Features
New Noise: Restless Leg, Motion Picture Actress, Brain Drain, New Archer
By Mess+Noise
This week’s roundup of Soundcloud offerings come from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and …. Buffalo, New York.
[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]
– Sydney trio Restless Leg drop names like Jonathan Richman, Ray Davies and Smudge as influences, which provides some major clues about their wry, understated guitar-pop before we even hear it. The band’s self-titled first album is plentiful with “moments of suburban geekiness,” all rendered with no-frills cosiness by Knievel’s Tim Kevin in three days of recording. The below ‘In Janie’s Eyes’ is a touch more romantic than, say, ‘Angry Little Death Cloud’ or ‘Perfume in the Poison Dust’, and ripe with twanging guitars and sighed harmonies to boot. The album launches Saturday, July 30 at Brighton Up Bar with Community Radio and Silo.
[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.]Restless Leg - In Janie's Eyes by Mess and Noise
– Brisbane producer Thomas Brydon is Motion Picture Actress, whose new free single ‘Water Lyf’ hinges on a guest vocal turn from fellow Brisbane artist Keiiko. The first taste of a mini-LP due later this year via Silo Arts, the song’s liquid current and submerged melodies definitely suit its name. We also hear both Brydon’s confessed hip-hop influences and his current stint studying at the Jazz Music Institute. The mini-LP follows his debut EP, Natural Ghost, released early last year.
[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.]Motion Picture Actress - Water Lyf (feat. Keiiko) by Silo Arts & Records
– A recent Australian transplant to Buffalo, New York, Brain Drain channels melancholy through layers and loops of guitar and synth. His latest release is the four-song tour cassette For Seasons [sic], informed by impermanence and his recent change in continent as well as his newfound adoption of baritone guitar. Hear the opening ‘Eye Against Eye’ below. Brain Drain is playing a few gigs in Brisbane and Melbourne soon, including two with Andrew Tuttle (formerly Anonymeye), who included BD on the recent New Weird Australia goldmine he oversaw.
Thurs, June 27 – Room 60, Brisbane, QLD [w/Andrew Tuttle]
Tues, July 2 – Make It Up Club @ Bar Open, Melbourne, VIC [w/Automating]
Sun, July 7 – Cobra Bar @ The Tote, Melbourne, VIC [w/Andrew Tuttle, Automating + Acciness]
[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.]Brain Drain - Eye Against Eye by Mess and Noise
– With a bone-dry voice recalling the great Loudon Wainwright III, award-winning Melbourne poet Luke Beesley pursues folky simplicity as New Archer. His debut EP Bees Nudge the Mouth of a Feathered Rose was crafted over the past half-decade in an old house in the Otway Ranges, where there was no mobile reception or internet connection. The five-song EP features Beesley’s occasional live drummer, Minimum Chips’ Ian Wadley, as well as guest spots from Nicola Watson (vocals), Yuko Kono (recorders), Zoe Miller (clarinet) and Blake Stickland (piano). Watson will support New Archer when the EP launches next Wednesday (July 3) at The Toff in Town. It’s $10 on the door from 8pm.
[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.]New Archer: Laura by -gaga
+