New Noise: Dianas, Magic Hands, Melt, Skinny Legions

This week’s roundup of new music spans Melbourne, Canberra, Perth and the Blue Mountains.

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]

– Perth trio Dianas split the difference between diffuse twilight dreaminess and firmly propulsive guitar-pop on their second EP, simply titled EP #02. Produced by Aden Senycia, it came out last month as a $5 download and nicely showcases five intimate songs that recall female-fronted indie pop of the K Records school (Lois, Gaze, Tiger Trap, The Softies, et al), with a few fleeting shoegaze touches to boot. You can buy both EPs and shirts here.

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]

– Upon first emerging mid-2013, Magic Hands had a promising demo in ‘Tone’. Now the duo of Lucy Roleff and Alex Badham (Aleks & The Ramps) have recorded and released a proper version of the song. They’ve also made a stunning video for it, shot on a Mediterranean island in 40-degree heat. The single anchors the new free EP of the same name, which includes two more incarnartions of it in a “campfire mix” and a remix by WORNG. For good measure, there’s also a slow-burn, dual-vocal cover of ‘I Believe in You’ by M+N muse Kylie Minogue. Magic Hands will launch the EP as a four-piece – thanks to drummer Pascal Babare and vocalist Anna Calder – on Friday, April 11 at The Grace Darling in Melbourne with WORNG and Totally Mild.

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]

– Inspired (if that’s the right word) by the dire state of our oceans and specifically the Great Barrier Reef under our current government, Jordan Rodger of Canberra label Cinnamon Records penned the free two-track EP A Warm Ocean via his solo outlet Warm. Both tracks are instrumental and, appropriately enough, broadcast a knowing mix of sadness and menace. Says Rodger: “It’s made up of guitar-driven improvisations which move through various phases of feedback, ambience and melodic themes. The two tracks are littered with drum fragments which help to guide each piece through the different movements.” The EP conjures similarly noisy and improvised journeys in decades past by The Azusa Plane and New Zealand’s Roy Montgomery.

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]

– Skinny Legions is the solo work of Blue Mountains folkie Glenn Hopper, who collaborates with Josh Dinjar in the more indie-rock-sounding bands Peel and Wheat Fields. His bedroom warble and stripped-back aesthetic aren’t far removed from early Death Vessel, though Hopper proves less eccentric. Recorded on four-track while traveling through Asia and North America with “a cheap Indian guitar,” his latest offering is the four-song, name-your-price EP Birdsong.

+

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