Features
New Noise: Nightmaster, Wolf & Cub, Yukon Snakes, Home Run
By Doug Wallen
Tight instrumentals and unlikely samples meet bedroom R&B and downplayed rock in this week’s roundup of Soundcloud offerings.
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– It’s been nearly two full years since Nightmaster’s promising first EP, but the instrumental trio are finally back with another in the six-song Ride the Wild Diamond. It continues their appreciation for the ’90s Thrill Jockey catalogue, with would-be theme song ‘The Nightmaster’ feeling quite Tortoise-y by the end. Guitarist Matt Fox, baritone guitarist Chris Turner and drummer Troy Coxhill are split between Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Melbourne at the moment, but they sound as tight as ever here, making a gradual progression towards more heated interplay. The digital EP is out now through Wireless Records.
[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.] Nightmaster - The Nightmaster by Mess+Noise
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– That third album may not be ready for release just yet, but that doesn’t mean Wolf & Cub have been altogether quiet. ‘Salao’ is their third single this year, (following the double A-sides ‘See the Light’/’All Through the Night’ and ‘Shut Me Out’/‘Got Nothing Coming’. A sampling of next year’s LP – self-produced at Sydney’s Linear Recording and mixed by Burke Reid – ‘Salao’ sees the quartet suspend their amiable psych-garage stomp in open space and downplay some Stones-y licks along the way. The crispy tune features new member Brock Fitzgerald (formerly of The Scare) alongside co-founders Joel Byrne and Joel Carey as well as Wade Keighran (also ex-The Scare).
[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.] Salao - Single by Wolf & Cub
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– Horse and Hound is the free-download debut EP from Brisbane producer Yukon Snakes. For years now he’s been selling beats overseas and producing music for others locally, working with everyone from The Boat People to Tara Simmons to Georgia Potter. ‘Fanny Pack Get On Top’ shows off his cartoonishly upbeat blend of chopping and tempo-shifting. The EP will be launched on Saturday, December 8 at Coniston Lane in Brisbane.
[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.] Fanny Pack Get On Top by yukonsnakes
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– Where baseball fandom and noisy knob-twiddling meets, there’s Home Run. The Sydney duo of Jay Cruikshank and Nathan Roche use baseball broadcasts from various decades as the unlikely basis for their surprisingly rhythmic compositions. For their upcoming debut cassette/download on Why Don't You Believe Me?, “they’ve selected recordings strictly from the 1950s and hope to progress the style and quality of the cassettes as they make their way into each era from the ’50s unto present day – thus becoming more listenable and accessible as the technology of both broadcast and home-recording style increases.” It sounds like a novelty, but the below ‘Giants Vs. Indians’ is pretty cool – like a mating call between outmoded technologies.
[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.] Home Run - Giants Vs Indians (Highlight #1) by Why Don't You Believe Me?
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