Hello world,
Here’s your latest FP Picks update and we’ve got a host of banging new tunes as always fm Jodie Langford, Big Thief, Spielmann & lots more. If you like what you hear please follow and share this playlist, it helps us keep doing our thing by getting the algorithms on our side. Also please support the artists featured in any way you can!
Until next week
Helen (Futureproof) x
Panic Shack – Thelma & Louise
Cardiff’s Panic Shack have shared infectious new single Thelma & Louise, taken from their forthcoming self-titled debut album. They state: “Thelma & Louise is the first love song we’ve ever written (and will probably be the last). It’s an ode to female friendships and how they’re often more fulfilling than romantic relationships. We were inspired to write this song after watching the feminist masterpiece that is Thelma & Louise. It resonated with us so much because we’re quite frankly obsessed with each other. There are a million songs about love interests and broken hearts and we thought it was about time we championed being in love with your best friends. Roll down the windows, crank up the volume and scream at the top of your lungs.” Lovely sentiments on this uplifting summery bop.
Upchuck – Plastic
New Atlanta band Upchuck have signed to Domino and shared their new single Plastic whilst already causing a stir with their incendiary live performances. In a two-minute blitz of scuzzy guitars and spitting vocals, Plastic contains the key to Upchuck’s ethos of authenticity: in a PVC world of hollowness and artificiality, you have to fight to find what’s real. Intense, punk-fuelled musicality, the five-piece are set to play Green Man, Pitchfork London and Simple Things festivals this year. “Everything explodes,” wrote Rolling Stone after catching them at SXSW. “The club becomes a sonic cannon, set to maximum destruction. Every song hits this hard.”
Jodie Langford – I See Only Red
Following some stunning performances to packed venues at The Great Escape in Brighton & recent gigs with Get Down Services, Bureau De Change, Wench! & others, Hull’s much-loved spoken word artist Jodie Langford has become somewhat of a festival showstopper over the past year, electrifying stages across the UK with her unique blend of electro party punk. Jodie’s still found time to drop another banger in the form of enraged new single I See Only Red, with production duties supplied by the unwavering ‘king of electro’ Endoflevelbaddie, and it tells a haunting tale of waking up to a lifeless body, unable to move, speak or scream, combined with the sensation that something horrible & otherworldly is lurking! Outspoken, thought-provoking, energetic and out to have fun!
Spielmann – Got To Go To Work
Leeds-based Spielmann (aka Ben Lewis) delivers another dose of realism on his anthemic new track Got To Go To Work. The follow-up to April offering Over It, it flaunts the multi-hyphenate’s ability to take (the often mundane) aspects of everyday life and wrap them into infectious, indie-infused pop cuts. Arriving alongside the announcement of his EP Back By Popular Demand, this single captures the unfiltered honesty that has become a hallmark of Spielmann’s work, affirming why his voice remains a resonant one in the North and beyond. A real toe-tapper for sure!
Been Stellar – Breakaway
New York’s Been Stellar recently shared Breakaway, a fuzz-laced, emotionally charged single that sees the band return with purpose. Alongside critical praise, the band toured with The 1975 and Fontaines D.C., and packed out venues on their own headline run. The track builds on that momentum with its raw distortion, melodic immediacy, and lyrical depth. “We needed to capture a few feelings with this song,” says frontman Sam Slocum. “Some mixture of sadness, anger, regret — and ultimately optimism. When Sky first showed me the initial idea, it struck me how punchy yet melodic it was. There were already a few emotions in the guitar part alone, so the words followed naturally.”
Picture Parlour – Cielo Drive
Picture Parlour have shared LA-inspired anthem Cielo Drive, where the infamous Manson murders took place. The track emerged from the band’s experiences in Los Angeles, inspired by a chance encounter during an Uber ride. “The location felt oddly reflective of our experience of LA: a place that can look so peaceful on its suburban surface yet harbours such darkness,” the band explain. “When we got to the studio we started flicking through pages of a book we had about the ‘dark corners of Hollywood’ – and lo and behold, Cielo Drive cropped up again. And so Cielo Drive became the backdrop to a song which really just felt like a steam of consciousness about our interactions with people in California, a place so alien to us.” What an absolute indie-rock belter – loving it!
Ain’t – Jude
South London’s Ain’t have shared their introspective new single Jude and drawing on the more oblique corners of 90s guitar music, the band weave together elements of post-punk and shoegaze into a sound that feels at once insular and expansive. “George [Ellerby] wrote the main riff and named the song Jude, which reminded me of a pub called Jude the Obscure, where I went with a friend from university,” vocalist Hanna Baker Darch shared. “He’s a brilliant writer and is doing a PhD in philosophy, but he channels his talents into relentless overthinking. Some of the lyrics reflect the bitter pints-deep tone of our conversations, which has been described as the dynamic of a witch-hag and her raccoon accomplice.”
Moon Panda – Lost World
California/Danish dream pop four-piece Moon Panda have shared new single Lost World, taken from their upcoming album Dumb Luck. The track features distant electric guitar arpeggios and a breathy, intimate vocal performance by lead singer Maddy Myers who states: “What if the relationship with the person you’ve planned your whole life around started to crumble? That’s what Lost World is about. To contemplate having to start over and figure out who you are again. The older and more settled in this life and relationship I get the more terrifying the idea becomes.” Maddy says of the album: “It has little pieces of all of us within it and feels really special. Like this little mix of all our different characteristics – it’s got my softness and introspection, Gustav’s humour and explosiveness, Josh’s thoughtful precision, and George’s wonky wizardry just kind of blankets over everything.”
Big Thief – Incomprehensible
Quoted lyrics from Big Thief‘s haunting new track Incomprehensible recently began to appear across Manhattan and Brooklyn before its release. As percussion swirls and a feeling of hopeful nostalgia permeates through this stunning composition, Adrianne Lenker’s soul-stirring lyrical wordplay dances in and out of our headspace with ease, reflecting her own life back at ours: “In two days it’s my birthday and I’ll be 33 / That doesn’t really matter next to eternity / But I like a double number, and I like an odd one too / And everything I see from now on will be something new.” Upcoming album Double Infinity is the band’s first album as a trio, following the departure of bassist Max Oleartchik. Specific reasons for the split were not shared, with the band saying only that, “This change was made for interpersonal reasons with mutual respect in our hearts.”
Mae Powell – Tangerine
Singer-songwriter Mae Powell recently dropped ethereal new single Tangerine, taken from the upcoming album Making Room for Light. “Tangerine is a testament to my squishy heart. This idea of a tender heart being akin to a fruit getting smushed in the bottom of a bag, making a mess but also making everything smell really good,” Powell explains. “I will always be an advocate for living with your heart on your sleeve, telling the ones around you that you love them, because we never know how things might change. I’m also looking for the balance between open heartedness and boundaries that can also serve as an act of self-love and care.” An emotive, warm, touching slice of indie-folk – love it!
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