New Noise: Tiny Migrants, Bow Arrow, Kremlings, The Galaxy Folk

The emphasis is on garage rock and DIY electronics in this week’s roundup of new music.

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]

– Have we unfairly slept on Brisbane’s very worthy Tiny Migrants? Guilty as charged. But let’s make up for that some now. For starters, their cover of Mouse & The Traps’ ‘A Public Execution’ was the highlight of last year’s re-envisioned Nuggets comp. They also lodged a punchy tune on the second New Centre comp with ‘Talk Shit’. They’re good fun live, and have shared the stage with kindred souls Mark Sultan, Ty Segall and Guitar Wolf. And lastly, their song ‘Fishpond Goldmine’ (first heard in demo form back in early 2011) is impish surf-garage done to perfection, right down to the kiss-off chorus “Your tiny words don’t mean a thing.” You can hear it on their self-titled debut 7”, out on transparent pink vinyl through Mere Noise – who are celebrating their 10th anniversary with gigs in Melbourne and Brisbane this weekend. Tiny Migrants are playing the Brisbane one, Saturday (Sept 7) at Black Bear Lodge with Vegas Kings, Hits and Death Rides a Horse. It’s free. More on the Melbourne gig soon.

– Despite apparently being named for near-fatal arrow wounds New Zealand expat Matt Scheurich received in Papua New Guinea, Bow Arrow is mostly pretty serene. Now based in Melbourne, Scheurich applies alternately dreamy falsetto and a brooding croon to layered electronic pop fantasias for his new second album Aleph Null, released on Melbourne bedroom label 67-23-54 with appropriately piecemeal cover art by Penelope Ferguson. The early standout ‘Farewell’ plays like a recreation of suave ’80s pop in the bathroom mirror, with hair still wet from the shower.

– Right in league with Tiny Migrants are Geelong five-piece The Kremlings, who kick off their new EP Vulture Race with a Spanish count-in and exceed the two-minute mark only once. With the crusty sound and cracked vocal sneer perfectly intact from their self-titled 2011 EP – now up for free download – the garage-psych band are releasing the follow-up on 7” and CD via Anti Fade. Fresh from launching it in their beachside hometown, they’re hitting the Grace Darling basement in Melbourne next Saturday (Sept 14) with Red Red Krovvy and Leather Towel. It’s $8 on the door for a killer trifecta of bands.

– “This is not a representation of a live band. This is electronic music,” says a disclaimer on the Bandcamp for The Galaxy Folk’s new limited-run 10” EP. You’d be easily forgiven for making the mistake since, while Angus Bell’s music is made on a laptop, its self-described “blend of ambience, surf, pop and bedroom doom” sounds most like indie pop. Also because there’s been a more garage-y live version of the band, featuring members of Jackals, Pageants, RaRa and Euphoriacs. Honeygarden is indeed helmed by Bell but also showcases collaborator Isaac Wright and a few guests. ‘Goin’ Blind’ was recorded with a band upstairs at Gasometer in Bell’s home base of Melbourne, while Mike Lillis of Local Astronaut recorded the heartbreaking ‘Gone Tomorrow Back Today’ in his room. The unusually intimate EP comes out on Election Day and launches that night (Sept 7) at The Tote with East Brunswick All Girls Choir, Strangers From Now On and Melbourne Cans. It’s $12 from 9pm.

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To nominate new music for this column email us at news@messandnoise.com.