Listening Post: Batch 43

Sennheiser Momentum headphones
Post your 5 favourite tracks, in any order, in a comment at the bottom of the page.

Welcome to our last Listening Post of 2012 – Team Freshnet’s way of helping artists try out new tunes on sympathetic strangers. We get sent a lot of great songs – and these are the 31 that Team Freshnet loved most this week. The ones that YOU like best will become our final Fresh Faves of the year next Monday, December 17th.

Becoming a Fresh Fave here doesn’t change an artist’s chances of airplay on my radio shows – which feature personal picks from a wide variety of sources. This is simply a community page where our readers can hear a bunch of great tunes, tell us their 5 favourites, and share their thoughts with the artists. Tips:

Dip into tracks at random, like channel hopping on TV.
Be as biased as you like: trust your own personal taste
If you hate what you hear, move on.
The only question is: do I like this – yes or no?

If you copy and paste from this list when posting your 5 faves it’s easier for us to count up afterwards…

THE LUNAR PILOTS – Hurry Up And Live
BODY IN THE THAMES – Panno Impregnato (Instrumental Version)
JOE INNES & THE CAVALCADE – Sweetheart Revolution
ANTON FRANK – Open Circuit
BENJAMIN SHAW & FIGHTING KITES – This Christmas (I Just Want To Be Left Alone)
THE HALF LIGHT – If You Come To Clapham
ECHO PARK – Hailey
SEAN KEEFE – We are all very concerned about you
MIDDLETON HALL – No Way Home
HIVA OA – Badger
KID GLOVES – Aloosh
K-RODD – Daffodil Girl
RANDOLPH SWAIN AND THE RED LIGHTS – Little House
THE BIG SUN – Messed Up Friend
JONNY REGAN – End Of The World
SNIPPET – Come To My Party
THE CUT THROAT RAZORS – Mr Bond
LE PARODY (EXPERIMENTS) – Love Me (La Necesidad)
WILD COMBINATION – Great Expectations
MY GREY HORSE – Need Wood
BERT SUSANKA & THE ASTRONAUT LOVE TRIANGLE – There Won’t Be Any Christmas…
JESS HARWOOD – Every Little Thing
ANiMAL – Keep The Fire Burning
ANDREW MONTGOMERY – Making Up For Lost Time
MAIA – Where Else But Earth
KATHRYN SAWERS – The Good
EMMA GARRETT – Dose Me Up
TOM HICKOX – The Pretty Pride of Russia
APOLLO JUNCTION – Born For Now
SI SEÑOR/YES SIR – Polo Heart
FALLINGHAM FAIR – Think of it as Christmas

ARTISTS: Obviously you’ll be tempted to tell all your fans & friends about being on this week’s Listening Post, but please don’t do that. This vote is about quality of music, not how many Facebook friends you have. After recent problems, we now instantly remove any artists who get their friends to come and vote for them, or any artist who gets more than one vote from the same household.

But hey – your music’s in this list because we loved it – chances are that other people will love it too. So why not spread the love around and tell us your own five favourite tracks by the other people here?

Tom Robinson

37 Comments

  1. Steve

    Tracks 1 and 12 appear to be the same.

    14:22 Friday 14th Dec
    Thanks Steve – operator error on my part – have now removed the duplicate track!
    Tom

  2. K-RODD

    YoHoHo…

    KID GLOVES – Aloosh
    RANDOLPH SWAIN AND THE RED LIGHTS – Little House
    THE BIG SUN – Messed Up Friend
    SNIPPET – Come To My Party
    JONNY REGAN – End Of The World

    And a very merry Christmas to you all.

  3. J&C

    THE HALF LIGHT – If You Come To Clapham – I will be doing in a few weeks and I hope it is as good as this song.

    THE BIG SUN – Messed Up Friend – Im really starting to like this band – the singer is lovely! Need to hear even more than the two on here in previous weeks.

    BERT SUSANKA & THE ASTRONAUT LOVE TRIANGLE –There Won’t Be Any Christmas… – Unseasonal greatings I like

    APOLLO JUNCTION – Born For Now – my daughter liked this (radio 1 friendly..)Not my cup of tea but she says it’s an ‘anthem’ – it is catchy.

    SI SEÑOR/YES SIR – Polo Heart – my favourite… my daughter wasnt as keen..

