Hello world,
We have this week’s FP Picks update with lots of great new music as always inc trx from proFESSional, Chilli Jesson, Panda Bear & many more. If you like what you hear please follow and share this playlist, it helps us keep doing our thing by getting the algorithms on our side. Also please support the artists featured in any way you can!
Until next week
Helen (Futureproof) x
Danny Dwyer & Lava La Rue – System Overload
Local Ladbroke Grove ‘girl of the moment’ Lava La Rue teams up with LA based genre chameleon Danny Dyer on this gentle and melodically rich indie / dance cut. La Rue’s now signature tightly harmonised vocals shine brightly over the sparse instrumentation, that twists & turns its way through the arrangement on this short but characterful track. Dry syndrums interact with arpeggiated guitar vibes to great effect, playing with retro production techniques but in a modern setting. Is this a one off collaboration or is there more to come from this inspired hook up?
Sunflower Bean – Teach Me To Be Bad
New York based rock trio Sunflower Bean‘s powerful track Teach Me To Be Bad is taken from their recently released EP Shake. “I don’t even know your name,” Julia Cumming sings in the opening lines across a searing riff. “But I love you all the same.” According to the band, the track is about “a chance meeting with a special person can change your life forever. It can be exhilarating and frightening to fall madly for someone you barely know.” The song takes elements of some of the better luminaries of rock ‘n’ roll: a blues rock hook that sounds like the sinister twin of Joan Jett, vocal howls recalling PJ Harvey at her most primal and drums that channel the lashing intensity of Black Sabbath‘s timeless “War Pigs”. It’s a belter for sure!
W. H. Lung – Bloom and Fade
Manchester synth-pop outfit W. H. Lung have shared energetic new single Bloom and Fade, taken from upcoming third album Every Inch Of Earth Pulsates. “I remember finishing the lyrics to Bloom and Fade feeling like the whole song had slipped out fully formed from somewhere between my heart and my belly,” singer Joseph Evans said. “But this song was not my life. It didn’t sound like any past experience nor did it describe anything that was currently occurring. However, I shit you not, six months later, it all happened to me (admittedly with a little update for the last verse, but sometimes you’ve got to help the magic along.) It felt like coming home to something when I sang it in the studio.” Recorded with renowned producer Ross Orton (Arctic Monkeys, MIA), Orton’s hands-on approach helped the band channel their raw energy into a vibrant, dynamic sound and what an earworm it is!
proFESSional – TELEVISION
Said to be one of the most exciting bands to emerge this year – that’s Stooges-exciting, Pixies-exciting, Queens Of The Stone Age-exciting… proFESSional’s latest single TELEVISION describes the chaotic world we live in. Humans are psychologically mad & crazy. Are we in the final innings of the human experiment? As we look around, we can either fill ourselves with rage, feelings of hopelessness & sadness, or we can create art inspired by the madness which is what the band do here. On it, vocalist Mani sings “I saw the news & now I’m scared to leave the house / I saw it all on television.” Having just wowed a packed house when they headlined Islington’s O2, proFESSional will be playing with the Levellers at Margate’s Dreamland (12th Nov) as well as with The Luka State at Brighton’s Green Store Door (14th Nov) & London’s 100 Club (16th Nov). Pick a date – they’re not to be missed.
Chilli Jesson – Something For Nothing
After a year’s absence on the release front, the ex Parma Violets frontman is back and well on form. This latest single employs characteristically similar chord movements to previous releases – but we’re not complaining as they work well and form a solid bedrock for Jesson’s lyrical excellence, keeping both the song and the backing track accessible on first listen and from then onwards. Lyrically about broken relationships & the ensuing bitterness, this one’s up there with his best work, sitting well alongside Carolina Reaper and the seminal Love is A Serious Mental Illness in any playlist imo… and having heard it first on Steve Lamacq’s Tea Time Session earlier this week, we’ve also learnt he’s been touring America as part of Fontaines DC supporting Arctic Monkeys no less! Ha! Give a busy man a job eh!
Man/Woman/Chainsaw – The Boss
London’s Man/Woman/Chainsaw have shared intense new single The Boss from their upcoming EP Eazy Peazy. “The Boss is the heaviest of the songs on the EP and definitely a live favourite of ours. We wanted to express our frustration with imbalanced power dynamics in our everyday lives with a big supermassive rant of a rock song,” the band explains. “In the writing process it began as a more standard punk tune until Emmie and Clio spontaneously improvised their interlocking violin/synth line that totally changed the direction of the song.” The band have quickly established themselves as one of the most electrifying and unpredictable young acts in the city and their raucous three singles have captivated audiences and critics alike.
Chloe Slater – Tiny Screens
Manchester based pop riser Chloe Slater recently dropped powerful new single Tiny Screens, an individual, infectious scuzzy pop song. Chloe has a talent for capturing the relatable struggles of modern life, striking a chord with her rapidly growing Gen Z audience and this latest single is no exception – featuring blistering, expansive production and gritty guitars that set the stage for her razor-sharp, satirical lyrics. Chloe states: “Tiny Screens is a song full of loud, thrashy drums and guitars and commentary about the fickle nature of virality and fame on the internet.” Fantastic tune!
Albertine Sarges – Stand Near Your Fire
Berlin artist and producer Albertine Sarges revels in obsession on the light-hearted single Stand Near Your Fire which sees Sarges boasting crunchy textures, high tempos and blown-out distortion to express how her love for someone has taken over her entire being. Where the music itself is bright and uplifting, Sarges hides a story of existential doubt and confusion in the opening verses. She describes a colorless life of missed opportunities with lyrics like “I was swimming in a dark sea.” but then things change and Sarges says that the track “contains the silly happiness of meeting someone you really adore and who brings out the best in you.” Great lyrics and distinct vocals make this energetic track an absolute winner – lovin’ it!
Panda Bear – Defense (ft. Cindy Lee)
Panda Bear (Animal Collective’s Noah Lennox) has announced upcoming new album Sinister Grift and lead single Defense is out now, which features Lennox’s signature multi-layered vocals, lush harmonies and Cindy Lee on guitar. Lennox’s first solo LP in five years is co-produced with Animal Collective bandmate Josh “Deakin” Dibb, who said: “Working on this record felt like a sacred and warm return. Noah and I first started putting music down to multitrack cassette in 1991. 32 years later and working in the same fashion, two friends alone in a room searching for sounds and feelings that move us, I am very proud of what we created together. Sinister Grift feels like the songwriter I’ve known for over 30 years but also feels like some sort of new chapter for Noah. Couldn’t be more proud of the result.” Great toe-tapping track – looking forward to seeing Panda Bear at The Lexington in London on December 10th.
wonderbug – what a waste of time
South London’s indie outfit wonderbug have returned with new single what a waste of time, taken from their upcoming debut EP scrap. The track loosely explores how young adulthood inevitably brings with it a growing realisation of life’s transience. “We’ve all grown up in London and seen a lot come and go” the band say of the track, “This song is about finding joy in impermanence and moving on, eventually”. Produced by Honeyglaze’s Yuri Shibuichi – responsible for acclaimed releases from Tapir! and Mary In The Junkyard – what a waste of time delivers a heart-rending mix of lovelorn lyricism and impassioned vocals that emphatically lifts itself up from wounded indie/slacker contemplations to all-horns-blaring fuzzed-up defiance.
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