well arranged, good melody ... usual smooth (lovely) voice ... tasty work on guitar with all these small riffs here and there

Any artist is welcome to send us a track via freshonthenet.co.uk anytime between Monday lunchtime and Thursday morning (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 15 March: 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/batch399

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 that have been previously submitted and tracks from banned artists will also be removed.

ENTIRE INBOX: Batch 399

Wouldn't It Be Good If We Talk To The Trees

Streets full of houses bolted, barred, blinds drawn tight, no lights, no cars,
No room to let, I’m home again. 
Home for heroes after war / to see what they were fighting for

HOME FOR HEROES

Shai Brides - Little Things

//

Let go and we’ll put the effort in
But – oh no! – I think it’s a big big disaster
Don’t sweat the little things
‘Cause I don’t think we will do anything

The water's coming

It was the day of the dead
With a blue sky beaming on a bone-dry riverbed
Well at times like these you’ve got to laugh
And I would but I fear that my head might fall off

Don’t doubt my devotion
‘Cause I’m serious
I built my house from plastic straw
And now the plastic wolf is at my door
Don’t doubt my devotion
I spilled my guts in a private ocean
Let me come home

I’m scared my dears
I’m petrified of doing nothing
But ice melts and people freeze
I’m scared my dears
Of dying in slow motion
The water’s coming over my knees

The water's coming

And the palm oil trees
Really let down the street
Crawling through the neighbourhood
Growing for the greater good
The economy’s surviving
It’s a shame we won’t be alive in time to see
The twenty-second century

Don’t doubt my devotion
I just can’t conjure enough emotion to take it all in

I’m scared my dears
I’m petrified of doing nothing
But ice melts and people freeze
I’m scared my dears
Of dying in slow motion
The water’s coming 
The water’s coming

Let go and we’ll put the effort in
But – oh no! – I think it’s a big big disaster
Don’t sweat the little things
‘Cause I don’t think we will do anything
The lifeblood that I am inheriting
Is plastic! – I think it’s a big big disaster
Don’t sweat the little things
‘Cause I don’t think we can do anything

The water’s coming

//

Written by Meghan Avery and Thom Dent. Words by Thom Dent. Performed by Meghan Avery (vocals, synthesisers), Sam Cheeseright (guitars), Thom Dent (vocals, bass guitars, bass synthesisers, guitars) and Cameron Williams (drums, bathroom door). Engineered and produced by Martin King. Additional engineering by Adam Eve. Mixed by Martin King. Mastered by Jim Spencer. Recorded at Eve Studios. Distributed by AWAL. Artwork by Joel Dent. Images of Shai Brides shot by Tom Baines. Shai Brides are Meghan Avery, Sam Cheeseright, Thom Dent, Lily Stott and Cameron Williams. © Shai Brides 2024.

Contact: shaibrides@gmail.com

Little Things

Before I Burst

Hardball from my debut EP 'An Exorcise in Anger' 

Written by Alexandra Leaving
Produced by Michael Smith at RYP Recording Studios
Mastered by Andy Baldwin at Metropolis Studios


Lyrics:

I guess you always had the vision
While I was cursed by indecision
I play guitar and you play hardball

Then you called me crazy
Well that rhetoric’s just lazy
I’m unhinged at my best
And the rest floats in fragments.

And no more going down to the movies now.

As a matter of fact you can have it back,
All the good, the bad - it’s for you.
And as a matter of fact I don’t even feel bad.
It’s just that sometimes I’m a little blue.

We decorate the silence with some light chaotic violence
You’re out on the field, I still wanted to be your home run.
But then I saw your colours and I don’t wanna be another,
Just another thing you step on.

As a matter of fact you can have it back,
All the good, the bad - it’s for you.
And as a matter of fact I don’t even feel bad.
It’s just that sometimes I’m a little blue.

I don’t want anything but the way I know,
And I know now this is the end.

As a matter of fact you can have it back,
All the good, all the bad - It was for you
And as a matter of fact I don’t even feel bad.
It’s just that sometimes I’m a little blue.
It’s just that sometimes I’m a little blue.

Hardball

A triumphant statement to end the EP. The most driving & heavily orchestrated track of the EP, with bass & drums playing a key role, and a gripping horn instrumental sat between two conversational verses.

Goliath is an expression of the exhilaration she felt when stepping out of the familiar to stretch into new potential - and how tempting it is to slip back into old grooves. 
MEG ELLA’s nuanced arrangements pull you through the narrative, carrying the song from a controlled & restrained opening to a euphoric and slightly frenetic rise, featuring strings, brass, rhythm section & Citizens of the World, the UK’s leading refugee choir - all underscoring the track’s determined mantra;

“I’m bigger now, don’t let me shrink back down.”

