Tag Archives: Fresh Juice

Fresh Juice

Fresh Juice 3rd November 2025

Josienne Clarke – What Do I Do?

Josienne’s latest album ‘Far From Nowhere’ is a record created and recorded in the isolation of a remote Scottish cabin. Deliberately lo-fi and intimate, it is a fine piece of work that sits together well as a suite of songs wrestling with questions, anxieties and motions that play-out as if being processed in real time. There are no easy answers, in fact often there are no definitive explanations at all, just questions, and this song is a good example of that. It also stands as a singer-songwriter album that honours the tradition of artists charting their journey through life via music; when real experience and feelings are the source, it is often reflected in songs that have more bite and depth, as heard in the music of Josienne Clarke

The Len Price 3 – Gypsy Magick

New music is always welcome from a trio with some of the purest sixties garage rock sounds you can find in 2025. As the title of their new latest album ‘Misty Medway Magick’ indicates, they are a power pop outfit from Kent who have been heavily gigging and recording for over twenty years with all original members, none of whom are actually called Len Price. That sound is hard to resist but I never warm to mere retro photocopyists, it is when bundled in with creativity and original ideas in composition, as the Len Price 3 have always done, that the music comes alive, fizzing with energy and vitality. It is a big part of the Fruit Tree Records ethos that design classic sounds and genres can continue to be enjoyed outside of their original eras, provided they are approached with the right attitude. As far as I am concerned, ‘Gypsy Magick’ is just a rollicking 2025 pop record, so dig it.

Tristen – Because Your Love Is Mine

Tristen (full name Tristen Gaspadarek) is an American singer-songwriter and musician based in Nashville, Tennessee who first came to my attention around 2018 with the swooning song ‘Glass Jar’ that appeared on the album ‘Sneaker Waves’. She has released several records at this point and is about to put out the brand new ‘Unpopular Music’ LP on Well Kept Secret. As heard here, the melody driven sounds and personal narrative infused lilt to the lyrics remain at the fore. There is a deceptively gentle, hazy energy to the music of Tristen that ensures any new recordings are always worth checking out. Of this new song she confides it is “about the healing power of connection, something we are starved for in the age of artificial intimacy”.

Neko Case – Wreck

Neko Case first came to my attention when she topped the John Peel Festive Fifty over 25 years ago, the legendary DJ’s championing of new country artists around this time may not have been a huge part of his celebrated legacy, but I think the fact that Neko is still making essential new Americana today proves he knew a good thing when he heard it. Her latest album is called ‘Neon Grey Midnight Green’ and is out now on the Anti- label; she describes is as a “love letter and a testimony” to her friends and influential musicians, producers and activists who have passed away in recent years. In focusing on these departed souls Neko Case has once again produced a work with a deep timelessness that pushes country music into the stratosphere.

Good Flying Birds – Fall Away

Newly signed to Carpark and Smoking Room, the Good Flying Birds are a jangly guitar-pop outfit from the Midwest who have just released ‘Tallulah’s Tape’, a mix of stripped down home recordings that includes this falling tumbleweed of melancholic pop timbre. It features backing vocals from Wishy’s Nina Pitchkites along with Kevin Krauter on drums and demonstrates a fine appreciation of the DIY aesthetic and the enduring persuasiveness of melody and hooks. Earlier this year they sold 300 copies of a self released cassette in under a month but now sound poised to take it to take it a lot further on down the road.

Pino Palladino + Blake Mills ft. Chris Dave – Taka

Blake Mills is a guitar hero with a difference, a genuine sonic explorer and visionary who takes the absence of macho posturing adopted by indie guitar gods and pushes it into progressive territories others could not even imagine are possible. This piece is taken from his second collaboration with Welsh bassist Pino Palladino following on from their first 2021 set ‘Notes With Attachments’. New record ‘That Wasn’t A Dream’ picks up and expands upon the innovations from before, recorded at Sound City Studios it again features contributions from Chris Dave and Sam Gendel. Another dimension to the work this time around is Blake Mills’ use of a prototype fretless baritone sustainer guitar, making for a unique, woodwind-like texture to the sound. ‘Taka’ was the lead track from the album and here we capture them cooking up their magic in the studio.

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Fresh Juice

Fresh Juice 27th October 2025

Bernardo – Go Blue

The newly released debut album from this London based British / Portuguese singer songwriter is called ‘Secrets Of Six Figure Women’. Her full name is Sonia Bernardo and the record shows an independent free spirit whose music is floating somewhere around indie music and soulful electronica without truly belonging to either. With ‘Go Blue’ there is a lot going on underneath a framework that is deceptively simple. Piano droplets usher the track in, which settles for a moment in acoustic introspection before sonic references to trip-hop coalesce a sublime chorus part into play. There is something quite divine in the way the centre point of the track glides through some beautiful chord changes then, without warning, the whole thing is over. It really does leave the listener hungry for more, so further Bernardo investigating will certainly be around the corner.

