Features
New Noise: Catsuit, Hello Satellites, You Beauty, Ma Petite
By Mess+Noise
Everything from indie-folk to post-punk to art-pop surfaces in this week’s roundup of new music.
[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]
– Kicked off back in 2010, the Community series of Hobart-focussed compilations has just reached its third instalment. It includes such fine acts are The Anthony Rochesters, Heart Beach, Treehouse and Dogtower; see below for full tracklisting. Out next Monday (Nov 25) on bargain $5 CD and digitally through Rough Skies, it can be pre-ordered now. There’s a nice preview in the form of Catsuit’s ‘Drowsy’, a song that recalls ‘90s woman-fronted indie rock bands like Tsunami and Scrawl. You can also sample ‘Unrepresentative’ by The Native Cats’ Peter Escott, among others. The comp will get a Melbourne launch at The John Curtin Hotel’s Hobart + Melbourne = Yeah! event on Saturday, December 7, featuring sets from The Native Cats, Heartbeach, Catsuit, Treehouse, Terrible Truths and Ivy St. More info here. Revisit our Five Bands to Watch wrap for Hobart – it was written by The Native Cats’ Julian Teakle, who curated this very compilation.
Heart Beach – Weather
Small Black Lambs – City of Gold
Dogtower – Trinkets
The Native Cats – Intimidation
Naked – Think About Death
Unfolding Vostoks – Bardo Rivers
Venuslight Overdrive – Impossible
All Fires – Persona
The Hunter – XVI
Treehouse – Interzone
The Anthony Rochesters – Keep Your Eyes on the Prize
The Lucky Dips – One Word
Machines of Indeterminate Origin – Rejection Letter
Molle St Therapist – Ridding the City
Catsuit – Drowsy
Peter Escott – Unrepresentative
Mess O’Reds – Warm Beer
– It’s been three years since Hello Satellites’ well received self-titled debut album, itself a follow-on from Eva Popov’s solo work. Popov is back with a new album in 84000, which she made in collaboration with producers Nick Huggins, J Walker (Machine Translations) and Joe Hammond. It’s due out early next year through Two Bright Lakes, and our first taste is the rubbery, streamlined art-pop of new single ‘Television Screens’. Hello Satellites launch the single this Sunday (Nov 24) at The Workers Club with support from Karl Smith (Sodastream) and Amy Alex. It’s $15 (or $12 concession) from 7:30pm; more info here. Described as “an album about our addiction to dreaming and the stories we tell ourselves,” 84000 is named for the number of pores in the human body, according to Chinese medicine.
– We’re already pointed out the pedigree of cross-city quartet You Beauty, which boasts people from Absolute Boys, Mere Women and Hira Hira as well as three former members of Ohana. And we heard their debut single in ‘Ann-Maree’. Now comes their second free-download offering in ‘Mennal Mondays’. It’s taken from the band’s debut album Jersey Flegg, out next month. It was recorded and mixed by Ivan Vizintin (Ghoul, PVT), and the song’s tense post-punk slant definitely whets our appetite for the record.
– Since the snuffing out of her previous ensemble Lamplight, Melbourne’s Indiana Avent has played violin for everyone from Bon Iver to Gotye. She’s also cultivated the solo guise Ma Petite on the side, releasing a new four-song EP this week in Winter Comes, Winter Goes. Heralding it is the single ‘Lonesome’, a delicately plaintive little indie-folk tune accompanied by a polite tea-drinking film clip. “Exploring the heartache of being on the other side of the world to someone you love,” the song sprang from Avent’s time living and playing in Canada; it was recorded in Vancouver last year . She’s joined on electric guitar by Aidan Knight, on keys by Matt Kelly (City and Colour, Yukon Blonde) and on double bass by Ben Appenheimer (Portage and Main). The EP precedes a debut album, The Road that Led Me to Fall, slated for mid-2014 release, and launches this Sunday (Nov 24) with a super-intimate gig at Maddox Café in Brunswick from 7pm, for which only 30 tickets will be sold.
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