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! Welcome to another exciting week of faves, and what a strong week again! Thanks to all the artists that submitted tracks last week. I’d like to ask a favour of those who have made the faves. While you cannot submit a track for 90 days please do come and support your fellow artists at the weekend, and check out the listening post. They’ll love you for it!

As always, if you’d like to be featured on my Islington Radio show, send me an audio file and a bio to my email, clean radio edits only!

To the faves.

Juice? Oui.
Headphones charged? Oh yes.
Four lit and in the green.
Let’s go.

DIRTY NICE – What I Wanna Hear

To kick off the faves this week, we have a new one from Dirty Nice, I actually reviewed them way back in 2023, and I noted back then that they were capable of songs that would get stuck in your head and this is no different.

It’s good and energetic, with lots of great guitar work, and shouty bits that will stay with you but then that’s their MO. I particularly like the way it begins with the ooh whoah oh in the intro, the chorus alone is worthy of being played loud. This goes through peaks and troughs where in the verses it goes quiet and then builds up into the chorus, and makes for a very enjoyable listening experience.

Definitely a favourite for me on this week’s listening post!

Dirty Nice is Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared composer Charlie Pelling’s musical project, with Lisbon-based musician Mark Thompson. Pelling is fast becoming the go-to composer in the UK comedy scene, working with the likes of 2022 Edinburgh Comedy Award winner Sam Campbell and BAFTA winner Jamie Demetriou (Stath Lets Flats, Fleabag).

I really need to get some merch from their site!

Official | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter/X

HEAVY FEELINGS – Design Flaws

This is where the faves get a little bit dark, both lyrically musically. This is slowed down, and moody, and I like that in this song.

The opening verse is where I got really interested:

“Its a sad cycle
we find ourselves in,
we’re coming and going but never setting in and we can blame it on our nature
our chemistry is flawed
we could have something beautiful If we were smart enough
we could have something beautiful If we were smart enough
If we were smart enough.”

It’s a sign of the 21st century that we are using technical terms in lyrics – design flaw could relate to technology, something that’s a big deal now with the arrival of AI into the creative arts, and in so many other ways, but this still brings it back to science especially when referring to chemistry.

Musically, this is an indie rock track with a bit of fuzz on the guitar, as well overlaid with atmospheric sounds, the vocals add to the haunting elements of the production, maybe it’s just me but it gives me that feeling of unsettling darkness that maybe even The Cure would be scared of. But that’s a good thing. Robert Smith needs a successor hahaha!

Heavy Feelings are a post punk duo from Chicago and Bristol, they have a new self titled EP out this month as well no release date from what I can find, but I’ll be keeping an eye out!

Instagram | Bandcamp

JESS ANTONIA – Ghosts

To the North East of England we go for this one, and it’s an offering from Jess Antonia whose bio says that she’s bedroom based – I’ve been thinking about doing a piece about bedroom musicians as they tend to get overlooked – ever since I found out how Billie Eilish produced her debut album I know that even with the most minimal of setups you don’t need to hire out a big studio to do your best work or the top notch musicians and producers to do it all.

Jess has kind of proved that yet again here.

With this particular track, we are treated to a piece of nifty guitar work in the intro, then Jess’s voice comes in over a steady beat, I like the synth pads underneath it gives it a bit of an otherworldly feel as it sounds a little bit warped but that works given the title of the song.

This has all the elements of an indie pop song, a track that captures your ears really well, with great melodies. It’s no wonder it came away with high votes on the LP this weekend! Like I said at the beginning of this review Jess is from the North East of England and states that she’s turning her feelings into toons.

Yes TOONS.

Linktree | Instagram

LAURA REZNEK – The Centre

Laura Reznek comes to us with a track that which starts off with synths that capture the imagination in the intro. One snare hit and we are off to the races with a song that is quite dreamy in its feel.

Lyrically I think this song is about getting to know someone. The metaphor used is string, and having to pull at it to get to the centre. I like that imagery because it’s poetic, and it can be frustrating trying to get to know that person, because a ball of string can get send you on a mission, but Laura’s got patience it seems and shows in this song. If the person doesn’t get the message then there’s a problem!

