New From NZ: Team Ugly, Eyeliner, Surf Friends

Start the year right with the latest from three rising Kiwi acts.

– Team Ugly’s debut EP Screaming in Tongues fulfils the promise of its title right away, with a 30-second track of screams called ‘Speech Therapy’. It certainly grabs our attention, but a bit more palatable are the Auckland quartet’s actual songs, dodgy and degraded pop with a mouthy guy/girl punk edge. They’re also pretty funny, between the lyrics of ‘You are What You Eat’ and ‘I’m Possessive and Controlling’ and, yes, a song like ‘Duck My Sick’. Recorded mid-last year by Nick Graham at Auckland haunt Whammy Bar, the five-song EP is out on limited tape through Melted Ice Cream and as a free download. They did an ambitious US tour last year, so let’s hope for an Aussie visit soon.

– Sydney micro-label Crystal Magic has turned up repeatedly in this column, between Perfect Hair Forever (twice) and Power Nap. Eyeliner might be its best discovery yet, following up 2012’s High Fashion Mood Music with the nostalgia fever-dream LARP of Luxury. It boasts some of the same slap bass and synth murk as Angel Eyes, but reappropriates the guilty pleasures of past decades with much more chintzy enthusiasm. It’s the work of “digital fantasist” Luke Rowell out of Wellington, whose work has been lumped in with vaporwave but is better described (as usual) by Crystal Magic as “the roleplay of desire, the act of fashion, a post-consumer social-network profile of an artist faking comfort.” Dig the faux-reggae, faux-New Age, faux-everything breakout single ‘Sauvignon Blanc’. Like all releases on the label, the album is out as a free download and limited CD, but there’s also a $2 Eyeliner keyring for sale. Score!

– Auckland duo Surf Friends let their shoegaze flag fly right from the start of second album Endorphins, released last November through Flying Nun. As if that choice of label wasn’t pedigree enough, The Clean legend David Kilgour plays guitar on two songs. While album opener ‘The Sea’ is indeed steeped in shoegaze effects, ‘Chance’ offers tidier jangle-pop while the eight-minute finale ‘Yourself’ locks into classic Krautrock mode without losing the summery pop vibe. Stream all three tracks below, and catch the video for ‘The Sea’ right here.

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