New Noise: Pat Chow, Les Level, Popolice, Stink Bugs

It’s a bumper crop of great tunes in this week’s roundup of new music.

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]

– Started as a side project for original Ocean Party drummer Ben Protasiewicz, Perth trio Pat Chow were once called The Whores. Now, thankfully, they’re not, and the band’s debut single ‘It Won’t Go’/‘Winning’ is a tidy piece of work. The first song sets nonchalant guitar strumming against surprisingly impassioned vocals, sounding a bit like a Pavement B-side along the way. The second charges ahead with blurted drumming and fulsome noise like another great lost slab of ’90s indie rock glory. It’s all a taste of the band’s first EP, out early next year. For now, the single is up for $5 download, and Pat Chow play alongside Sincerely, Grizzly, Mezzanine, Foam, and Depth Boys on Friday, November 15 at the Amplifier.

– You might (or might not) know Luke Brown from his shelved DJ duo Leslie Salvador or his current duo, the “death-disco/dark-synth revisionist” project Negativ Magick, but as Les Level the Melbourne producer is making major waves. The debut 12” House of Need is romance-drenched, unabashedly old-school house that’s not afraid to come off cheesy. Released on 100% Silk, it’s a five-track EP spanning the below ‘Smooth Sailing’ and two mixes of the “neo-Chicago anthem” title track, while song titles like ‘Fever Baby’, ‘Working Nights’ and ‘Claude Monet’ give you some advance idea of the sensual delights on offer. It’s limited to 450 copies, and you can preview the whole thing right now, right here.

– Yeah, we already posted Matthew Cribb’s stellar clip for ‘Would You Believe’, which documents a particularly badass strut along St Kilda Beach. But let’s focus on the new Popolice single itself. It’s the kind of song that makes you fall in love with guitar all over again. Marc Regueiro-Mckelvie (New Estate, Enclosures, Teeth & Tongue) sounds like a direct heir to Wreckless Eric, tapping the romance of power-pop without forgetting the snide edges. The B-side ‘Eno’, meanwhile, is a cover of a song by The Bites. Says Regueiro-Mckelvie: “When I first moved to Melbourne in 2002, I became enchanted by a band called The Bites and went to see them play as much as I could … I still regularly listen to this song when I’m feeling elated or when I want to indulge in misery. It’s like the missing piece of a jigsaw puzzle I embark upon when I want to feel something more than another cowardly hangover.” You can grab both self-recorded songs for free, and catch Popolice tonight at The Gasometer with Straw King Eye and Ivy St. It’s just $5 from 8pm. And stay tuned for a long-awaited debut album from Popolice next year.

– Brisbane’s Stink Bugs sounds rescued from at least a few decades ago on ‘The Mountain’, the B-side of their new 7” on Swashbuckling Hobo. It’s got some strong Stooges and Blue Cheer vibes (for starters), and the record is aptly described by the label as a “blazin’ garage freakout.” And check out that cover art by Jonny Pow. Stink Bugs includes James “Wild Eagle” Pierce of The Hekawis and Shutdown ’66. Some pedigree, that, and it shows.

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