These Fresh Faves were picked by our readers over the weekend – and reviewed by Fresh On The Net’s Neil March this week. You can hear all these tracks in a single Soundcloud playlist here.

A WORD FROM DEL: Hey everyone, thanks to all our readers for voting this weekend, and of course to the artists who submitted tracks. I would like to ask a huge favour to those who made the faves this week – now that you have made the faves you cannot submit another track for 90 days.

Can we also ask that you can support the independent artists who will be on the listening post next week and vote for your favourite fave tracks? The listening post opens on Friday morning and stays open until Sunday evening 6pm UK time.all we ask is that you spare half an hour and vote for your favourite five tracks.

Also if you share this, please make sure to tag the correct instagram accounts in this case @fotnblog is our official account, and @trustthedoc is the author.

Thankyou.

Over to you Neil!

Neil: So the uncomfortable heat and humidity of the past few weeks may finally be calming down. But the Fresh on the Net in-box has been red hot with talented grassroots artists submitting tracks and, after our team pared it down to 25 tracks to pick from, our readers have chosen their ten. As ever, anyone who makes the mistake of thinking there is any lack of new talent out there need look no further than Fresh on the Net for evidence that they are wrong! Fortunately for me, it is my turn to have the privilege of reviewing the tracks you have chosen. A word to the artists before I do. The task of doing background research on each of the ten was made far harder than it should have been because so many have few or no links on their Soundcloud and other pages. At Fresh on the Net, we persist and get the info but think about what other opportunities you might be missing out on by making yourself too hard for journalists, bloggers etc. to write about. Okay, on with the reviews.

ALAS DE LIONA – The Vespertine

Edinburgh-based Californian Alas De Liona has been making serious waves over the past two years including two singles that have achieved over 100K and nearly 90K streams respectively. The fact that she is playing venues like the iconic King Tuts in Glasgow and Sneaky Pete’s in Edinburgh speaks for itself and she has also played the Leith Depot, home to the only ever Scottish leg of our Fresh on the Net Live festival.

The Vespertine kicks off with big heavenly synth chords and Alas De Liona’s expressive voice. The track builds into a bigger, more epic triplet time power ballad, lifted by superb contrasts of timbre and texture plus big harmonies. It is a master class in how production and arrangement can make a very good song into a great track. Every nuance, every almost crashing chord, every sudden rhythmic shift all add to the gigantic atmosphere, resulting in an original and irresistible track that will compel you to press repeat.

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BLUE SCARR AND AIMÉE BRITANNIA – Heartache

Blue Scarr is a UK-based music artist, DJ, producer and radio presenter. He has been played by Kiss Dance and had support from BBC Introducing in Manchester as well as riding high on various independent dance lists including Amazing Radio USA. Aimée Britannia is a singer, songwriter and pianist from Cape Town in South Africa. The pair have previously collaborated on numerous singles including the highly popular Thinking Out The Box and the more recent Moonlight.

Busy staccato synth patterns and long dreamy chords accompany a busy female vocal performance. When the beat kicks in, it has a pumping resonance. The melody is catchy and Aimée’s vocals have a yearning quality that is appealing and attention-grabbing. Great production too.

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COURTEOUS THIEF – The Moth And The Flame

Hailing from North Wales, Courteous Thief’s website includes some quotes from significant names including one that inaccurately describes Fresh on the Net as being part of BBC 6 Music. For the record, we have NO connection to the BBC in any capacity. He counts among his supporters Adam Walton from BBC Introducing in Wales and ‘Music Blog Wales’. Courteous Thief maintains an impressive live itinerary that takes him all over Wales and out to the North West of England and beyond. He has also appeared on Cerys Matthews’ show on BBC 6 music.

Based around delicately played picking guitar and CT’s slightly breathy and melancholy vocals, this sucks us straight in, proving that sometimes keeping the arrangement simple and organic can work if you have strong enough melodic material. It is testament to his talent that, beyond adding some clever harmonies and BVs, he manages to keep the momentum building without introducing any additional instrumental tracks. That is craftsmanship.

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JACKSON MATHOD – Axel Road

It is good to have new material from the highly talented trumpeter-composer and all-round musician Jackson Mathod. With recent support from BBC Introducing in London and a new album out in September, Jackson is looking at a busy time ahead. A highly respected musician with an impressive track record both live and in the studio, he also has fresh faves pedigree stretching back at least six years.

Axel Road is built on solid but free flowing foundations of drums, percussion, bass and other assorted timbres. Against this lively palette, Jackson sets out a mix of carefully crafted melodies and mouth watering improv on the trumpet. At times there are chord sequences worthy of Steely Dan and fusion-style chordplay that nods to the likes of Herbie Hancock and Joe Zawinul. All in all, a compelling and impressive listen.