Courtney Barnett – Stay In Your Lane

This is a very welcome return to the momentum and grunge attack heard on the first Courtney Barnett releases over ten years ago. Released on Fiction Records in the UK, it sees Courtney deliver her first new vocal performance in four years, her previous album being the 2023 ‘End Of The Day’ which was an instrumental score for the documentary ‘Anonymous Club’. This one includes a video that has a concept straight out of the Hammer Horror playbook, set in a blood stained hospital ward, it was directed by Alex Ross Perry who has previous with the V/H/S horror series. There is no word of a new album yet but if this is a hint of what we are in for when one does appear, then it could feel like a glorious comeback for this much loved artist.

The Cords – Fabulist

A purists throwback to the kind of DIY indie energy that fuelled the C86 movement in the eighties. ‘Fabulist’ is a fast peddling, jingle-jangling, melody grabbing, knee-bending and heel clicking ride through a bullseye hitting assault on liars and people who make their money from dishonest endeavours. The Cords have arrived with this stunning presentation of proper pop music from Scotland, they are a duo comprising sisters Eva and Grace Tedeschi. Their self-titled debut album is newly released on Skep Wax and Slumberland and it too is overloaded with energy, attitude, zip, zap and hooks. Among the acts they have played with Camera Obscura and Belle & Sebastian stand out, for it is their brand of intellectually stimulating and musically satisfying Scottish pop that The Cords lean closest to. The comparison is legitimate, these are a band to keep an eye and an ear out for going forward.

Sarah Kate Morgan & Leo Shannon – Featherbed Medley

This is a live session rendition that has a rough, rural hue ahead of a rousing change in the second half that marks this duo out as performers with a wonderful touch. This is the title track of a new release whose seven tracks fall somewhere between an EP and an LP. It is the work of a Kentucky duo one of whom, Leo, is a multi-instrumentalist whilst the other, Sarah Kate, is a mountain dulcimerist. Theirs is a sound in which the influences of Irish music, Americana and traditional fiddle tunes all add vital elements to the sonic potion and yes, it is a little old-timey in its sensibilities but that notion is becoming increasingly irrelevant in 2025. Good music just exists sitting side by side with many different styles old and new, just as bad music exists in precisely the same way. That is the key difference ultimately, why listen to something bad when the good stuff is so readily available now. And Morgan & Shannon are indisputably delivering the good jelly aplenty, in all its down home, unplugged, warm, grainy and authentic glory.

Griff Lynch – Fe Lyncodd

A Welsh language record can feel a little out of reach to a non-Welsh speaking man like myself, but when the music and production are as deep and inviting as this it actually matters little. This is a beautiful tune whatever it should happen to be about, it is written with a craftsman’s ear for melodic progression and the sound has some heady textures and sparks flying in the background that serve to lock the listener in tight. Taken from his brand new album ‘Blas Melysa’r Mis’ released on Lwcus T, a record which also features James Dean Bradfield of the Manic Street Preachers, Griff has translated the title of this song as meaning “he swallowed”. He continues, “this one is about greed and being careful what you wish for”. The thing is, now I know that, it kind of makes the music even more marvellous. For me, it is a sound that illustrates that exact type of reverie, it has a dreaminess but one that is anchored by reality. Superb stuff.

The Ocelots – The Good Of A Bad Year

My first encounter with this track was viewing the video online and I will admit, I was troubled by the piano and harmonica playing initially. I mean, he is not even close to hitting the right notes on that keyboard and the miming on the mouth organ has got to be amongst the worst ever seen on film, especially when you consider it is probably quite an easy instrument to mime to, you’ve only got to stick it in your mouth! But I completely parked those actually quite irrelevant thoughts as the music unfolded because the realisation dawned that this is actually a rather sublime and very well written song. What begins as a straight ahead piano ballad pulls away and blossoms into an elegantly swooning, gently pouring jar full of audio honey. The band are made up of twin brothers Ashley and Brandon Watson and this tune is taken from the album, released earlier this year, called ‘Everything, When Said Slowly’. They originated from Wexford in Ireland but are now based in Germany, however it is that easy Irish charm that permeates their winning brand of folk-rock and cinematic pop, so do not ignore the Ocelots.

