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.

Here we go with another stellar bunch of faves… You artists are crushing it! Thankyou for keeping my ears going…

As always, if you ever want to be featured on my show on Islington Radio drop me an email at del.owusu@gmail.com with a bio and an audio file – CLEAN radio edits only please!

Thankyou.

Onto the reviews.

Tea? Check.
Headphones charged? Of course.
Four lit in and in the green

Let’s go.

AKS, JACKSON B, TONY BONES THE PRODUCER – Whatever It Is

This has such a great groove! Not only that, the rap flow just hits the spot. First let’s get the one thing that caught my ear out of the way. That electric piano with a little bit of chorus on there? NICE TOUCH! The snare hits hard too, it’s not a conventional snare, you’d have to go all the way back to the 90s for that – think Teddy Riley Michael Jackson Dangerous era for that, it’s nice and crisp. There’s also a sax solo that wanders in and out and that for This has a bit of soul as well as the hip hop vibe, and right off the bat it caught my ear, this is the first time AKS has made the faves and I’m proud to say this is my track of the week. Extra points for the scratching!

AKS is not alone on this, he brings JacksonB and Tony Bones along for the ride, AKS is a rapper and producer from London, he’s got nods of approval from BBC Introducing, BBC1Xtra, BBC Radio 1 and Converse.

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AMY PAPIRANSKY FEATURING LEWIS MCLAUGHLIN – Comfort In Grey

This is an acoustic number, Amy Papiranski joins forces with Lewis McGlaughlin on a gorgeous duet, not so much as one takes a verse but more the harmonies. Their voices blend together so well, and it’s a very pleasing mix! It’s in 6/8 time, the instruments featured here are acoustic guitar, which are then joined at 0:37 by an electric guitar and piano, but then everything comes in at 1:41, with a lovely instrumental section. This is another one with lush production values!

I love the way that Amy and Lewis’s vocals fit together, they sing in unison sometimes and then they mould together with the harmonies and it gives the song a nice warm feeling.

Hailing from Glasgow, Amy’s got quite a CV! She’s won the young traditional musician of the year, duetted with KT Tunstall as well as touring with her… I love me some KT Tunstall but that’s a story for another day…

Official | Instagram | Facebook | Bandcamp

HANNAH WHITE – God Only Knows

While “Comfort In Grey” was a folk song, this is more country blues but still maintaining the 6/8 time signature. Hannah’s voice sits between country with no twang but the pain that only comes with blues. This is against the backdrop of drums being played with brushes, guitars that provide the twang missing in the vocals. Hannah’s vocals are strong and really power through in the chorus, starting out fragile and really going full throttle! Wow. This song is in letter form, and talking about the duality of being a parent and homemaker and being an artist, switching being covered in kitchen and baring your soul to a crowd. The imagery in the lyrics really touched me.

Hannah White is living her best life I tell you. She won song of the year at the Americana Music Awards UK with her song Car Crash, she’s been produced by Michele Stodart of The Magic Numbers, and she will be out on tour with her husband and guitarist Kieron Marshall supporting Paul Carrack.

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HODGES – Signs 22

I wonder if the songwriting was influenced by The Rolling Stones? It wouldn’t surprise especially with that whiskey drenched Keith Richard style riffing. But guess what? This comes straight of Japan! This is what makes me proud of FOTN, the fact we are reaching out into other shores.

This has a quirk to it, because not only is it sung in Japanese it’s also got a kazoo! This made me chuckle when I heard it and this makes me award Hodges my chef’s kiss badge!

By the way the best way to describe this is that it’s a protest song at best. Check out the lyrics:

Holding our signs, sitting in at the capital
We don’t shut up, won’t shut up
On each channel
We won’t shut up, won’t shut up
Untucked our shirts, wear no ties

Hodges describe themselves as a Japanese rock band or something. I’ll forgive them for the minimalist bio, just for the use of a Kazoo.

Official | Facebook | Twitter/X | YouTube

KIZZY CRAWFORD – Cadwyni Yn Fy Mhen

This track is just banging! Wow, the funk is strong with this one! Where do I start? First of all the lyrics are in Welsh, and translated using google apparently it means chains in my head.

What we have here is a track that starts or with a Spanish guitar style vibe over percussion, before dropping into a disco beat. This is backed up with some great brass, ethereal vocals in the instrumental section. There are so many good things going on here that keep your ears invested – a Welsh language song over Spanish almost Latin vibes add that to a catchy dance groove and you have quite a crossover.

