Various Artists - Can't Stop It 2. Australian Post Punk 1979-84 Various Artists

The second instalment of Chapter Music’s acclaimed Australian post-punk compilation series Can’t Stop It! is released on vinyl for the first time as a deluxe double album on September 4, 2026.

The compilation was originally released on CD in 2007, and presents an incredible array of inventive and often previously unheard music from the period 1979-1984. Now Chapter Music updates the compilation with six never before reissued bonus tracks, new remastering by Mikey Young, plus new liner notes, photos and layout.

This is a fantastically rich and dynamic time in Australian music history, a time when Australia stepped out of the shadows of overseas influence and asserted its own musical identity for perhaps the first time.

Can’t Stop It! #2 features tracks that have now become touchstones in Australia's post-punk history, including Lamborghini by Severed Heads and proto Oz-rap classic Do the Job by Use No Hooks, plus early works by the likes of Dead Can Dance’s Lisa Gerrard and Hunters & Collectors’ Mark Seymour.

Bonus tracks include the astounding How by Brisbane's This Five Minutes, which pre-dates The Stone Roses' Fool's Gold by at least five years, the gorgeous Purple Hearts by Melbourne's mysterious Lachelle, and Tasmania's own performance punk Chainmale with his outlandish Freakout.

credits

releases September 4, 2026

Compiled by Guy Blackman with help from David Nichols, Phil Turnbull and Murray Bennett.

Liner notes by Guy Blackman, with assistance from the artists. Original mastering by Gus Franklin and Greg Wadley. Reissue mastering by Mikey Young. Original design and layout by Josh Petherick. Reissue layout by James Devlin