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Fresh Juice

Fresh Juice 20th October 2025

Arima Ederra – Heard What You Said

Announcing the next chapter of her career, this is LA based musician Arima Ederra who, having released a pair of songs at the end of a tumultuous 2024, is now restored and inspired with the impression being that this is the first sighting of much exciting new music to come. Her critically acclaimed 2022 debut album ‘An Orange Colored Day’ landed after a four year period in which Arima fine tuned her craft behind the scenes. Now, in the artists own words, this new track is about “the strange grief of losing someone who was never really there. When shared memories become questions and years of connection dissolve into misunderstanding”. It is a deep, heavy soul sound on show here, packed with sonic drama and sung with pulchritudinous feeling, it whets the appetite with expectation for more to come. Watch out for Arima Ederra.

Emma Pollock – Future Tree

Best known as a key member of Scottish indie heroes and Peel favourites The Delgados, Emma Pollock has returned with her first solo material in almost a decade. The album ‘Begging The Night To Take Hold’ is already a 2025 favourite here and this track is one of the many highlights. She always seemed to have an adroit grasp of sweeping chamber pop in her old band and that expressive slant is very much at the forefront with this new release, it overflows with tone, tempo and colourful brush strokes across the whole record. ‘Future Tree’ is especially buoyant with those pounding, building keys and that craving voice but as always with Emma, there is a delicious undercurrent of melancholy to even things out. This is well worth a listen.

Love Spells – Wish I Didn’t Love You

If the previous tune instigated a little melancholy then this one will amplify the reverie and lock you down in that space for a further few minutes of longing, floating and wistfully sighing resignation. This is a newly released slice of haunting, dreamy pop written by Sir Taegen Harris (originally from Houston, it would appear that Love Spells is his creative outlet although information is a little sketchy) and produced by Alex Craig. In spite of the obvious yearning and desire evident in the lyric, this tune hovers around the territory of classic, dangerous obsession songs with lyrics like “I wish your name meant nothing but it lingers everywhere”.

Robin Ross & The TW Howlers – Walk With Me

This is one of the tracks from this outfits latest EP which also happens to be their debut release. It is a collaboration between singer songwriters Robin Ross and TW Howell, both from Pennsylvania, which presents five original compositions co-written and recorded in the early months of 2025. This is a fantastically ramshackle country come-on of a song, inviting the listener to “walk with me” as our seasoned narrator exudes an unfaded thirst for curiosity and exploration. The bending of guitar strings and soulful rough edges in the playing all add-up to a track with the kind of analogue warmth that many strive for but not all can achieve. But then Robin Ross can boast an audio engineering degree and was heavily involved in the opening of several recording studios, including Triple R Studios and Sound Complex, so he does know what he is about when it comes to audio.

Iraina Mancini – Running For Your Life

There is no new album from Iraina Mancini just yet but this new track did appear earlier this year, along with news that a follow up to her ‘Undo The Blue’ debut album was in the works. Whenever that does appear it promises to be a gem, especially if this release is anything to go by. Co-written with Mark Neary, ‘Running For Your Life’ hold on to all the vital elements that made Iraina stand out from the crowd in the first place; the steadfast dedication to classic song-writing standards, vintage productions values combined with a glossy modern sheen and a stylish, dramatic vocal presence that really pushes the Mancini music to the forefront with conviction and purpose. There should be a lot more to come from this corner of the pop world.

Laura Jurd – You Again

My recent feature on the late double bass maestro Danny Thompson also highlighted how little the worlds of jazz and folk have intersected, at least to the high standards that Danny hit on his solo jazz releases that pulled on the folk world he knew so well to stunning effect. Well, with her newly released album ‘Rites And Revelations’, trumpeter and composer Laura Jurd has added to this rather hidden lineage quite superbly. She is no stranger to cross pollination of the genres but this new album, featuring a freshly assembled quartet, has a singular focus towards folk lineage with a collection of compositions built around a simple, folk inspired melodies. As always, once Laura has established the framework, her playing and arranging results in fireworks abounding between all the musicians. Just listen to this live rendition and marvel at the explosive way the music erupts when that distorted electric guitar kicks in. There can be no doubt about it, in the year 2025 it is often the jazzers who are showing us the way forward.

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Fresh Juice

Fresh Juice 13th October 2025

Flock Of Dimes – Long After Midnight

We begin this week with a delightfully simple video idea that is startlingly effective alongside the lyrical premise of the song. In ‘Long After Midnight’ singer Jenn Wasner is caressing a gentle acoustic ballad in which the narrator is willingly giving everything she owns in an unshakeable loyal commitment to an ailing loved one. Viewed here, we see her offering these caring gestures whilst behind her the room is stripped bare, piece by piece, of belongings and furnishings. Jenn’s Flock Of Dimes project, which she has maintained alongside her indie duo Wye Oak, has long been a font for personal and musically bold exploration and so the new album from which this comes, ‘The Life You Save’ out now on Sub Pop Records, brings a sonically warm and personable new chapter to the project and is well worth a deep listen.

