A particularly blokey first edition of New Noise for 2012, featuring teasers from forthcoming albums by The Peep Tempel, Lindsay Phillips and Royston Vasie.

– Lindsay Phillips may have one of the most distinctive voices in Australian music today (a warbly baritone that trembles and quivers like jelly on a cake stand), and he uses it to devastating effect on ‘Only You (And The Lord)’, the pedal steel-drenched second single from album #2 Taedium Vitae. The follow-up to 2010’s Varning, it’ll be out in April through Departed Sounds.

Only You (And The Lord) by showoffservices

– One of Melbourne’s best kept live secrets is a spiky two-piece called The Peep Tempel (they’ve now swelled to a three-piece with the addition of Graveyard Train’s Matt Chow on bass). They play a declaratory brand of rock – kinda like the Gaslight Anthem if they were actually good – and will have a self-titled debut out through local imprint Wing Sing in February. The frenetic ‘Howlin Belle’ is the second single lifted from the album. Its predecessor, ‘Collusion’, has previously featured in this column.

Howlin' Belle by Wing Sing Records

– It’s probably a bit disingenuous of us to call Umpire’s 2011 debut Now We’re Active criminally underrated – it somehow slipped through the cracks for us too – but new single ‘Supply Chins’ only serves to confirm it. Guitar navel-gazing that’s actually interesting? A climactic horn section that’s ambitious, but doesn’t jar? No surprise to hear members of respected Perth outfits Adam Said Galore and Mukaizake are involved. You can download ‘Supply Chins’ for free via Hidden Shoal.

Umpire - 'Supply Chins' by Hidden Shoal

– Not unlike contemporaries The Demon Parade and Hunting Grounds, Melbourne’s Royston Vasie are still flying the flag for catchy, vaguely retro, Britpop-inspired rock (the kind you’d often see on the weekend at the Duke of Windsor circa about 2002). New single ‘That’s My Girl’ is lifted from a forthcoming debut LP. It follows 2010 EP, Welcome to the Pop Boutique.

That's My Girl by Royston Vasie

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