Whore

Whore.

I'll be here on the corner at sunset
Just like yesterday and tomorrow and the day after that
Singing my tunes
To the moon
Counting drunkards and loons
Like the sheep of an insomniac

If you saunter past at quarter after midnight
Then you stumble back at fifteen past one
You'll recognize
These few lines
Maybe help me pass the time
'Coz an hour's music's all that is mine


If you see me
Singing in the Street
Whoring my Songs
Like a Peddler at your Feet
Don't take Pity on My
Crude Attempts to get By

Remember the First Time
That History showed
What happens in Vegas
Ain't necessarily So
And from the Midwestern Towns
I rode my Midwestern Brown
Horse all the way Home


Who'll howl at the night sky
If we cut down all the trees and the wolves
have no place to hide
I'd like to think I'll stand in the spotlight
Have your trigger fingers ready
It's a baptism of fire

In those first milky hues of the morning
When the sun reassembles the board
I'll turn my back
On this tract
Of pavement that I've hacked
And I'll leave the rats squealing for more.

Justin Carter - Painting Pictures (album review)

Justin Carter – Painting Pictures (Medici Studios)

Appearing over the waves, guitar under one arm and harmonica under the other, Justin Carter is here to continue the surf-roots safari. Young, talented and driven, his second album Painting Pictures follows picks up where his 2007 debut Whatever Happened to Real Music left off. Music for dancing, for road tripping, and for late summer nights accompanied by a cool breeze, it's not difficult to come away from this record feeling content.
Hailing from Victoria's southwest via the Surf Coast, Carter wears his influences on his sleeve, melting 1970s Americana with a definite Australian coastal vibe. Comparisons with the Black Keys abound, although there's a laidback attitude present that brings Messrs Butler, Rudd & Grunwald to mind, especially on tracks like Sailing and Devil. While simple and lacklustre lyrics subtract from a couple of the tunes at times (“If I'm feeling down/You pick my off of the ground” - Smile), it is Carter's mastering of his various instruments that set him apart from his peers. Sucking on his harp with blistering violence at times, and showing a real appreciation of the sound his guitar makes, Carter and producer David Nicholas (the Whitlams, George, Diesel) have given each element of the recording the room & respect they deserve, with drummer Johnny Rollins keeping his end up and letting Carter shine.
Painting Pictures isn't going to make any best-sellers list for 2009, and Carter isn't about to become the king of Australian music with it. But as a taster for what this talented musician is capable of, look no further. If Whatever Happened to Real Music didn't announce his arrival, Painting Pictures does. And if you walk away from your stereo after closer Angels with anything less than a newfound respect for the world and your loved ones, then good luck to you.

- Dylan Stewart