“Breakdown Days” comes from White Lies, an English post-punk revival band from Ealing. They say the song was written in the heart of the first UK lockdown. “We felt trapped in many ways not being able to tour or to work. The lyrics are about yearning to reach out about your problems but because you’re living together, in close quarters, it means you can’t totally lose your shit!” 

Lose it or not, this song is ace!

A Bristol-based duo, The Allergies have released “Hypnotise” and it seems extra special to us. The song breaks new ground by sampling  vocals from the afrobeat legend Dele Sosimi, and also featuring Bootie Brown from the Pharcyde and Andy Cooper from Ugly Duckling. This track is from their forthcoming album ‘Tear The Place Up,’ out May 23, 2023.

Where have Young Fathers been our whole lives? This track, “I Saw,” is from their 4^th album, Heavy Heavy, which comes out in February, 2023.

This trio are a Scottish band, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. In 2014, they won the Mercury Prize for their album “Dead.” The name ‘Young Fathers’ references that they are all named after their fathers as well as their mature, serious demeanor. They say the song is “That pamphlet through your door blaming the establishment and immigrants for everything going wrong. The stench of long-dead empire, trudging along, a psychological hammer to your head in every step. The delusion.”

In the year 2000, trombonist, bassist, composer, arranger and producer Adam Theis co-founded Jazz Mafia – an eclectic artist collective of forward-thinking and accomplished players in Electro, Hip-Hop, World, Classical, and Jazz. The band seems ever-evolving, and oh-so-cool, which is why their song, “Set it Free” feat. Aima the Dreamer · Dakini Star · Adam Theis · Larissa Mcintyre is in the Hot Spot!

We loved “UH OH,” but as sometimes happens, we adored the creepy video just as much and recommend you watch it!

23 y.o Daniel Virgil Maisonneuve, known professionally as Sub Urban, is an American singer, producer and songwriter. 22 y.o Stella Rose Bennet is Benee ,a New Zealand singer and songwriter from Auckland. Said Daniel, “BENEE’s presence in UH OH! gives the song a much-needed level of enchantment. Though it’s a shame we never met in person, she nailed her parts in this project, both vocally and in the video.”

“Tennis is a paypig’s personal redemption narrative, set in “the city”, and told in two parts. twisted tale of two lovers’ back and forth, bound by cricket, bodybuilding, and money. A story as old as time. We named the song Tennis as a logical (but unrelated) sequel to our two previously released sports-related songs. To us, this felt like a natural ending to that idea. Dynamically, the second part of the song is supposed to represent a shift in tone for the character in which they realise their own worth and leave the situation that is set within the first part of the song.” – Courting 

“Brown Supremacy” is the second single from Immy Owusu and is built on samples of legendary Zamrock band Amanaz’s classic “Easy Street” (1975). Immy and Amanaz exist decades and continents apart but a shared love of Hendrix-esque fuzz guitars and deep connection to West African tradition makes it a natural combination.

Immanuel Kwabena Dreessens-Owusu grew up in two worlds: the sea bleached lifestyle of Torquay and the Surf Coast of Australia. Immy’s father Kojo is one of Australia’s best regarded West African musicians and his grandfather Koo Nimo is foundational figure of Ghanaian Highlife.

Zamrock was a 1970s movement of Zambian artists who took psychedelic rock and reframed it in an African context. Immy says, ‘When I first moved to Torquay (UK), for some kids I was the first ‘black’ person they had ever seen before, and their first experience from any other culture that wasn’t their own. In high school I pushed away from people who looked like me in an attempt to fit into the establishment. How ‘black’ I felt was compounded by how ‘white’ I was treated by my Ghanaian family (in Africa). For me this song is my story about finding a place to belong.’

Kid Kapichi are a punk band from Hastings UK, and we really like them.

How they got their name: “It actually stemmed from a record loop on repeat that sounded like it was saying ‘kid Kapichi kid Kapichi kid Kapichi’ and that was it really.”   

About the song “I.N.V.U”: This is about what social media does, everyone looking like you have an over-the-top lifestyle. “What do you want from me? Do you want me to envy you?”

New album: “Here’s What You Could Have Won” is out now.  

Hello dark wave!

The singer of The Ritualists, Christian Dryden,  is an unabashed fan of Duran Duran but that ain’t why we played them! “Musically, I like to think of “Forbidden Love” as the glittery love child of Black Sabbath and Duran Duran,” he says, and well, we hear it – along with the fact that this track would have been right at home in one of the TWILIGHT movies. However, he also commented that the track isn’t about a “Forbidden Love” that’s romantic – it isn’t about a person but music –  ie, he’s asking, “What am I doing, giving up everything, bleeding on stage, for what? What am I taking from this?” Making his career a ‘forbidden love.’

