These Fresh Faves were picked by our readers over the weekend – and reviewed by Fresh On The Net’s Johnno Casson this week. You can hear all these tracks in a single Soundcloud Playlist here.

Hello lovely people, how’s your life? Good, I hope. We have 10 shafts of new music light to offer you and hope you enjoy this week’s top 10 – as voted by your good selves. The music we get delivered to our dropbox ever Monday-Thursday is a constant joyful surprise waiting to happen – we have no idea what type of music will arrive – and each week brings something different.

The FOTN moderating team whittle down hundreds of tracks into a Listening Post of 25 for you to vote on. They select tracks that excite their ears/hearts/never regions – and the quality is often amazingly good. I think the difference in quality between mainstream artists and new independent is often paper thin when it comes to of songwriting and song delivery. Hopefully, Fresh On The Net offers living proof of that.

Anyway thanks to everyone who submitted music to our dropbox – and to everyone who voted on this weekend’s Listening Post. Here are your ten favourites:

DRUNK MULE – Mountain Man

Scotland’s cheeky scamps Drunk Mule proved a popular choice this week with their ‘get-away-from-it-all’ tale, Mountain Man. Think of The Verve with Scottish walking boots (and accents) and you’re halfway there. Gently strummed guitar meets strings and a chorus of voices to give this yarn an anthemic quality. It’s a grower, a keeper and a tidy way to spend three minutes – great work, guys. For me, this may be their best yet. You lovely FOTN listeners really rated it too – with Mountain Man being the most popular song of the week.

Soundcloud | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Bandcamp

I AM THE MOUNTAIN – I Wanna Be Adored

Must be the season but there’s a fair bit of talk of mountains this week. Up next is the fine I Am The Mountain with I Wanna Be Adored: a glorious bit of loveliness that purrs like Ian Brown’s underpants. It’s a cover of The Stone Roses anthem of course – which I hadn’t originally realised.  We favour original new music and covers don’t normally stay in our net for too long. But this was such a fine version we simply had to include it on this week’s Listening Post.

Ooh get them with their slow burning epic: synths transported from the 80s into a 21st century vision with tremendous guitar… which then smashes into deliciously dirty bass and drums to reel us in… before up steps a excellent female voice washed in reverb, delay and telephone style effect… the whole thing pinning us to the floor and slapping us with Ian Brown’s aforementioned undergarments.

This is quality music and it’s a mystery who made it… or is it? Digging deeper into Internet World we find word from our very own Andy Von Pip (that pied piper of Liverpool’s music scene and beyond) that I Am The Mountain is the temporary name for the band formerly known as Bird. Whatever name they go under, this is well played and produced music of the highest calibre.

Soundcloud | YouTube | Bandcamp | Adele’s Tumblr

LAUGHING BOY – Satellite

They went big didn’t they? Bold, ambitious and big enough to fill a stadium – this track came across like an indie Take That in battle with Plain White T’s.  Satellite was a firm favourite with listeners this week  – its POP intentions written large by this trio who clearly like laughing – and are in fact boys. I can easily see it being performed by the latest X Factor sensation. Picture it…

Out of the smoke steps a sultry but serious-looking man/woman with an acoustic guitar who means business: they are on a mission to win your heart. A light briefly flicks onto a strange-but-alluring piano player – and then BANG!! Loads of dancers jump out with curly hair and oiled up bodies. They start doing some military-meets-ethereal dance moves with real commitment and then WOOSH!! Muscular drummers (perhaps in blue) with bouncy water on their drum skins start bashing the living hell out of a line of massive oversized drums. They ain’t wearing many clothes but they’re well pleased to be here. The singer prowls the stage like a panther, slowly winning you over until you end up on your feet – salivating and clapping out of time (as the British are fond of doing). Those watching at home, strangely find themselves licking the TV screen – but hey, thats what show business does to people…

Sorry for letting my imagination run away from me – but you never know 😉 Laughing Boy‘s talented trio of writer/producers – Phil Da Costa, Nick Ingram and Robin Goodfellow – have me tipping my hat in their direction for a fine piece of work. Satellite is a very well written and produced song and I think they will do very well for themselves. The best of luck on your journey, guys.

Official | Soundcloud | Facebook | Twitter | Youtube

MATTIE GINSBERG – Headache

My own fave of the week is Mattie Ginsberg and Headache. Its a smorgasbord consisting of a sweet grungy groove, off-kilter guitar, bass, drums and brass – plus a very distinctive voice that, on first listen,  almost has you wondering ‘is he taking the mick’? Personally I love it – and for me it’s all the better for Mattie’s tone.

Very left-field (yum yum) and very keen to follow his own path, Mattie’s Soundcloud biog says he’s based in Bethel – which is just down the road from me in Essex – who knew? Then his accent led me to dig deeper – and discover there’s also a village called Bethel just east of Caernarfon in Gwynedd. Since much of the best new music is coming out of Wales at the moment this makes him much more glamourous or rural depending on your point of view.