David Byrne – Everybody Laughs

David Byrne’s post Talking Heads solo career has seen many sudden gear shifts and changes in direction. His art-rock leanings have ensured he would remain an artist uncomfortable with sitting still or falling into a repetitive routine. Despite this though, he cannot shake that knack of his for creating a slice of celebratory, genre-defying and downright catchy pop such as this. It is to be found on the essential new album, his first in seven years, ‘Who Is The Sky?’ Every now and then in the career of an art rocker (I’m thinking of albums like Peter Gabriel’s ‘So’ or David Bowie’s ‘Let’s Dance’) they put out an album with the intention of catching some mainstream attention, these are often surprisingly pleasurable listens. David Byrne may just have pulled that punch here, for the album is overflowing with melodious ideas and electrifying musings. That is what we hear on this one, an insistently bouncy number that runs through a shopping list framework of shared human experiences.

Walter Trout – Sign Of The Times

In a career that spans five decades Walter Trout has deservedly earned a reputation as one of the electric juggernauts of blues music. With a deep solo catalogue but also an impressive collaborative CV that has seen him shine during stints with Canned Heat and John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers (stepping into shoes previously filled by legends Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor), Trout deserves his place in the pantheon of modern day blues elder statesmen. That firecracker style of his is still blazing as it takes aim at the disconnect in a modern day society with their heads buried in screens, apparently oblivious to the wider world around. This is also the title track from Walter’s newly released album which is one of the strongest collection of new songs you will find in 2025. It features lyric writing contributions from his wife Marie all of which help shape an emotional core in tracks responding to the external chaos and internal battles we all feel living in these modern times.

Wednesday – Bitter Everyday

It is not only the older generation who are feeling disillusionment these days. Now already up to their sixth album, the newly released ‘Bleeds’, Wednesday sound typically punch drunk and cheesed off on this crunching highlight from the record. Frontwoman Karly Hartzman does seem to have definitively found her writing voice on the last two Wednesday albums and it is with good reason their “Wednesday creek rock” sound is beginning to win some wider acclaim and recognition. Still, the band are not without inner turmoil with some line-up changes; they were possibly a little wrong footed by the rising solo career of MJ Lenderman over the past couple of years. He remains a studio member but will no longer be touring with the band. Still, despite these bumps in the road, they sound more determined and likely than ever to break on through.

The Onlies – You Climb The Mountain

There is swingin’ old-time string band action aplenty from the US right now too, here in the hands of some lively young pickers, pluckers and slashers named Vivian Leva, Leo Shannon, Riley Calcagno, and Sami Braman. ‘You Climb The Mountain’ is the bands fourth album, although the first two were recorded before they could drive. They are all 27 years old now but got their start twenty years ago, with Vivian drafted in on guitar ten years later, as a kid band; this might be a clue as to why their playing is so tight and infused with passion and feel, what with two decades of practice and refinement behind them. The bands Riley says that “there’s a careful balance between crazy intensity and melancholic peace, I like that both of those exist on the album.” This pulsating, string-laden steam train of a modern folk and bluegrass album is out now.

Jalen Ngonda – All About Me

Finally this week are some sumptuous new laid-back vintage reggae vibes from soul singing supremo Jalen Ngonda, released on Daptone Records. He is joined by veteran keyboardist and producer Victor Axelrod and the pair wrote the lyrics then recorded the vocals all in one night. It already has the aura of a reggae classic to it, the song is a direct pitch for entry into the catalogue for bragging and self-aggrandisement songs. With lyrics like “I may cloud up your day, yet I light up your night and by the morning I make you feel alright” there is no modest humility being portrayed by Jalen here, it is a peacocking strut in every sense and he nails it with his vocal. The genius in the performance is appearing in the final verse, for all his posturing and bravado, there is a little crack in Ngonda’s voice that tells you, he really wants this. This may well be a new route away from the Motown sophistication Jalen has previously shown, but it is no less wonderful for it, so dig in.

