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.

A word from Del: Hey everyone welcome to the first faves of the summer run 2026. Thankyou to all the artists who submitted tracks last week it was quite the marathon listening to 200 tracks! As always just a couple of things to note here: Dear artists, now that you have made the faves please bear in mind that. you cannot submit again for another 90 days. Also please come and support your fellow artists on the weekend when the listening post drops.

Thankyou!

On to the faves.
Headphones charged.
Tea and biscuits set.
Four lit and in the green.
Let’s go.

BUTTER FUNK FAMILY – Love Power

To kick off this week’s faves we have a psychedelic funk track that takes us all the way back to the early 70s, this has elements of Parliament Funkadelic and Earth Wind and Fire in there and as the lyrics will testify back then we needed this kind of song calling for the power of love, and unfortunately it’s a message that we have carried into the 21st century. You’d think we’d be over it by now. But at the same time the events of the 21st century have inspired the Butter Funk Family to spread the message.

Butter Funk Family are a collective that have been on my radar for a while now, this is from their EP Facts which came out in January this year. They are a collective led by record producer, songwriter, singer and two-time GRAMMY Award winner Printz Board who is known for his work with Black Eyed Peas. They’ve been doing live dates and I can imagine that they go down a treat and I can imagine that it’s a fully fledged party when they get out on stage.

This track is infectious and so are they.

Go get the EP.

Do it.

Instagram | Facebook | YouTube

DOPESICKFLY – Side 2 Side

Staying on the funk vibes we add rap to this one from Dopesickfly and they’ve got.a groove built around a bass, drums, guitar and electric piano. The rap is punctuated by call and response shouts within the track which tells me that they’ve tested this live on a crowd with positive results. I also like Wendy Rae’s vocals which act as a really good counterfoil to Anthony’s rapping. I came away from listening to this with a big smile on my face, and I can imagine that when the band got the final masters for it they were grinning from ear to ear too. Oh by the way whoever mixed this track needs a pay rise or at least a drink of their choice because the way that it sits perfectly is just beautiful.

This track gets my chef’s kiss.

Dopesickfly are from Glasgow, they have been together for over a decade! In that time they’ve actually supported Kool And The Gang.

Yeah I’d say that’s cause for celebration wouldn’t you?

Instagram | Facebook | Twitter/X | YouTube

FALSE ADVERTISING – Next Big Thing

Time to get rowdy. I like rowdy. The thing about this song is that it switches so easily, it’s got spoken word, and it gets shouty, and dips and peaks – All over the top of a track that’s big in sound and fast in pace. The lyrics are in your face, talking about being the next big thing, and suspending your beliefs to do that:

Maybe I’ll be the next big thing,
If I ignore all the thoughts that I usually let in,
Hello I am the next big thing,
I walk and then I talk and then I talk and then I sing,
Could I be your next big thing?

This could be a commentary on the way record labels audition and how you have to almost sell your soul to get that “deal.”

Maybe not. Whatever it is the message is delivered loud and clear!

False Advertising are a trio from Manchester who have been together since 2013, though members do have connections to Poynton and Oxford.

Official | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter/X

FRAN LUSTY – For Sunrise

It seems that every time that Fran Lusty releases a single she ends up on the faves. I haven’t known a time when she hasn’t. Anyway, she’s back with a cracker, it’s an acoustic led number with layered vocals, and she approaches it with sensitivity – I love the harmonies as well as the vocal arrangement, the bit I really like is the chorus, it’s so simple lyrically:

You wake me up for sunrise,
Wake me up for sunrise.

It’s the harmonies around this part that really touch me, then the outro.

Beautiful.

Fran is a singer songwriter from London. Fun fact: In exchange for stopping sucking her thumb, her Norwegian gran bought her a guitar when she was 6 years old.

I’d say that’s a fair trade!

Oh one more thing, she’s got a pun on her instagram, for her mailing list – it’s onlyfrans.

Onlyfrans.

You’re welcome.