Instrumentally, there’s a piano in there, which I suspect was the starting point for the song, I like the chorus to this especially, at 1:00 the chord progression really captured my heart! This is one of the strongest choruses I’ve heard in a while. I also like the way it ends with four notes on the piano to fade out…

And on that note….

This gets my chef’s kiss.

Laura is a singer songwriter from Vancouver she’s got lots of exciting things going on – her first scored short film for example and some live dates.

Brilliant.

Linktree | Instagram |Website| Twitter/X | Facebook

NEEV – I Put It In A Frame

Time to slow things down for the intro… Weird synth noises to kick off the proceedings?

Works for me.

This next one is by NEEV, who seems to specialise in attention grabbing songs, this is not her first rodeo on the faves having made it last year reviewed on batch 531 by our Tony Hardy this song comes with power and reminds me a little bit of Stevie Nicks – she of rock queen status.

The strangeness doesn’t stop at the intro, what I like is the almost banshee wail towards the end it just captivates you, it’s not loud, it’s in key but it’s inarticulate. Hey if jazz vocalists can scat then rock vocalists can wail and scream if they want to. It just…

Fits.

Who are we to challenge it?

Again the strong chorus, with stops and starts from the instruments really give the song the lift that it didn’t need anyway, it just adds to the energy of the overall song. For this reason…

Neev is my one to watch.

Neev is a Glasgow born London based singer songwriter, she had an album launch on the 21st March and from the video I’ve just seen on instagram it looks like it was fun! There’s another one on the 29th March in Brighton so if you’re over that way see if you can pop your head in. Details are on the linktree below.

Official | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | Bandcamp

OLLIE DIXON – Solace

Time for an acoustic number, and this is a beauty of a track. Ollie Dixon’s voice is haunting, along with the guitar playing at the beginning of this. The drums that come in at 1:06 have a slightly quantized beat to it, giving it a swing that’s hinted at in the intro.

I also like the synths that are added to the track making it even more ghostly along with the reverb, this song is the definition of alternative folk, with a touch of dream pop in there too.

According to his website Ollie wrote this during a really turbulent time in his life – it came about after an incident…

This is what he had to say about it:

‘I was surfing on the north coast of Cornwall after going through a really rough two year period, with extreme burnout, stress, anxiety, I caught a wave and fell. Getting sucked under I couldn’t get back up but whilst being thrown around by the wave, I went from panic to a sense of calm..It was weirdly peaceful under the water once you stop, relax and go with the flow.. for the first time in 2 years I felt a sense of peace, watching the waves crash over head, beads of light shimmering through. Once I came to the surface (probably 30 seconds or less later, it felt like 5 minutes) I chased that same feeling, hoping to fall off and experience it again, but I never did. Or have.’

‘Solace was that experience for me, learning to find calm and peaceful moments in the chaos of life, Learning to deal with my thoughts and feelings in a healthier way. Knowing that each day there are moments of peace and clarity, we just have to stop and notice it.’

This really resonated for me, and I hope it does for others as well.

Ollie has been a fresh fave before, hailing from Devon, and is very active on the live scene.

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RICHARD PIERCE & MARINA FLORANCE FEAT BASS & TAYLOR – Without Goodbyes

Now these are names that are very familiar! Richard Pierce and Marina Florance have collaborated on a new track, and it’s a really cool one. This is spoken word something that Richard specialises in as well as being a poet, and it’s rather comforting they have lovely spoken voices! But then this is not just any ordinary song, this is a protest song. It’s got echoes of 1960s-1070s singer songwriter influences because not only does this feature spoken word, it features vocals too, as well as percussion and a harmonica!

I like the chorus:

“Don’t blame the flowers,
Don’t blame the girls,
Don’t blame the colours,
Don’t blame the universal soldier,
He marched away without goodbyes,
Don’t blame him for your lies.”

It’s thought provoking!

My favourite part of the song comes in at 1:59 and everything drops out except for the voices the vocal harmonies are just spot on!

