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 03rd February 2025: 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/batchxxx

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.

Full Inbox: Batch 557

Drawingroom Tings

lewis watson's weekly playlist x

Shooter In The Back Of The Merc

LYRICS:
In a car crash, you'll rearrange your head
And all the memories you wish you'd wish you'd never had
I told you how I'd been hurt before
And you'd hold me and say we're better for it now

I should know better
You, in your sweater

I was standing high up on the wall
Oh, I can still hear you from here, yeah, but if I listen, I might fall
No, you don't think before you speak your mind
And I don't think that I'll speak at all

You should know better
Signed, my dead letter

If I can't stop this, I don't want this
Tell me now before the silence
Cut me down and strike relentless
I can't stop this, I don't want this
Tell me now before the silence
Cut me down, me down, me down

You hurt me the way that you'd been loved
And it kills me that I cannot feel a thing
In a car crash you'll reassess your life
And my role in it.
We're gonna drift apart             in a car crash, in a car crash

I can't stop the growing fear that we'll waste all our golden years together
I can't stop this. First, you're gone then you appear, and now I know that it is clear
Tell me that I'm wrong, but I think that we're not meant to be

I don't want this, I can't stop this
Tell me now before the silence
Cut me down and strike relentless
I don't want this, I can't stop this
Tell me now before the silence
Cut me down and strike relentless.

Car Crash

Older (and Wiser)

Spring Into Summer

“ratcage walk” is an atmospheric journey through an imagined city where dusk settles over rain-soaked streets

SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5eytRPn7VmcLuNPtkrjoF6
ALL STREAMING: https://ffm.to/ratcagewalk
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/absent.ink/
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/absentink
YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9nhTsOaOSL6H5t11_45bkg
WEB: https://absent.ink

ratcage walk

Gold

Colorado's On Fire Again

Santiago

Mike Mckenzie - Out Alive

‘OUT ALIVE’ is the first single from my debut album and marks the beginning of a whole new chapter for me as an artist. As an out and proud member of the LGBTQ+ community I wanted this first single to be a calling card for folks to know that my shows and my music will always be a safe space for people to come together no matter who you are or how you identify. I’ve struggled over the years to figure out exactly who I am as an artist and I finally realised this past year that my music doesn’t need to be defined by anything or anyone. The best way to make art is to make the art you love. Written or sung, my voice is my identity and that voice can take many forms and still remain truly authentic.

Lyrics:

If the earth turned slowly 
Would it feel so lonely?
Like a market town
With the volume down
When I need some company
Would you walk a mile with me?

Overnight we change our minds 
To realise what matters

I never wanted anybody else 
To feel like they’re hated, isolated
And everywhere I go I know
They say ‘it’s easy to fake it’
But I made it out alive

If you think about it
We were less than perfect
And i won’t go back
No i won’t do that
Cause I love this life
Like I love the sunrise

Overnight we change our minds 
To realise what matters
I’m old enough to know that love
Can hold you up thereafter

I never wanted anybody else 
To feel like they’re hated, isolated
And everywhere I go I know
They say ‘it’s easy to fake it’
But I made it out alive

“Don’t fear the light, I’m on your side…
But you’ve got to be somebody else”
“Out of the dark to un-break my heart
You’ve got to be somebody else”

Overnight we change our minds 
To realise what matters

I never wanted anybody else 
To feel like they’re hated, isolated
And everywhere I go I know
They say ‘it’s easy to fake it’
But I made it out alive

Written & Performed by MIKE MCKENZIE
Produced & Mixed by MARTY HAILEY
© METRO 13 RECORDS

Out Alive

shauna Mc Ardle Music -Blurred Edges

Nobody Else But You (Sam Macdonald & Absolute Zero Remix)

into me

An Outstretched Hand / Rain From Here to Kerry

Floatin'

Lonely

Live It Up

Take Me to the Sky

Mr Rock & Roll

To the Creator

To the Creator (Radio Edit)

For fans of: Maggie Rogers, Tom O'Dell, Ben Howard, Ben Abraham, Athlete.

Mike McKenzie (he/him) is an award winning singer/songwriter based in Edinburgh, Scotland. In 2019 Mike won BBC Radio Scotland’s ‘Singer/Songwriter of the Year’ as judged by Fran Healy (Travis), Horse McDonald, Karine Polwart, Geoff Ellis (DF Concerts) and Dee Bahl with his original song ‘Love Like This’ and, after recording the award winning single at Abbey Road, followed the advice of Fran who told him not to rush into releasing an album too quickly. Mike spent time writing, recording and independently releasing music with huge support from BBC Scotland, independent radio across the UK and Jo Whiley on BBC Radio 2 who describes his songwriting as "Gorgeous".

McKenzie’s laid back, inclusive shows have proved a smash with audiences around the UK and beyond. Touring has seen him perform and headline at iconic venues across the UK including Glasgow's King Tut’s and TRNSMT Festival, Edinburgh's Queens Hall, London's Green Note, The Drawing Room in Chesham and several SoFar Sounds shows including co-curating their Edinburgh PRIDE event and playing to a sold out room in Paris, France. He has also performed live on BBC Radio Scotland multiple times including the iconic new music show ‘The Quay Sessions with Roddy Hart’ and The Afternoon Show as their 'Artist of the Week'.

In 2023, Mike was approached by Metro 13 Studios (formerly Chamber Studio: Snow Patrol, Karine Polwart, Mogwai, Robert Smith) in Edinburgh where, after just one session, they saw the huge potential in his talent and immediately offered him a record deal with their indie label Metro 13 Records. His debut album ‘I’d Wait Again’ is set for release in April 2025.

Contact: mikemckenzieonline@gmail.com
Website: www.mikemckenzieonline.com