Many thanks to everyone who came by Fresh On The Net at the weekend to check out  our final litsening post of the summer and tell us which tracks they liked best. Here, in alphabetical order, are our readers' top favourites. They're written by Fresh On The Net's Johnno "Snippet" Casson and can be found at http://freshonthenet.co.uk/faves163


Fresh Faves Batch 163

This is a personal selection of the best new music I have discovered in 2015. In February I was lucky enough to be in Paris and I watched in awe as Benjamin Clementine won a French music award (something similar to the Mercury). Many of the artists on this list were found on the essential BBC6 Music, including Songhoy Blues who I caught at the Green Man Festival. Green Man played host to others in this line up, but none better than the amazing Tom Robinson, who performed one of the most emotionally charged sets I have ever had the privilege of witnessing - never before have I cried at a gig. I hope you enjoy this selection and start to follow these amazing musicians. Enjoy! 

Best of 2015

WORK ANXIETY SYNDROME

Jim Pearson

Traffic Jams

My new gtr... came packaged with this tune... first play...

Jim Dandy

From the album "Self assembly"
©Jim Pearson 2011

Listen to the album... http://jimpearson.bandcamp.com/album/self-assembly

What Happened To You?

Like @thisisatom on facebook https://www.facebook.com/ThisIsAtom
Thank you all so much for the amazing support!!
Never thought for one moment this remix would hit 100K plays.

Check out the music video on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn_U09Uevu4
<3


FREE DOWNLOAD

Benjamin Clementine - London (ATOM Remix)

Songhoy Blues have announced details of the release of their debut album, Music In Exile, which is released on Transgressive Records on Monday 23rd February 2015.

The tracklisting of the Nick Zinner / Marc-Antoine Moreau produced album is as follows:

1.   Soubour
2.   Irganda
3.   Al Hassidi Terei
4.   Jolie
5.   Desert Melodie
6.   Mali
7.   Sekou Oumarou
8.   Nick
9.   Al Tchere Bele
10. Wayei
11. Petit Metier

The album will be preceded by the release of a single Al Hassidi Terei / Mali on Monday 8th December 2014. The single will be available on 7” and digitally.

Once one of the most prominent and powerful of Mali’s many ethnic groups, the Songhoy, who hail from the banks of the Niger River between the ancient cities of Timbuktu and Gao, have suffered a long slow decline since their apogee in the 6th and 17th centuries. Now largely living on the margins of the West African nation whose political and cultural life is dominated by the Bambara people of the south, they nonetheless retain a fierce pride in their history, beliefs and music.


Songhoy Blues - Al Hassidi Terei

©Jim Pearson 2015
More existential angst and a little hope.

Listen to the album on Spotify or listen/download from here... https://jimpearson.bandcamp.com/album/it-might-never-happen

Thank you to everyone who helped me complete the recording of this song, it has made it a bit special for me. 

Paul Marsden (trumpets), Russell Cottier (melodeon), and on vocals... Ian Heath, Jeff Roberts, Scott Cryer, Jo Bywater, Tom and Helene Lockett (The Kirk Owls, Caroline England, Henry Priestman, Phil Chisnall, Bob Glass and Elizabeth Fitzsimons (Coast), Fred Arnell and members of The Wallasey Folk and Acoustic Club. 

Right now is the moment that you are alive
So put down your burdens and give yourself a high five
You can’t run away ‘cos there’s nowhere to hide
Right now is the moment that you are alive

If you’re stuck in the past you will never be free
Thinking life was better the way it used to be
When you're lost in the mist of your own memory
Look under your nose and I hope you can see

If you look too far ahead you are going to miss out
Consumed by anxiety, riddled with doubt
But when you’re on your deathbed you’ll you figure it out
You came in with nothing and you’re leaving with nowt

The state of the world’s driven you to the brink
You get out of your mind so you don’t have to think
And it’s all flashing by faster than you can blink
So wake up before it all goes down the sink

Wake up, smell the coffee make the most of the day
Or wear a stiff upper lip in the civilized way
Or get down on your knees, beg for mercy and pray
But the voices inside you just won’t go away

