New Noise: Food Court, Bel Air, Tlaotlon, Finnigan & Brother

This week’s roundup of new music comes via Canberra, Ballarat, Sydney and New Zealand (via Melbourne).

– Food Court’s new single doesn’t do much to update or tweak the reverbed, jangling garage formula, but it’s still pretty fun. And most importantly, ’14 Years Young’ nails the bratty singalong factor you need for this kind of thing. Recorded by the ubiquitous Owen Penglis, it’s the first taste of their second EP Big Weak, due out in early November, and follows last year’s Smile at Your Shoes EP. You can grab the song free here, but it’s also coming out on 7”. In fact, the Sydney quartet will launch said 7” this Saturday (Sept 20) with a free afternoon gig at Glengarry Castle Hotel in Redfern, with Oli Holyoake (The Faults) supporting. Start time looks to be around 2pm, but check their Facebook for confirmation closer to the gig.

– The fledgling Ballarat quartet Bel Air keep their new single catchy and stripped back. ‘Move’ is breezy, funk-tickled guitar-pop made prickly by a couple outbursts of expletives – although a bit of horn makes it cuddly all over again. Produced by Michael Belsar of Ballarat breakouts Hunting Grounds, it’s a tidy and effective calling card. Bel Air play tomorrow (Sept 19) at Revolver in Melbourne supporting Lunatics on Pogosticks and then launch the single this Saturday (Sept 20) at Karova Lounge in Ballarat, with Bnash and Jarrow supporting.

– Now based in Melbourne, New Zealand producer Jeremy Coubrough – a.k.a. Tlaotlon – released the brain-busting tape Ektomists through 1080p in late July. Now he’s sharing a split 12” with US ambient tinkerer Katie Gately for English label FatCat Records (Animal Collective, Frightened Rabbit). It’s the 23rd entry in their ‘Split Series’ (each a hand-numbered 500 run) and comes out October 27. Tlaotlon’s four contributions to the split include ‘Ascencis’, which continues his layering of competing rhythms. In fact, around the 30-second mark it sounds like an entirely distinct second track has crashlanded on top of the first. Built in part from audio samples ripped from YouTube – spanning “renewable energy conspiracy theory videos, weather events, technology trade shows, Vietnamese scooter accidents, obscure R’n’B jams, talking birds, Brazilian reality TV [and] amateur horror actor workshops” – the tracks then absorbed improvised synths and went through a dramatic transformation. Described by FatCat as “messy, maximalist and psychedelic” and “a kind of hypermodern Baroque,” these tracks aren’t something to put blissfully on in the background while you’re working. Their chattering oversaturation demands full attention.

– Finnigan and Brother are a Canberra duo that don’t really sound like anyone else. They combine David Finnigan’s spoken-word vocals with his brother Chris’s guitar loops and effects. They have a new two-song, any-price single that includes ‘Roadkill’, a feverish duet with Bec Taylor of Fun Machine, and the tongue-in-cheek provocation ‘Hey Kid 606 Remix This’, which has a Canberra-cruising video directed by Shane Parsons. Aside from being largely about modern sexual relationships, the latter is apparently also about “state surveillance, cryptocurrencies, online misogyny, Facebook memorial pages, RFID cat flaps, e-cigarettes and The Hottest 100.” The single follows last December’s Psychic Radio EP and the self-explanatory 2012 album Finnigan and Brother Spend a Month in Colombia, which includes the frantic highlight ‘Move to Canberra’.

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