Sometimes it's difficult to share all of thoughts on all of the magnificent music I listen to, no matter how badly I want to. According to my Spotify Wrapped, I discovered nearly 1,400 - 1,400! - new artists this year, and I've loved the majority of them, but haven't yet found a way to get them all from my mouth to your ears. These playlist updates have been a really fun way for me to share with you all what I've been listening to lately, and I wanted to elaborate on that a little more by giving you some mini write-ups on each of the twelve songs I add each week! I hope you all enjoy - let me know which you like, or please always feel free to share with me some of your favorites. I love discovering new music!
1. "Tonight" — Katy J Pearson
This tune has been at the top of my mind since I listened to Katy's new album, Return, for the first time a couple of weeks ago. Her debut is one of the best albums I've listened to all year, and I'd highly recommend her to anyone looking for new music - Return is best listened to all the way through off of shuffle!
2. "Madeline" — Honey Motel
The newest release from Liverpool four-piece Honey Motel is as unreal and as passionate as alt rock gets these days - and this is only their second release! This band is so talented and I'm really excited to see what else they have in store.
3. "Harp — The Love Buzz
The Love Buzz are one of the best bands I've stumbled across during the many hours I spent making my way through the "fans also like" sections of more well-known bands this year. "Harp" was released last Friday and it is...wow. It's digestible psychedelic punk and it is so delectable.
4. "I Don't Recognize You" — NewDad
NewDad are another band I found in a Spotify deep dive this year and I have never regretted giving them a chance. Everything they put out is amazing. "I Don't Recognize You" makes me think of big, blue, open skies and I love everything about it.
5. "Radio Punk" — Bad Nerves
Another album of the year contender for me, Bad Nerves' self-titled debut - which came out a couple of weeks ago - is absolutely unreal. 30 minutes of sharp-tongued, whiplash rock and roll and "Radio Punk," an earlier single, is one of my favorites off of the album.
6. "Trust Issues" — Devon
This week's FFO feature, Devon, has been releasing banger after banger for over a year now, and I think "Trust Issues" has come to be one of my favorite tracks of his. Check out my feature of Devon on our website now!
7. "23, Never Me" — Dead Pony
The latest release from Glasgow's Dead Pony is a raucous track about ditching toxicity and negativity and the freedom you feel after. Dead Pony are another band I discovered this year thanks to my penchant for
8. "Water in the Well" — shame
The second single off of their sophomore album, Drunk Tank Pink, "Water in the Well" had better be setting the mood for the rest of the record because I'm absolutely obsessed with this song.
9. "7 Seconds" — Porridge Radio
According to singer Dana Margolin, this song has undergone an enormous amount of change since it was first conceptualized: "“7 Seconds” started out sounding really different to how it sounds now. A few years ago I wrote a really slow, long and drawn out song about the end of something that was never right. I was sitting with [drummer] Sam [Yardley] early last year and I played it to him and asked him if he could help me make it less miserable. He wrote the main keyboard riff almost immediately and it came together really quickly after that; we re-structured and re-arranged it and added the end part, which I think of lyrically as a kind of conversation between two different versions of myself." The result of those changes has produced one of my favorite songs of this year.
10. "Ain't Nice" — Viagra Boys
Viagra Boys are one of those bands that you can pop on when you're feeling like you need a confidence boost, and 9 times out of 10, it's going to work. "Ain't Nice" just gets me rowdy in a way that I haven't experienced in a long time. Their new single "Creatures" was also released yesterday!
11. "Screaming in Suburbia" — The Cribs
I haven't had the opportunity to listen to the new Cribs album all the way through yet, but "Screaming in Suburbia" came up on one of my daily mixes about a week ago and I was fully sold.
12. "Push / Pull" — bdrmm
Hull-based dreampop quartet bdrmm's debut album was christened with a five star review from NME, and even after one listen of just one song off of it, it's clear to see why. The drums in this one knock my socks off. You should also try to stream Bedroom in full if you have the time! It's immaculate.