Hello world,
Here’s your latest FP Picks update with banging new tunes fm Andrew Cushin, Wishy, Mouth Ulcers & many 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
Long Distance Runner – New Song
Post-rock outfit Long Distance Runner (featuring members of Dead Dad’s Club and Mandrake Handshake) recently shared their single New Song and guitarist Ned Prevezer states: “New Song came out of us wanting to do something short and impactful. We wanted it to hit hard and disappear from view as quickly as it enters. In trying to make something a little more dense and structured we veered towards that sort of melodic interlocking guitar sound, like The Smiths and Television. It’s more straightforward, but it still takes you on a journey in that 3 minutes.” The London newcomers have this air of complexity to their krautrock that most bands double their age would balk at; and they’ve made a real statement of intent following their debut single Zero.
Wishy – Covergirl
Wishy are back with indie-rock anthem Covergirl, taken from the long-awaited second album Nature’s Pill. The Indianapolis band lean into a sleazy, hazy sound on this one, with a distant wash of distortion providing much of the track’s texture. Nina Pitchkites’ voice is deeply melodic, but favours long, flowing melody lines over a dense hook. They state: “Being in an indie band feels bizarre when the world is on fire. What can you do at the end of the day other than carve out some space—at the very least I have my imagination and I can invite others to join me there. At a certain point you need to say fuck it and roll with it.” The album is filled with the immediate energy of a band in sync after heavy touring.
Mouth Ulcers – Lady Rust
Mouth Ulcers have shared the single Lady Rust, alongside the announcement of their debut album You’re Not In Heaven. Frontman Zak Watson says of the track: “Lady Rust tells the story about an ancient vampire that guards the land of a former Manor House. The house is slowly deteriorating, walls are falling apart and collapsing like the skin on her bones. Lady Rust continues to live on as a legend of the land with many trying to visit the house but few managing to escape.” Their sound combines the emotional minimalism of Joy Division, the romantic gloom of The Cure and the angular intensity of Bauhaus, built on melodic basslines, wiry guitars and deep baritone vocals.
Spangled – Made For Gold
Manchester’s Spangled are back with new single Made For Gold, the latest taste of their upcoming EP Plug In, Shut Up. The track starts off with shimmering guitars that wouldn’t sound completely out of place on a Johnny Marr record, while there’s a darker atmosphere lurking underneath that gives the whole thing a proper post-punk edge. Then the track suddenly bursts into a frantic garage-rock monster. It’s about drinking rum and mango doubles while attempting to inflate a lilo in 30-degree Egyptian heat and what an energetic, infectious banger it is!
Lael Neale – Joan Of Arc
Singer-songwriter Lael Neale has shared the new single Joan Of Arc, taken from upcoming album As Killers Do and she states: “In many areas of life I grapple with unhealthy perfectionism, but in approaching music in my own primitive way I’ve found a therapeutic respite, a kind of freedom from the tyranny of the mind. As a listener, what really cuts through and speaks to me is music that is direct, that hasn’t been overthought and overwrought. What’s real is becoming much harder to discern day to day. And for that reason, I hunger for it more strongly.” It’s Lael’s fourth collaboration with Guy Blakeslee and stays true to the duo’s commitment to the raw immediacy and lo-fi intimacy of home recording.
Stanleys – It’s Not Over
Wigan’s indie outfit Stanleys have dropped their infectious new single It’s Not Over. Recorded at Wigan’s The Lounge with Brit-certified producer Gareth Nuttall, the track combines a precise groove, melodic guitars and the band’s striking vocals. Its lyrical focus on individuality and pressure to conform gives the track a defiant edge. Following recent singles Pass The Time and Never Like You, It’s Not Over builds on the guitar-driven, melodic sound that has established Stanleys as one of the North West’s emerging indie bands. A song about individuality, resisting conformity and having the confidence to go your own way, the new track continues the band’s move towards their planned debut album in 2027.
Andrew Cushin – Human Condition
Championed by the likes of Noel Gallagher, Pete Doherty, Sam Fender & Louis Tomlinson, singer-songwriter Andrew Cushin shares the infectious track Human Condition from his upcoming EP Human Conditions released on First Run Records. The EP looks at various aspects of self-discovery & enlightenment that we all go through as humans, with the track Human Condition exploring the habits & patterns that can define us, be they good or not so good. With Johnny Bond (formerly of Catfish and The Bottlemen) on guitar throughout the EP, Andrew comments on the recording process saying “Johnny’s guitar solos have given my music a real boost of indie magic. Also, having Louis Tomlinson’s keyboard player Rich Smedley on Human Condition takes the song into a more unfamiliar but welcomed territory for me.”
Hannah Robinson – You Won’t Ever Know
Hannah Robinson has shared the hard-hitting, goth-tinged shoegaze track You Won’t Ever Know, about the perils of isolation. It also explores some other touchy subjects as well, such as abandonment and the feeling of being totally invisible. The torment this can bring is shown in the lyric “You won’t ever know, because you never ask, I’d rather stay alone, than bleed behind this mask.” Newcastle-based Hannah says that she channels her music through inspirations such as Arctic Monkeys, Warpaint and Beach House and as someone who often struggles to articulate how she feels, she instead pens her thoughts to paper, letting them spill into a dark, otherworldly sound that speaks louder than words ever could.
World News – Vinegar Swimming Pool
London-based post-punk quartet World News have dropped the last single, Vinegar Swimming Pool, from their debut album In Purgatory, which features a lurking, muscular riff doubled by the bass, thus sitting on the heavier side of the indie sphere plus a briskly-paced bass and rhythm guitar line, stabs of funky high-pitched chords, pleasant-breeze vocal harmonies, and tasteful use of distortion pedals. Vocalist Alex Evans had this to say about the album and new single in a press release: “There’s no definitive theme that sums up In Purgatory, but there are references to death, depression, break ups, and how life can sometimes feel like you’re swimming in a pool of vinegar. However, there is also a comedic approach to these sentiments, and the notion that there is always hope.”
Drum Tower – Junkyard
London’s experimental-rock outfit Drum Tower recently shared their debut single Junkyard. With oblique lyrical imagery and fragmented structures jolting from moment to moment like thumb-slides from one instagram reel to the next, the track is a punch-packed wellspring of undeniable intrigue. Much like the associations of its title, the band are compiling here a rusted, elegant exquisite corpse of a machine that feels hammered together from various hunks, bolts and modules collected from the overflow of alternative music abundance. Trombonist and vocalist Rachel Fonseca Burtt says: “Junkyard is a ballad that unfolds as a dual narrative dealing with the harsh leftovers of romantic discardment. Moving from the initial sting of aimless, exhausted wandering to finding a surreal comfort in the city’s dump.”
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