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

Hey everyone welcome to another bunch of Fresh Faves. As always, great quality tracks in the inbox as well as what made the final ten. I have a flask of tea as I head into work this morning! 

As always you can send me a track for my show on Islington Radio, just send me an audio file and a bio and I’ll consider it! 

Right to the good stuff.

Headphones charged? 
Oui. 
Train packed? 
Hai. 
Tea hot? 
Si. 

Four lit and in the green. 

Let’s go.

AERIAL SALAD – Tied To Pieces Of Paper

This is good and rowdy! The drum intro is so punchy and the bassline is relentless, as is the shouty vocal… it is, after all, a punk number. 

What did you expect?

The shouty refrain about tied to pieces of paper will whisk you back to the mid-to-late 70s, where you can imagine the grainy footage of punk in its infancy, the entire band jumping around on a sweaty stage, and the moshpit heaving…

Punk rock is definitely not dead in this case!

The bassline is what catches my ear, and I love that riff! Definitely one to jump around to if you’re that way inclined.

Me? 

Nope. I’ll save my bones and nod my head politely. 

Their website is pretty cool! They’ve got a landing page which shows you them in action — no audio but that will make you want to go looking for their music.

Genius.

Aerial Salad are a punk band from Manchester, and say that salad are massive wherever they go.

I like chicken salad. 

Mmm.

Official | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter/X | YouTube | Bandcamp

BALANCING ACT – She Plays The Theremin

The only thing that disappointed me about this song by Balancing Act is that there’s no theremin on it. But then again, there’s a mellotron on there, so they can be forgiven! This is another guitar-driven track on the Faves, and it’s got a driven rhythm behind it. The vocals are giving it some real power, and there’s a cowbell hidden in the mix! These are like Easter eggs! Love it… there’s also an analogue-sounding synth which makes up for the absence of theremin though… they are criminally underused in modern music. 

Anyway, this track is about a girl who dresses Edwardian, but has a taste for Vivienne Westwood it seems… 

What a combination! I know nothing about fashion, but what a combination! 

From their Spotify bio:

“Kai Roberts (vocals) and Jackson Couzens (guitar) first met in Manchester whilst working on separate projects. After packing up and moving to London, they joined forces with George Le Page (drums) and David Carpenter (bass), forming the now settled quartet.”

Official | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter/X | YouTube

BOJOCKEY – The Water

This next one takes the tempo down a little bit, and combines finger picked guitar with a gentle vocal which borders between spoken word and folky vocal. There’s also a rain stick being used on this! Love it…

It’s got so much a lullaby quality to it, just lets you rest your eyes and weary soul in its warmth, and for me at the end of a busy weekend this song is really helping me to chill out.

This is naturally my track of the week!

Bojockey are a quintet from London whose bio simply says horses are great. I wonder if that’s a reference to the name. 

Linktree | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter/X | YouTube | Bandcamp

CAR BOOT SALE – Sit Back Relax

I know these guys! Good to see they’re back with this! Very Lenny Kravitz in the vocals at a certain point, and the distorted bass and guitars go at quite a pace. This has got me cranking up the air guitar – must get it restrung, as it goes. The energy with which this hits the ground running is incredible – a very retro vibe that I reckon that Pharrell and Prince would nod their heads at for sure! 

Car Boot Sale have been on my radar since the release of their track Odoyewu, and I’m glad to see they’re going strong! They’re a London band with a busy live schedule. I say good on them!

Linktree | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter/X | YouTube

FREYR – Abandoned Places

This is a country folk song, the brushes are broken out to lay down a marching rhythm to a song that has a great call and response!

What caught my ear?

Well, in the verse you have Freyr harmonising with himself, and then he’s got this part where he sings from the real deep part of his chest. Of course there are doos in there, at the beginning and scattered around in the song. Another gentle breezy track! 

Love it. 

It seems Freyr is well travelled having lived in different countries, Sweden, Germany and Spain living out of various Airbnbs for five weeks recording ideas on his laptop… 

It’s worked well for him! 

Sometimes you need that new space for inspiration. 

Official | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter/X | YouTube

GUMFLOWR – Little Sister

I love the way this begins with the kick sounding a little scratchy and poppy — I like that, it gives it character! The bass line is melodic and warm, but then there’s a sub drop which brings everything in! It comes in every so often, and the sample choices here remind me of how Yes put together Owner Of A Lonely Heart — lots of seemingly random sounds but live instruments holding it all together. Love the breakdown at 2:52! This is genius.

This deserves my one to watch. 

From their Spotify, Gumflowr are: 

“One man with a moustache, another without, together making Electronic music. Based in London.”

Linktree | Instagram | Bandcamp

HAARM – Bang Goes The Gun

I love the intro to this, it’s got this organ and the vocals coming over the top, doing ba ba dada, and you kind of go down this time tunnel of psychedelic vibes. You could just imagine this playing as you watch a film from the 90s when the 60s revival was in full swing. 

Oh the orchestra hit hidden in the mish mash of sounds… 

I like that! 

HAARM initially started out as a songwriting team in Liverpool in 2016, but decided they enjoyed each other’s company so much and decided to use the songs they’d been writing together as the foundations of a new band.  

Linktree | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter/X | YouTube

MERI LU JACKET – Suitcase

The count off into a Motown fill straight out of Papa Zita’s playbook gives you an idea of where this is going on. It’s got a serious pocket, but the star here is Meri Lu Jacket’s voice — you can imagine her leading her band in a blistering live performance at a jazz festival with this, it’s a beauty of a track and you can’t help but snap your fingers to it! 

The horn arrangement is awesome by the way! 

Meri Lu Jacket’s voice carries that huskiness – there’s blues there, but a rock leaning too. If she was a little angrier she’d be more Janis Joplin, but this works!

Meri Lu Jacket was born in the UK but grew up in Italy, soaking up the vibrant culture around her. She’s a singer-songwriter, composer and musician with a style that’s uniquely her own. 

She gets my chef’s kiss for this one.

Official | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter/X | YouTube | Bandcamp

THE TROPICANAS – Your Arrow

To Scotland we go with this next one, and it’s strongly hinted in the accent for the vocals! 

This starts off with a big crescendo on the guitars both acoustic and electric. This is a slow number, and it being the month containing Valentine’s Day could allude to waiting for Cupid’s arrow to strike. Lyrics like waiting by the window, on the doorstep, etc but then there’s also violent imagery like being smashed in the legs with a hammer… I like the ambiguity to this song!

Also there’s a great guitar run played chromatically! 

Great tune. 

So, who are The Tropicanas? Well, their detailed bio has this to say: 

“Ironically named due to Scotland’s often gloomy weather and their desire for warmer climates and surfier times,  The Tropicanas represent West Lothian with their off-kilter brand of chilled grooves.“

Linktree | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter/X | Bandcamp

UNION OF KNIVES – Salut Salut

This starts off as a drum solo with a background of ethereal sounds before the vocals come in. You’d be forgiven for thinking it’s just an alternative rock track but it isn’t, it drops into a dance track at 1:14 – you can just imagine dance floors going mad with this, especially with a chorus like that!

Great wandering mono synth lead in this too, as well as the entire track going  through low pass filters from 2:31. The drums from the beginning come back in and then there’s the beat drop… big build to finish. 

What a journey! 

Union of Knives are an electronic, indie, pop-rocking, trip-hopping outfit based in rainy Glasgow.

I like this a lot. 

Official | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter/X | YouTube | Bandcamp

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.

Aerial Salad photo by Liam Maxwell