Hello world,
Here’s your latest FP Picks update. We have banging tunes from Real Estate, The Mysterines, Porij & 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
Pet Deaths – Love Has Won
London based duo Pet Deaths have dropped their riveting new single Love Has Won, with out-of-line chakras in a whirling parade of what you might term indie jazz or folk psychedelia. Far Out Mag state: “the mirage-like maelstrom of instrumentation that centres around a piano that plays less of a melody and more of a syncopated beat, masks a rather sinister story from the unreliable narrator crooning away. This cult leader doesn’t quite celebrate love, more so his ability to lord a fallacy of love over those who will listen.”
Real Estate – Airdrop
Having fallen for new Jersey band Real Estate’s unique brand of warm melodic lo-fi indie when we first heard Water Underground last year, it’s reassuring to see that there’s plenty more where that came from! Album track Airdrop, with its War On Drugs style vocal delivery, draws you in from the start with a descending bass line that’s layered with harpsichord later on so giving the song a baroque flavour that seals the deal. With a lyric that I read as being about contentment & letting the vastness of nature’s energy flow through you without friction (love the line ‘my agency, a whisper into the wider world’), the track is a joy to have on our Futureproof Picks playlist.
Nightbus – Average Boy
Manchester’s Nightbus recently dropped their atmospheric, retro new single Average Boy, using synths and a fuzzy guitar to project themes of loneliness and general discomfort. They state: “Average Boy is a narrative I’m sure many of us can relate to. The feeling of inadequacy, dysphoria, a longing for something that might never materialise. Those small moments that feel like destiny reduced to bittersweet memories. We all search for something, we get caught in cycles, we lose our way, half the time we don’t even know what we’re looking for. Gender, perspective, culture, we are all in some way the average boy.” Great stuff!
Yot Club – Pixel
Brooklyn-based indie-popster Yot Club, aka Ryan Kaiser, recently shared the single Pixel from his forthcoming album Rufus – a track that delves into the complexities of self-perception in our digital age. He explained to DORK: “I made Pixel when I was in LA last summer, working with some different people. The main melody was stuck in my head for a while, so I decided to record it when I met up with Tommy English at his studio. As for the meaning, I was just thinking about how, before the internet, the world probably felt pretty small. Obviously, stuff was going on in other places, but you weren’t aware of it. Now we’re aware of everything all at once, and it’s kind of overwhelming.” Laid-back to frantic – love it!
Dehd – Light On
Chicago indie rock trio Dehd have shared their infectious new single Light On, taken from their upcoming album Poetry. “This song is like a candle in the window, a light guiding someone back home if they were trying to find it,” Jason Balla said about the track. He takes charge of the vocals, singing wholesome promises: “Every day, every night I will leave a light on/ What you want, what you need, it won’t be a problem.” Great songwriting on this jangly, upbeat track – one to put on repeat! The band will set off to the UK and EU for an eight-stop headlining tour, including a show in Leeds on 1 July, and London’s Village Underground on 2 July.
The Mysterines – Stray
Grunge-rock outfit The Mysterines have shared new single Stray from their upcoming album Afraid Of Tomorrows. Vocalist Lia Metcalfe states that the track “focuses on the aimless and untamed nature of the polarities of behaviour that we experience when dealing with suffering. Whether it’s guilt, paranoia or unexplained feelings of grandiosity. Often when the hands of loneliness have a firm grip over one’s eyes it can turn dangers into open doors inviting you in. We find a certain point of no return and we’re often led astray.” Spellbinding vocals on this powerful, belter of an anthem – who doesn’t love The Mysterines?!
Nick Granelle – Keep It Sweet
Long Island native Nick Granelle’s music seems to ooze rhythmic feel and Keep It Sweet is no exception. Soulful vocals cut between different reverb spaces throughout the track, sitting comfortably over a strident bass arrangement that leads the listener through the song as it switches between dirty funk & smooth soul flavours. Lyrically ‘a sign to stop talking to your ex’ (so says the artist) I guess it’s an exercise in letting go and moving on in relationships, maybe even in life itself. All topped off with multiple layers of guitar and a solo that’s maybe a bit too generic in style for my taste but so beautifully played you can’t help but love it in some way at least.
Friedberg – Hello
Friedberg recently shared the captivating, spirited new single Hello from their upcoming debut album. Infectious guitar hooks and mesmerizing vocals shine on this energetic track which continues to build on their alternative pop, dance-punk vibe. The band have a big year ahead with appearances at major festivals like SXSW and The Great Escape on the horizon and a supporting slot with Big Special in May. Vocalist Anna describes the track as a journey into a stranger’s mind, offering a fresh perspective and a break from her own thoughts.
Porij – Unpredictable
Manchester dance-pop quartet Porij have shared their new single Unpredictable, from upcoming album Teething – a light and airy track inspired by UK garage. Lead singer Egg, aka Scout Moore, stated: “These lyrics came from a poem I wrote in November. It was fairly bleak, but in essence it was all about missing the simplicity of my early life but craving the complexity of the life that could come. In that period of time everything felt quite up and down and I really didn’t know how I was going to feel from one day to the next.” The album blends club styles with oddball pop aspects as Porij cleverly craft coming-of-age tales viewed through a queer lens.
Sinkane – We Belong (ft. STOUT)
Genre-agnostic Brooklyn-based artist Sinkane has dropped the title track from new album We Belong. It’s a lush, optimistic funk jam which starts out low-key before the explosive chorus kicks in. There’s some serious gospel-choir energy toward the end of the track, as guest-singer STOUT really cuts loose. Uplifting and energetic with lyrics inspired by Alexander Pope’s work, An Essay on Criticism, particularly: “To err is human, to forgive divine.” Sinkane calls the album his “love letter to Black music,” and each track pulses with the energy of different eras and forms: the gospel-soaked Everything Is Everything, the dreamy, Quiet Storm-influenced Afro-beats of Rise Above, the 70s funk of We Belong and its Sly Stone influence, the Stevie Wonder-edged Another Day—they tell a story about Black music and Black people.
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