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Fresh Juice

Fresh Juice 6th October 2025

Hannah Frances – Surviving You

This is taken from Hannah’s new album ‘Nested In Tangles’ which is out this week via Fire Talk. Having already caught the eye in 2024 with a stunning debut album ‘Keeper Of The Shepherd’ this immediate follow up continues to dazzle and amaze. No mere confessional folky, Hannah has a free flowing range that recalls the likes of Kate Bush and Jeff Buckley but as legitimate as those comparisons are, the fact is she possesses the eloquence and imaginative expression to make this style her own. Parts of the new album feature collaborative arrangements with Grizzly Bear’s Daniel Rossen; something detectable in the eruptions of free jazz and progressive flourishes but the Hannah Frances core magnifies all elements into one heady brew, poetically honing her thematic meditations on generational trauma and maladaptive patterns with a musical experience that is deeply rewarding. Do not miss out on this one.

Jessie Kilguss – Howard Johnson’s

This is a preview track from Kilguss’s sixth album ‘They Have A Howard Johnson’s There’, a line that features in this superb reflection fuelled rock/pop tune, which is due to be released on November 14th. Jessie is a former actress who made songwriting her full time artistic outlet after working with musical heroes Marianne Faithfull and Mary Margaret O’Hara in the Tom Waits / William Burroughs musical ‘The Black Rider’. This song was inspired by the Al Pacino movie ‘Dog Day Afternoon’ and specifically the line spoken by Pacino “I’ll charter a plane to Algeria, they have a Howard Johnson’s there”. Kilguss’s father Howard had passed away a month before her seeing this movie and so the song stands as both a tribute to him and an inspirational spark for what the songwriter felt was a ridiculous line in the movie. ‘Howard Johnson’s’ is a wonderful, slightly forlorn and yet simultaneously uplifting and loving song that deserves some recognition. The nostalgia in the accompanying vintage advert filled video is a blast too, so enjoy.

Jose James – Tokyo Daydream

Released earlier this year, this irresistible slice of soulful electro with jazzy inflections is taken from Jose James thirteenth studio album ‘1978: Revenge Of The Dragon’. There is something in the pulse of the electro beat that sounds so warm and natural, which might have something to do with the fact that the record was recorded live to tape in a manner recalling the analogue heyday of the seventies. Jose has long been a voice in the contemporary soul and jazz worlds who is impossible to pin down, his groove is just so versatile, so cosmically old and new. The new record combines four originals alongside four new interpretations of late 70s classics and is a must hear for any fans of these styles who are on a quest for something bold, innovative and unique. Not only that, but it is a joy to listen to, so dig in.

Southern Avenue – Upside

As we have taken a soulful turn, let’s keep it going with some deliciously rootsy sounding funky soul and a killer chorus hook to boot. This one is an uplifting live version of a standout track on the bands debut album released this year on Alligator Records. Recorded in Memphis, the sense of that regions musical roots merging with gospel and funk is tangible, just as the impression of Southern Avenue being a band that can really cut it live is equally hard to ignore. The message carries a positive punch as well, with a lyric that pushes for the shedding of old concerns and the welcoming of the winds of change with open arms. “Every day’s a new day, find me on the upside” indeed. In the light of the times we live in, the mere act of setting out each morning with that attitude is a heavy act of defiance and one that I willingly try to embrace.

GoGo Penguin – What We Are And What We Are Meant To Be

Taken from GoGo Penguin’s latest album ‘Necessary Fictions’, the title of this modern jazz configuration is a strong indicator to the inspiration for the compositions creation. Pianist Chris Illingworth described it as being born of “deep reflection” and the music conveys sonically the abrasive dividing line between the reality of the people we are and the dream of the people we aspire to be. In that sense, each of the audio facets that are the building blocks of this piece, the delicate piano patterns, the restless drum grooves, the throbbing of the bass at the heart of it all, the deep washes of double bass and the ambient ever-presence of the synths each serve to capture an element of the whole that only becomes fully identifiable when everything is combined, which seems to happen both naturally and with some resistance. All told, this electric Manchester trio are still making and creating sound in a manner that demands attention and delights the ears.

U – The Bitter Withy

And finally, we conclude this week’s selection in a place that is one-part traditional old-England folk, another-part haunting and a wonderfully baffling puzzle all rolled into one. It comes from an album set to be released on 10th October called ‘Archenfield’ on the Lex Records label. There in lies the first mystery, for the record has been constructed by a sample collagist called U about whom little is known. In putting this audio delight together U has dug deep into archive recorded material, found sound and sourced other atmospheric samples all relevant to the area in Herefordshire known as Archenfield. The ambience of the whole record, in conjunction with the mesmeric appearances and disappearances of voices from another age, both bring folk and folklore into the current realm in tandem with time-locking them into history. Do these voices speak to us today or is our connection too severed to ever reach back that far? ‘The Bitter Withy’ itself is centuries old, telling the tale of a child Christ and a murderous misuse of his powers, and it sounds archaic too; it plays as if it were broadcasting from the needle on an antique shellac player which has just been wound for the final time, never to play again. This one is unique in every sense, one of those albums that will not survive as background music but for those who want immersion, confusion, patient gratification, questions without easy answers and a positive banquet of imaginative audio wonderment, then U’s ‘Archenfield’ album will surely become a treasured possession.