Goliath

A collaboration between paulfcook and Machina X

Twenty

Awfully Civilised marks a significant milestone for Broken Bear as it represents their first collaboration with a producer outside of their ranks (whose recent credits include Blur, Massive Attack, Tom Grennan, and James Bay!). This collaboration has allowed them to infuse new life into their already unique sound, resulting in a track that promises to captivate audiences with its emotive lyricism and innovative soundscapes.

Broken Bear’s signature dark, melancholic, moody, raw, and grungey style has captured the attention of BBC Introducing and Tom Robinson's BBC 6Music Mixtape and has garnered them comparisons to iconic acts such as Nirvana, Radiohead and Fleetwood Mac.


LYRICS:

I found my peace
In the middle of a war 
Became the beast 
But forgot what for
Smashed through the ceiling 
Which was also a floor 
Feeding the plants
But killing the soil

Bleach it 
Start again

Been awfully civilised 
Being awfully civilised

I cut my teeth
As a professional whore 
On my knees
I can see much more
Saving yourself 
Is killing us all

Bleach it 
Start again

Been awfully civilised 
Being awful civilised

We are adjusting to a sick society

Awfully Civilised

Embers

The Commisorator

COW SONG

Roamer is out now!

https://open.spotify.com/album/4JYTfGyiZQxl3kYfHQz5ED?si=aIkY56jEQnmeLWsJs_qlxg

Roamer

7. INDECISION (Music: Roberts/Read - Lyrics: Nagel/Stannard)

indecision - my patient and methodical friend / i guess you want to see me again / not sure if i should let you in / i envision you’ll seduce me with your hesitant charm / decelerate me ‘til i’m disarmed / give me time to reflect upon // i wrote this line a million times / don’t know why it hurts so much to make up my mind // a division cuts me straight along the here and the now - / you’ve paralysed my heart with doubt / relentlessly allegiant throughout this transition / from youthfulness and naiveté / to middle-aged anxiety (and the vacillations in between) // i rehearsed this life a million times / don’t know why i can’t commit
to saying goodbye // talking to myself as I’m walking by the river / catch a glimpse of my reflection / as it shimmers, my mirror image shimmers within it / sunrays glimmer on my face and the waves distort my face in a way that makes me pray the sky ain’t the limit / happy feelings found me and surround me now I’m not living with it / used to drink rounds to drown sorrows / now I allow myself to buy what I like and sip it / a glass of ice with a double measure of any given spirit / drifting as fluidly as the newest beats / lip-synching as the music seems to speak to me more than the lyrics / incredibly it’s telling me that nothing’s finished / that bad attitude had to move, so I killed it / here’s to new beginnings: new starts, new suns, new stars / and how I’m gonna get used to living / and pray people get used to the difference //
i wrote this line a million times / don’t know why i can’t commit and make up my mind / i rehearsed this life a million times / don’t know why it hurts so much to tell you goodbye

MING NAGEL – vocals / JON READ – keyboards / ALAN ROBERTS – guitars / JAMIE VARLEY – bass guitar / DAVE TIDMARSH – drums / HARRY STANNARD – guest vocals

Indecision

Written and performed by Caroline & The Lights.

Guitar - Tom Caunt
Cello - Mike Andrew
Bass - Liam Hill
Drums - Joshua Steven
Piano and vocals - Caroline
Strings - Caroline
Backing vocals - Caroline
Songwriter, composer, arrangement - Caroline

Produced, mixed, and mastered by Paul Tuffs.

Once or Twice

Once Or Twice

Fresh On The Net is a music blog hosted by Tom Robinson and Team Freshnet, offering independent artists an open door and a level playing field for their music. Our inbox is open at http://freshonthenet.co.uk every Monday to Thursday morning - if you share a track with us there it will be heard by every member of our moderation team.

IMPORTANT: 
Only send ONE track, and make sure the dropbox says "OPEN".  Sorry, but tracks sent while the dropbox is closed - or shared drectly with this Soundcloud account - will not get heard.

Project Blackbird consists of five UK-based musicians: vocalist Ming Nagel (originally from the USA), guitarist Alan Roberts, multi-instrumentalist Jamie Varley, drummer Eddie Dublin, and multi-instrumentalist Jon Read, former trumpet player for The Specials. This "extraordinary" band, as BBC's Tom Robinson has described them, offers atmospheric groove stories that draw equally upon intellect and emotion. "Imagine a party at Ronnie Scott’s," one fan suggests, "where Sade, Björk, Jeff Beck, and David Byrne meet Portishead and then go for a late night curry to exchange ideas…sublime”. The band's third full-length album, True Names, is due out later in 2024.

See also BLUEBIRD PARADE.

Indecision

Project Blackbird

Recent comments

Franco Sonaglia

Franco Sonaglia

Related tracks