The fourth in Making Hey’s “Over Ambition” series celebrates the launch of two new releases from a couple of the most exciting and gritty lo-fi pop acts from around these parts, with Newcastle’s Alps introducing Alps of New South Whales, and Brisbane’s own Kitchen’s Floor finally taking the wraps off long-awaited debut LP Loneliness is a Dirty Mattress.  This instalment comes to the Step Inn’s front bar, Friday August 28.

Out through Beat is Murder, Alps of New South Whales comes as the third full-length release for Alps – or Chris Hearn as he’s known to friends. It’s the second in a trilogy of concept albums, following 2006’s Alps of New South Wales, on which each song was recorded in a different country around the world. Alps of New South Whales is all about the—you guessed it—whales, with all ten tracks taking their names from a different species. With its lofi, shoegaze, psych and minimalist underpinnings, reverb drenched, droning, tape-hissed, delay-bound, the record takes a trip to the deepest depths of its subject’s own watery habitat.

It’s been a long wait for the eventual release of Brisbane DIY, house party favourites Kitchen Floor’s debut LP. Months of sporadic recording with Audio Pollen’s co-founder, Joel Stern, has produced the raw, jarring, raucous artefact of local no wave, “Loneliness is a Dirty Mattress”, out through Sydney’s R.I.P. Society Records.

Joining in the celebration are local instrumental pop stalwarts, The Deadnotes, and Melbourne’s sample-acoustimatic maestro, Whyte Lightning. Having hosted Portland psych-folk royalty Grouper; hardcore symphony freaks, Vampillia (Osaka); and Perth’s high priestess of drone, Mystic Eyes; as well as gearing up for the Brisbane launch of Tiny Vipers’ Life on Earth (Seattle – Sub Pop) on October 3, the Over Ambition series continues to showcase all that’s interesting and diverse in sound cultures both locally and abroad. Over Ambition #4 kicks off 8pm, Friday August 28, at the Step Inn front bar, with tickets available at the door.