Artists at a glance
CRYSTAL SEAGULLS
FRANCES
JAMIE HAMILTON
LONELY TOURIST
PEOPLE PEOPLE
SCORPIO LOON
THE INKHEARTS
THE MINX
WOODEN ARMS
Thanks to everyone who came by and gave their time at the weekend to listen through to the handpicked selection of tracks on Listening Post 102 and tell us which ones they liked best. Here, in alphabetical order, are your ten favourites – which you can also hear all together in a separate Soundcloud playlist here.
ANTIQCOOL – Girl In A Room
One word comes to mind when hearing this track, and that’s faultless. From start to finish everything fits just right. According to Antiqcool he started playing guitar when he was six years old, but simply hearing ‘Girl In A Room’ makes me think he may have been born playing the guitar. The song is taken from his 2012 album Now & Then. If this has whetted your Antiqcool appetite then get your lugholes wrapped around the rest of the album.
Facebook | Twitter | Soundcloud | Youtube
CRYSTAL SEAGULLS – Time
Crystal Seagulls are a four peace indie outfit from London, and Birmingham, and Cheshire, and Hertfordshire. The band appears to have only been in existence for about a year, but they’ve certainly been hard at it on the gig front, not just locally, but up and down the country. Time is the second track on their recently released EP titled ‘EP-1’. I can’t see it being too longed before they turn from unsigned to signed.
Official | Facebook | Twitter | Soundcloud | Youtube
FRANCES – Coming Up For Air
Frances who? Well we don’t know to be fair. A band, a solo artist? Again, we don’t know, but to perfectly honest sometimes the music can do all the talking, and this sublime ambient pop says enough for now. So far ‘Coming Up For Air’ is the only track on Frances’ Soundcloud page, hopefully there’ll be a bit more to hear in the near future.
Facebook | Twitter | Soundcloud
JAMIE HAMILTON – Flamer
Even though Darwen’s Jamie Hamilton at first glance (his Soundcloud image) appears to be the stereotypical singer songwriter, one bloke and a guitar, what emanates from the speakers is something completely different. It also appears that Jamie isn’t just the guitar and voice, but the bass, drums and the programming of the song. His new album Circles came out last week and if the track Flamer is anything to go by it will be something special.
Facebook | Twitter | Youtube | Soundcloud
LONELY TOURIST – Fly On Your Window Sill
Beard Pop. Not my description, but that of Lonely Tourist himself. Lonely Tourist is from Bristol, but clearly via Scotland (Glasgow) as you can hear in his earthy and downtrodden vocals. His songs are pretty much lead by the lyrics, and the mix of lyrics and vocals have you hanging on every word. Fly On Your Window Sill is definitely one of those songs that makes you stop what you’re doing and listen. He’s had a few singles over the last couple years that have been getting some good airplay, and it’s clear to hear why.
Bandcamp | Facebook | Soundcloud
PEOPLE PEOPLE – I’m Only There For You
Brighton four piece People People are less than a year old and only have two songs up online so far, but this is the beauty of Fresh On The Net where new acts can get some much needed feedback on their music. It’s no mean feat that ‘I’m Only Here For You’ has been picked by us moderators from 200+ tracks in last week’s dropbox, and then picked in the final 10 from the 25 on the listening post. That’s real People People power that proves they are getting something right ahead of their yet to be self released debut EP.
Facebook| Twitter | Soundcloud
SCORPIO LOON – A Night At The Library
Scorpio Loon have this week brought the funky disco to the FOTN. Hailing from London and again seeming to have been in existence for a short time, they have a sound that would not go amiss in the summer months that are almost upon us. The smooth vocals and heavy bassline in ‘A Night At The Library’ grab you right from the off.
THE INKHEARTS – Keeping Up
A nice bit of guitar trickery opens The Inkhearts’ ‘Keeping Up’. The four piece from Skem (Skelmersdale) met back in 2010 at a music initiative in their hometown and have clearly taken that initiative and ran with it. They’ve had a little bit of radio play and seem to perfecting their sound by getting lots of gigging under their belts.
Official | Facebook | Twitter | Youtube | Soundcloud
THE MINX – Your Ego
Well these guys are from my neck of the woods, in fact I can see where they do their recording (Manchester’s famous Blueprint Studios, home to Elbow) from my window. The Minx are pretty much relentless in what they do, gigging, recording, promoting themselves here there and everywhere, and always seeming to be loving every minute of it. ‘Your Ego’ is yet another of their tracks that shows their fun punk sensibilities. It’s short, sweet and grabs you by the scruff of the neck. Go see ’em live, you’ll have a crackin’ time, and so will they.
Official | Facebook | Twitter | Youtube | Soundcloud
WOODEN ARMS – Tide
Well what a nice way to close this week’s Fresh Faves, Wooden Arms are seven piece alternative, classical, indie band. That may sound a little confusing at first, but as ‘Tide’ turns it all starts to make sense. There’s clearly some extremely talented people gathered together here, especially when you consider they use 5-part vocal harmonies, a task many other acts would shudder at attempting. It’s five minutes of unmitigated loveliness.
Bandcamp | Facebook | Twitter | Youtube | Soundcloud
PS from TR: If you’ve submitted a track that hasn’t made the Listening Post you’re welcome to re-submit it another week. If your music has appeared on the Listening Post but not in our Fresh Faves, feel free to send us an even stronger track another week.
But if we’ve recently featured you in our Fresh Faves – or on my BBC Introducing Mixtape – please wait three months before sending us another track, so we have space to help other deserving artists… For more info see Robinson Has A Good Old Moan.
A big well done to the young band ‘The Inkhearts’ 2 tracks entered and both reaching the Fresh Faves! ( see batch 89)
Frances is a Female solo artist with a ‘session’ band that play for her, just to clarify!
My thanks to Simon Poole and FOTN for featuring Antiqcool track “Girl In A Room” they said some very nice things about the song 🙂
Lonely tourist – great lyrics..
scorpio loon – Great pop, this should be on heavy rotation
Great job all.
Lovely reviews Simon
I second Johnnos comment – great tunes – top reviews by Simon!
Hats off to all and a v.nice read Simon x
Thanks for choosing People People. Our next gig is at The George Tavern on May 15th. We’ll be onstage around 10pm. CuT are headlining: https://www.facebook.com/events/1442693352639434/