New Noise: I’lls, Black Paddock, Mezko, Tam Vantage

This week’s roundup of new music takes a turn for the self-reflective.

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– Things were a bit quiet on the I’lls front while we waited for the Melbourne trio to follow up last year’s second EP. (Plus, Simon Lam has also been pursuing the duo Klo.) But they returned to sight for BIGSOUND and now comes a two-track single continuing their warm fusion of keyboards, guitar and electronics. Out now as a $5 download or 100-run 12” vinyl through new label Solitaire Recordings, the single pairs the sultry smarts and accumulating layers of ‘Fifty-Phiphti’ with the fluttering and diaphanous ‘Asakusa’, an eight-minute piece of ambient pop imbued with a certain tenseness nonetheless. I’lls launch the single next Thursday (Nov 6) at The Workers Club with support from Darcy Baylis and Ara Koufax DJs. Tickets here. That vinyl, by the way, includes a download code plus bonus track, limited stickers, A/V downloads of I’lls’ collaboration with Sangkhara and exclusive zoetropes.

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– You probably know Marcus Teague from his days in Deloris, his fruitful editorial stints at both The Vine and M+N, and/or his current projects Single Twin and Near Myth. Well, now there’s a third project in the mix. Black Paddock is a solo electronic guise that sprang from Teague “kind of rejecting guitar music and playing around with synths and drum machines at home.” The first taste is the free-download debut single ‘Deep Heat’, which has both the brooding darkness and pulsing beauty of Matthew Dear’s work. (Or even a quieter TV on the Radio.) Twinkling with mantra-like vocal sweetness, it’ll show up on a five-song EP coming early next year or sooner. But that doesn’t put the other projects on the backburner: the songwriter-y outlet Single Twin has a clutch of songs in various stages of writing and recording, while the full-band Near Myth has a finished record that’s being mastered as we speak.

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– Not long behind their ‘Speak European’ single, Sydney trio Mezko have just released a split 7” with Sydney duo Spirit Valley. Mezko’s contribution is ‘Stand Clear’, a head-nodding blurring of lines between groggy Kraut-pop and shadowy trip-hop. It sounds like some of the bands signed to Too Pure in the 1990s, vaguely in the same spooked vein as Laika and Pram. Spirit Valley’s ‘Abyss’ is worth checking out too – a darkly growled yet nicely roomy dirge. The split launches tomorrow (Oct 31) at Tokyo Sing Song with a Halloween-appropriate “goriami” theme and support from Daniel Darling, Velvet Cave DJs and special guests. More info here.

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– As mentioned previously, Tam Vantage is the work of Melbourne’s Tam Matlakowski, formerly of Pop Singles and The Stevens. Working with members of Twerps, St Helens, Teeth & Tongue, Grand Prismatic and New Estate – not to mention inveterate local producer Simon Grounds – Tam has drummed up a debut album that’s due out next year. Described as boasting “lush, hi-fi production values, rich and intricate instrumentation, lyrical character portraits and ambitious songwriting,” it definitely sounds like a step forward from Pop Singles’ very good swansong. Its first single is ‘The Boy Who Always Wins’, which answers its Belle & Sebastian-esque title with a timeless-sounding pop ballad doubling as a “a gentle and endearing attack on perfection and the idea of the ‘winner’.” The single launches next Wednesday (Nov 5) at Gasometer, with support from The Newsletters (members of Cat Cat) and Self Preservation (featuring Wintercoats’ James Wallace). Tickets and more info here.

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