    Bonus as it has christmas in it as well as sounds great..
    FALLINGHAM FAIR – Think of it as Christmas

  4. Tom Hickox

    Oi oi.

    HIVA OA – Badger
    KID GLOVES – Aloosh
    FALLINGHAM FAIR – Think of it as Christmas
    LE PARODY (EXPERIMENTS) – Love Me (La Necesidad)
    WILD COMBINATION – Great Expectations

  5. TOM HICKOX – The Pretty Pride of Russia – Straight out of the top drawer. Great voice.
    THE BIG SUN – Messed Up Friend
    WILD COMBINATION – Great Expectations
    BERT SUSANKA & THE ASTRONAUT LOVE TRIANGLE – There Won’t Be Any Christmas…
    JONNY REGAN – End Of The World

  6. LE PARODY (EXPERIMENTS) – Love Me (La Necesidad)
    K-RODD – Daffodil Girl
    WILD COMBINATION – Great Expectations
    KID GLOVES – Aloosh
    SNIPPET – Come To My Party

    Have to say Le Parody’S is one of the best tracks I’ve heard it all year…happy xmas from us

    TBS

  7. Andrew Montgomery? As in “him that was in Geneva” Andrew Montgomery? Awesome sauce.

    I’ll have my 5 choices up at the weekend.

  8. Hey.
    I enjoyed all the Christmas songs but didnt want 3 of the 5 to be xmas songs and could not decide which of the 3 I enjoyed the most. I liked them all. And they all could and nearly made my top 5. But in the end didnt include any.

    K-RODD – Daffodil Girl
    SNIPPET – Come To My Party
    JOE INNES & THE CAVALCADE – Sweetheart Revolution
    KATHRYN SAWERS – The Good
    LE PARODY (EXPERIMENTS) – Love Me (La Necesidad)

  9. Marga

    HIVA OA – Badger
    I like the atmospheric reverse looping Structure

    K-RODD – Daffodil Girl
    I like the hypnotic bleeping

    THE CUT THROAT RAZORS – Mr Bond
    Somewhere in the middle the change to Polkabond! Yes very tight and varied arrangements keeps me listening.

    LE PARODY (EXPERIMENTS) – Love Me (La Necesidad)
    I love the quirky voices, exotic hawaiian ukelele sound

    BERT SUSANKA & THE ASTRONAUT LOVE TRIANGLE – There Won’t Be Any Christmas…
    Lovely joyous playing does the trick, finally found my tree

    Happy snowy holidays!

  10. Randolph

    Great stuff once again…loads of space tings going on…is it a sign ?

    here’s my selection

    SNIPPET – Come To My Party
    THE CUT THROAT RAZORS – Mr Bond
    MY GREY HORSE – Need Wood
    K-RODD – Daffodil Girl
    JESS HARWOOD – Every Little Thing

  11. Jim

    A strong week to end the year, but these are my 5:

    K-RODD – Daffodil Girl
    ANiMAL – Keep The Fire Burning
    TOM HICKOX – The Pretty Pride of Russia
    APOLLO JUNCTION – Born For Now
    SI SEÑOR/YES SIR – Polo Heart

    Also deserving of a mention… THE HALF LIGHT, SNIPPET, ECHO PARK, and LE PARODY.

    The standout track from the above for me is the Tom Hickox one. Without doubt one of the finest songs I’ve heard this year.

  12. My 5 to close 2012 are,in order of appearance;

    HIVA OA – Badger
    hypnotic & tranquil intro with lovely harmonies encircling a root loop,the build up & crescendo so riddled with sadness-great contrast.
    RANDOLPH SWAIN AND THE RED LIGHTS – Little House
    love the synth & FX in the intro.Vocals so full of angst amongst a backdrop of wicked guitar-space rock is back with a vengence.
    ANiMAL – Keep The Fire Burning
    here’s something to shake off the ghost of xmas.A stomping track,arrangement & production-splendid track indeed.
    ANDREW MONTGOMERY – Making Up For Lost Time
    those vocals are something else.so laid back.
    ace song structure,arrangement & production.
    EMMA GARRETT – Dose Me Up
    What AMAZING vocals-what an amazing song-what an amazing production-am I overusing ‘amazing’-ok let’s try WOW.

    special mentions to;
    The Lunar Pilots–would love to see them live.
    K- Rodd–love the vibe
    Snippet–an unique genre that goes beyond the norm with a breath of fresh air normally reserved for country dwellers.

