lot about the spiritual side of life. The search for a deeper meaning in things, and the desire for transcendence.     I don’t believe in an afterlife, and I think if there’s a god, then god isn’t, as Nick Cave sings in his gorgeous song Into My Arms, an interventionist god.    But I think as humans we’re always striving for redemption. To atone for our flaws and our mistakes. And heaven knows, I’ve made a few mistakes. But to quote LCD Soundsystem’s All My Friends: “I wouldn’t trade one stupid decision / for another five years of life.”   It’s this desire for redemption and atonement in Spiritualized songs that speaks so deeply and intensely to me. The Spaceman articulates perfectly just how I feel as a deeply flawed human being and my desire to be better, to find a deeper truth.   To my way of thinking, the most important things in life are music, literature, art and poetry and – most importantly – a desire to have deep human connections.  ...

It was in a different life. I was on the back deck of a house I lived in, doing some chores and listening to Sydney community radio station FBI. This track came on. A droning synth followed by pounding drum machine and a haunting voice talking about dreams. I wanted to know more, waiting for the DJ to back announce and eventually they came on and said it was Sydney darkwave artist Buzz Kull. Who was Buzz Kull? Why did their music speak so profoundly to me, someone brought up on no wave guitar bands and stoner rock?   I bought the track on iTunes, I am guessing it was 2015/16 and when Buzz Kull’s debut album, Chroma, came out, I quickly jumped on board. Electronic music seemed like the future.    So now it’s 2023. Buzz Kull – Marc Dwyer – has released two albums since Chroma – 2018’s New Kind of Cross and, just last year, Fascination. Being a fanboy, I wanted to catch up with Marc / Buzz Kull and find out what makes him tick.    “Buzz Kull had a very soft start i...