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Fresh Juice

Fresh Juice 29th September 2025

PINS – I’ll Be Yours

This Manchester all female have been releasing attention grabbing indie-rock albums for nearly fifteen years now and make a welcome return here with more classic sounding original music. They are leaning into a sixties wall-of-sound aesthetic here, albeit one that still thrashes those melodic guitar hooks to Jesus And Mary Chain levels of fuzziness. When they were starting out, founding member Faith Vern brought her fashion photographers eye to the mix, ensuring that PINS always had a stylish swagger to their post-punk aggression with vivid nods to the Riot Grrrl movement. All these elements are clearly still flourishing today, so it is great to hear news of this return for their previous release was 2020’s ‘Hot Slick’, a wait that felt far too long.

Jeff Tweedy – Out In The Dark

The new album from Wilco front man Tweedy is a 30 track, triple album epic called ‘Twilight Override’. He recorded it at Wilco’s home base The Loft in Chicago in collaboration with his sons Spencer and Sammy as well as James Elkington, Liam Kazar and Finom’s Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart. Unmistakably the work of Jeff, it proves him to be a song writer still very much in service of the creative spark and with a record this size, that tap is clearly still pouring a potent natural supply of inspiration. He himself describes the record as a reaction to “the bottomless basket of rock bottom” and it is indeed a defiant action against the despair of modern times expressed through his unique musical vision.

The Divine Comedy – The Last Time I Saw The Old Man

This is just so beautifully on the money, relatable too if you have ever found yourself reflecting on your final moments with a close elderly relative. It requires a certain lightness of touch in tandem with a fluent musical vocabulary but, if there is a recording artist from the past 35 years who has consistently displayed these qualities it is undoubtedly Divine Comedy mainstay Neil Hannon. The bands newly released album is called ‘Rainy Sunday Afternoon’ and it shows a deliberate emphasis on chamber pop orchestration and offers an overriding sense of introspection. A perfect soundtrack for reflection as we enter the colder winter months, the sense of autumnal melancholy is striking and Neil himself, when talking about the album, has said it is a way to “work through some stuff”.

Half Man Half Biscuit – Horror Clowns Are Dickheads

If you need a lift after the previous recommendation then this should provide enough of a contrast. Nigel Blackwell’s band had their oeuvre nailed down on arrival forty years ago and they have stuck with it brilliantly, often hilariously, ever since. The recipe has always been energetic punkish indie-rock as a bedrock for Nigel’s dead pan mocking alongside devastatingly observed social and cultural satire. New album ‘All Asimov And No Fresh Air’ features the definitive take down of the profiteering hype around ‘Record Store Day’ (“oh I do like to re-release my b-sides” sung to the tune of “I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside”) but it opens with this instant classic, a song that instructs “all horror clowns are dickheads and if you have a phobia of them, you’re a dickhead too”.

Joan Shelley – Here In The High And Low

Joan Shelley’s new album ‘Real Warmth’ arrives, as many new releases have done in the current climate, heavily troubled by the unstable world conditions we live in. There are multiple layers to the “real warmth” she is referring to not least the collaborative, tangible connection we humans often isolate ourselves from in an online space and also the climate anxiety that is provoked by our warming planet. But she also took her mission drive to the recording process too, seeking a looser, more interactive and live feel to the sessions by recording them with musician friends in a snowy and remote Canadian hide away. That was definitely a sound move as can be heard here on the records superb cascading opening track, after which the rest of the album holds up equally well.

Julianna Riolino – Seed

So it feels like a closing of the circle with this weeks final selection for, much like the opening number, this is a cut swinging its sixties style hooks with a bolshy, assured swagger. For a song that begins like a 21st century take on The Shirelles, the way it ends in a hurricane of rising noise with Julianna repeated spitting out the refrain “I was your seed” is really quite sensational. This is taken from a new album due in October called ‘Echo In The Dust’ from the former member of Daniel Romano’s Outfit. Hailing from Canada, she has pursued a solo path since releasing a single called ‘Be My Man’ in 2019 and with this follow up to 2022’s ‘All Blue’ LP there is clear evidence of an artist who has absolutely found her voice.