    There is one honourable mention for 2012 that I’d like to make to a certain Tom Robinson.Without him,none of this would have been possible and many voices would have been left unheard.I would like to take this opportunity to thank him on behalf of us all.

    Thank you Tom.

    Wishing you all a Merry xmas and a successful musical 2013.

  13. THE LUNAR PILOTS – Hurry Up And Live
    ECHO PARK – Hailey
    JONNY REGAN – End Of The World
    SNIPPET – Come To My Party
    ANDREW MONTGOMERY – Making Up For Lost Time

  14. I cut it down to 10 this week and then was stuck and had to go back and back and back to mull it over but here are my Faves for this week.

    THE HALF LIGHT – If You Come To Clapham
    JONNY REGAN – End Of The World
    ANDREW MONTGOMERY – Making Up For Lost Time
    EMMA GARRETT – Dose Me Up
    TOM HICKOX – The Pretty Pride of Russia

    What really grasped my attention were some truly amazing vocals this week, particularly Andrew and Tom.

    I’d like to salute both Lunar Pilots and Anton Frank too as they both submitted great tunes this week.

    Merry Christmas to one and all…

  15. Brian Reddie

    I only like 3 of those. 🙁

    Favourite of the lot though:
    BODY IN THE THAMES – Panno Impregnato (Instrumental Version) Really lovely nu-disco with a really nice slink to it, this deserves much more attention and I’d like to hear more. Reminds me of Gavin Russom’s more restrained synth stuff, which is a definite good thing. I’m genuinely interested in what the vocal (not instrumental) version sounds like.

    KID GLOVES – Aloosh I like the interplay between the restrained vocals and jesus lizardy backing. I’m interested in hearing what else they can do.
    BERT SUSANKA & THE ASTRONAUT LOVE TRIANGLE – There Won’t Be Any Christmas… Paul Anka covers Tom Waits, how can you not like this.

  16. There was a top 8 for me, which really stood out, and it was pretty tough to get it down to 5. However:

    THE LUNAR PILOTS – Hurry Up And Live
    ANTON FRANK – Open Circuit
    ECHO PARK – Hailey
    MY GREY HORSE – Need Wood
    ANiMAL – Keep The Fire Burning

  17. Tom Robinson

    @BrianReddie – thanks so much for your kind comments. Generous feedback like yours is always really appreciated by artists.

    But for various good reasons, we only count votes from people who’ve picked a full five tracks. Would you mind giving us two more tunes that you, erm, dislike less than the others? That way Body In The Thames, Kid Gloves and Bert Susanka will get the benefit of your support when we count up next week’s Fresh Faves…

    Cheers!

  18. And my 5 choices this week are:

    THE LUNAR PILOTS – Hurry Up And Live
    ECHO PARK – Hailey
    TOM HICKOX – The Pretty Pride of Russia
    K-RODD – Daffodil Girl
    WILD COMBINATION – Great Expectations

    And in the “I like but…” section this week we have:

    The Big Sun – wonderful pop songs but alas, I have blogged about this artist in the past. Did you know that two of the members used to be in Ride, and another in the Candyskins?

    Andrew Montgomery – probably the absolute highlight of this week’s list. However, as his previous band’s “Weather Underground” is one of my favourite ever albums, it probably isn’t in the spirit of things to give him my vote.

  19. Afternoon folks…..and what a mighty bunch of tracks!

    In order of appearance (sorry not had time this week to put individual comments on peoples tracks):

    JONNY REGAN – End Of The World – aaaah Mr Regan 😉

    ANDREW MONTGOMERY – Making Up For Lost Time – the vocals melted me…yes…I am liquid…but can still type – vocals reminded me a bit of James Walsh (Starsailor)

    KATHRYN SAWERS – The Good – stunning – reminded me of Martha Wainwright

    EMMA GARRETT – Dose Me Up – bloody epic!

    FALLINGHAM FAIR – Think of it as Christmas – beautiful, pretty & enchanting – a lovely last song to finish off the listening post 😉

    Soooo many others I loved- too many to list – hats off to you all!!

    I wouldn’t usually post an advert for stuff on the listening post BUT I’d really like to draw your attention to this:

    I’ve set up a Just Giving page to try to raise money for the homeless charity Shelter over the Christmas period. I’m selling off my much loved Tanglewood electro-concert classical guitar (with new strings fitted) to raise money.

