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.

First of all I’d like to say thank you to everyone who submitted top quality tracks to the inbox – you’re all more than welcome to submit a track for consideration for my radio show on Islington Radio drop me an email with an MP3 and a bio!

So…

Ten songs.

Tea? Yes.
Keys in the ignition? Oui.
Biscuits? Damn. I knew I forgot something… hold on.
Yep. Got those.
Four lit and in the green.

Let’s go.

BETH MILLS – Northern Star

To kick off the Faves we have a funky new disco house track. Beth Mills leads the way on this one, with strong vocals that are just as soulful. giving her that diva vibe. I had a feeling that this one would do very well on the Listening Post, you just kind of feel it…

For me the piano that’s playing that gives me the idea that’s where the track started life, I low key have a bit of a love affair with house music so this really is up my street. But there’s more to this — it’s poppy, and very accessible to everyone, I could see this going to an upcoming artist who probably won’t do as good a job as Beth has and sincerely hope she makes it her next single, as it’s an absolute stunner of a track.

Beth Mills is from the pale blue dot, and lists herself as a toxic optimist. The James Bond in me did a little more snooping and found out she’s a singer/songwriter from London, and it looks like she’s worked with some top producers, artists and DJs including Grammy winners! 

Ultra cool. 

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JACKSON MATHOD – Matador

Oh. Oh, this is funky. This has such a strut to it! Jackson Mathod the killer trumpet player is back with something special. That opening drum beat just gets it going nicely, I like the way the brass plays a bit of a fanfare, the notes are based around a chromatic arrangement, and it works so well, calling to mind Spanish melodies. 

The piano solo from 1:06 is beautifully played, lots of notes that are played really percussively over the chords, great job on this…

Also, is that a synth bass? Awesome playing there if not. I think there might be an octave pedal on it possibly?

There’s a bit of a duel from around 3:39 — drums versus saxophone — up until this point it’s just been the two of them circling each other, and now it’s down to the final match. It ends in a draw at 4:23 – it’s like you can imagine there’s a fight going on here, between two athletes and they’ve battled it out to the death and neither has won. It brings quite an image sonically and I love it. 

I am a fan of Jackson since the day I heard Come On Now,  which was, as this is, just a really creative arrangement and composition, brilliantly well done!

As always, he brings with with him a stunning line-up: Harry Pope on drums, Gabriele Pribetti (another FOTN alumnus) on sax, James Beckwith on keyboards, and Eoin Walsh on bass — all accomplished musicians, and sounding fab!

Jackson Mathod is a multi-instrumentalist and singer. Drawing on influences from the likes of Miles Davis, Submotion Orchestra and Christian Scott to name a few. Jackson studied Jazz at Guildhall School of Music and Drama back in 2009. However, never feeling fully embedded in the Jazz world, he quickly went onto the session musician circuit, playing for high profile artists such as Stormzy and Jordan Rakei. 

This track gets my chef’s kiss award.

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KATIE KEDDIE – Comfort And Despair

Slowed down tempo here, with a guitar intro, Katie’s vocals are gentle, and it’s quite a difference against the lyrics, which asks the listener to look inside her eyes and soul, this song seems to be an outlet for the pain she’s feeling while writing this.

My favourite line is this:

“Look into my eyes and tell me it’s going to be alright,
Don’t care if you lie,
Look into my soul begin to patch the holes, 
You’ll find inside.”

The melody around it is gorgeous, the rhythm is perfect, and could lend itself to a string arrangement alternative to this song too – I wonder what Her Ensemble would make of it?

Loving the drums on this too, must call that out.

Katie Keddie is a guitarist and singer songwriter from Nottingham, this is the first single from her album due out later this year, she’s already caught the attention of BBC Introducing and BBC Leicester. I’m now a fan.

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KIERST – Phone Call

Kierst is an artist I’m already familiar with as she’s opening my next radio show with this song (Sorry! Spoilers!), and I absolutely love this for this reason – it’s such a strong song, and I’m glad she submitted the track for Fresh On The Net. The harmonies that come in on the words “used to be” is what sold it for me… just beautiful. There’s a violin that’s played over the the chorus that gets me in the feels, it’s very quiet but it’s there.

The lyrics are based around a phone call – I like this idea – forms of letters, a chapter from a book or poem, it’s not what you expect to take the form of a song. 

The chorus is calling for the person to stand on their own two feet and not rely on anyone else, but there’s push back… it’s a two hander of a song. 

Maybe I’m reading too much into it.

Kierst is a singer songwriter originally from Columbia, South Carolina, based in Brooklyn. She has a new EP called THUD coming out in November – I’ve had a sneak preview and you don’t want to miss this. I also have an interview incoming with her, so watch out for that!

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KIPPYSMUSE – Some Kind Of

I like the vocals on this, very lazy and chilled but the melody is sung an octave above it to keep it going. The guitars are great too, there’s an acoustic to start the proceedings which is playing a rhythmic off beat common in reggae… it just reminds me of summer days. 

I like the fact that on the drums the snare chain is turned off to give it more of an impact – not many people do that in music nowadays. 

One thing I like to call out is the creativity of the title! Just “Some Kind Of”. 

