5 Albums That Influenced Media Puzzle's 'New Racehorse'

Media Puzzle's fourth studio album signified a rebirth for the Lismore-based band. Having built a brand on absurdity and rejection of modernity, the group continues to showcase where fun and experimentation play a role in the Australian music scene. Throughout the 12-track record, themes of ego, love, and death are buried under layers of bizarre egg-punk tones and distortion. Independently written and recorded, the band focused on collaboration and honed in on their instincts to develop an album that can stand the test of time. Although inspired from all over the world, alongside their Northern Rivers home, frontman Tom Peter gave us an insight into five albums that influenced New Racehorse, ahead of their performance at Against The Grain Festival on June 20th.

There’s so much to love about this album. The lyrics, the sounds, the attitude. I think he was only about 23 when this album came out, and this loose, carefree, and unbothered energy is all over it. There’s an innocence to it, but also an intense depth that sneaks up on you. Easily the biggest inspiration for New Racehorse. Something about hiding deep and meaningful things behind absurdism really resonated with me, and was something I tried to capture all across the album.

There are so many weird, dissonant, beautiful moments on Paint a Room. I don’t think any album feels more like summer to me. I was living in the hills around Rosebank in the Northern Rivers for a couple of years while working on New Racehorse, and I kept coming back to this record. The way it blends orchestral elements with bedroom pop had a big influence on the trumpet and sax parts throughout our album. That environment, along with his album, really fed into the more upbeat side of New Racehorse.

An obvious influence, maybe, but still worth mentioning. The synths and guitars on Cold War, Gates of Steel, and Freedom of Choice heavily inspired sounds all over New Racehorse. Songs like My Age, in Minutes and Seconds, and Robotic Love off of New Racehorse owe a lot to Freedom of Choice.

While writing our latest album, I went down a jangle pop rabbit hole. Like Chris Cohen’s Paint a Room, Vol II by Silicone Prairie has its fair share of beautiful and dissonant moments. It was Victorian Flame from that album, and Wishing Well from Paint a Room, that got me soaking my guitars, bass, and vocals in chorus and heavy compression. Silicone Prairie's use of samples throughout the record also inspired some of the sample work on New Racehorse.

Uranium Club are the kings of absurdism. The guitar work is impeccable. The lyrics are hilarious. The drummer's right hand shouldn’t be able to move that fast. It’s all so catchy, and influences are all over New Racehorse. I owe a lot to them. Tracks like Don’t Know You and See You There are riddled with their work.

Their album New Racehorse dropped on April 17th via Impressed Recordings. You can listen to it here

Media Puzzle are performing at Against The Grain Festival on June 20th.

Tickets available now.