Instagram | Facebook

HAPIN USUWO – Rich Man

Now this is a track that is a meal suitable only for the Asantehene! A bit of folk, combined with soul, and a bit of an Afrobeat groove to sweeten the Ghanaian jollof rice of a track that we have here. If you know you know. This starts off with a cool guitar riff, leading us into a fabulous vocal, over a kick drum and shakers, there’s an absence of a snare replaced with a single clap on the 2 and 4… wait is that a Wurlitzer over the latin groove? Of course it is. I think this song has all the spice of suya, and the heady flavour of palmnut soup… this is a love song rich with flavours of ripe plantain grilled with some peanuts and chin chins.. this song talks about being in love enough to write a song about someone. There’s also a hidden garden egg in the song, there’s mention of a broken guitar – it’s not broken just slightly out of tune, I like that!

Nice touch.

Hapin Usuwo is a singer songwriter based in Nottingham, this looks like his second single release on fellow FOTN alumni EDBL’s label. I’m expecting big things from him.

He was my track of the day last week.

He’s now my track of the week this week.

Another garden egg?

Okay.

Read his surname backwards.

Instagram

HOT SPRINGS – Magic

Straight out of the box, this song has so much ear candy that will keep you invested from the moment you hit play. For example the vocals at the beginning you’ve got the chorus being sung, and then there’s a tape stop effect, bringing you into the track. The looping of the vocals and then being triggered as a sample. The manipulation is really clever! I’m looking at a video of this being recorded in a studio and I see an old school tape machine, so that would account for the analogue warmth on this track!

The ear candy turns into a pleasing ear worm because I got magic in my pocket will be stuck in your head.

Guaranteed.

Hot Springs is a band led by Manchester singer songwriter Rachel Rimmer, blending folk intimacy with Art Pop mischief.

Can we start a petition so that Art Pop Mischief becomes an official genre please?

Official | Instagram | Facebook | Bandcamp

MAX AVOIDANCE – Eternally

Bringing the tempo down a little bit, this next one is a gentle one from Max Avoidance, very dreamy with synths sitting comfortably with processed guitars. The bassline is playing an important part within this as it adds a lovely counterpoint to the vocals. My favourite part of this song is the outro, as there’s no need to add an overbearing solo, it gives us a lovely little instrumental that lets the song fade into the sunset…

Perfect.

Max Avoidance is my one to watch.

Max Avoidance is London/Wales based Hari Limaye, this is his electro pop alter ego.

Instagram

SANSHA – Drudgery

Sansha’s bio intrigued me as she describes herself as an instrumentalist/producer/singer/comedian and that is reflected in her music. She ticks all the boxes here, with lyrics that talk of 21st century life – butt dialling her hinge match, taking mirror selfies and sending them to the girls, did she really sing my butt is a temple?

Yes.

Yes she did.

This was so close to being my track of the week on that one alone.

So….

Sansha is my one to watch.

The musicianship on this track makes this song the complete package!

Who’s Sansha? Well she’s an artist from South East London – hello neighbour! She’s got love from Sofar Sounds Denmark, as well as having a spotify bio that turns dark quickly…

Go look it up.

Instagram | Facebook | Twitter/X

TARRAGON – Blueprint

Tarragon combines acoustic guitars with 808s and synths on this and it’s quite a combination! Add to that his gentle vocals, which are full of yearning, singing of the sacrifices that he’s making for a love, and it’s just one of those summery tunes that is in the perfect key, perfect tempo.

The breakdown at the end is the perfect way to end it, and that is my favourite part of the song, I taught my choir yesterday about how use dynamics in their harmonies it’s a work in progress about how to use your voice as an instrument and not rely on the musicians to be able to make an emotional build. Tarragon layered his vocals here on that outro and it made me punch the air.

Job well done.

Tarragon is a moniker of Coventry-based singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Callum Neil Pickard.

Instagram | Facebook

WHITE LINEZ – Before

To close the faves for the week, we have a track that stutters along beat wise at half time, with a vocal that’s easy to listen to, the way that they sit on top of each so that the vocals can go at speed while the the beat goes at a leisurely pace helps make this a listenable track.

Chloe Baxter aka BAXX provides the vocals on this and her voice turns into a percussive musical instrument which works really well on this, and all under the production of White Linez I can’t find much on them other than the website which implies there’s a collective but the writing of this track is credited to Alan Bartram. They are based in London as their instagram handle shows with the postcode. I like the idea of collectives it’s a hive mind at the end of the day!

https://www.whitelinez.co.uk/about_1 | Instagram | Twitter/X

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.