Too many opinions, you can’t hear for the din
You long for the day when you’re silent within
But don’t let the bastards get under your skin
Just take a deep breath and get ready to sing

Right now is the moment that we are alive
So put down your burdens and give yourself a high five
You can’t run away ‘cos there’s nowhere to hide
Right now is the moment that we are alive

©Jim Pearson 2014

Right Now Is The Moment That We Are Alive

Do It Again

**aloric // Who? (Official Music Video)**: https://youtu.be/mM4Ji4dpOsw

Written, arranged, performed*, recorded, produced, mixed & mastered by aloric. (*except drums)
.
.
Press:
"goes from heavy metal to ethereal piano ballad...give it time, and it turns out to be a beaut" ~ HillyDilly

"a brand of experimental rock that juxtaposes the hard and the soft, one that exists somewhere on the Radiohead/FKA twigs/Aphex Twin spectrum" ~ Stereogum

"an almighty, rumbling maelstrom, before the clouds part and an angelic falsetto breaks through" ~ Record Rewind Play

"calls to mind the beauty of ‘Pyramid Song’ & ‘All Is Full of Love’...this could well be one of our favourite tracks of 2015" ~ Overblown

"a voice that drills through your soul with no sense of remorse... brilliant" ~ Sound Injections

"It’s innovative, evocative, and unrelentingly energetic, Aloric are a creative force to watch out for" ~ AnthemReview

"mixes eruptive noise with the multi-layered elegancy of Radiohead's most impressive songs" ~ Bright TradeShow

"great ambient and experimental textures... twists into a piano laden chorus with vocals reminiscent of Rhye" ~ TheRevue

"a lesson in how to do dynamic range within a song, bloody champion" ~ Fresh On The Net


Website: aloric.wixsite.com/aloric
Contact: aloricband@gmail.com

Bandcamp: aloric.bandcamp.com/music
Merchandise: aloric.bandcamp.com/merch
YouTube: youtube.com/aloricband
Instagram: instagram.com/aloricband
Facebook: facebook.com/aloricband

#whobrings

aloric

Who?

Download

Birthday is the second track from the debut single by Gris-de-Lin, out on Noisy Little Birds/BB*Island on 1st April 2016 on limited edition 7" coloured vinyl with hand screen-printed artwork by Kazland. The 7" vinyl also comes with download codes for Gris-de-Lin's forthcoming The Kick EP. 
Vinyl can be pre-ordered from BB*Island:
http://bbislandmusic.com/shop/gris-de-lin-single

www.grisdelin.com


BIRTHDAY

Taken from the forthcoming album 'Night Songs' released March 25th on Sugarcoat Records
Preorder here: https://benedictbenjamin.bandcamp.com/album/night-songs

www.benedictbenjamin.com
www.facebook.com/benedictbenjaminsongs
www.twitter.com/benedictsongs
www.soundcloud.com/benedictbenjamin

Had What You Had

@BeachFatigue release their first single Drunken Grrrls on 30th October 2015 via Kool Girl Records.

Previously known as Heavy Petting Zoo - the band who surprised audiences with their menacing garage rock and lively shows - they have recently had a name change as they get ready to launch their debut album. And yes, they still have that dancer.

Drunken Grrrls will be the first cut from their forthcoming long player and will see the band continue to explore their blend of garage-surf rock and powerful riot grrrl vocals as heard on previous singles Crash (Too Pure Singles Club, 2014), and Isabelle (Joy Formidable split single, 2015) - which has seen them gather attention over the last few years.

Formed in Swansea, the band’s members - Amy Zachariah (vocals), Ben Rodway (guitars), Joe Rees (bass & vocals), Billy Horwood (drums) and Jon (dancing) - all went to the same comprehensive school as the city’s most famous figure - Dylan Thomas	.

Beach Fatigue have previously played alongside the likes of Menace Beach, Eagulls and Evans the Death, and have played at Green Man, Reading & Leeds Festivals and return to Swn Festival in November this year.

