Hello world,
We’ve got your latest FP Picks update with a great mix of new music as always inc trx fm Flip Top Head, Sharon Van Etten, WENCH! & 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
Sebastian Schub – Sing Like Madonna
Singer-songwriter Sebastian Schub has shared new single Sing Like Madonna. He started out at Camden open mic landmark Spiritual Bar – a North London sweat pit where crowds are pushed up against the performers, who often have to fight to be heard. Sebastian states: “That bar was the perfect schooling for me. There was always a direct and immediate response from the audience.” He says of the single: ““I wrote Sing Like Madonna last summer over three months in my basement. At the time I was busy gigging a few times a week. And I was growing increasingly despondent and disillusioned in the pursuit of the dream. The songs was born from a desire to mean something, to be able to leave a mark.” Fantastic lyrics and great deep vocals on this melodic track – a real earworm.
Sharon Van Etten – Afterlife
Singer-songwriter Sharon Van Etten has shared mesmerizing new single Afterlife, taken from upcoming album Sharon Van Etten & the Attachment Theory. Van Etten says of the album: “For the first time in my life I asked the band if we could just jam. Words that have never come out of my mouth – ever! But I loved all the sounds we were getting. I was curious – what would happen? In an hour we wrote two songs that ended up becoming I Can’t Imagine and Southern Life.” Afterlife is a vibrant, rousing anthem with powerful lyrics and a great new sound with the backing band – we can’t wait for the album!
Oh My Sun – 5 Pieces
Fresh London duo Oh My Sun have dropped their hypnotic debut single 5 Pieces and it’s totally captivating. Stunning vocals and rich harmonies shine on this infectious slice of folk-rock. The duo of Carmody and Tal Janes describe their sound as “70s inspired music for the apocalypse”. Premiered by Atwood Mag, 5 Pieces is the duo’s introduction to the world, and the first single off an upcoming full-length album due out next year. As the pair explain, this song sets the scene for who they are both as musicians and as storytellers, with lyrical inspiration drawing from astrology and symbolism, reflecting on effect of the moon on mood, and referencing the book, Turning: Lessons From Swimming In Berlin’s Lakes – a “true story about a woman who decides to swim in a different lake each week as part of her breakup healing process.” Utterly beautiful and we can’t wait to hear more from these two.
HONESTY – MEASURE ME (ft. Softlizard)
Leeds based outfit HONESTY recently shared their new single MEASURE ME, taken from upcoming debut album U R HERE. The track features Softlizard (aka Liza Violet, formerly of noise-pop duo Menace Beach). Lyrically inspired by a strange dream/nightmare that Violet had experienced, where she saw herself “weighing her own brain to work out how it measures,” the band describe the track as keeping “some of our post punk abilities from our previous bands whilst pushing it sonically into what we now know as HONESTY,” adding “A sort of existential dream of panic that flows within the beat in motoric measurements.” We’re loving this distinctive, ethereal track – frantic instrumentation combined with haunting vocals.
WENCH! – Shreds
Explosive new punk / riot grrrl trio WENCH! are fuelled by female rage on their debut single Shreds – a track about being wronged in a relationship & getting emotionally ripped to shreds by the experience. The band state: “Shreds is a song for anyone who feel intimidated by social situations to an extent they don’t say what they mean. We believe in expressing ourselves in a raw & unfiltered way which can sometimes backfire but enables us to speak from the heart.” This all-female, all-queer outfit are actively speaking out about misogyny & mistreatment of women, ensuring their gigs are a safe space. Don’t miss out on this angsty formidable trio – Shreds is definitely a banger to crank up loud & scream to!
Flip Top Head – I Can’t Wait Until I’m Old
Flip Top Head have shared expressive new single I Can’t Wait Until I’m Old, taken from their highly anticipated debut EP Up Like A Weather Balloon. With solo lead vocals from Bowie Bartlett, which are both spoken word and operatic, Bowie delivers witty, yet introspective, musings on the rush towards getting older, but realising the mundanity of it all when you finally get there. Starting slow with heartfelt vocals, the track builds to a rousing rock crescendo. The band state: “When you’re young, you wish to be older; big enough to go on rides, old enough to stay up late and eat sweets whenever you like. I Can’t Wait Until I’m Old asks the question: at what point does one stop wishing to be older?” Poignant and enthralling – we’re loving this unique, stunning track.
Flat Party – Madonna
London six-piece Flat Party have shared fervent new single Madonna, taken from their upcoming EP It’s All Been Done Before. The band are known for blending humour, flamboyance, and gritty emotions into shapeshifting indie rock and this track is no exception – dark and unsettling, it addresses toxic masculinity. Singer and chief lyricist Jack Lawther said: “This song is about sexually intimidating people. You know, the sort that have seen it all before and nothing you do will make it worth their time. Lyrically, It’s deliberately off-putting and kind of creepy. I wrote it pretty much all in one go, in a stream-of-consciousness where I just let that horrid part of my mind take over. Musically, it’s very repetitive, which I think comes from a lot of the krautrock and industrial music I was listening to at the time.”
Gurriers – Dipping Out
Energetic Irish guitar quintet Gurriers have shared banging new post-punk track Dipping Out, taken from their acclaimed debut album Come and See. The track takes Gurriers’ signature biting rage and pairs it with a humorous video set in a passport photographers studio directed by Colin Peppard. Described by the band as a “post-post-punk version of an Adam Curtis documentary”, Gurriers perfectly nail the disillusionment of contemporary youth on scathing lyrics such as “Failed by a system that never really lets you exist.” Indeed, if Gurriers weren’t in a band they’d probably be part of a generation leaving Ireland in their droves, driven out by the soaring cost of living and the unattainability of home ownership, left to “live in debt and die in freedom”. What a belter!
She’s In Parties – FSM
She’s In Parties have shared their sparkling, ’80s-flecked latest single FSM. It’s a track which reflects the band’s shoegaze beginnings even as they give way to a fresher sound, and is full of beautifully evocative instrumental touches: harmonic guitars drenched in reverb; timeless analogue synths, which peep over the parapet before dropping demurely back again; and a bass line which burbles along happily, just beneath those other layers. The vocals, meanwhile, veer from sweet to declamatory, mediating on personal and societal anxieties and the curse of social media. A great review from DIY of this infectious, heartfelt track and we wholeheartedly concur with them!
Keyside – Runaway
Liverpool’s indie-rock outfit Keyside have dropped their forthright new single Runaway. Frontman Dan Parker states: “Runaway is about how hard it can be for young people growing up in a difficult household. It’s about breaking free from pressures and the liberating effect of discovering life, what the world is really like and who you really are.” Influenced by indie groups such as Fontaines DC and Blossoms, as well as more established groups such as The La’s, they are definitely creating a distinct sound of their own. Mixing sunny chorus guitars with raw lyrics, Keyside create a unique balance in their songs and they call this particular track an ode to the art of escape.
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