Southern rock is alive and well, and Taxman is a must-hear for the live-band fanatics and working class heroes of our time.
Music
Lovely to beautiful songwriting, vocals and arranging – Ari Fraser continues to impress, engaging with authenticity and heart, as this ambient country to folk-pop single Where Have You Been provides an emotional earworm, and effectively reminds us to appreciate the beauty and love of connection.
Crafted in collaboration with Brazilian singer Josh Paulino, Only Pretend is both fierce and delicate, and evolves gorgeously throughout its three-minute lifespan.
Built from the depth and freedom of human expression and skills developed over years of commitment to the craft, every new track from jcSubterfuge celebrates the artistic escapism of electronic music making, and in turn delivers something refreshingly immersive for the dance music fans of the world.
Translating simply from Samaon as ‘sausage’, De Husslar Music takes a mere comical musing to fun creative heights, with the changing landscape and artistic evolution and appeal of Sausisi Sauce.
These are gorgeously emotive vocals, delicate yet with just a touch of essential weight or grit to the edges to hit with impact, and the arrangement is something like dream-pop and indie rock carefully intertwined.
UK music is fiercely impressive when it needs to be. This year feels important for live music and creativity, and Fierce Friend is firmly a part of that.
Funky basslines and live rock energy carves out a band-sound that’s hopefully making a huge comeback this year. The Lucky Angels deliver the distortion, depth and soul required to light up the space, with the solid rock stomp and tone of The world’s for sale.
It’s an aptly contemporary sound from Bru-Kin, an accompanying video further celebrating the youth culture and movement that inspired the composition, and the final mix is essentially a careful blending of hip hop, electronic and Congolese production and rhythm.
Personification, metaphor, and all-round powerful songwriting elevate the appeal of an indie band well and truly paving their own way. Glasgow’s Revelation 23 have that something fresh and fascinating to their sound, something topical and piercing about their sense of purpose, their rebellious intrigue, and Veal is a fine dedication to the craft.
This classic indie rock anthem is both gentle and impassioned, thoughtful and uplifting, and that natural connection to the songwriting and playing process, along with the band’s extensive years of experience on the scene, is what effortlessly sets The Monumentals apart from most of the indie acts you’ll scroll past during this week’s algorithmic downpour.
The spider, the web, the build up, the choreography, the drum playing – Ok Goodnight are great then sensational with this release, and the latter half is unmissable as the song evolves and ultimately peaks; noting a kind of hard rock crescendo at the finish that’s no doubt phenomenal in the live setting.