Every week Signal Committee present an Eclectic Picks playlist. All tracks are selected from the full inbox of 200 tracks that are submitted each week to Fresh On The Net. This week all the hard work and credit goes to our special guest moderator, Restless Mosaic.

WHAT DO WE LOOK FOR?

Our playlists are orientated to the alternative music fan. Lyrics are not essential, abstract ideas are embraced and the fusing of different genres is encouraged. If you used to write band names on your pencil case at school, you’ll probably like our playlists.

INTRODUCING RESTLESS MOSAIC

The selection of Restless Mosaic as this week’s curator is testament to Boris Johnson’s recent comment that the US-UK ‘special relationship’ is as good as it has been for decades. As an electronic music producer, Restless Mosaic has mastered the art of crafting hypnotic loops into a mellow ambience. We came across his music last year here on FOTN with his first submission, Gyre. It didn’t take long before his name would stand out in the inbox each week, knowing it was destined to be selected for the Eclectic Picks. His debut album, ‘There’s Much Left to Explore’, came out earlier this year. It’s a truly fine piece of art – which you can check out on Bandcamp here.

OUR PICK OF THE WEEK

Once again, we think our guest curator this week has pulled some belters out of the inbox. Our top pick came down to either Oliver Say or Jouska, but we’ll give it to Jouska on a technicality that we like their list of ‘bands we like’ on their Soundcloud page.

A FEW WORDS FROM RESTLESS MOSAIC ON THIS WEEK’S PICKS

It was a big deal to me when Signal Committee chose my songs for this playlist last Winter, and it’s a bigger deal to present this batch’s Eclectic Picks, especially as an Anglophile rather than an actual Brit. This community was the first to care about my work and, in my eventual PR kit, when my firm wanted to know any awards or accolades I had received, my appearances on this list is what I had to give them. I listed them proudly as evidence that, a) I was putting in the work, and b) it was resonating. I hope for the artists I’ve chosen that you can parlay this similarly.

As far as what I was listening for, I internalize the meaning of eclectic pretty literally: drawing from diverse sources. But I wouldn’t say I value eclectic things for their own sake; it’s more that they serve broader purposes of intricacy, variety, and surprise. I want you to get my attention and then keep guiding and commanding it – have a single idea or mood so new that it keeps me engaged the whole time, or combine and shift and twist so that I can’t predict what I will hear next. Don’t allow my mind to wander, because I can tell you from experience that my mind might not come back.

If you want a frame of reference for my eclectic Platonic ideal (as well as songs that have greatly influenced me,) I recommend “Dirty Epic” or “Banstyle/Sappys Curry” by Underworld, “Knock Knock Hornets Nest” by Necromonkey, or “The Scream of a Sage Who Lost Freedom and Love Taken for Granted Before” by Susumu Yokota.

There were multiple songs from this batch that I personally liked a lot but didn’t consider eclectic, so that’s why I’m explaining. I know all too well that submitting to curators you don’t know can be a tense gaze into opacity, so I hope this write-up demystifies me if nothing else. While I haven’t done specific write-ups here, you can contact me on Twitter @restlessmosaic, message me on Soundcloud (same name), or email me (restlessmosaic at gmail) and I gladly will give you a paragraph tied to the pick.

LISTEN

You can listen to this weeks playlist using the player below, or click here to open the Soundcloud playlist in a new window. For the best listening experience… crank up the volume and immerse yourself in the music!

ARTISTS SELECTED THIS WEEK

1. JOUSKA – Kama Muta
2. OLIVER SAY – Cherishing [feat. Tony Njoku]
3. THOSE DAMN THIEVES – Coherent
4. MAEJIS MIND – Dizzy
5. PULSES – Apocalyptic Techno Event
6. MATT MEREPORT – Phone Logic
7. KILL THE GIANTS – Who’s There (Succession Edit)
8. IPLU – Ayahuasca 6
9. GOMRUND – Vectrex
10. BILL VINE – Remnants of a Forgotten Echo
11. KIT SEBASTIAN – Elegy For Love
12. THE GOODBYE LOOK – Restless Sleeper
13. JYLDA – So Alive
14. THE VIC C PROJECT – The Spectrum
15. THE METROPOLITAN ELITE – The Ghost of Robot One
16. CYNTHIA’S PERISCOPE – Celestial Grit [feat. Jamie Jamal]
17. FACELIFT – Mummy
18. BETTY BLIGHT – Little One

RADIO OPPORTUNITIES

We all have ambitions to get on national radio, but in the meantime there are loads of great, independent radio stations that are always looking for new music of the alternative variety. They offer no promises, but the following hosts tell me they that, if you made this list, they’d like you to get in touch to be considered for their show:

• Chris Watts, presenter of “In The Moog” online on NCCR (UK) (Twitter: @chriswatts1965.  Electronic/synth-based tracks (mp3 &/or WAV) to chrisinthemoog@gmail.com, together with artwork &/or band pic and your Twitter handle).
• Lucas Gil, presenter of Supernova on Glitterbeam Radio (Twitter @lucasgil, apply by his website here)
• Joe Figueira of North Manchester FM (Twitter @moretonguy, apply with MP3, short bio & twitter handle by e-mail to joefigueira@yahoo.co.uk)

POLITE REQUEST TO ALL ARTISTS

If you’re on Twitter, IG etc make sure you put a link to your social media pages on your soundcloud profile. It’ll save curators, moderators, radio folk etc lots of time letting you know you made the cut. On the other hand, maintaining anonymity might lead to a cult following in a remote location that you don’t find out about until someone from Svalbard FM hunts you down 20 years later to do a Searching For Sugar Man-esque documentary.