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Fresh Juice

Fresh Juice 22nd September 2025

Scott Lavene – Cars

Scott Lavene took some time to find his voice, having busked extensively before retreating to solitude on a boat via stints in bands around France and New York, his breakthrough came around the time he attended a music workshop for recovering addicts. That awakening brought us a singer and writer with one of the most authentic voices on the music scene today, rooted in urban Essex with the poetic flare of an Ian Dury taking on the Sleaford Mods in a lyrical arm wrestle. He is self effacing, warm, witty and incisive in his observational detail, as his music jumps between spoken word narrative and soul boy intonations whilst the subject matter pivots across real life confessions and Scott’s wild imagination. His new album, ‘Cars Buses Bedsits and Shops’, is so named because all of the songs focus on those exact, recurring subjects. Simples.

Foxwarren – Deadhead

This one is accompanied by a video that is both divertingly amusing and a little disturbing at the same time. It feels like they took the songs title as a launch pad and decided to feature some actual dead headed puppets but eerily, still smiling and moving because after all, with its “don’t stop dancing” refrain, this is quite a light and bouncy number on the surface. The effect is wonderfully unsettling as this Canadian indie band, led by Andy Shauf, deliver their second album following their 2018 self titled debut, with a similarly satisfying analogue expansion of the introspection heard in Shauf’s solo work. Especially with those flute licks, this one is infuriatingly addictive and catchy.

Bret McKenzie – Freak Out City

There was always a suggestion when performing as comedy duo Flight Of The Concordes and delivering pitch perfect parodies of retro pop styles and artists, that there was quite an adept musical talent at work here. The trouble with comedy songs is, as a general rule, they are set up for just one listen and only a few are ever re-played. Once you know the joke, it is time to move on. Still, with a burgeoning side hustle composing film music, Bret did set out his serious musician credentials on 2022’s stringently straight ‘Songs Without Jokes’. Now with a new follow up album, of which this is the title track, he appears to have struck the perfect balance; ‘Freak Out City’ is a record driven by melodic tunesmithery without totally abandoning the droll, subtle wit flowing so effortlessly out of McKenzie’s modest, humble disposition.

Brandee Younger – Gadabout Season

Spiritual, ethereal and soulful jazz played with the harp as lead instrument is thriving in 2025. At least, that is how it feels with Brandee Younger releasing sumptuous music such as this, the title track of her new album available on Impulse! Records. It is the harpists third album with the label and feels like the closest she has been thus far to realising and developing the signature sounds in her minds ear. That it was recorded on Alice Coltrane’s harp is an apt connection, for if an exploration into this music’s roots were to be undertaken then those fifty year old heavenly vibes would certainly show up. Still, Brandee is plugged into the modern motions too, as the records collaborators like Shabaka Hutchings, Courtney Bryan, NIIA and Josh Johnson only serve to prove. Justified, stylish and stately.

Carson McHone – Winter Breaking

Carson’s new album ‘Pentimento’ is out now on Merge Records and it is one of the 2025 albums that demands some immersion. All of the songs entered the world as poems but McHone has nurtured and developed each of them into a song cycle that transports the listener through the four seasons. Comparisons are already awash with references to the late 60s/70s Brit-folk-rock sound and names like Shelagh McDonald and Bridget St John are accurately being tossed into the appreciation, but I hear a more contemporary edge seeping through as well. McHone may well find her musical soul drawn connecting with these wonderous vintage echoes but her head is firmly plugged into the present day and that kinship alone makes her first full-length album since 2022’s ‘Still Life’ a repeatedly rewarding experience.

Adrian Sherwood – The Collapse Of Everything

This is the title track from Sherwood’s new record and it somehow is a heading that feels depressingly pertinent in the current climate. Nevertheless, that it should be masterfully vintage sounding dub soundtracking the breaking and broken nature of the world around us at least seems very fitting. The audio landscape is both doomily oppressive and chillingly fatalistic but, in equal measure, soothing and resigned. This is Sherwood’s first solo album in thirteen years and the experimentally inclined dub maestro, so often the background wizard sprinkling his sonic sorcery on the work of others, is allowing himself to be the centre stage focus of attention for once. It is a full length record to set sail with, playing like a film soundtrack as it glides across worldwide musical territories and regions but rarely breaking loose of the dub backbone holding this phonic requiem together as one.

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Fresh Juice

Fresh Juice 25th August 2025

Eve Adams – Get Your Hopes Up

Growing up alternating between the rural farm idyll of Oklahoma and more urban surroundings in Los Angeles, Eve began writing music at a very young age and was already showing considerable emotional depth in her songs by the age of twelve. Her latest release is called ‘American Dust’ and arrives on the Topic label continuing her narrative fuelled folk-noir style with a maturity that seems to be really hitting the heights now. In a recent interview with Uncut Magazine she described her music, which pulls in strong visual art elements too, as “a nice little ouroborus”.

