Brisbane 1990–1993 is a compilation of the two early 1990s EPs by the Australian band Custard, Gastanked and Brisbane.
Wikipedia lists Magoo as ‘the producer’. Instead the album booklet lists the band as the producer of Bedford (a song that was originally recorded on Bedford / Buttercup), Wayne Connolly for the rest of the tracks off the Gastanked EP and Robert Moore the producer for the tracks from the Brisbane EP.
Maybe all music is borrowed, whether it be from other artists or styles, but I feel that Custard take it next level. As soon as you think a song will be one thing, something unexpectedly disrupts this. For exmaple, the noise of the opening track, Edie, the chorus feels like it could be from a Tumbleweed song only then to be shattered by the boppy bassline in the verse; he slide guitar in Bedford contrasts with the fuzz guitar; the moving bassline of I Just Want To Be With You feels reminiscent of Jackson Five; Nightmare Two paradies the heavy riff rock; while Weirdo always feels like it is always one chord away from exploding.
Listening, I was left wondering about inspiration. I could here the influence of college rock, but they definitely stand in contrast to the early 90’s grunge rock.
These songs capture Custard in lo-fi during the period when they were a group of Pavement fans writing quirky but straightforward love songs like “I Just Want to Be with You” and “Edie,” which has two chords — E and D. David McCormack‘s excitable little-boy tone can be heard taking shape while he sings oddball lyrics like “I had too much to dream last night” in “Satellite,” his rewrite of “Goodnight, Irene.” The self-descriptive “Short Pop Song,” which manages to cram in three tunes’ worth of material despite its 1:14 running time, shows the way toward later reflexive efforts like “Hit Song.” Although they’ve obviously been listening to the Pixies as well as Pavement, unlike many other bands of the ’90s they studiously avoided the Seattle sound, preferring to indulge in pop hooks and resolute cheerfulness.
Source: Brisbane 1990-1993 Review – AllMusic by Jody Macgregor
Wahooti Fandango is Custard’s second album, excluding Brisbane 1990-1993. It was produced by Simon Holmes, Wayne Connolly and Bob Moore, and was released in 1994.
There is something joyfully chaotic about this album, where various ideas are pasted together to somehow find some semblance of coherence. Although drums, bass and guitar are always central, there are also a plethora of other instruments that fill out the sound, whether it be piano, keyboard, slide guitar and trumpet.
One of the things that stood out listening to the album is that it feels like each song is somehow in contrast with itself. For example, with Teensville, it is the country verse contrasted with pop-punk choruses. With Aloha Tambourinist it is the distorted guitars wanting to exploded contrasted with the pedal steel guitar. With Pack Yr Suitcases the odd time signature is contrasted with the wacky whistles and sounds. With Dix TV, the solid bass line driving the song is contrasted by the distorted wah wah guitar. With Alone, the uplifting music is contrasted by the celebration of being alone. With Looking for Someone the pop sentiment is contrasted with the noise in the interlude. With Say it the angular guitars are contrasted with the more acoustic sounds of the trumpet and piano, only to end with some strange mock announcement. With Melody the songs opening wall of sound soon gives way to country rock that has Tom Petty feel. With Fantastic Plastic, the song feels like it gets faster and faster, before abruptly finishing. With Singlette, a slick groove contrasted by the chorus. With If Yr Famous And You Know It, Sack Yr Band there is a contrast between the serious and light-hearted at the same time. With Universal Vibration the distorted guitar is again in contrast with the clean piano. With Badloving, the low chords contrast with high licks. This balance maybe the case with a lot of music, or somewhat contrived, but it feels more pronounced with Custard. I like how this is capture on Wikipedia:
Source: Wahooti%20Fandango%20-%20Wikipedia by
I will leave the final comment to the only review I could find for this album:
Source: 198.%20Custard%20%E2%80%93%20%E2%80%9CWahooti%20Fandango%E2%80%9D by @DrSamma
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Track list
“Teensville” 1:27
“Aloha Tambourinist” 2:25
“Pack Yr Suitcases” 2:16
“Dix TV” 4:10
“Alone” 2:43
“Looking For Someone” 2:22
“Say It” 3:04
“Melody” 2:19
“Fantastic Plastic” 1:02
“Singlette” 3:06
“If Yr Famous And You Know It, Sack Yr Band” 2:38
“Bye Bye Birdie” 2:21
“Universal Vibration” 1:48
“Badloving” 3:38
“The Wahooti Fandango” 3:03