Features
New Noise: Orbits, Ermine Coat, Tim Bass, I’lls
By Mess+Noise
Solo work and low-key collaborations quietly dominate this week’s roundup of Soundcloud offerings.
[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]
– Orbits may be the solo outlet of Cat Cat’s Warwick Smith, but the improvisational new album Smith & Twardy is a collaboration with – you guessed it – someone with the surname Twardy. In this case it’s drummer Leon Flint Twardy, who has played in The Cherry Marines and other Canberra bands. Out digitally next Monday (May 27) through Smith’s Birds Love Fighting imprint, the two-track, half-hour album was recorded and mixed in Canberra by Twardy before being polished (relatively) in mastering by Scul Hazzards’ Steven Smith. Listen to the shorter of the two tracks, the near-delirious sprawler ‘Uninterrupted Focus’.
[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.]Uninterrupted Focus by ORBITS
– The lo-fi pop musings of Perth’s Alex Griffin, Ermine Coat has put all three digital singles through Bandcamp so far this year. The latest is ‘Hilary Clinton’/‘Leavers’, which continues Griffin’s outsider streak while scaling back some of the fuzz in favour of melody and intimacy. Following an album and EP in 2011, the incidental catchiness of Ermine Coat’s current output makes us hopeful for another longer release sometime soon.
[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.]Ermine Coat - Hilary Clinton by Mess+Noise
– The latest release from ambient/experimental Sydney label Flaming Pines, Pastures is an immersive opus from Melbourne’s Tim Bass. The landscape-informed album was made using processed electric guitar, synth and field recordings. It was also “inspired by French philosopher Michel Foucault’s concept of heterotopia, which describes a space of layered meanings which is simultaneously mental and physical.” Bass’s previous album, I Have Become Overcome with Thoughts of You, came out in 2011 via Perth label Twice Removed. Below, soak up the head-clearing ‘Stutter’, best experienced at high volume.
[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.]Stutter - Tim Bass - From Pastures out May 23 on FP by Flaming Pines
– Following the lovely March single ‘Plans Only Drawn’, the free-download ‘Speak Low’ is another taste of the upcoming second EP from Melbourne trio I’lls (said “isles”). It’s got something of The Sea & Cake in it, between Simon Lam’s pillowy voice and that blend of slippery instrumentation and low-key electronics. A Warm Reception comes out as a name-your-price download via Yes Please in mid-June.
[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.]I'lls - Speak Low by Yes Please
+