I like the way Headache is a song that feels like the wheels could fall off at any time – its a great simple groove that has caused me to dance around my kitchen in a way that would scare visitors. Luckily though, we never have visitors: phew. Its a corker of a tune. Do we still say corker? Do now.

Blogspot | Soundcloud | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | AmazingTunes

MEREMOTHS – Time

This is a real slow burner of a tune, when you are this good you don’t need to complicate things. Although – it must be said – it ain’t easy to do the ‘less-is-more’ thing and do it well, Meremoths do it with aplomb. It’s the project of Patrick Wright from Belfast – and what a cracker of a voice he has: soulful and passionate in equal measures. Now a solo act, Meremoths grew out from a band of the same name and have already released one EP called You Grew Up. I think this young man is capable of really great things: his voice is his calling card, and his presentation his proof. With hard work, a bit of luck and a fair wind behind him I expect to see Patrick really stretch his wings and make even more beautiful music in the future.

Official | Soundcloud | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube

NAKED APE – What Is Money For

What Is Money For – by Naked Ape – is a delightful sampledelic college that bubbles and burns in all the right places. Keen to offer a range of dynamic colour to the main groove, Naked Ape delivers something that’s indeed rather splendid: a bit reggae, a bit electronica, a bit Yes Please and a lot Thank You Very Much. The project hails from Brest, France – so “bonjour” to The Ape and “bienvenu à Nouveau Sur Le Net”. Best news of all is the discovery that Naked Ape is the work of just one woman: Maewen Forest.We need more woman making quality electronic music and beating the boys at (what was once) their own game.

Official | Soundcloud | Facebook | YouTube | Bandcamp

PINK MURDER – Set Her Free

Here at Fresh On The Net we attract music from all over – and here come Pink Murder from Brooklyn, New York. They make a tasty sound don’t they? Its all synthy, guitar-choppy, syncopated get-up-and-dance-ness: topped with a voice that swoops and swoons rather beautifully. With an underbelly of 80s synthpop blending into 90s dance – and a bright new 2014 pop glow –  I imagine a video in the Nevada desert with very bright clothes and lots of helicopter camera swoops. Pink Murder are Gregory Free, Jennifer Pague and Michael Panico – who make big bold synthpop like people used to in The Old Days. This track Set Her Free sounds like Empire Of The Sun exchanging riffs with tUnE-yArDs. Jennifer’s voice is top tasty blissfulness – all high’n’soulful’n’that – great job!

Soundcloud | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Spotify | AmazingTunes

PRETTY VICIOUS UK – Cave Song

What a lovely racket Pretty Vicious make! I feel eighteen again – no that’s a lie, I feel eighteen most days – but their 2 minute 15 second beauty put a warm spike up my boulevard and has jolted my evening into gear. This indie rock 4-piece hail from Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales (and are not to be confused with the Californian rapper of the same name). Cave Song was one of your faves this week, earning more than respectable voting figures from the wonderful Joe & Josephine Public. Wales Online described them as “an antidote to the X Factor”, proclaiming “the sound of disaffected youth has never sounded quite so thrilling”. I couldn’t agree more. They must be quite new, I reckon, as there isn’t much info on them out there in Internet World. But that will soon change – make no mistake. Cheers for the spike, lads.

Official | Soundcloud | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | AmazingTunes

THE WEALDEN – Lifeline

Rock music from Kent you say? Yes, it seems there’s something brewing in the Garden Of England and it comes in the form of this brooding, sparse but biting tune Lifeline. A short snappy guitar riff and live drumming gives way to a deft vocal delivery. This doesn’t follow the path most trodden when it comes to harmonies – and is all the stronger for it. I likes it and might try out some new jerky dance moves that would shame Christopher Walken… wait, oh no sorry, I meant Christopher Biggins. The Wealden consist of Tim Dickinson and Justin Quinn: these boys can diversify and then some! Tim sings with Glyndebourne Chorus and The London Sinfonietta while Justin is an acclaimed guitarist who was awarded Jazz Album Of The Year by Mojo magazine in 2005. Nice CV, guys and a fine song.

Official |Soundcloud | Facebook | Twitter

WARMDUSCHER – Uncle Sleepover

Listening to Uncle Sleepover is like letting a crazy uncle loose on your prized electric guitar – only to find out he can play a bit and is a crazed psychotic mountain fondler. Synths bubble and flicker into life, fuzzy guitars chug out a groove while the crazed uncle shouts through a 1970s telephone about “no more Mr Nice Guy and no more colour televisions”. Then it descends into what Warmduscher themselves describe as ‘sonic reach arounds’ – with the guitar getting more frantic and Out There – so what’s not to like? Their members are listed as Clams ‘Grief Bacon’ Baker, Saul*, and Lightnin’ Jack Everett and I’m not sure if they are real musicians or outlaws wanted by international crime organisations, or both. It was fun, let’s do it again sometime.

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TR adds:
*Saul may also be wanted for playing hookey from Fat White Family 🙂

ARTISTS: 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.