New Noise: Astral Skulls, Hockey Dad, Naked Maja, The Fronds

This week’s roundup of new music spans one-man synth-punk, jangly garage-pop, sighing OMD flashbacks and incidental guitar vignettes.

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– Kurt Eckardt did time in Sydney band Say Cheese and Die!, and now he’s in Brisbane making one-man synth-punk as Astral Skulls. He’s posted four tracks in the past month or so, all up for any price on Bandcamp and all with fond shades of Suicide. The latest two are the shouty and agitated ‘False Future’ and the purring and poppier ‘Get the Money’, while ‘Under the Southern Cross’ seethes with bitterness about our country’s “stolen history.” But the “hit” is definitely ‘Out of the Suburbs’, which strikes an ideal balance between brooding vocals, pulsating layers and classic let’s-skip-town romance. It’s got a great video too. “Out of the suburbs and into the night” it is, then.

– Maybe you remember Hockey Dad as one of our bands to watch from Wollongong. Childhood pals Zach Stephenson and Billy Fleming have now signed to newly minted label Farmer & The Owl, a collaboration between Wollongong institutions Yours & Owls and Music Farmers. The first fruits of the signing is the new single ‘I Need a Woman’, one of five songs from the duo’s upcoming debut EP Dreamin’, recorded with Tom Iansek from AMP winners Big Scary. The tune is jangly and garage-y – not exactly rare qualities these days – but we’ll have to wait and see if the EP is more distinctive as a whole. It’s up for pre-order here, and Hockey Dad are playing next Thursday (May 29) at the University of Wollongong Unibar to launch the local-themed Farmer & The Owl compilation Beached Friends, which actually kicks off with ‘I Need a Woman’. Tickets for that here.

– It’s been fascinating to watch Naked Maja become more and more of a pop band, shifting from the diffuse dreaminess of ‘Take’ and the psych/shoegaze slow-burn ‘#59’ – both off the name-your-price Disillusion EP – to the sighing synth-pop flashbacks of current single ‘Out of Mind’. And yep, their new EP The Vagrant trades the Sonic Youth and MBV signifiers for something closer to Dazzle Ships-era OMD, although the opening title track mixes melancholy and electronics in a way that also recalls Trembling Blue Stars. Underscoring the Brisbane band’s changing sound, this is the final release to include founding guitarist Scott Wilson. They’re launching the EP tonight (May 22) at The Underdog with support from Keep On Dancin’s, Ultra Material and Kingergarten. After that, they’re supporting alongside Spirit Bunny on Spartak’s record launch Friday, June 20 at The Waiting Room.

– Kieran Hegarty is one half of Superstar, and The Fronds is him doing fleeting, incidental guitar-and-ambience vignettes. He’s posted a 10-song set of them called Endless Blues on Soundcloud, totalling less than six minutes. They’re nice listening, though, with a certain desert vibe; if these appeal, check out his earlier collection of Fruit Dances. Here’s hoping Hegarty fleshes his ideas out more for the next batch; there’s a lot of mileage to be had from these wonky, erosion-inclined passages.

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