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

Adding subtle but relentless synths and ever more woozy guitars to their anxiously energetic punk sound, the new single is a danceable, nostalgia-tinged three and half minute banger about the joys of getting sweaty in a club.

Lyrics:

Fire escape vapour
Tommy Girl and sweat and hairspray
Stomach is pulsing
It’s a disco convulsion

And we’re moving down
The crush of the warm crowd
Twitch in the strobe light
Spin in the dry ice

Pull on your good jeans
You are the queen of the freak scene
Chips on the night bus
Sick on your new shoes but what a buzz

And we’re moving down
The crush of the warm crowd
Twitch in the strobe light
Spin in the dry ice

disco convulsion
disco convulsion
disco convulsion
disco convulsion

And we’re moving down
The crush of the warm crowd
Twitch in the strobe light
Spinning spinning spinning in the dry ice

And we’re moving down
The crush of the warm crowd
Twitch in the strobe light
Spin in the dry ice

Dry Ice

Buy on Bandcamp

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.

High Street Ruminations

I'm just a warm meaty lump mixing the music I love to support the artists who made it. Reach out and tell them if you like their work. Share and comment, and spread these wonderful sounds to anyone who loves to hear wonderful sounds.

Tracks and Artists in the this mix:

1. Music and Words for Money - Tim McInnes
2. The Jazzmaster - Matt Finucane
3. Keep the balance - Roller Disco Death Party
4. Humming - You dirty blue
5. Steals My Sleep - Girobabies
6. BRZL (Will Farr Remix feat. Lo Tea) - Meat and Prawns
7. What Happens Now - The Empty Page
8. Suddo Tonnau - Worldcub
9. Holding Up - Wyse
10. Living Arrangements - Hot  Air
11. Life - Mistrust
12. I Feel - Good Hugg
13. You're My Favorite Drugs - The Shops
14. Nicer - Low Bridge
15. Highlighter Pens Will Keep The Chaos At Bay - Gaylips
16. Nervous Bird - Popfuture
17.  Your Thing - Head Gardener
18. Achieved very little but felt peaceful - Astrakan
19. Jazz Cafe - Vickram Bhamra
20. All the good times - Driftwood
21. When the wind blows - Rochelle Rochelle
22. You & Me - Retro Kid
23. Lucy in the sky with Dolphin - South Acid Mimi
24. The Incredible Shrinking Man - Exposed Brick
25. S(he)'s a Rake - Vanessa Van Ness
26. Mandem Say ft. DJ Black Low - Apple Digital Master 2448 - King Nilote
27. Nevergreen - Andrew Anderson 
28. FLIES - DohB
29. Hiding Through Fear (VIP Dub) - Spectre Horsemen Pale With Dust
30. The Old Gardener - Richard Trethewey
31. Alienation - Negative Response
32. Crawl (M2) - Julia Dales
33. Ghost Man - Soli Vive
34. where are we now - daniel iorio
35. Croydon Fox - Strange Flesh
36. Dirac Sea - Particle Drift
37. Automation Nation - Mike Pendegast
38. Dark Matter - W^(Will Arneil)
39. Make it Matter (Radio Edit) - Malibu Hot Flush
40. Heaven Knows mp3 - David Stanley
41. Nostalgic for the violence of his youth - Victor Serge
42. Amygdala Algorithm - We Have Ghosts
43. The Meditation - Debrison
44. Bonnie & Clyde - the kahunas
45. Diamonds and Pearls - Ben P Williams
46. Contain Control - Fibres
47. Hermosa Vida en Verano - Jimena Fama 
48. Low Song - Subordinate Clause
49. Sadist - BIG big SKY
50. The Ship - Superboo
51. Strange One - Man at Q & M
52. It Starts Again - Band Spectra
53. Wake Up! Its Another Day mp3 - GO VOLTA
54. Bee Side - Shrube
55. Advance [Radio Edit] - Gates of Light
56. England’s Glory - Johnny Panic & the Bible of Dreams (Jimmy Andrex)

Will Farr's Eclectic Mix Volume 3

‘When The Cloud Explodes’ is a paean to the North. A sort of love song. ‘Anyone that has ever spent much time in the North-West can attest to the fact that it’s always bloody raining’, says singer/bassist Kel, ‘I think that’s one of the reasons why cities like Manchester and Liverpool are full of creatives. There is so much art, poetry, literature and music here. It’s because we’re always stuck inside having to find novel ways to entertain ourselves.’ 

It’s a simple but powerful song about rainy day creativity in a Northern town. Recorded and produced with local trendsetting production duo Sugar House, it’s noisy, it’s gritty, and it’s definitely Northern.

A limited edition 7” on orange vinyl (with Gggarth produced b-side Wardrobe Malfunction) released on Punk Fox records is available in all good record stores.
____________________________________________________________

theemptypageband.com
theemptypage.bandcamp.com
facebook.com/thmptypg
twitter.com/thmptypg
instagram.com/thmptypg
soundcloud.com/the-empty-page

When The Cloud Explodes

"John Doe" is the first half of Weimar's double A-side single, released on 1st February 2019. A regular fixture in their live set, the lyrics take inspiration from 60s and 70s detective and sci-fi shows as well as Hitchockian psycho-thrillers.