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MIMIKA ORCHESTRA – Omen

Brainchild of London-based Croatian saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist and composer Max Murtić, Mimika Orchestra are returning fresh faves who have been active since 2010. April saw them play Vintage in Zagreb among other dates. 2025 saw the release of their album Medzodetermina.

If you are familiar with Mimika Orchestra’s work, you will not be surprised to hear more of their shifting rhythmic configurations, counterpoints and rich, sometimes slightly dissonant harmonic language. Omen brings cinematic technicolour, even reminding me in moments of the Thunderbirds theme (yes, the Gerry Anderson classic programme from TV’s early years). The lyrics are in what I presume to be Croatian and, whether I am right or wrong about that, they have a lovely lyrical flow while the vocal harmonies are genuinely goose-bumping. This, my friends, is pure undiluted quality.

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NADINE HABERL – Surrender

Spanish artist Nadine Haberl has genuine international pedigree that has seen her record in Iceland and receive airplay around Europe including BBC stations and RTE in Ireland. She plays, among other instruments the criminally under-rated Viola (ok, it was my instrument in my orchestral years!) and has gigged across Europe. Nadine also has a background in musical theatre.

Surrender floats into focus on rising piano arpeggios and Nadine’s gentle but commanding alto range vocals. Then we have rich strings and lush harmonies. A vibrato Cello peaks out from within the mix here and there too. The mood is subtly rueful and carries an emotional power and intensity that grows as the track develops and the accompanying Cello becomes more prominent. Dynamic and very touching.

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THE CLOUD – In My Aquarium

You know, in all honesty, if you are going to choose an artist name that is as generic as ‘The Cloud’, it is really a good idea to ensure you are easy to find online. But with no links on their Soundcloud page and nothing coming up for the combination of artist name and title on google, I am unable to tell you the tiniest detail about this artist. What a terrible shame after our readers have voted them into the faves. There is just a Musicmatch page with the lyrics on it and a Spotify profile that describes them as ‘a franchise of the ominous groove cinematic universe’.

In My Aquarium is introduced by a cool rhythm, a big drum sound contrasted by fairy tale tuned percussion and keys. The vocals have a dreamy quality, bolstered at times by harmonies. There are clever contrasts, drops and chord changes. Against all ths, the melody is engaging and emotionally forceful. The drop in register in the vocals later in the track adds another layer of intrigue and inventiveness. All in all, a gorgeous hybrid of Synthpop, Retro Pop and hints of Soul.

TSARZI – The Hungry Hungry Cenotaph

Described, on her Instagram page, as ‘Decadence, kitsch for a world on the brink’, Tsarzi is a genre-blending artist who has received praise from our founder Tom Robinson who played her music on the BBC Introducing Mixtape on 6 Music back in 2018. She has also had high praise from our fellow mod Tony Hardy in Fifty 3 Fridays and from Now Then Magazine.

A semi-miltary snare drum figure and octave jumping piano drives this unusual track with daunting alto range spoken word plus folky soprano melodies and violin that together emphasise the drone effect of the octave figure. There are clever chromatic descending motifs in open harmonics here and there and vocal overlaps in a pronounced semi-classical style before a chorus of male vocals marches into the lower end of the mix. Hypnotic and intriguing.

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VIRGIN ORCHESTRA – BDSM

From the consistently excellent 122 Music Management stable, Icelandic indie warriors Virgin Orchestra have been on my radar for a little while now. They were formed in Reykjavik (the Icelandic Capital in case you were not sure), they have just completed an impressive UK tour taking in Glasgow, Cardiff, Manchester, Liverpool, London and Brighton, they will be back in Iceland in October to support Rock legends Queens of the Stone Age.

The provocatively titled BDSM has drama and atmosphere in spades. Spiked echoing guitars scythe their way through a cinematic sea of synths, strings and piano while there is a Gothic aspect there too. Shades of Effervescence in a jam with Lorde while Chromatics bring calm and charisma. But that could be misleading because Virgin Orchestra have their own distinctive sound and BDSM is a sparkling, shimmering sample of their style. Probably my track of the week (and that is in a very strong week too).

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WASUREMONO – Me And The Noise

Created by Bradford-Upon-Avon’s multi-instrumentalist William Southward and characterised by infectiously melodic songs and spacious harmonies, Wasuremono have an astonishing track record of making the fresh faves that stretches all the way back to 2013. This likeable male-female quartet have another short UK tour lined up in October. They have had support over recent years from both Steve Lamacq and Don Letts on BBC 6 Music and from BBC Introducing in the West of England. They have even had a track that topped 16 million streams.

Me And The Noise is characteristically melodic uptempo Alt Pop bathed in harmonies. A cheery keyboard figure leads the intro before running bass and straight-ahead beat provide the motor for epic Pop that has echoes of Friends Again in a jam with Bombay Bicycle Club while Everything Everything drop by with flavours. Whether you like it or not, you will be swept along by the sheer positivity and melodic intent of this energetic invigorating track.

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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.