New Noise: Tim Shiel, Death Rattles, Lucky Dips, Good Sports

This week’s roundup of new music ranges from power-pop and country-noir to damp reverb and disco-friendly electronics.

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– If you have a smartphone and still haven’t played the beautifully simple Duet, you’re missing out. Melbourne’s own Tim Shiel (formerly Faux Pas) soundtracked the breakout mobile game, which hit #1 in the Australian App Store and #2 in the US App Store this year. Shiel detailed the project in a long M+N interview last December, and now he’s followed up the Duet OST with a quasi-remix album where he collaborates with nine other Melbourne electronic acts to reinterpret the soundtrack. The name-your-price Duet Duets features Lower Spectrum, Clue to Kalo and Friendships, among others. Of those collaborations, our favourite is the eight-minute centrepiece ‘Mandy’, a super-bubbly, disco-friendly team-up with rising producer Jahnne.

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– Last heard round these parts with last year’s free single ‘Crying Moon’, Melbourne’s murderous country-noir ensemble The Death Rattles have made their full-length debut with a self-titled album. A comfortable bookend with local peers like Graveyard Train, Cash Savage and Saint Jude, the album was recorded and mixed by Captain B (a.k.a. Saint Jude’s Brooke Penrose) and mastered by Spooky Records’ Loki Lockwood, with cover art by Mitchell Toy. It launches tomorrow (April 4) at The Grace Darling with The Bitter Sweethearts and The Rolling Blackouts. More info here.

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– Hobart record store Tommy Gun has branched out into releasing records with a new split 7” between Hobart trio The Lucky Dips and Launceston’s own Robert S Young. The Lucky Dips’ gnarled power-pop brawler ‘Never Coming Back’ was produced by Anthony Rochester (The Native Cats’ Dallas) and follows their debut 7” Obsession. In a similar vein but with more prominent melodies, Young’s ‘Hypnotised by a Mirror’ features an insane cast of power-pop greats as his backing band: You Am I’s Rusty Hopkinson, The Posies’ Jon Auer and Redd Kross’ Steven McDonald. It’s a total throwback to the mid-’90s golden age of Matthew Sweet and Sloan – and arguably even further back than that. The two acts launch the split tomorrow (April 4) at The Pav in Launceston with support from The Hambergers, while Youngtown plays on his own for free from midday Saturday (April 5) at Nanna’s Coffee & Vintage in Launceston. More info here.

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– Soaked through with damp reverb and ’60s flashbacks, The Good Sports’ new single ‘Walking’ combines Beach Boys sweetness with a lo-fi garage grit. The young Brisbane band are launching it in their home city and in Melbourne this weekend, showcasing new material as well as a new drummer. Hopefully that new material proves as irritatingly catchy as ‘Walking’, which makes up for its rather well-trodden influences with a feel-good pop glow.

Fri, April 4 – The Tote, Melbourne, VIC [w/Whipped Cream Chargers, Grand Prismatic, Glaciers + Platinum Rat]
Sat, April 5 – Playground Bar, Brisbane, QLD [w/The Red Lights, The New Pollution + Jimmy Junk Heart]

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