    I’m also giving away all my music for FREE on Bandcamp over the Christmas period to try to raise some money for Shelter – so thats x2 albums, x2 EP’s & a Christmas track about homelessness at Christmas in exchange for a donation to Shelter via my Just Giving page.

    Here’s the link:

    http://www.justgiving.com/debsmccoy

    The link to my Bandcamp page is on there & photos & info about the guitar.

    I’ll try to sell/auction off a framed photographic print of mine too that was exhibited at The Baltic, Centre for Contemporary Art in Newcastle in 2008 alongside Yoko Ono & Fluxus Exhibitions. I’ll be posting stuff on Twitter.

    Thanks in advance folks – and a MASSIVE thank you for all the blinding tracks.

    Have a great Christmas all of you
    Peace, love and musical festivities 😉
    Debs x

  20. Al

    HIVA OA – Badger
    THE CUT THROAT RAZORS – Mr Bond
    LE PARODY (EXPERIMENTS) – Love Me (La Necesidad)
    ANDREW MONTGOMERY – Making Up For Lost Time
    TOM HICKOX – The Pretty Pride of Russia

  21. James Robins

    HIVA OA – Badger
    KID GLOVES – Aloosh
    SNIPPET – Come To My Party
    ANDREW MONTGOMERY – Making Up For Lost Time
    MAIA – Where Else But Earth

  22. TOM HICKOX – The Pretty Pride of Russia
    ANTON FRANK – Open Circuit
    SNIPPET – Come To My Party
    SI SEÑOR/YES SIR – Polo Heart
    FALLINGHAM FAIR – Think of it as Christmas

    Merry Xmas from Auntie Evil

  23. RP

    Well then:

    JOE INNES & THE CAVALCADE – Sweetheart Revolution
    WILD COMBINATION – Great Expectations
    KID GLOVES – Aloosh
    TOM HICKOX – The Pretty Pride of Russia
    BENJAMIN SHAW & FIGHTING KITES – This Christmas (I Just Want To Be Left Alone)

    Peace and goodwill to all x

  24. brian reddie

    Sorry Tom, of course. Apologies for not fulfilling the vote requirements. :/

    I’ve relistened, and my initial three stand as is with the inclusion of the following

    MAIA – Where Else But Earth quite quite lovely, it reminds me of a number of things, but its more tone and production rather than an obvious influence. that’s not much help, but it is lovely. (some Rachel’s, bit hidden cameras, etc) Don’t know why i missed this the first time.

    SNIPPET – Come To My Party I like the slight baroque influence in the composition, it also reminds me of Plugs. Good to hear different instrumentation being used. I hope they get the chance to put more stuff out.

  25. It probably wouldn’t be right for me to vote for Benjamin Shaw & Fighting Kites!

    So…

    SNIPPET – Come To My Party
    MY GREY HORSE – Need Wood (my favourite, I think?)
    BIG SUN – Messed Up Friend
    KID GLOVES – Aloosh
    HIVA OA – Badger

    Looking forward to 2013’s selections, Tom and co.

    Merry Christmas.

    x

  26. K-RODD – Daffodil Girl
    JONNY REGAN – End Of The World
    LE PARODY (EXPERIMENTS) – Love Me (La Necesidad)
    BODY IN THE THAMES – Panno Impregnato (Instrumental Version)
    ANDREW MONTGOMERY – Making Up For Lost Time

    Thanks to everyone who voted for Snippet.

    Merry Christmas and a happy new year to everyone

    Johnno

  27. Bill

    JESS HARWOOD – Every Little Thing
    (Great lyrics, great phrasing, great…EVERYTHING!)

    KID GLOVES – Aloosh
    HIVA OA – Badger
    JOE INNES & THE CAVALCADE – Sweetheart Revolution
    ANDREW MONTGOMERY – Making Up For Lost Time

    Looking forward to the next listening post (which is when, exactly?).

    Merry Christmas & a happy New Year!

