Any artist is welcome to send us a track via freshonthenet.co.uk anytime between Monday lunchtime and Wednesday evening (or when we receive 200 submissions, whichever is sooner) - and all our moderators, including Tom Robinson, will listen to every track. This is our full inbox from the week beginning Mon 9th January 2023: from Friday afternoon you'll be able to hear our shortlist and pick your favourites on this week's Listening Post which will appear at freshonthenet.co.uk/batch472

If a track you submitted does not appear in this list, it’s probably because another of your tracks appeared in our Fresh Faves or on the BBC Music Introducing Mixtape during the last three months — we ask that artists featured on either wait three months before resubmitting to give others a chance. 

We also don’t accept short previews or SoundCloud Go tracks that can only be heard as 30 second previews, and tracks made private after submission, which cannot be included in playlists. You will be able to resubmit the track in future. Tracks (and remixes of tracks) that have been previously submitted, and tracks from banned artists will also be removed.

ENTIRE INBOX: Batch 472

January 2023 - best new alternative, punk and indie tracks

The BBC Introducing Mixtape 🔊 (BBC 6 Music) - 3

SUEP - Just A Job

Wretched Lie

Same Old Story

You & I

The Primitives - Panic

It's been 7 years since the first song for the album was written, the first in my life. 3 years since we started recording these songs. It's a long way to go. And complicated. It led me to where I am now. I am convinced that everything happens when it should. Now is the time when I became ready to present the pieces of my soul, made into music, to the whole world. 

5 songs are like 5 fragments from a personal diary: naive and overly romanticizing and dramatizing events. But that's how I am, that's how I feel. In my own world, everything was exactly as described in the songs. 

But these are only fragments. The full diary is an album of 12 songs that make up a complete story, called Worlds Apart, I'm sure it won't take so long to wait this time.

The opening track - Light - embodies a bright beginning in every sense. The first affection, the first song, the first guitar, the first step into a new life. It's still special to me, and in fact, I probably like it most of all these songs in terms of sound. When we started recording it, it turned out to be quite melancholic and unhurried, and as for me, it sounded cool, but I was prompted and also guessing myself, that it would be good to make it kind of more up-tempo, I wanted to find a balance, and I am very pleased with the way we made it.

As part of this EP, Circles is a sharp rewind of events forward. This is no longer "Now I finally see the light", but "You will only make me suffer, whether you want it or not." There was no doubt about how this song should sound: definitely more rock and expressive compared to the others.

New Chapter: "And after all this time and songs, it’s the first one about something real that you and me feel." It’s true that a lot of songs had already been written at the time of writing this one. The first reciprocity. At least for a while. I had thoughts that maybe a lot of repeatings in the song would seem boring to a listener, but I no longer think so about what it turned out, especially thanks to Ruzel's backing vocals, which really enlivened it.

In the process of keeping a diary, one page was torn out. This is You Make Me Feel (Higher), the third song I wrote. At one point, it began to seem not good enough to me, and I excluded it from tracklist of the future album. However, later, while recording this EP, I decided to give it a new life, changing it a little, and the missing link was found, becoming such a bonus track. Someone even liked it the most.

Affection is the track that has already become landmark. The last song on this EP and on the upcoming longplay. At the same time, it was the first one that we began to rehearse, record and play in public. Someone has already had enough of it, but not me, I still consider it one of the best songs I ever wrote. "I made everyone believe in a perfect explanation. Now I don’t know how to feel, cause it seems like it is real, but I have the same affection." Thus, we return to the same place from where we started, but with a new awareness: love, suffering - all for the sake of art.

It was decided to make an acoustic version of the song, different from the version on the future album, as in the case of the previous song - for a change. But not only for that. I really like how this melody is combined with a tambourine. And in general, I'm glad that at least one song became more or less minimalistic, because the rest are too full of sounds, one might say noisy. At least we got what we did, due to the first experience and the tendency of both musicians to complicate everything:) And it's funny that now, with more experience, I’m going to move in the direction of simplification.

Anyway, I'm very happy to finally share the music of my heart with you and hope it will resonate with someone!

Light

Days of Rome relapse with their explosive fifth single - Tungsten Afterburner. Birthed in an underpass at 3am from an impromptu drum session, the song began to take form as a candid, satirical look at the modern day world. Exploring humanity's potentially apocalyptic future, the track takes on a raw, powerful character with callbacks to the riffs of the early 2000s, albeit with heavier undertones. A grungy black and white  music video will accompany this track, to be released after the new year.

Tungsten Afterburner

Rising Tide

....mkay

sorry for the quality, left my mic at home so recorded through my laptop

Mr Mackey

mr mackey

Mr Blue

Slow Boat To China

"Afterlife" defines The Folding Desert's new sound for 2023. The perfect marriage between acoustic folk fusion with ethereal synth soundscapes, encompassing heavier sonic and emotional themes.