John Doe

“Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself” taken from ’The Best Of Luck Club', the new album from Alex Lahey, out May 17th on Dead Oceans

Pre-Order / Stream / Download: https://alexlahey.ffm.to/bestofluckclub

Alex Lahey - Don't Be So Hard On Yourself

'This Mess is a Place' (Release date: May 3, 2019) 

Spotify: https://u.subpop.com/2E7BloI
Apple: https://u.subpop.com/2WW1w8Z
Sub Pop Mega Mart https://megamart.subpop.com/releases/tacocat/this_mess_is_a_place

Tacocat
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tacocatband/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tacocats
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tacocatband/

Sub Pop Records: www.subpop.com
Twitter: twitter.com/subpop
Facebook: www.facebook.com/subpoprecords
SoundCloud: @subpop
MegaMart: megamart.subpop.com/
Podcast: subpop.fm/

Tacocat - Grains of Salt

'Petty Green Haste'.m4a

'LOST IN SAN PEDRO'.m4a

Fuzzy, alt-punk Northerners The Empty Page (Kel - Vox/bass, Giz - Guitars and Jim - Drums/Vox) have been turning heads since recording some rough demos a few years ago in a draughty warehouse in Ancoats, Manchester in 2016. They were heard by Gggarth Richardson (RATM, Biffy Clyro, Melvins) who invited the band to Vancouver to make their debut album, ‘Unfolding’, recorded in just over a week.

This February, the band released a new single produced by Sugar House in the less romantic location of St Helens, Lancs. ‘When The Cloud Explodes’ was immediately playlisted by Spotify on The Punk List (alongside Idles, Fontaines DC and Big Joanie) and played on BBC 6 Music by Steve Lamacq and Gideon Coe. Praise from bloggers and press drove the song straight into the Hype Machine’s top tracks

“Brash and uncompromising alt-punk for the greyest of skies and the toughest of times..." God Is In The TV.

‪”An excellent tune” Gideon Coe - BBC 6 Music

“Capable of cathartic fury ala Meredith Graves, Kel can also jam a touch of melody in there that tempers the raucous energy with something ever so infectious. It’s a rare and raw talent. Colour us impressed.” Overblown Zine 

Their newest release ‘He’s Very Good At Swimming’ is a change of pace that illustrates the band’s broad palette. Recorded with Simon 'Ding' Archer (The Fall, Pixies, PJ Harvey) and mixed by Andrew Pimblott, it chokes the listener with equal parts haunting melancholy and seething rage. The song tackles the subject of rape, and more specifically the drag-through-the-mud victim blaming which is so standard it’s ludicrous, along with the media’s habit of foregrounding the academic and sporting achievements of the rapist. An uncomfortable listen, and possibly the only song ever to include the word ‘speculum’.

Musically it’s somewhere between PJ Harvey and Fugazi. The jarring melodies layer up the discomfort of the lyrical content, whilst taking up easy residence in the ear and brain.

He’s Very Good At Swimming is out on June 28th on all the usual digital platforms. 

A flesh-coloured and frenetic video accompanies the song, made by Manchester photographer and videographer Debbie Ellis.

____________________________________________________________
Lyrics

Red dress left hanging
Cardigan no guard

Make your mind up, you're confused
Only a fool would accuse
Somebody so cool

Fresh meat punch bowl
How could you know
He would he would he would

Bright white light
He didn't mean it
He didn't mean it
Bright white light
He wasn't thinking
He wasn't thinking

Wipe clean crime scene
Could have been a bad dream

Except the swabs and the needles
Like brambles
Left blackcurrant bruises

If you don't remember
How can you know?
Prove it prove it....

Fluorescent bulbs pop like pornographic paps
Metal clatters on metal
The cold unfriendly wrench of a speculum
You are a specimen
And all bodies are foreign including your own
Now the blue-black beaks
Peck at the gory deets
Are you partial to one or two?
Have you spent a lot of time in bedrooms?
How was it different this time?
Where is your line
Is it clear?
Was your mind clear at the time?

Boys 
will be boys

So it must have been something you said
Something you did
He ran
He ran
He ran
He ran
He ran
He's very good at running
He's very good at swimming

______________________________________________________________________

theemptypageband.com
theemptypage.bandcamp.com
facebook.com/thmptypg
twitter.com/thmptypg
instagram.com/thmptypg
soundcloud.com/the-empty-page

_____________________________________________________________

UPCOMING GIGS 2019

18/05 Chunk LEEDS
01/06 The Good Mixer Camden Rocks Festival LONDON
20/08 Sesh @ Polar Bear HULL
21/08 Fulford Arms YORK
28/09 The Wagon & Horses, Digbeth, BIRMINGHAM
16/10 Jimmy's MANCHESTER (With Saint Agnes)

He's Very Good At Swimming

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.

The Empty Page - Level Sedentary

The Empty Page

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