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.

Hey everyone, this is my first set of faves since we’ve come back from summer break and I just wanted to congratulate all artists on the high standard of music that we’ve had through the inboxes so far. You make the job both a challenge and a joy!

If you are an artist who’s submitted music to the inbox you’re more than welcome to send me a track for consideration for my show on Islington Radio. Please make sure it’s an audio file and it’s a clean radio and include a bio. Email to reach me is del.owusu@gmail.com

Thankyou!

To the faves!

We have tea.
We have biscuits.
Headphones are charged.
Four lit and in the green.

Let’s go!

AMELIA & THE HOUSEWIVES – Maybe

To open the faves we have a great bit of indie rock with a tinge of old school Motown influence! The drum beat is straight out of the Papa Zita playbook, add to this the distorted guitar, surfer style vocals and a bit of doo wop et voila – a catchy tune that will stay with you for ages!

This track has such a great energy to it, the lyrics question whether or not the songwriter is in love with the subject of the song, and it goes back and forth but eventually they give up and accept the inevitable, they’re in love!

This is the first time on the faves for this band, so congratulations to Amelia And The Housewives a band from Brighton who are doing really well for themselves having gained airplay from John Kennedy on Radio X.

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BOUDICCA’S BASS SERVICE – Dorothea Tanning

The title intrigued me for this one – I had to look Dorothea up. She was an artist in multiple mediums whose early influences was surrealism. It’s a very interesting Wikipedia entry, she lived until the age of 101!

This track is trippy and psychedelic, the vocals are husky and almost whispered, the guitars sound warped and it’s pleasing to the ear.I love the drums on this in particular, Slightly offbeat and with accents at certain points. It switches between snare and rim shots, as well as adding a cymbal swell. I love a good cymbal swell! There’s a nice little soundscape in there too, as well as being joined by analogue-ish sounds – I detected this because of the great sub bass that creeps every so often. My favourite point of this song is at 2:19, a little instrumental break which gives it a bit of a dream sequence thus linking it back to the surrealist theme of the song.

Boudicca’s Bass Service did a great job on this!

Boudicca’s Bass Service is a one-woman DIY production based in Bristol, it is the solo project of musician and producer Georgina Cotterill.

There’s a dolby atmos mix?

Hold on.

Yeah still flipping epic.

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DAPHNIE – Perfect Piece Of Person I’m Made For

This is a great track straight off the bat, I love the way it begins with the synth sounds and then goes straight into a bit of indie pop effortlessly. This happens at around 1:09 when there’s a drum roll into the next part of the song, it works so well!

The guitars on this are so solid, they go through so many effects from delay to distortion, to clean to a bit of panning.

This is a track you definitely want to jump around to, it’s a perfect piece of pop for sure.

See what I did there?

Well here’s something else I did.

This is my one to watch.

Daphnie is the alter ego of Sydney drummer Alistair Hayes, he’s also one half of the duo yourproblem. He’s got a jazz degree and is also a self proclaimed jazz nerd.

I like that.

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HANNAH MAZEY – Little Boys

This is a bluesy track with twangy guitars and electric piano sitting underneath it, it gives space for Hannah Masey’s vocals. The lyrics are straight to the point, talking about toxic relationships from both sides. One thing that caught my ear is the harmonies from 3:00 it’s layered with the main vocal being put through the telephone EQ preset, this could be an intentional voice note as that’s how we communicate mostly nowadays… it works well!

Hannah Mazey is from Wigan, this is part of a three track release, and she’s got more planned.

Well done!

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IZZIE YARDLEY – Pull Back The Sea

What we have here is a folk number in 6/8 giving it a bit of a jazz feel, there are strings involved, and that gives it such a lovely emotional lift. I want to give a shout out for the guitar part on this too.

The bells and little percussion that are on this are very much ear candy for me, this has such a Joni Mitchell influence to it and it works for me.

Add some woodwind in the way of a flute this is perfect mellowness and IzzIe’s vocals are just gorgeous as always!

Hence why I’m making this my track of the week.

Izzie Yardley is a singer songwriter and multi instrumentalist from Somerset this is the title track from her EP which came out on 27th September.

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LONG ISLAND – Want It More

I like the way this starts out – four count and into a pulsing indie rock track – bass, drums, vocals – then it kicks it up a notch into a complete rock track with distorted guitars from 0:25, it’s a wall of sound coming at you and it’s a joy to listen to!

