WHAT DO WE LOOK FOR?

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, however, all the credit goes to our guest curator, Invisible Squirrel.

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 ‘INVISIBLE SQUIRREL’

Where did we come across Invisible Squirrel? Well he just keep appearing on our Twitter feed for some reason and we figured… we like squirrels, let’s have a listen to his music. And we liked it, and now he’s the first Special Guest Eclectic Picks Curator of 2022. Do check out his debut album, only 3 weeks old, and full of bangers from ‘303 Reasons To Like To Like Rock‘ to ‘Run It Down‘.

And don’t worry, we did our due diligence first. He isn’t one of those pesky non-indigenous grey squirrels, coming over here, eating our nuts and berries. No, he’s an invisible squirrel…

A FEW WORDS FROM THE SQUIRREL

It was a wonderful surprise last week to receive a message from Signal Committee to pick my favourites from this week’s submissions to FOTN. Normally I’d be taunting dogs or hiding nuts this time of year but luckily I was told to isolate due to my mate Terry having a positive COVID test. So, I grabbed my headphones and laptop and hid in a Yew tree behind the church.

It’s late Wednesday and the submission site has closed and I now have a completely new perspective on how much effort is involved for the regular judges. This job is HARD. And painful too. I’ve added and subsequently deleted some wonderful tracks to my playlist these last 3 days. But 25 is the limit and despite my amazing Squirrel credentials (I once bit John Peel’s finger on Hampstead Heath and I’m pretty sure, like Spiderman, I took on his superpowers) it was still very difficult to come to a final selection. But my choices have been made and for the remaining 175 of you, you are fully vindicated in printing out a copy of my face and playing darts with it.

Another insight I gained from my guest-pick perspective: You’re more likely to prick their ears if your first 30 seconds of your ‘single’ is written as if it’s an audition. Save the slow building beauty for album tracks. If you have a banging vocal, arrange your song to start straight away or after a 4 bar riff. But don’t start the first verse after 1:30 because, unless you’ve written the hook of the week, the temptation as an adjudicator with another 199 songs to listen to, is to move on. This may happen to be awful advice, but from my perspective with the volume of tracks I had to get through, it has changed the ‘type’ of song I will choose to promote/submit in the future. Build the singles and they will drift towards your more cerebral album tracks as a consequence, maybe? I have plenty of experience in being un-noticed but this was a helpful insight for me in the 9 months I’ve existed as an artist.

So, I listened with 3 criteria in mind. Ear-Worminess Originality Performance/Emotion of the vocal Nearly all the tracks scored highly in one area, but most of my final picks got all 3, and the ones that might not seem erm…original, invariably crushed it on one or both of the remaining criteria. I also had the disappointment of not allowing one of my favourites to go through because I produced it. But seeing as I’ve spent the last year tweeting potty-mouthed outrage at corrupt Tory MPs giving PPE contracts to their old school friends, it was a good idea not to include it for my deeply held Squirrel integrity. You know who you are and sorry I could not apply some outrageous nepotism to your submission. Here’s hoping the regular judges like it!

So here are my choices and thank you once again, Signal Committee for gaining an insight into your tireless efforts at Fresh on the Net.

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. SKYLU – Foreign Concept
2. THE METROPOLITAN ELITE – And In You
3. SKY DIVING PENGUINS – Hating Waiting
4. KADI – Silver Lining
5. SLOW GALLEY’S DRIFT – Don’t Forget
6. LOLA IN SLACKS – Luna Moth
7. ANDY QUICK – Ninety Nine
8. SI CONNELLY – Whatever, I Love You
9. GEMINI AALIYAH – Moonrise
10. IDESTROY – Petting Zoo
11. SHLUG – The Scent Of Roy Keane
12. GRUND – Love Song
13. GEORGIA – An Indian Summer
14. PSYLHOUETTE – God Bless The Animals
15. LUAN MEI – Elements
16. THE B-ROADS – Blue Notes In Soho
17. LEG PUPPY – Sync Deal (Your Song Has Not Been Selected)
18. JESSIE REID – Home
19. CORMAC LOOBY – Hard-Wiring
20. ALMAHATA – What If Now, We All Change?
21. OLVIE FEATHERSTONE – Come Clean
22. YA – I’d Rather Be Dying In A Fairytale
23. USER 47917003 – Old Friend

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.