Kizzy Crawford began her solo career in 2012 at age 15. She performs a truly unique blend of jazz, folk, soul and funk and is a composer, multi-instrumentalist & producer.

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

LOST SIGNAL – Mania

Time to go a little electronic with this next one, a bit of arpeggiated synths over a hard hitting drum beat. It starts off on a slow boil, with blips and blips giving away to everything coming in properly at 0:40. My favourite part of this track is when the drums go from electronic to an acoustic drum solo at 2:10 it’s really short but it breaks up the track a lot. There’s an elephant trumpet like sound as well to end it so that it goes into the second part of the track. This is very simple but effective in the way that it lands. Elephant sounds for the win by the way!

Lost Signal is an artist from Norwich describes his music as instrumental indie electronica. Born in a hurricane. Now I’m not sure if that full stop is intentional or not, as if to say his music is instrumental indie electronica born in a crossfire hurricane or he was born in a crossfire hurricane. Inquiring minds need to know. I’m not sure if this is a hint or an infringement on the brand but he also enjoys tea and biscuits. Well, there’s nothing wrong with that.

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

MT. MISERY – Hey!e

Onto a bit of refreshing indie pop, laiden with jangly guitars and a bit of psychedelia…. This song puts the writer’s heart out there in declaring their love for someone. It’s a song that those that have suffered teenage love will probably be able to relate to this song. There’s a lovely kind of optimism that it could work out in the lyrics even though there’s a chance that it’s definitely not:

“And I know I’m stuck on something
That I’m never ever going to find
Look to the past for any indicator
If the past is any indicator
Look to the past for any indicator
That everything is gonna work out
Everything will be fine.”

This band is my one to watch.

Mt. Misery are from Hartlepool, This is a track from their forthcoming album “Love In Mind”, due out on 1st November.

I can’t wait.

Instagram | Facebook | Twitter/X | Bandcamp

THE DEEP BLUE – Water Water

Ahhh The Deep Blue are back! I am a fan of their work, since they put out a track that blew me away last year called “Somebody’s Daughter”… Now they are back with their trademark complex harmonies. This is another track which is a winner! This has a shuffle to it, and there’s an electronic piano, bass and drums holding it all together.

The part that really caught my ear is the way they sing sky, where the harmonies cascade over each other effortlessly. This tells me that The Deep Blue are not going away anytime soon with their effortless work… I need to go and listen to “Someobody’s Daughter” again!

The Deep Blue describe themselves as a harmony heavy girlband from Manchester.

They are more than that.
WAY more than that.

Official | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter/X

THE KITE SOCIETY – Big Much

To Oxfordshire we go for this next one, and it’s a rowdy rock track – I say rowdy, it only gets loud on the chorus, I like the way it switches – sometimes you need that kind of energy.

The way it switches is creative, you hear it ticking away by the punctuation of guitars, they are chug away initially and then they launch right into the track at the forefront in the chorus. Also when it comes to switching back into the verse they play their part as a bit of an interlude, before the vocals come back in again, and that’s what keeps this track interesting. You can’t always be up there at “11”, you need something that will break it up – it’s a combination of putting the track through EQ settings as well. Think Blur Song 2 in that sense, and you have the result.

I also like the counter melody in the chorus towards the end, this song just does the job! There are so many layers to this….

The Kite Society is the brainchild of Donald, who discovered his passion for music and talking in the third person through the Beatles and other 1960’s bands like The Sonics and The Velvet Underground.

Instagram

THE SHOPS – You’re My Favorite Drugs

This starts off with an intro that will throw you off because it sounds like a dance track, with the sub bass. It then changes up when the hi hats come in at 0:08, and the whispered vocals come in with a more conventional bass sound. Add some percussion at 0:48, and then it’s building the excitement, I like the way this stops and starts, just to give it a little tension. This could be a crowd pleaser at gigs because of the way it downplays everything – the aha’s could be call and response elements and you know I like a good call and response!

There’s a short instrumental solo courtesy of some bells at 2:43 and to finish off the vocals are harmonised – add some wind noises go back to the beginning with that sub bass and we are done!

What a tune.

The Shops are an Electro-Pop duo from the UK and Gabriola Island. With darkwave sounds somewhere between Massive Attack and Billie Eilish, The Shops mix ASMR vocals, hybrid beats, sub-sonic bass, and cinematic sounds.

Official | Facebook | Twitter/X | YouTube

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.