It’s funny that this has made the faves this week, Marina and I had a collaboration that came out exactly a year ago “1974 (That’s How It Was In Those Days)” – and as far as I know that was the first time that Marina had done spoken word. There was a lot of firsts that came out of that – we got played on Tom’s BBC Introducing mixtape, and then being played on Mary-Anne Hobbs’s show.

I screamed in my manager’s face when I got the email.

That was a good day.

We have collaborated before – all three of us in various forms, and I’m proud to see Marina and Richard back on the faves.

Well done!

Richard Pierce is a poet and a radio DJ who has been a regular voter on the listening post a great supporter of FOTN. He’s also an artist – this I didn’t know!

You learn something new everyday.

As for Marina, she is a singer songwriter, a children’s author and producer in her own right from Norfolk, a former FOTN mod as well, who comes back at Christmas to help curate our Christmas playlist.

Spoiler alert – we may have something cooking.

Ooops.

Richard Pierce

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

Marina Florance

Official | Instagram | Bandcamp

ROBIN PHILLIPS – Ode To Nola

This is a track I’m so proud made the faves this week, it’s a slick jazz number! It’s got horns, Hammond organ, percussion, drums and seems to capture the elements of a live studio jam session.

This song is from Robin’s freshly released new album Return From The Source, though the album version is slightly shorter without the spoken intro, but I like this one.

My favourite part of this song is the guitar solo at 3:29 when the guitar solo comes in, well executed as there’s a pretty sweet wah on this!

Now, this song has a bit of history to it, first of all, this Is an ode to New Orleans. The whole album from which came from is inspired by a trip that Robin undertook on motorbike from Chicago to New Orleans to better understand the history of jazz and blues in the USA. This track and the whole album in general captures that soulful element you’ve got the Motown vibes in there, as well as the delta blues, the ghosts of jazz musicians past and present in there too. It’s beautifully captured.

How do I know? Well, I interviewed Robin beforehand. You can check out our interview here. Also worthy of note this is one of his favourite tracks from the album.

This is my track of the week.

Robin Phillips is a singer songwriter and composer from Cambridge, and this track is part of an album that is his first batch of originals in 20 years.

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SONUS ANIMAE – Gliding In The Sky

Time for some electronica now, from Sonus Animae, I like the pitch bent bass line on this it gives it a real distinctive flavour! The beat is mid tempo, an instrumental which starts off with an arpegiatted synth, that gives way to a fair few surprises. There’s a nice plucked synth that leads the melody but just when you’re not expecting it there’s a horn section!

The synth swells are really pleasing to the ear, and I like the fact that the bass line switches up an octave to give way to another one… This is the kind of thing you can imagine in a corporate film with a great Morgan Freeman like voiceover. This is futuristic, very well produced and one I’d like to to hear again.

Sonus Animae is the artist name of Aleksander Kaczmarski from Warsaw, Poland he’s also a graduate of Music Laboratory and Akademia Dźwięku.

Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | Bandcamp

VALESKA AND THE RIVER – Berliner Frühling

While Sonus Animae prepares us to hit the dance floor, Valeska And The River brings us to the wind down as we are waking up from the night before.

Did that rhyme?

Kind of.

I’ll leave the poetry to Richard and Marina.

Valeska And The River presents us with a piano instrumental that I can describe as being moody, and dark with the progression. The melody line that is played took me into a meditative state if I’m honest. Being a piano player myself, it made me appreciate the nuances of what was being played. Sometimes there’s a tendency to want to add more instrumentation to fill the space. In this case there’s no need to, and I’m glad that Valenska has laid their vulnerability bare by not hiding it behind anything else.

This is so peaceful.

What I also like about this is the fact that they added the sound of street noise to end it, it just brings you out of your daydream.

Oh. I never told you what “Berliner Fruhling” means. It means Berlin Spring, pretty apt given that we are going into a change of season now.

Valeska And The River aka Valenska Rautenberg considers this project to be her instrumental musical playground. She’s very active in so many ways, a voice coach, voiceovers, and here’s a first I think – Neil pointed out last week that there was a band with a wikipedia page which rarely happens here, but Valeska has her own IDMb page.

Well. How about that?

Official | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | Bandcamp | IMDb

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.