Every week the team individually pick tracks that make up the listening post but there are always “ones that got away”.

These are the alternative picks and some words by our moderators on each one. You can find the tracks in one playlist here.

ARTISTS FEATURED THIS WEEK:

LYVINAAH
GARDENBACK
LADY NADE
BENNY THE MOTH
FAT SPATULA
THE MARLINAS
DAWG!
STRAINGER
CONCHIS
MAN AT SEA
DOG MONOLOGUE
SHARON LAZIBYRD

ALAN DREEZER:

LYVINAAH – Moonlight

There’s something beautifully understated about this gentle, soothing track from Brazilian artist Lyvinaah. Reminiscent of early Billie Eilish, Moonlight has a delicate, intimate quality, with a vocal performance that feels both vulnerable and assured. There’s a lovely sense of space in the arrangement that allows the song to breathe and the emotion to shine through.

GARDENBACK – If You Want

A cool slice of alternative rock from Oldham’s Gardenback. The first minute immediately caught my attention with its unusual, slightly off-kilter drum pattern, but what I particularly love is how the track continues to build and evolve. Strings are used to great effect, adding real depth and drama as the arrangement gathers momentum. There’s a real sense of creativity here taking the song somewhere you might not initially expect. Inventive, exciting and a great example of a band that isn’t afraid to do something a little different.

DEL OSEI-OWUSU/PLATINUMMIND:

LADY NADE – Identity

This is old school! It’s got a very 70s feel to it, with the hammond organ and and the wurlitzer and the strong deep vocals – the guitars have got some fuzz on it, and the timing for this release couldn’t be any better – it’s black history month in the UK and so this is celebrating identity and diversity and it’s unashamedly loud and proud.

BENNY THE MOTH – Spare Change

This is a dirty indie blues rock track, it’s got grungy guitars and the addition of the harmonica makes this a track that’s got bite. This track challenges you to make the change that the world needs, looking after the underdog, and that it starts with you.

PAUL KERR:

FAT SPATULA – Old Pretty One

Drop the fork, clear the table, and prepare your palate for today’s Chef’s special. York slacker rock four-piece Fat Spatula have cooked up an alt-rock storm with Old Pretty One, serving up a deliciously filthy, chaotic feast.

​Imagine David Byrne’s oversized 1984 Stop Making Sense suit, wrinkled, imposing, and humming with neurotic kinetic energy. Crumble a couple of deeply fried Pavement stock cubes into the pocket, drown the entire thing in a hugely rich, velvet-thick Modern Lovers sauce, and top it off with the single funkiest, forgotten-about condiments scraped straight from the dark corners of the pantry. Give it a violent, reckless whip with a massive plastic spatula, and what do you get? A track that slaps you sideways before you even realize you’re dancing. It’s loud, it’s loose, and it leaves an exquisite aftertaste you won’t be washing out anytime soon.

THE MARLINAS – The Yorkshire Swine

Hold onto your crowns and lock up your livestock: Leicester trio The Marlinas have unleashed a brutal, dirt-under-the-fingernails garage punk rocket/racket. ​The Yorkshire Swine is a raw, jagged slice of historical vandalism. It takes the tangled, royal mess of Richard III, blows away the textbook dust, and drags the hunchbacked king kicking and screaming through a modern, oil-stained garage distortion pedal. It’s twitchy, mean, and delivered with the kind of frantic, beat-up energy that feels like it was recorded in a damp cellar on two-inch tape that’s about to catch fire.

​The entire track is a kinetic rush of scuzzed-up riffs and rhythmic thuggery, but the absolute star of the show is its lethal anchor of a lyric: “A boar won’t survive in a fox den.” It’s a line so sharp, so instantly iconic, that it burrows straight through your skull and hunkers down in your prefrontal cortex, setting up camp for the next three days. It’s equal parts Tudor history lesson and pub-fight threat, a localised Leicester jab delivered with a venomous sneer.

SHARON PEARCE:

DAWG! – Panic

A melodic pop track with an Afro-influenced feel and a contemporary sound that sits somewhere between pop and rap. It has a simple backdrop and a laid-back vibe.

STRAINGER – Repaired

A mix of electronic, pop and rock creates an upbeat sound with a deeper meaning. Energetic and full of emotion, it turns a difficult experience into something positive.

SHEENA CAMERON:

CONCHIS – Under Your Feathers

It always feels like a privilege to listen to songs born out of deeply personal experience. This track by Finnish electro alt-pop artist Conchis emerged from her struggle with a debilitating relapse of ME and chronic fatigue syndrome.

Haunting layered vocals and a dark, industrial soundscape create atmospheric, mesmerising contrasts and emotional tension, gradually opening into something more expansive and hopeful. It is a chanting prayer for protection and resilience in difficult times that feels both personal and universal.

MAN AT SEA – Major Play

This has elements of chamber pop: a classical, timeless sound with an indie edge that makes it a very intriguing track. The track is from the forthcoming ‘Four Major Plays’, which sounds like an equally intriguing concept EP.

Built around the piano, this is beautifully composed and arranged. It’s an intimate performance with a sense of understated grandeur. David Hewson has a strong and distinctive vocal that also expresses fragility and emotion. I love the theatrical allusions and dramatic vocal timing with pauses, which offer a striking contrast to the introspective lyrics about appreciating the simpler things in life.

TONY HARDY:

DOG MONOLOGUE – The Gods Are My Boss

There are shades of Mercury Rev in their more ethereal moments about the admirably named Dog Monologue and this wonderfully melodic song, evoking Greek gods and juxtaposing their wrath with the mundane side of holding down a job. It could, of course, have been inspired by going to see Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” as much of the imagery seems to echo the film version of the classic story. Whatever, the blend of synths, programming and organic instruments is quite sublime, topped and tailed by dreamily high vocals and harmonies.

SHARON LAZIBYRD – Shades Of Green

“Shades of Green” has the air of premonition about it. The harmonium provides an ever-present drone over which Sharon intones her words mantra-like, bridged by a mournful string-driven passage. Vocally she adopts the tones of a lament in traditional folk style, airily and quietly hypnotic. This short piece leaves you wanting to hear more. Indeed, it comes across as a prelude to greater revelations, setting a scene lyrically in snatches of imagery and posing a question. We look forward to the answer.