January 26 is a great time of year to celebrate the success of the white Australian cultural monolith; a great time for the lamb industry, major breweries and souvenir shops to cash in on the national pride and patriotism that runs through our very veins.
Some say that Australia Day should (at least in part) be a day of mourning. They say that January 26 marks the arrival of our violent migrant ancestors who took by unnecessary force a peacefully populated nation and called it their own. They say that January 26 marks a day when people who lived here were murdered and raped and pillaged in order to establish a new society – but I never learned THAT in high school, and neither did you.
This mixtape is what Australia Day sounds like to me. Every soul out in the sun munching on snags and ripping the tops off sequential stubbies at Bondi Beach: this is Low Life’s ‘DNA’. The different atmospheres and vocals in the songs on this mixtape raise a themed ire in me, as do specific phrases: “after all these years,” “across the beach,” “take what you want from me,” “you’re supposed to have fun,” “everything goes wrong.”
A Current Affair will tell you that people with such a conscience are killjoys. But our society was very much built upon the joy of killing.
God save the Queen.
—Max Easton
Tracklist
1. Eastlink – What a Silly Day (Australia Day)
from ‘Mullum Mullum’ LP – 2014, Aarght Records
2. Low Life – DNA
from ‘Dogging’ LP – 2014, RIP Society / Disinfect
3. Oily Boys – Suffer Beach
from ‘Majesty’ 7” – 2014, Independent
4. M.O.B. – Australiens
from ‘M.O.B.’ LP – 2014, RIP Society
5. The Friendsters – Revenge is the Best Revenge
from ‘The Friendsters’ 7” – 2014, Eternal Soundcheck
6. Total Control – Scene
from a Marriage From ‘Scene From a Marriage’ 7” – 2012, Sub Pop
7. Constant Mongrel – Everything Goes Wrong
from ‘Everything Goes Wrong’ LP – 2012, RIP Society
8. Gutter Gods – Community
from ‘Innersens’e LP – 2014, Cool Death Records
9. NUN – In Blood
from ‘NUN’ LP – 2014, Aarght Records