stop hooning around mate and put the pots in the esky, coz that doona is so daggy.

JJJ - national youth radio station.

Spiderbait - something of an institution in Australia, a threepiece that increasingly jump around from thrashy punk-pop (their original sound) to glam-stomp to disco to eighties pop to funk to psychedelia etc. ie. "Shazam" channeled the spirit of Gary Glitter while "Glockenpop" did the same for Jackson 5. So maybe they're like the Australian Super Furry Animals, only that's not right at all. I quite like them, although strangely I've never bought a single album of theirs. They've got a new album out this week called "The Return Of Wally Funk". Their album titles are always excellent, eg. "The Unfinished Spanish Galleon of Finley Lake". Their song "Buy Me A Pony" is one of the best record company parodies I've heard.

The Fauves - another punk-pop group with aspirations of being something more. I only really know well their "Dogs Are The Best People" song, which could almost be early Oasis collaborating with Luke Haines.

Finiscan - as far as I can recall a thoroughly indistinct post-grunge band. Are they even still around?

Something For Kate - Australia's answer to emo? Serious, dischordant or dreamlike midtempo punk-pop (notice a pattern here?), influences being Sonic Youth and Throwing Muses, but with ragged male vocals.

Whitlams - increasingly slight piano-based literate pop. Imagine the exact midpoint between Belle & Sebastian and Toploader's "Dancing In The Moonlight".

One thing to note when dealing with Australian bands (and JJJ, for that matter) is that grunge had a bigger impact here than the UK, but hasn't been so thoroughly replaced by hip hop or nu-metal (although that's starting) as in the US. So the influence of grunge has tended to restrict Aussie bands to a generally heavy, punkish sound, albeit with often a heavy pop bent. It's only been in the last couple of years with the deliberate courting of dance/pop/hip hop by bands like Spiderbait, Regurgitator, Gerling etc. that mainstream Australian bands have adjusted slightly. A lot of the new bands that come out (eg. Motor Ace) start off explicitly Australian and then become increasingly British sounding as time goes on.

1st of all, you can't put a pot in an esky - a pot is a glass of beer and teh beer would fucking spill, and what type of faggot drinks his beer from a hglass anyway,, you drink it from a stubby or a tinnie. to add my two bob: Spiderbait - intriguing when they started, but taken on my alterna teenybopping crap mongeres, genresplicers but dull as all fuck JJJ - originally 2JJJ, went national in late 80s, early nineties, largely responsible for spread of alternative music to the masses, though in the last few years has become far more mainstream, less experimental, and more promoting of dance music as well. the fauves - so so aussie surf band finiscan - no idea whitlams - led by tim freedman, almost a more rockier/melodramatic sydney version of ben folds five, intelligent music at least. something for kate - grunge, bush-a-like

search - avalanches, youth group (sydney's next posies), old band - hummingbirds, also intriguing is machine translations, bohjass, gorgeous and grandview. steer clear of powderfinger, regurgitator, gerling etc.

JJJ = radio station. used to be good, now is crap. It plays the exact same music it always did but I've grown out of it. Thank goodness. Still worth listening to in the early hours of the morning when they play stuff that isn't to the tastes of the 12-year old punk wannabes who control the request programs.

Spiderbait = some mind-blowingly excellent singles and some very bad album tracks. Search: Glokkenpop, Calypso, Conjunctivitis, Stevie, Buy Me A Pony, Goosh, Shazam! and their cutely-renamed Go-Gos cover, Alex The Seal. All of these songs are very short, so no excuses for not raiding Audiogalaxy or whatnot this second.

The Fauves = a bit crap, again, some good songs. Search: Don't Get Death Threats Anymore, Dwarf On Dwarf, Give Up Your Day Job. Pub rock band, basically, with the odd flourish.

Finiscan = umm.. maybe Fini Scad? Umm. Search: umm, not much really, but I suppose "Furious" and "Coppertone" are the best of an ordinary bunch.

Something For Kate = sigh, indie band which has shot to unfathomable massiveness by being excruciatingly humourless. Halfway between emo, Bush, and Stereophonics, with Thom Yorke circa-Kid A's sense of humour. Ugh. If you must, Search: Working Against Me, Whatever You Want, and a remix of The Last Minute. Destroy everthing else. Do NOT download "Captain", "Electricity" or "Monsters" or you will want to rip your ears off in terror.

The Whitlams = think Ben Folds 5 with Tim Freedman the singer being Elton John to Ben Folds' Billy Joel. A lot of people hate them. I can see why, but I have a soft spot. Stick to the up-tempo stuff and you shouldn't find anything too offensive. Search: Met My Match, You Sound Like Louis Burdett, Following My Own Tracks, I Make Hamburgers (radio edit), 10 Or 11 Drink Clown, Coming Up For Air (a song about cunnilingus). Slower ones worth having: Life's A Beach, Her Floor Is My Ceiling. Whew.

Voice of dissent: Gerling's new single "Dust Me Selecta" is awesome, and I would have thought so even if they were actual house producers.

haha, 'you sound like louis burdett'. i remember that one. extremely catchy with a nice piano line.

sadly, i don't think much of the whitlams at all otherwise. bumped into freedman a couple of times (always seems to be in newtown pubs, which incidentally he is known to frequent) and he seems a jolly twat.

something for kate are rubbish. plodding, moody songs that amble pointlessly with a rough-headed, rough-throated fraud of a singer.

haha finiscad. this is some terrible shit. 'coppertone' blends stone temple pilots at their very worst with, let's say, the worst elements of collective soul.

spiderbait are annoying and obnoxious. ugh. plus they're an ugly bunch. not that that plays a part in my contempt for them.

the fauves are at least amusing lyrically at times. i'm plugging 'thousand yard stare' just now for nostalgia's sake. yes, it's pretty bad, but the songs are short and i can think of more painful things to listen to.

gerling peaked around 2001 from memory. they've gone way off the boil.

don't know what to make of the current scene in the sunburnt country. don't mind dappled cities fly, expatriate or faker. i like die die die. but they may be from new zealand? i generally don't like going to see local bands these days. i've slipped behind the radar

spiderbait's "grand slam" is one of this country's best pop records ever dude

well, i don't despise their first two records, and like 'old man sam'.

i'm too far beyond giving most of their stuff a second chance though