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 13th March 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/batch481

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 481

Indie/grunge/punk

Self Portrait

Recorded and produced by Marten Hurley in Salford, England, and Matthew Boswell in Cardiff, Wales.

Available on limited edition cassette tape and digital download from Ramber Records (RAM_024): https://ramberrecords.com/releases/ram024-emperor-zero-nights-of-the-hunter-ep

Photography © Philip Andrew Hunter, 2013
Music © Emperor Zero, 2023

Absalom

Level Sedentary is a song about staying in. In stark contrast to the previous single, Dry Ice (released Nov 2022)which was all about going out, vocalist and songwriter Kel says this contradiction sums up her personality perfectly:

“I think people assume I am an always-on extrovert but sometimes, the last thing I want is to move from a prone position, never mind actually speak to anyone. Level Sedentary is about those days when, for whatever reason, you are just saying ‘no’. I got the name from a fitness tracking app, which seemed to delight in ridiculing me for my off days. Telling me the ‘level’ I had achieved was ‘sedentary’ as opposed to ‘active’ or ‘highly active’ or ‘performative fitness influencer’ or whatever. 

“I also heard John Cooper Clarke say something like, you need two things to be a writer, a pen and idleness. I want to celebrate idleness in this song although it does have an undercurrent of poor mental health too. I suppose you need a pinch of that to be a good writer, which is why I reference some famously depressed writers as well as fictional characters in the outro: 

‘I’m Vonnegut, I’m Plath, I’m Proust, I’m Bonnie Grape, I’m Charlie Brown’”

The second single released from The Empty Page’s upcoming second album was again produced by Morton Kong who is on the tools for the whole new LP. The track was recorded within the chaos of Kong’s vintage gear wonderland: Eve Studios, Stockport.

Guitarist and songwriter Giz tells us about the recording process: “Level Sedentary is another track we took apart and put back together in the studio. There are loads of pianos at Eve, and Kel started banging out doomy, droney chords on them, it sounded great as another layer to add to the track. 

“The original guitar ideas were inspired by 90’s alt and college rock bands like Pavement, Sonic Youth and The Flaming Lips. We were going for a bit of a post punk Gang of Four type vibe although I think the recording has turned out more cinematic and art rock sounding. The middle section or ‘freak storm’ as Kong called it is a really important part of the track for us, everything descends into chaos for a while, it’s uncomfortable, manic and noisy. 

“Working with Morton has encouraged us to play around with ideas we might not have gone for before, we’re not just a band tracking simple songs, we’re taking time to play with our ideas more. It’s been a lot of fun.”

————————

Background info for editors:

The Empty Page’s debut album Unfolding was recorded with Gggarth Richardson (RATM/Biffy Clyro/Skunk Anansie) in Vancouver Canada and gained them a dedicated fanbase. 

The band released three 7-inch singles in 2019 including the breakout track When The Cloud Explodes. WTCE was spun by multiple DJs on BBC 6 Music, chosen by Chvrches singer Lauren Mayberry from the BBC Introducing archives for airplay on BBC Radio 1 and stayed near the top of Spotify’s Punk List for months. 

Level Sedentary Ice is the second single to be released from The Empty Page’s second album due out in 2023.

Socials: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | TikTok | Spotify

The band is available for interviews/features for this single and in advance of the album.

——————

Praise for ‘Dry Ice’:

“Fizzing with energy, not to mention a fantastic earworm of a chorus." A Model Of Control

“Nothing short of a triumphant return” Vanadian Avenue

“It’s pop music but fuelled on MD2020 and pheromones.” 3 Songs and Out

“Sinuous bass bounds, pummeling drums and a cavalcade of riffs and synths. Spasming on singer Kel’s visceral crescendos” God Is In The TV Zine (tracks of the week)

“Buzzily scuzzed and riot grrling post punk” Screaming For Years

“‘A mind-blowing, post punk, fuzz rock explosion” Last Day Deaf

Current band references: Dry Cleaning, LIFE, Squid, Phoebe Bridgers, Remember Sports, The Lovely Eggs, Billy Nomates

Older band refs: Pavement, Dinosaur Jr, Manic Street Preachers, Sonic Youth, Pixies, Blood Red Shoes, Peaches

Level Sedentary

The Empty Page - Level Sedentary

Alien Grace

Alright

Winter - from the new album POLARCHORAL by GRICE
Album Release date: 4th November 2022

As Winter descends...'look to the spring'
A song of renewal and hope - from the darkest hour just before the dawn.

'an artist of rare refinement - an album of exquisite beauty' - PROG magazine

Grice: Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, sonics.
Robert Brian: Drums. 
Al Swainger: Double Bass. 
Alan Burton: Jillian pipes
Luca Calabrese: Trumpet
Jack Lawrence: Autoharp

Grice Peters (GRICE) is a British Art Rock musician, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer from South London and currently based in the Southwest of England.

Website: www.gricemusic.co.uk 
Bandcamp: https://grice.bandcamp.com/album/polarchoral
Facebook: www.facebook.com/gricemusic
Twitter:  www.twitter.com/gricemusic/
Instagram: www.instagram.com/gricemusic
Youtube: www.youtube.com/gricemusic

POLARCHORAL

Winter

Winter (Radio Edit)

Mind the gaps, don’t fall through cracks and leave all stones unturned.
There’s truth in lies, you won’t always get what you have earned.
Wandering in the wilderness will get you nowhere slow
if you have no place to go.
This isn’t how it is, this isn’t what we do.
The laws of gravity push down on your youth
and for every bad hangover there’s another sober thought.
Love can’t be taught.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Space and time make children of us all.
The universe holds each of us both big and very small.
From up above we look like love, lonely and so blue
and almost true
with action and purpose, subtlety and poise
but when decency fails, honesty annoys.
When only trivia prevails after all is said and gone 
truth hangs on.