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, The John Michie Collective.

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 ‘THE JOHN MICHIE COLLECTIVE’

The John Michie Collective first featured on the Eclectic Picks back in January 2021 with a superb track, I’ll Write Your Constellation. He returned back in July with a blues and funk inspired, Escape From San Francisco, followed by Nothing, Something, Everything in September – a track that ticks abstract, atmospheric and ambient (the three A’s).

Banging out a great single condensed into a ‘radio friendly’ 3 minutes may be sound practical advice, but for us the greatest achievement is when an artist not only prompts you to listen to their album, but rewards you for doing so. Treating the album as a composition, and taking the listener on a journey through a broader concept of ideas, vibes and emotions has been the apex of artistic aspiration since 1st March 1973…. and it quickly becomes clear from The John Michie Collective that the artform of the album is not lost. That’s our opinion at least, but as a great man once said: “I’m a little bit of an idealist, I do believe in fairies, and that is my outlook”.

A FEW WORDS FROM THE JOHN MICHIE COLLECTIVE

Super big thank you to Signal Committee & the Freshnet Gods for letting me get my northern fingers on the inbox this week. This is despite the shocking news that I owned an Enya record. When picking these songs, the only rule that I followed is that they had to be ones I would happily include in my record collection at home. Thankfully I have a pretty ‘eclectic’ taste. There is one song on here though I am particularly jealous of not writing myself… ‘Radio Down The Hall‘ by Hieronymus is my tune of the week.

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. GENE POOL – These Days
2. HIERONYMUS- Radio Down The Hall
3. SEAN BUCKLEY – Corridors
4. HOME COUNTIES – Village Spirit
5. WYSE – Hologram
6. CHARTS AND GRAPHS – X Marks The Mainstream
7. ELKYN – Talon
8. FRANCES MISTRY – Live The Life I’d Never Have
9. TAYA MINCHINGTON – Hide Me From The Sun
10. CHRIS JAMES WILLOWS – Slow Speed
11. JOE ADHEMAR – Fires
12. LEIGH THOMAS – Higher Low
13. CRAKE – Winter’s Song
14. KRITIOS BOI – Cuts and Bruises
15. DAHLIA SLEEPS – The Calm You Keep
16. PETER CAT – Melon Dating Simulator
17. POCKET LINT – Noir
18. PALINDROMES – Suulis Minerva
19. LEOPARD HUNTERS – All Straps Down
20. CHRISTOFRDAVIS – Troposphere
21. THE ARTERIES OF NEW YORK CITY – The Arteries Of New York City
22. LOOPATRONICA – Coastal Walks Project Pt. 2 – Meols To Red Rocks

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.