Bloc Party are back! An English band whose music is rooted in rock, but retains elements of other genres such as electronica, house music and a little synth pop, have a great new track. “Acting Out” is part of the deluxe version of their album ALPHA GAMES, which features three previously unheard tracks. The song is a biting takedown of someone who desperately needs to be put in their place across frenetic, powerful post-punk production.

This new single is from UK based husband and wife team Viva Seifert and Mark “Arp” Cleveland who record under the name LUNGE.  It’s definitely in your favour to sound like Kate Bush right now, and she certainly does.

The duo say “Off with their Heads” is “about letting go. Severance from your past world(s) in order to craft a new love raft.”

There is something about their sound that’s so cool but hard to define, which means it’s a really good song.

Pixey’s “I’m Just High” is in the HOT SPOT.  An artist from Liverpool (real name: Lizzie Hillesdon),“I’m Just High” is the third single off of her upcoming debut “Dreams, Pains & Paper Planes.”  The song tackles themes of heartbreak and an inability to move on from someone. Pixey said of this song. “The track itself is a double entendre. I like to put my own experiences into my music and I feel like this song is probably one of my most honest songs to date. I hope people can find some comfort in the song, I always like to write upbeat, groovy beats to personal struggles I’m still figuring out.”

 

Written, recorded and mixed in just eight hours, the “both eyes” that the lyrics mention confront the harsh realities of the digital world; the idea that we show two sides of ourselves, the real one and then our online persona that typically doesn’t divulge the more difficult times of our lives.

Lasse Lokoy is the bassist of Norwegian party-punks Sløtface, but flexes his muscles as a producer and songwriter of colourful and futuristic art-pop. Kacper Tratkowski is Safario,  a Norwegian rapper who creates upbeat yet lo-fi music.

Another visit to the HOT SPOT for Paw Paw Rod. 

A rapper and singer from the Great Plains of Oklahoma, Paw Paw Rod is back with “Message (Better Days).”

 “I started writing ‘Better Days’ on a snowy night in my hotel room in Manhattan. I couldn’t sleep because I was still filled with adrenaline from walking and performing at a fashion show a few days prior, all while romanticizing just being able to take a bite out of The Big Apple under such beautiful circumstances…a beautiful human I admired dearly just told me she was proud of me. In that moment I started laughing and said to myself ‘Music has really taken you places, I’m so glad I started, it’s worth it.’ I thought about all the times I felt discouraged, delusional for having the audacity to move across the country with no concrete plan in the name of Chasing a Dream.”

Moreish Idols are another Speedy Underground band – no surprise there. We loved the horns in this track, “Hangar,” which melds punk, jazz, krautrock and funk into a glorious swirl of sound.  Singer Jude Lilley sneers at the cultural landscape and a world of pop culture that does nothing for him. We feel you buddy.

“Tell Me Your Politik” by Nakhane feat Moonchild Sanelly & Nile Rodgers

This track has a ferocious rap from South African performer Moonchild Sanelly AND features Nile Rodgers on guitar, so what’s there not to like??

The song is Nakhane’s densely pulverising demand for prospective lovers to be ideologically aligned. “I wanted it to sound like a pack of wolves barking, saying ‘unless you get your politics right I’m not gonna f**k you.”

“So Sick of Me” is from Haich Ber Na, aka Harrison Bernard, a London based electronic musician. This track is new and off his forthcoming EP.

“This Cold House is all I have”

Talk Show, who scrapped all the musical work they’d done on their album pre pandemic, took the demos of their new material into the Hackney studio of Joe Goddard and Al Doyle of Hot Chip. It was an open-minded collaboration; the band, excited by working with electronic music legends, and wanting to be encouraged to push their sonic boundaries, were so pleased with the results. Speaking about ‘Cold House’, frontman Harrison Swann says; “I wanted to write something big but less dark and focused on those noughties bands coming out of New York. They were absolutely having it. Honestly I can’t wait to play to play this to a crowd.”

 Moa Moa is a South London band signed to Speedy Wonderground. Their song “Coltan Candy” was among the demos they submitted, so when signed, they recorded the song in 13 hours. “Our mantra is to always try and create challenging music but also have a firm grounding in hooks to hold onto.”