Since their inception, the band have received continuous support from BBC Radio Wales’ Adam Walton and Bethan Elfyn. And since their surprising appearance at Cardiff’s Swn Festival in 2013 - which saw them receive a 9/10 from NME’s Laura Snapes - they’ve received plays from Radio One (Huw Stephens, Jen & Alley), 6 Music (Tom Robinson, Steve Lamacq, Nemone), Amazing Radio (Shell Zenner, Simon Raymonde, Gill Mills) and XFM (John Kennedy). Whilst blogs like Sweeping the Nation, Little Indie Blogs and God Is In the TV have followed their progress with glowing reviews.

Drunken Grrrls is released 30th October 2015 via Kool Girl Records.

For more info, please visit: 

http://www.abadgeoffriendship.com/artists/beach-fatigue

Beach Fatigue - Drunken Grrrls

Taken from the album 'Once I Was An Eagle' out now: po.st/OIWAE

https://www.facebook.com/lauramarling
https://twitter.com/lauramarlinghq
http://www.youtube.com/lauramarling

www.lauramarling.com

Once I Was An Eagle

Where Can I Go?

This track is from the album Work Anxiety Syndrome.
You can download it and/or buy the CD from 
http://jimpearson.bandcamp.com/album/work-anxiety-syndrome
Or iTunes.

Struck

Keeping Up Appearances

©Jim Pearson 2013
In the grip of a mid-life crises
Listen to the album on Spotify or listen/download from here... 
http://jimpearson.bandcamp.com/album/work-anxiety-syndrome

This Is How We Have Fun was written in pan-Atlantic collaboration with Jeff Roberts from Charlottesville.

This Is How We Have Fun

My Father's Chair

We're Not Coming Back

I had to escape the bad atmosphere 
And go looking for outer space 
The world looks kind of cool from here 
You wouldn’t recognise the place 

On the edge of an awkward silence 
Momentarily lost for words 
I’m losing my grip on the mothership 
And I’m falling back down to earth 

Falling back down to earth

----

This track is from the album Work Anxiety Syndrome.
You can download it and/or buy the CD from 
http://jimpearson.bandcamp.com/album/work-anxiety-syndrome
Or iTunes.

Falling Back Down to Earth

Winner of 2024 Liverpool Songwriting Competition with "The Boy With the Red Hat", taken from "Death to Mortality".

People have said that Jim plays guitar like a drummer. He is. In the mid eighties, he toured the Far East, Europe and Tyneside with near-legendary Geordie club band Foxy, before putting down his sticks, opting for a life of obscurity as graphic designer, husband and dad.

In his late thirties with a mid-life-crises looming, he started writing and recording his songs, self-releasing “Some Songs by Jim Pearson” in his fortieth year.

Suddenly, nothing happened, so he continued, and gradually accumulated a niche following of several well-intentioned virtual people, each possessing an uncanny appreciation of music and lyrics, as well as managing to get a handful of plays on BBC 6 music.

Jim is also singer, guitarist, songwriter with niche NW-UK band Scaredycats, who's debut album "Dumb Animals" was pronounced album of the year by Liverpool Sound and Vision in 2017.

Last year, he was a key collaborator and producer with international lockdown supergroup "Nothing On TV".

According to Jim... "You might not agree, but I think I’m getting better at this. I’ve come to terms with the fact that I will never get the global recognition I so clearly deserve, and honestly, I am all the happier for it."

BBC 6 Music's Tom Robinson says... “This is the astonishingly prolific Merseyside songwriter Jim Pearson… you never can be sure what kind of project Jim will come up with next, but you can always be sure it’s gonna be pretty darn good...” (The Tom Robinson Show, January 25th 2020)

Songwriter from Northern England
https://jimpearson.bandcamp.com/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5R96vnb0ABdaZRMLG4XUNf

Scaredycats
https://scaredycatsuk.bandcamp.com/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/02W2iVwO5b3EIjzspgmS1N

Nothing On TV
https://nothingontv.bandcamp.com/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/07ADDEerdBir7xBgvdYyeo?si=k65U2tPkQuqbd1WFuPQOyA