Some kind of… what? Well that’s the idea, go listen to the song to find out what he means! 

“Oh my Love
Oh my weight
I’m trying to give
What you’re trying to take
Some kind of
Internalised monologue telephone
And if it’s good to talk; it’s not when you’re alone
If what is happening, happens to be happiness
Then it’s wasting its time, while it’s wasting mine
I am a man, I can survive the only evil I know
Is in my heart”.

I like the reference to the old BT tagline here! It’s good to talk. 

Indeed. 

Kippymuse is an artist from Belfast, this song was released on Bandcamp in 2015, there’s a great picture of him in his element in the studio on what looks like a beautiful upright piano with character. He’s had love from BBC Ulster and his track Emptiness Alive was picked for Signal Committee’s Eclectic Picks in January 2021.

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L.O.E – Secret Societies Rule The World

This track by L.O.E (Last Of Eden) is epic in terms of the way it’s performed — it’s a heavy rock track combining a bit of electronica in there as well. It’s a well timed track commenting on the state of the world, and reminds me of the kind of music you’d hear over some videos that you see on YouTube where they talk about various conspiracy theories, I can just imagine this having the kind of visuals where it glitches showing images showing leaders throughout history.

The guitars are good and loud and so is the drums very powerful to accompany the spoken words over this. I’d love to know where they got that voice! Very authoritative!

Our Tom is a fan!

According to their Bandcamp bio: 

“L.O.E’s music tries to capture and reflect triumph, heroism, anguish and struggle throughout society. Not as a political stand, but to hold a mirror up to humanity. Weaving speech and video in to live performance to create a cinematic experience of popular culture and a reflection of our times.”

They’ve also supported And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead & Vex Red – funnily enough I interviewed Nick Goulding from Vex Red for my blog a few years ago, so it was nice to see the connection. 

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MARTHA BEAN – A Troubled Mind

The chords here are what got me first and it’s at the lower end of the piano; the style reminds me very much of Tori Amos, and I love Tori Amos. It’s just piano, vocals bass and drums with strings coming in later tortured with clashing notes and the time signature here is 6/8 – it makes for great listening.

This song garnered the most votes on the listening post this weekend and deservedly so, the performance from Martha is emotional, and nothing short of beautiful. 

“Call me a stranger, 
Call me a foe,
You can come with a wager, 
But I left long ago…”

Love that. 

Martha Bean is from Leicester, and this is from her EP First Light. There is also an instrumental version of this on there too. 

Oh the outro is something else…

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MICHELLE WARD – Try

Another song with strong chord progressions! Based around a reggae groove, Michelle Ward brings us a song that is soulful too. I like the one drop groove from the drums. It’s also got triplets on the hi hats and makes for a great backbeat! 

Michelle’s voice is so clean on this, and the backing vocals keep my ears invested. This is definitely one of my favourite submissions from last week’s inbox. Her ad libs from 2:40, oh damn…

Michelle Ward is my one to watch. 

Michelle has seen both sides of the table – she’s a radio presenter in the day and worked behind the scenes in the music industry as well as being an artist. She DJs for Phoenix FM on her show Eat My Brunch, and has interviewed quite a lot of people… in fact I interviewed her last year for her single Dolly Daydreaming. 

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PILGRIIM – Flux (Blue Lab Beats Remix)

This is a very different vibe to the original version. Pilgriim has drafted Blue Lab Beats in to make it a little more soulful, I can imagine NKOK and Mr DM going in and bringing their multi-instrumentalist skills – well – in my imagination…

They look at each other, slap down the visors on their face shields fire up the glow torches rip out the insides, rebuild it from the ground up, and then send back the package with a little card saying – you’ve been remixed.

Maybe that’s too much. 

They bring the Rhodes in, giving it some oomph, the baseline pulses beautifully and the drums punch through. In fact I prefer the remix to the original! 

This is my track of the week. 

Pilgriim is an a producer from South London, he brought in Blue Lab Beats for this as I mentioned, plus Joshua Idehen and Young Shields, and makes for a nice warm soulful soup for the soul. 

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THE PLEASURE DOME – If Meaning

I wonder if the band’s name is a nod to the classic Frankie Goes To Hollywood track? 

No. Not that one. THAT one.

That’s about as far as the nod goes – because this? 

This is rowdy. 

Oh I forgot to tell you turn your speakers down a bit, it’s LOUD! 

I love it. 

It’s aggressive and very shouty, very punky, and it peaks and dips, this is a well timed release as they’re touring at the moment and I reckon the mosh pits will be on fire once they play this live… 

What. A. Tune. 

According to their Spotify bio: 

“The Pleasure Dome – formed in Bristol in July 2019 and are made up of Bobby Spender – Guitar and Vocals, Loz Fancourt – Bass, and Bert Elvin – Drums.”
 

Following on from a busy live schedule in the second part of 2021 and 2022, including dates with The Magic Gang, Frauds, Clt Drp, France tour and festival appearances in Holland, the band will bring their fierce live show around the UK, including tours with Yawners in September and The Byker Grove Fan Club in October. New single out September 2022.

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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.