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

A few words from Del:

Introducing: ARPRAXIS.

Please welcome ARPRAXIS to the team! This is his first set of reviews.

All artists are welcome to send me an audio file for my show, the songbird sessions on Islington Radio to del.owusu@gmail.com, please make it a clean radio edit!

Each artist this week has sequenced together their choice of notes from the immense blank pallet of choice and delivered the most sumptuous set of sinuous sound waves.

Æ MAK- Let’s Do It

Aoife McCann’s Irish alt-pop punk and personality-rich approach offers something quite original and sits across the genre spectrum. There’s no holding back the message she wants to share in Let’s Do It.

Beautifully panned conversational vocals open up this bouncy yet laid-back track. There’s a real sense of theatre and role-play running through every thread of Let’s Do It. It brings to the fore those conversations we’d rather not have in such a playful and unobtrusive way. A sinuous lesson even in the art of charm, perhaps? It’s a real melting pot of emotion, bursting with angst, love, anxious pulls and happy endings. Luscious harmonies dancing around the solid rhythm as Æ MAK’s voice delivers its idiosyncratic wonder. Sprinkles of joyful synths and horns darting in and out all the right places make this an uplifting, heartwarming track. Let’s Do It paints a multi-coloured picture of sound that is evocative, fast-moving and yet relaxed. Could I say it’s the epitome of subtlety and flamboyance? I think I could. It’s probably one of the most paradoxical tracks I’ve listened to in ages… but that is life, eh? Filled with hooks, dips and drops put together in an incredibly clever and understated way, this is one for your headphones. Open your mind and bounce to your next destination with Æ MAK’s story.

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ARJUNA HARJAI – Zikar Hai (ft. Natasha Noorani)

Energy-laden bass stabs and solid long-note bass lines furrow their way through the low register like a sonic underground Piccadilly line tube in rush hour.

Wonderfully executed rhythmic delight adds to the energy of the bass as they sit together in unity occupying the energy zones with exuberant joie de vivre. Very tasty indeed. Apparently Zikar Hai was inspired by the sounds of a computer game composed by Yuzo Koshiro, which incited feelings of longing to see someone very special again. There certainly is a sense of anticipation and drama as Arjuna Harjai’s and Natasha Narooni’s voices coalesce perfectly, oozing with emotional intensity. I really like the filtered down voices towards the end of the track. It highlights the arc of anticipation and encounter that awaits. I want to know more! How did it go?! A reminder that music is the conveyor of meaning, feelings and everything else that escapes the narrow constraints of language. Plato supposedly said that music is ‘Moral law. It gives soul to the universe’. Right on.✌️Another understated track that manages to retain suspense and delight in equal measure and abundance.

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BEN SEE & EMILY HALL – So Far

London based Ben See & Emily Hall bring tears to my ears with So Far. Its soft brilliance is captivating. The sheer emotion that emanates from these two voices stops nothing short of a numinous experience. I love how the registers lower to set free a duologue of velvet-coated harmonic vowels that ease up and down like the curves of a sine wave. Closed mouth hums enter the home run and fade as delicately as a whisper on the wind.

Ben says his background in choral music can be clearly heard in his own pursuits. His musical influences range from the scores of Benjamin Britten to the ever-eccentric Björk, with a small detour via the beautiful song-writing of Brian Wilson and the vocal wizard Bobby McFerrin. I recommend listening to his track Moment. Sound.Blur to get an idea of Ben’s distinctive style. Parts of this track would tear up the drum and bass floors very nicely indeed.

It’s not just me who is entirely in awe of Ben’s genius. His music has graced the waves of BBC6Music, BBC Radio3, BBC London and Resonance FM. His compositions have been sung and performed in concert halls and venues all over the UK, including the Southbank Centre, Kings Place & the Union Chapel. Now that’s a pretty impressive resume, is it not?

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BLOOD WIZARD – Babytooth

It’s not often enough that I hear ‘that sound’ which opens up my visual mind like a can of sardines. This is ripe. Raw. Warm. With snares as crisp as the blue sky on a dewy dawn in April and a char-grilled mellifluous lullaby voice cutting through like butter, I’m transported to an earlier era of blissful youth without a care in the world. Serenading us with dreamy guitars on the wind and a bass line that I’d like to hear on a mile long Funktion One sound system, Babytooth delivers that wall of sound from which there is no place to hide. It flows seamlessly. I could well be watching Blood Wizard record this track in front of me. Spot on. Take a listen and see what it conjures up for you.

Cai Burns, originally from Nottingham but now based in South London, has released Babytooth on Sad Club Records. It comes after Blood Wizard’s 2021 debut album Western Spaghetti – which is on my listening list. The release will be showcased at the George Tavern in London on 16th July.

