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

It’s been a year since I joined the FOTN team and it’s been an absolute honour. Thank you all for sharing your music with me. Time to delve into this week’s Fresh Faves as voted for by our listeners. I have tea! I know how to party!

CABLE STREET COLLECTIVE – Bells & Whistles

Bells And Whistles has hi-life written all over it with a carnival vibe. The guitar riff in the intro makes you want to break out the supermalt and jollof rice (note: I HATE Supermalt) and dance a little bit… Shout out to CSC’s bass player, because I can hear influences of Abraham Laboriel (my favourite bass player ever) and Jaco Pastorius with his melodic playing and rhythmic lines. I cannot wait to see them play live. They’re seasoned musicians and this shines through in their sound, as this is almost written with festivals and carnivals in mind. We shall live this life again.

Cable Street Collective are a London band who have been championed by Tom Robinson, they are a seven piece who took their name from the uprising in east London against Oswald Moseley’s black shirts, they’ve been hot on the festival circuit and have even collaborated with Osibisa’s Gregg Brown. Check out our interview here!

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DON’T PROBLEM – CD’s Lament

This track is a straight out banger. It takes you up and down with melodies blasting from a horn section that make it COOK! WOW! The blasts and stabs are just killing. It’s a combination of Snarky Puppy and lots of drum and bass drumming, syncopated, then you’ve got the congas coming in to do their thing… I love the saxes especially, and would love to hear more from them. Another band to add to my wannaseelive list. Don’t Problem are a South London outfit (Hey! So am I! South London REPRESENT!) and they have a new album coming out in the Spring called Liminality.

I. AM. ALL. OVER. THAT.

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DOROTHY BIRD – Kaleidoscope

Now, this is haunting… piano, cello, deep bass… then the vocal. Oh this is beautiful. According to the information on Bandcamp this track is dedicated to her niece, and as an uncle myself to two beautiful young ladies making their mark in the world this totally resonates with me. The lyrics are poetic and draws you in from the first line, “All Is full of wonders since you are around / You marvel ‘bout everything / pure beauty is what all new brings”.

Dorothy Bird works as a singer and composer from Berlin and Liverpool (Hey! That’s my spiritual Mecca! Or MACCA???). She uses analogue synths (I need to check this out as I love my synths). Great work Dorothy. MORE!

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HAVVK – Home

Here we go. A bit of hum and feedback and straight into a rock number… the vibe on this reminds me of Zombie by The Cranberries. Delicate vocals to begin with, and then the crunchy guitars to rock it out in the chorus. I love the fact that they’ve made the hum of the amp part of the musicality, then there’s a sniff of harmonies in the second chorus. Well done HAVVK.

HAVVK are a three piece from Ireland and the UK, they released their debut in 2016 and seem to go from strength to strength. They are my one to watch this week.

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LAST OF THE WONDER KIDS – Weakness

Another rock number! Okay so it’s not time for me to pack away my air guitar yet! This has got a catchy chorus, and shouty bits! I’m pumping my fist in the air to this… it’s even got a drum solo! If Last Of The Wonder Kids are looking for a show opener for when things reopen this is it. You can’t go wrong, you’re taking people through emotions that have been left forgotten and bringing that love for a live band back again.

So, who are they? Well they are a trio from Grimsby and describe themselves as bouncing between post punk and infectious lo fi indie rock. Well they got that right. Doing fab with BBC 6 Music and BBC Introducing and they’re doing fab with me.

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LINDSAY MUNROE – Need A Ride

Moody intro! Loving the fact that it started off with the drums, and the bass and guitar are played in unison before it really gets going… Lindsay’s is nice, I like the way it’s just so chilled as she sings this, and the harmonies that come in later.

But it’s the lyrics that really speak. “I don’t need another body to make me want my body”, this is a song about embracing singledom and saying sod it, hey it could have been worse. It’s an anthem for us single folk! I love it. Great work.

Lindsay Munroe is from Manchester, and has already caught the ear of BBC Introducing, and getting kudos from Manchester Evening News. I hope this is not the last time I hear from her.

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MORPHAMISH – Spark

Second instrumental on the Faves this week, merging big drums with strings, and… wait a minute is that a banjo? Maaaaaaybe……maaaaayyyybe not! Nevertheless I like this for many reasons, takes me back to the 90s with the use of different sounds, and putting them through the mangler, and they’re coming out the other end as something to bop to. Great use of noises!

Morphamish is a DJ/producer and draws from different music forms. This is very evident in this track, it must be a fun time during his live sets!

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RACHEL JACK – Magazine Girls

“I wanna look like the girls in the magazines – but the girls in the magazines don’t look like the magazines”… That’s how we are introduced to this song which lyrically turns its back on what is supposed to be the “accepted” image. The message is clear: you don’t need to look like the girls in the magazines, and indeed Instagram and other social media, just be you. They don’t even look that way anyway.

Okay Rachel you have my attention.

Now let’s talk about those harmonies… The track is sparse, just drums, synth bass, and then Rachel harmonises over it. I like those harmonies as they blend in nicely together. There’s a false end where it’s a tape stop and the track comes back in again. Great tune, great message.

Rachel Jack is a singer songwriter who released her debut EP in July 2020, and her second one Is dropping 18th Match in collaboration with former classmate DUNT, I’m quite looking forward to this and look forward to the EP dropping.

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THE JOJO MAN BAND – It Will Be

This. Is. A. STRAIGHTOUTBANGER.

Let’s break it down. That guitar riff makes you think it’s going to be a rock track.

But it’s not.

Then the drums come in with an open hi hat like Charlie Watts sat in on the session and added some cowbells and a pair of congas reminiscent of “It’s Only Rock N Roll”.

But that’s not it either.

Then… the processed vocals come in and this is where I feel sad. Because… Well I can’t really talk about this without feeling a little (A LOT) sad about it, but it reminds me of the now defunct Daft Punk. Those synth chords and that vocal could have come from the robots in their wilderness years before Random Access Memories. This is my track of the week. Thank you The Jo Jo Man Band.

Nick Woodgate is the man behind The JoJo Man Band, and his bio made me chuckle… his music has been described as a cross between a barbershop quartet and a rusty piano going down four flights of stairs.

I’ll stick with the Daft Punk comparison!

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UNCLE KID – Superhuman

Back to Scotland for this one! Spoken word intro interspersed with sung vocals… the piano is deliciously out of tune (I need to sample some out of tune pianos for the future thanks Uncle Kid!) and the beats are trippy. It’s dark, but it’s definitely one that gets your attention.

Uncle Kid is from Edinburgh, and released his four track EP on the 19th… Now I’m done with this review I’m off to check it out!

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PS from TR: If you’ve submitted a track that hasn’t been picked for the Listening Post, our team has definitely listened to it and there’s no need to send it again: feel free to send us an even stronger track another week. The same goes if you were picked for the Listening Post but didn’t feature in our Fresh Faves.

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.