Features
New Noise: Two Cartoons, Hollow Press, The Aves, Super Magic Hats
By Doug Wallen
This week’s roundup of Soundcloud offerings range from hooky guitar gems to instrumentals full of airiness and unease.
– Otago University students Isaac McFarlane and Brad Craig collide as Dunedin guitar-drums duo Two Cartoons. Their early influences (and everything’s early at this point) include Best Coast and Wavves, but their songs feel a bit more classic than that. They’re loose and hooky, keeping things ever punchy even in their daydream-y, lackadaisical way. ‘Tiny Terrors’ is the title track of their name-your-price second EP. The boys are coming to Australia to play Victoria’s Inca Roads Music Festival next Friday (Nov 30), and may also play Melbourne closer to Christmas.
[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.] Tiny Terrors by Two Cartoons
– Adelaide’s Shaun McNamara makes music all on his lonesome as Hollow Press, named for a track by Grouper. Following this year’s Empathy EP and album Fleeting Joy comes the free single ‘Floating’ from the affordably priced album Between Us, out digitally and on limited CD-R through Drug Arts. ‘Floating’ is a fixating listen, relishing open space while layering snatches of uneasy ambience and rhythmic stirrings.
[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.] Floating by Hollow Press
– ‘In Vogue’ sits smack in the middle of The Aves’ three-song EP Anywhere Else, recorded in Brooklyn while the Adelaide power-pop quartet was touring the US. The band have already toured Canada and played London too, which is no small feat for a young act. ‘In Vogue’ is a bitter little barb about waiting patiently to be considered in fashion, with Lucy Campbell’s snide vocal delivery clinching it. The EP, their second, is out now on Mirador.
[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.] The Aves - In Vogue by Mirador Records
– Melbourne producer Super Magic Hats has a knack for perfectly airy, harmony-stuttered instrumentals, as proven by September’s ‘By Myself’ and the new free single ‘Wind’. (He’s even applied his method to a Middle East song.) The previous track ‘Charcoal’ premiered on XLR8R, while ‘Wind’ comes from a debut EP out early next year. Super Magic Hats is also a live concern, having already supported Sydney’s RUFUS and Ghostly International artist Shigeto. Like Two Cartoons above, he’s also appearing at Inca Roads.
[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.] Wind by supermagichats
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