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ISLA MAE – A Letter To The Moon

A ballad for now. Isla Mae’s dreamy vocals give clarity, air and warmth while her epic harmonies splash and lift effortlessly against the backdrop of her softly strummed guitar. As you drift into the second verse there is a reassuring celestial comfort juxtaposed alongside the pain being expressed. One voice, one guitar and how she has brought together the blank slate of notes into such order and beauty is a feat of genius. A reminder of that idea about music being moral law and its capacity to give soul to the universe. Let’s broadcast A Letter To The Moon across the globe so it can impart its beauty and heal the wounds of our world.

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KAROLINA WILGUS – Kwiatuszek (Little Flower)

There’s something really quite special going on with Karolina Wilgus’s Kwiatuszek. A constantly evolving piece steeped in mystery, growth, freedom and flight. Sheer originality that keeps you on your toes. Imagine a dream where you find yourself somewhere totally unfamiliar – sweating, dry-mouthed, wide-eyed looking for a sign of the familiar to cling to. Then, as you look, it takes you by the hands and softly sways and swirls you round and round, head skyward bound – smiling. You want to stay here forever. Golden, warm you’ve been here before and you like it. Only to drop you back, too soon, with only a memory of memory. Wow. This really is off the charts in the undertow of emotion it imparts. An idiosyncratic wonderland of wonders and intrigue.

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LOST FM – Our Love

Lost FM’s SoundCloud tells us that this 4-piece South East London analogue/electro/rock band are James Hamilton, Richard Vine, Rob Cole and Eli Franken. Goodness me! Those snares again have just grabbed me and plonked me in front of the Bee Gees. This is a seriously deep track. It’ll grab your face and splash an overwhelming grimace all over it in your approval of its groove. A softly driven synth gnarls its way up underneath guitar funk heaven to the entrance of the vocals where upon they layer up deliciously and guide you through retro wonder. There is so much space here. The rhythm and choppy guitars reside in their own galaxy and invite that gnarly big fizzy synth to party, who accepts but also brings along Mr. Bass Groover to the party. The result: a sonic explosion. The big kick pounds with Mr. Crispy the snare and ties together this smooth monster. A modern classic for sure. Turn it up.

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LOW BRIDGE – Nicer

London’s Low Bridge’s Bandcamp page cites influences such as raw social commentary from the Sleaford Mods, the poetic resonance of Billy Bragg, and the electrifying beats of LCD Soundsystem.

I think they’ve gone beyond the above and beyond these references. The vocals are drenched in authenticity from the accent to some classic phrases from yesteryear that I grew up with, and that serve no purpose other to antagonise. Could we all be a bit nicer to each other? Well… yes, and there are so many elements of life plucked out and recorded for our musings. The track is very perceptive, touching on worries about acceptance, the downward negative cycle that inevitably knocks on all of our doors, your dress code and worries about being immaculately beautiful and photoshopped or Snapchat filtered.

There are great Space Echo-like vocal moments, reversed magic synths and some old skool bass tings agwaning very nicely indeed. It’s all so well balanced and compliments the message so well. A short burst of modern thought shared and aired. Check it out.

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THE EMPTY PAGE – What Happens Now?

I’m always intrigued by the social commentary that finds its way into songs and what influences these stories. The Empty Page’s music is a veritable mass of expression in this regard. Maybe even prompting the name of the band… looking to fill that Empty Page?

Upon listening initially, I was reminded of the early 90s indie scene with those wonderful warm amp guitar tone riffs and licks and their omnipresent punchy snares wrapped in the finest loosely gated reverb. Oh, if those snares were real – I’d love to give them a hug and buy them a beverage of their choosing. But then Manchester has always produced a no steroid sound. The Empty Page in no exception. ‘What Happens Now’ starts with super-scratchy guitar picks floating centre and right, which continue through the track augmented with delightful slightly detuned whammy guitars. Then it’s into full gear. For me there’s a distinctive full sound of the USA… maybe even a little Springsteen? Beautiful vocals let the unnerving story unfold. Incredibly catchy, utterly replay-able. I’m fully sold.

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WAKEY WAKEY RISE & SHINE – Magic Hill

Enter the circus of sound. Let your mind drift as this sexy wash of sound entices synaptic transmission – on overdrive. I recommend listening to this standing up. Let it go. Let the track pull you up and down in all directions like a wide-eyed wooden puppet with red painted lips painted with an ever-so-slightly disconcerting smile. Air keyboard in full effect.

Bristol-based quintet Wakey Wakey Rise & Shine offer a sublime commentary on their hometown and singer Smudge’s vocals are just phenomenal. The silky smooth effortless precision of his voice alongside the inherent talent of the band will take you to another dimension. In a world of pristine production and cold soulless music aplenty, this is a refreshing take on what pristine music can offer when done with soul. The ending of the track showcases the psychedelic core of Magic Hill. Get on this as soon as you can.

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PS from Del: 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 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.