From what I can ascertain, this song is about having a whale of a time, feeling bad afterwards but then wanting it more.

I guess that’s the freedom of being young.

Talking of which… that’s the name of the album this comes from!

I think my favourite point is the middle 8 at 1:32, it takes the energy down, with tom builds, and then going back into the chorus, before a really simple guitar solo from 2:16. I wanted to point out the simplicity because the melody of it gets stuck in your head. One more chorus then a dead stop.

Perfect.

Long Island are a quartet from Huddersfield (That’s what the accent is!) they’re been championed by BBC Introducing West Yorkshire, they were born out of a university project. Looks like they’re passing with distinction here.

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LUSH FRESH HOMEMADE SOUNDS – Tha Sneachd Air Druim Uachdair

This is… haunting! There’s a drone like sound in the background, holding down the main note in B, then the vocals come in singing in Scots Gaelic, I can’t find a full translation but the title means “There is Snow on a Upper Ridge”. This is from google translate so please forgive me if I’m wrong.

The arrangement on this is beautiful, slowly building up, the vocals gave me goosebumps from the beginning, as did the solo violin. It’s like a lullaby, passed down from parent to child through the centuries. It’s strange to be transported back through time with this but at the same time be listening to this on a 21st century device. I wonder what the Scottish ancestors would make of this?

My favourite point of this song is at 3:20 when the violin comes back in, with percussion, there’s an instrumental section joined with birdsong at 3:47, I love that drum beat!

So.

This gets my chef’s kiss.

Now, this is where it gets really interesting.

When I go to their social media, it provides me with a link to LUSH. So I can’t tell you too much about the origins of this track, however Julie Fowlis the singer on this is very accomplished, she’s won the musician of the year award (MG ALBA Scots Trad Music) 2023, she’s toured the USA too.

This is from an album of 18 tracks and is a collection of different artists and musicians coming together. This was released on the 27th September and definitely well worth a listen.

More details on the album!

Highlands is a new Scottish folk album aiming to take you on a journey deep into the heart of the Highland mountains. It’s the soundtrack to a new Lush Spa treatment, with contributions from renowned Scottish musicians Julie Fowlis and Ewen Henderson featured alongside folk titans such as Simon Emmerson, Richard Evans, Ged Lynch, Èamon Doorley, Oliver Cox, Martin O’Neill, and Simon Richmond.

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POPFUTURE – Sun Up Sun Down

Time to break out the synths and go full electronica with this one, this is an instrumental, and it’s short and sweet clocking in at 2:43.

It starts off with an aeroplane sound – probably taxi-ing. Then the beat drops in – an analogue affair, not an 808 probably a 909 – more punch. The synths are put through the wringer, this gives me Jean Michel Jarre vibes without the overblown production values – but it still sounds fab and deserves its spot on the faves.

Popfuture is the work of Edmund Ward, a veteran electronic musician and producer now based in North London. His SoundCloud says this started out in Malvern so I’m assuming that’s where he’s from originally.

Bandcamp

SOCK DRAWER – Don’t Have The Energy

This is another track where the synths are broken out! I’m loving thr guitars on top, which gives it a pleasing twang.

Michael Baker and Ebony Thompson share the vocals on this and they work together well, they also use their effects to great effect here. I like the way Ebony’s voice is so distinct on this especially! A bit of Beth Orton in the higher register?

I’m here for it!

This is a great electro pop track, i like the way it stutters and warps. The constant is that guitar part and I’m very much interested to hear what else Sock Drawer have in their bag of tricks!

I love that outro as well.

Sock Drawer call themselves the second best band in the world.

I’m hoping the first is the Beatles.

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THE HEMPOLICS – The Tempest

Having perfect pitch this made me smile.

Why?

Well, it’s in the same key as the previous track so if I was putting this in a playlist I’d be jumping up and down at how well they went together. This isn’t by design by the way, as you well know the faves are alphabetical!

Anyway enough nerding out.

This is a great reggae track with the dub elements – tape delay, the piano chops and not one drop but a variation on the groove. The synths are providing an otherworldly quality, and it’s disorienting but in a good way, I like the way this is produced and put together.

This has made me smile from beginning to end, what a lovely way to close the faves.

The Hempolics are the brainchild of Grippa Laybourne, and according to their Soundcloud bio he’s putting together a gang of  armed and dangerous individuals to help him put his music out there… Paolo Nutini is counted among their fans.

So am I.

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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.