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.

AFRICALI – AfrOlight Feat. Fela Kuti Mentor SANDRA ISZADORE

To kick off the faves we have a track that brings so much sunshine! It kicks off with a percussion groove that makes it a foot stomper from the get go. The chorus is infectious it’s a rallying cry to be proud of your colour. It also throws in a bit of hip hop verse.

This has all the elements of storytelling tradition – the rhythms making an announcement or a call to those near and far to listen (The tradition of talking drums), the rapper telling the story from the streets, and then the vocals just adding the strong voice to it – and what a voice! In researching Sandra Izsadore, I found out some very interesting things about her, Neil and I wondered if “Mentor” was a typo or not, but it isn’t – she helped to radicalise his way of thinking politically and thinking – she’s also the only featured vocalist on his music, so she’s a very important figure in the history of afrobeat – without figures like Fela Kuti, Burna Boy, TEMS, and so many more wouldn’t exist.

For me, I had a feeling that this was going to be a bit of a hit on the listening post and it certainly was, walking away with the most amount of votes, everything about it was just perfect. From the uh huh’s at the beginning – funny thing about that – using it as an adlib is inspired.

So – who are AFRICALI (Great name by the way) and Sandra Izsadore? Well, Africali are no strangers to FOTN having been featured waaaaaay back in 2018 in Batch 284 and reviewed by our legendary ex-admin Steve Harris.

According to Tokyo Dawn Records, AfriCali is more than just a band, it’s a mixture of Afrobeat truth-consciousness with a Californian street swagger, morphed with hip-hop and drenched in cultural roots.

Now this really speaks to me, because when I think about what is commonly known as Hamburger Hi-Life, the subgenre of hi-life that was birthed by Ghanaians who moved to Germany, specifically Hamburg in the 70s and 80s it makes sense. Afrobeat has crossed over in so many ways and found itself into the mainstream in such a short amount of time.

Sandra Izsadore is very interesting indeed, having been born in California, she was responsible for introducing Fela to black consciousness.

I need to get her book.

This is my track of the week.

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CRUSADERBEACH – Quietly Unravelling

This is a gentle piano instrumental in 3/4 time. It feels like it could be part of a dance scene in a film. You hear all the nuances of the performance in this recording, including the pedals contracting and releasing, and being a piano player, this is something I can really understand.

In 3 mins and 21 seconds, this piece whisks you off back in time, and lulls you into something peaceful which means to me the title is slightly misleading but I like that it does that. You’d think that to unravel something would leave chaos in its wake but no, this is calming to the mind and probably one of my favourite piano pieces I’ve heard in a while.

Crusaderbeach is another artist who is no stranger to the faves, this is the pseudonym of Adrian Webster a self taught musician from the North West of England and he’s still crushing it with streaming and sheet music sales.

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GRACE ELIZABETH HARVEY – Lullaby For Wasted Time

This is a folk song for the ages. Beautifully picked guitar playing starts off under Grace Elizabeth Harvey’s voice. Her voice has a slightly soulful feel to it, which isn’t unpleasant in this setting. It’s a whisper given that this song is meant to be a lullaby.

This brings me on to the subject matter, this is an anti love song from what I can work out from the lyrics:

“Is a love song a crime?
I never meant to make you cry.
This is a lullaby for wasted time.”

It goes against all the tenderness and perceived love in the song, but at the same time it’s very effective in how it lands.

My favourite part of the song is at 1:16, it’s a beautiful and simple middle 8, it’s just hummed but then you can hear the sneaky little harmonics being played on the guitar. This song was a runaway success on the listening post and with good reason. I like how there are strings in the background, this just hits the spot all the way through.

Great work!

Grace is a singer songwriter and musician from Birkenhead (Among her many talents she plays guitar and cello), this is from her EP “Other Faith”.

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JOHN BROWN’S BODY – Hard Fight

I’m in two minds about this for two reasons. The reasons relate to the name of the band John Brown’s Body. Work with me here. John Brown’s Body is about the abolitionist John Brown who lived in the USA in the early 1850s to late 1859. This would eventually go on to become The Battle Hymn Of The Republic.

Or it could be a deep cut reference to Bob Marley’s I Shot The Sheriff, the sheriff being the titular John Brown. Of course we all know how that ended. Bob Marley didn’t shoot no deputy.

Either way core memories were unlocked!

Anyway, this is a dub track. Mixed in with a bit of hip hop at the beginning, and then it drops into a reggae flavoured track. It has dub elements, with the sub bass, the tape delay, and the horn section in there to pad it out.

Lyrically this is an anti war song:

“The devil likes a war that lasts too long,
It even makes the patriot sing a peaceful song,
Is that six white horses or a long black hearse,
Our inheritance another war.”

I like the honesty of that lyric, because of the state of affairs that we are in right now, with wars happening all around.

All in all this is a protest song, and a great one at that!

So – John Brown’s Body have a wikipedia page! They are an 8 piece band from Ithaca New York and Boston, they’ve been together in various forms since 1995 – 30 years! It says on their page that while a lot of American reggae bands focus on religion and marijuana they have an indie band approach.