  28. Amy.

    APOLLO JUNCTION – born for now – fantastic track – got massive massive potential. Production quality is awesome. Definitely my favourite. The rest follow in this order:
    KID GLOVES – Aloosh
    HIVA OA – Badger
    JOE INNES & THE CAVALCADE – Sweetheart Revolution

    xx

  29. Danielle x

    5 highlights from the tracks of listened to:

    JONNY REGAN – End Of The World
    THE HALF LIGHT – If You Come To Clapham
    APOLLO JUNCTION – Born For Now
    ANTON FRANK – Open Circuit
    THE LUNAR PILOTS – Hurry Up And Live

    cheers

  30. Frances Weaver

    BENJAMIN SHAW & FIGHTING KITES – This Christmas (I Just Want To Be Left Alone): My sentiments exactly

    HIVA OA – Badger: Weird but cool

    SNIPPET – Come To My Party: Like this one a lot, reminds me of Madness (in a good way)

    EMMA GARRETT – Dose Me Up: Beautiful song, great vocals

    SI SEÑOR/YES SIR – Polo Heart: Great production

  31. Kim

    here’s my favourites this week…

    MIDDLETON HALL – No Way Home

    K-RODD – Daffodil Girl

    MY GREY HORSE – Need Wood

    TOM HICKOX – The Pretty Pride of Russia

    APOLLO JUNCTION – Born For Now

    And happy Christmas to you all!

  32. Oor last 5 of the year
    KATHRYN SAWERS – The Good
    MY GREY HORSE – Need Wood
    LE PARODY (EXPERIMENTS) – Love Me (La Necesidad)
    K-RODD – Daffodil Girl
    SI SEÑOR/YES SIR – Polo Heart

    Thanks tae Tom an the team fir includin’ us in the listenin’ posts this year, an cheers tae everyone who gave us a listen as a result. Much appreciated. We’ve discovered some great music through this an look forward to much more next year. We’re off tae consult the Christmas crackers fir some new jokes. Hope everyone has a great Christmas an New Year. A’ the best everyone, Steve an Rich Mule. X

  33. Well done all……
    Here’s my faves for this week

    HIVA OA – Badger

    K-RODD – Daffodil Girl

    JONNY REGAN – End Of The World

    BERT SUSANKA & THE ASTRONAUT LOVE TRIANGLE – There Won’t Be Any Christmas…

    SI SEÑOR/YES SIR – Polo Heart

    Big Christmas best wishes winging their way to all involved with FOTN and till the New Year be safe, be creative and spread the love xxx

  34. Mar

    Hi 🙂 my 5

    JOE INNES & THE CAVALCADE – Sweetheart Revolution
    HIVA OA – Badger
    KID GLOVES – Aloosh
    K-RODD – Daffodil Girl
    SI SEÑOR/YES SIR – Polo Heart

    Kid Gloves is the name of the track by Aloosh band. I saw this on friday but people was voting already, so I didn’t edited their name. It is hard for us sometimes to see these things when tracks are not submitted as “BAND NAME” – “Track Name”. In any case, Aloosh is a great band and I love their track.
    K-RODD: I have your “robotic” sound in my head for 3 days now. I can’t stop singing it!!!

    Spetial mention for Snippet and their wonderful track. I always like their fancy style.

    And other bands I want to mention as well: The Lunar Pilots (I did their review some weeks ago, very nice album). BENJAMIN SHAW & FIGHTING KITES, oooh I know where this track is coming! THE HALF LIGHT, JONNY REGAN. Liked their work very much.

    Have a nice sunday (rest of the day).
    Cheers!
    Mar

  35. KID GLOVES – Aloosh
    THE BIG SUN – Messed Up Friend
    SNIPPET – Come To My Party
    TOM HICKOX – The Pretty Pride of Russia
    BODY IN THE THAMES – Panno Impregnato

  36. Tom

    My 5 in alphabetical order

    JOE INNES & THE CAVALCADE – Sweetheart Revolution
    KID GLOVES – Aloosh
    LE PARODY (EXPERIMENTS) – Love Me (La Necesidad)
    SI SEÑOR/YES SIR – Polo Heart
    TOM HICKOX – The Pretty Pride of Russia

    I would honestly have voted for SNIPPET and MY GREY HORSE except for the fact that I’m mates with the people involved. Damn fine tunes though.

  37. Stew

    5 faves are

    BERT SUSANKA & THE ASTRONAUT LOVE TRIANGLE – There Won’t Be Any Christmas…
    EMMA GARRETT – Dose Me Up
    WILD COMBINATION – Great Expectations
    ANDREW MONTGOMERY – Making Up For Lost Time
    MY GREY HORSE – Need Wood

    Thanks for giving The Cut Throat Razors a listen…

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