The evenings might be drawing in and weather warnings might have been issued overnight, but fear not – this week’s Fresh Faves are one of the best batches we’ve seen for some time. So don’t venture outside – draw the curtains, bunker down with a cuppa and get your ears around these… Listed in alphabetical order, to see the full list, click read more »
AL CHAMBERLAIN – Train Song
A really gorgeous piece of heartfelt acoustica, it’s no surprise that ‘Train Song’ was among the more popular tracks in this week’s Listening Post. Chamberlain’s lyrics are leagues above your standard run-of-the-mill singer-songwriter, with all of the wit and understated poeticism of Jarvis Cocker (and his phrasing’s not too dissimilar either). And as for the track itself – just try to hold back the goosebumps when the strings come in towards the end…
CENTREFOLDS – Fresh Air
Bath-based four-piece Centrefolds might call themselves ‘indie/pop’, but there’s far more to them than just that. With pinches of electronica, prog, krautrock and downright eccentricity all bubbling away in the musical melting pot of ‘Fresh Air’, it’s pretty obvious why Centrefolds were the most popular of all of the artists this week.
DO YOU FEEL WHAT I FEEL DEER – Save My Heart
Words like ‘ghosty’ and ‘ethereal’ seem to get bandied about like they’re going out of fashion, but nobody fits the description better than the wonderfully-named Brighton-based duo Do You Feel What I Feel Deer. There’s not too much information on them out there (which only adds to the mystique) but they sum it up in one sentence: “We write wonky songs about beautiful pictures.” Um, yeah – either way, ‘Save My Heart’ is every bit as lovely as it is ominous.
HARTS – Back To The Shore
If we’re looking at hit-potential, ‘Back To The Shore’ has got it by the bucketload. Harts is clearly a pretty damn talented fella, playing every instrument and producing all of his material himself in his bedroom. Slick and polished, Harts has already picked up support from the likes of Australia’s Triple J radio station, and if there’s one endorsement that is almost always reliable, it’s one that comes from them. It might be worth keeping a close eye on Harts…
HOLLY AND THE WOLF – Holding Me Back
Despite being an “unapologetically modern tale of thwarted love lost and found… and lost again,” ‘Holding Me Back’ is a sunny, piano-led jaunt. It was another hugely popular track with our voters this week, and it’s easy to see why. Didn’t think they still make them like they used to? Think again!
INTERVALS – Water
Although they have relocated from their hometown of Oxford to a windowless rehearsal room in Camden, Intervals have retained that typically ‘Oxford’ inflection in their songwriting – emotionally charged, intelligent and . They reckon they sound “somewhere between Minus the Bear, Radiohead, Wild Beasts and Bon Iver”, but feel free to file alongside fellow Oxfordites Foals and Spring Offensive as well.
MONDAY MACHINES – Ruined Morning
Oh, the joys of modern technology. ‘Ruined Morning’ was taken from the self-titled EP from the trans-Atlantic four-piece Monday Machines, which was recorded using “Skype brainstorming and FTP tracking back-and-forth.” Not that you’d know, mind you – ‘Ruined Morning’ is full of subdued charm, sounding a little like The Velvet Underground at their softest.
SUSIE WILKINS – Wasted Time
After starting her career on the Hong Kong circuit (honestly), Susie Wilkins has honed her craft to a tee. Full of poise and elegance, ‘Wasted Time’ is a blues and jazz influenced track that demonstrates her impressive vocal talents as well as her ability to pen a timeless tune.
THE GRAVITY DRIVE – Trick Of The Light
With a chorus that is fairly close to alt-pop perfection, ‘Trick Of The Light’ looks set to continue the praise that The Gravity Drive have been picking up from supporters ranging from our very own Tom Robinson through to, um, Channel 4’s Hollyoaks. It’s free to download from the band’s website as of 30th September – it’s well worth getting your hands on it if you can.
THE PAPER SHADES – Where You Lay
Another duo (there’s a lot of ’em knocking about this week, isn’t there?), art college friends The Paper Shades specialise in creating little folky worlds of “multi instrumental, harmony drenched intrigue.” Apparently their interests include tea, eating regularly and open fires. Where can I join?
FROM TOM: If you’ve submitted a track that hasn’t made the Fresh Faves you’re welcome to re-submit it again. But if you have been a Fresh Fave in recent weeks could you possibly hold back for at least six weeks before sending us another one. If you keep sending us great tracks they’re likely to get onto the Listening Post, but that means less room for new names who haven’t had a chance yet…
Check out the video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_rH3SQhXH8
I meant check out the video for FRESH AIR by Centrefolds!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_rH3SQhXH8
Feel very proud to be on this list of very very strong artists.
x
If you have the chance to hear Susie Wilkins sing drop everything and go, she will blow you away.
Great picks and great week. I wanted to say thanks for putting me on the voting stage this week, and Tom pointed out that I did something wrong buy posting that I was included on my facebook page. Fortunately it didn’t make a difference but I didn’t realize we couldn’t even do that but after reading I see what you are saying. It went unnoticed but I felt I should apologize regardless. Anyhow it wont happen again and thanks for listening and thanks for providing an amazing platform for artists. Arriba!
Hi All,
I was extremely proud to make it into the Top 30 tracks this week. the quality of all the tracks was astounding.
Congratulations to the Top 10 above.
I’ll be voting regularly from now on..
X
Really great stuff. All so strong. Absolutely crazy about the Monday Machines track. Thanks for another batch of great tracks.
What an honour to make the top ten along with such brilliant songs!
Holding Me Back by Holly and The Wolf and Ruined Morning by Monday Machines are particularly stunning.
Really chuffed to be included in such a fantastic line up of artists and songs. Big thanks to everyone who voted and to the fresh on the net team for providing this brilliant platform for new music x
As we said, an honour to be among the 30, congrats to those picked for the Faves.
Thanks to all at FOTN – this really is a fantastic forum for new music. We’ll have another go this week to get to the final furlong, then I think we’ll leave you alone!
Congrats to all those who made it. We used quite a few this week as there were so many great tracks to choose from.
Thanks very much to everyone who voted for my tune. Feel very proud to be on this list – some lovely songs.
Thanks for the votes and for adding us to this great list!