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LEX VERVAIN – Say It All

This is an acoustic number by Lex Vervain, a first timer on the faves, which I’m always proud to see! This is slowed down, I like the cadence that’s being performed here. The lyrics are engaging, speaking about wanting to travel to California:

“Splash my face with water, fly to California
Nestle in your creases, pristine white sand beaches
Cut our feet on rocks, water in my shox.”

To be honest, I had to look up what shox were – they’re trainers by the way, but then I could be forgiven as I’m not a sneaker head!

I also like the harmonies on this, very simple and fits the style of the song.

At 2:49, it’s short and makes you want more!

Lex Vervain is the South East London vanity project of multi instrumentalist Alex Parry. (His words not mine!)

He’s also my one to watch.

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STAITHE – Flowers

Ahh this is perfect! The next track in the list is in the same key as the previous one, my DJ brain can hear the fade out/fade in for this and silently rejoicing. Neil March will probably chuckle at this because sometimes on his Trust The Doc show he does it unintentionally and it’s one of my favourite things. My brain just makes that connection!

Anyway, this is Staithe, and what we have here is a song that’s a straightforward country song, it’s about wanting to go back and deliver your younger self a message and it’s a simple one too:

“What I wouldn’t give to go back in time,
And say hey kid, you’re gonna survive,
You’re gonna make it through the hours,
You’re gonna get your flowers
But till then just stay alive.”

Instrumentally you have all the elements of a great country song, and in place of a violin we have a viola!

Staithe is a duo, Bridie Jackson and Nick Pierce from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, they have a new album coming out in May, which was recorded at home.

I’m looking forward to hearing this.

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STEADY HABITS – Stay

This is a bit of a crossover, Steady Habits list themselves as being Americana, and alt folk but I hear elements of indie rock in there…

I like this song because of its moodiness from the outset it’s given the faves a bit of a balance! There’s a banjo being played on this which made me smile.

The lyrics are interesting this song is about the aftermath of the feelings you have for someone you’ve just spent the night with but there is a plot twist – the person has a boyfriend!

It’s not a country song unless there’s a plot twist right? There are so many ways this song could be interpreted but this is all a part of advanced storytelling you’re drawing people in with just a hint of what the song is all about, and you’re able to build on the narration. Kudos to Steady Habits for this!

Steady Habits are a band led by Sean Duggan formerly of Loud Mountains, and what they have to say on their Bandcamp is that they are a bunch of friends who make weird music that they enjoy.

Weird?

You mistyped awesome.

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THE ASSIST – What’s Best For Me

The Assist grace us with a track with some great sonic elements – the reversed and phased sounds and percussive metallic sounds catch my ear first, before the song takes shape into a fab indie rock song, it jangles along with some great guitars and a driving rhythm.

This song seems like a eureka moment where you finally figure out that it’s best to speak for yourself, it’s like a song of self affirmation.

My favourite part is at 2:!4 – there’s a middle 8 where everything drops out, and it’s just the vocals and the return of the processed sounds. It builds on from this up to the epic guitar solo at 3:06, it just links in so perfectly!

I like the outro, nice touch!

The Assist are from the Black Country and have been together since 2014, they are seasoned performers who have played sold out shows across the UK sharing stages with Blossoms, The Twang and Dylan John Thomas.

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THE JOJO MAN BAND – Ghost Train

Nick Woodgate aka The Jojo Man Band is back in the faves with another track which has the trademark The Jojo Man Band sound. This has a fun element to it, after all it’s called Ghost Train, the chord progressions are spooky. Somehow he’s got a theremin in there, you don’t get many of them in music nowadays. There’s also a vibraslap!

My favourite part of the track is the layered harmonies that come and go, as well as the horn section on the outro, starting from 2:02.

All in all, it reminds me of what you’d expect to hear say at the fairground or at a haunted house.

In short this is one of those tracks that will have you humming for a while I can bet you that, but that’s typical of Nick’s songs they’re catchy as hell!

So who’s The Jojo Man Band? I’ve known Nick a long time, having met him virtually through FOTN and the merry band of listeners on Neil’s show on a Saturday night. He comes from a great pedigree, his brother is Woody Woodgate – drummer of Madness and Voice Of The Beehive, his track “It Will Be” is one of my favourite releases of his, it was actually the first track I played on my Islington Radio show, that’s a certified banger!

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VIGILANTES – Life In The Fast Brain

To close out the faves we have an arena ready rock track from Vigilantes,. This starts off on a low purr with the rim shot on every beat in the bar with the guitar chord playing over the top. It sets the tempo, but the party really gets going at 0:54 treating us to a chorus that’s just explosive!

For the punches at 1:21 alone this song just deserves a chef’s kiss!

I want to acknowledge the spoonerism (Is it a spoonerism?) of the title – Life In The Fast Brain, which is ironic because spoonerisms can happen when your brain says one thing and your mouth says another but it kind of rhymes. They’re fun! Look them up.

Their website is quite vague about their exact whereabouts but they have gained traction with Radio One, 6 and X.

Oh and Rick Roll?

Pffft.

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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.