Curtis Harding – There She Goes

This is psychedelic soul par excellence, featuring a deep production resplendent with strings, funky rhythm chops and a far-out fuzz guitar solo, it is clear Curtis’s music is going places other soul stirrers cannot reach. This is a recently released stand alone single marking the mans first new music since the acclaimed 2021 album ‘If Words Were Flowers’. In terms of theme Harding has described the song as a tribute to “the beauty and duality of the ideal woman” but I say it skates pretty damn close to the beauty and duality of the ideal soul track. There is much to love here, including the Twilight Zone essence of this accompanying music video.

The Black Keys – Man On A Mission

While I am thinking about psychedelic soul it is fair to say there is a huge element of that very thing in this new music from the Black Keys, that and their ever present raw blues cut and thrust. This one is from the bands brand new album ‘No Rain No Flowers’ released this month on Easy Eye Sound/Parlophone Records. They remain dependably brilliant on this LP which sees them at times return to the blues-rock sound of their roots and elsewhere turn to other modes such as post-punk, retro soul and then, pushing even farther out from those roots, a touch of eighties style synth action. Always worth checking out.

Laura-Mary Carter – June Gloom

This is one part a forlorn country-style ballad and another part a Lana Del Rey style haunting melodrama. Laura-Mary is previously known as one half of Brighton alt-rockers Blood Red Shoes but after two decades pounding down those souls she is now stepping out solo with a striking shift in tone. Hers is now an Americana adjacent motion with a vivid echo in the production that calls to mind a Spector wall of sound and a Velvet Underground-like ghostly shimmer. If that sounds like an appealing cocktail, which it certainly does for me, then be sure to dig out the solo debut album ‘Bye Bye Jackie’ when it arrives later on in September.

The Onlies – Going Across The Sea

Pronounced the own’-leez, these young yet old-timey folk and bluegrass whizz kids are about to release a brand new album called ‘You Climb The Mountain’. This lively number from a recent live performance may not feature in the tracklist but the live footage offered up does give you an idea of the fire and energy this combo possess in spades. It therefore ensures, despite its old fashioned reference points, this has a vitality definitively proving they belong in the here and now of modern times. The album features a wide panoramic view of the emotive range in the sound, from the slow swinging reflection heard in ‘Roll On Buddy’, a railroad song learned from Aunt Molly Jackson, to the punchy picking on show in a vibrant interpretation of the English song ‘Matty Groves’, it is clear The Onlies are explosive talents rightfully demanding our attention.

Studio Electrophonique – How Can I Love Anyone Else?

I am closing this edition with some dreamy electronica, a song that sounds simultaneously retro and modern, both primitive and grandiose in its lush production. It is a rather forlorn piece but there is a warmth in there too, this piece has a piercing autumnal feel ready made for the next season that is already starting to show its colours. This is the solo project of singer-songwriter James Leesley, one of the most interesting and original musical outfits to emerge from Sheffield’s current independent scene. He says this song “existed for a while as just this little arpeggiated interlude I’d play in between writing other songs, kind of like a thinking tune, but then one night it just turned into this swirling fairground ride of a sequence. The full thing came all at once, as if it was already there — like I’d found some secret waltzer and had a pocket full of tokens. I just kept going round and round until I’d finished the words”. He will release his eponymous debut album on Paris-based label Valley of Eyes Records on September 26th.

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Fresh Juice

Fresh Juice 18th August 2025

HONK – Vine-Glo

Well, this weeks first offering takes about three handbrake turns in the first sixty seconds leaving you wondering what the hell is going on here? But in the best possible way. It starts off like a hillbilly cousin of Telstar by the Tornados before launching into space with a disturbed yeouch of a lead vocal only to surf rock over the waves of a chorus that hits all the right targets. They call this unique grain “trashcan country” which does kind of tell you what you need to know about the scuzzy, rootsy and energetic sound HONK purvey. The new ‘Closing Down Sale’ EP is the follow up EP to their debut ‘Grand Opening’ EP and drops this week, released digitally and on cassette via Leeds label Shooting Tzars, HONK also have a run of gigs across the UK this summer

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Annick Michel – Between

Sometimes brilliant new music can be discovered online clouded in mystery and this is one such example, I came across this incredibly soulful, impassioned, intense acoustic song earlier purely by chance, simply by being on the right page at the right time and served suggested content by an impressively on-the-money computer algorithm. My digging has deduced that the artist has released a little music under the name Annick Michel, she is possibly a Montreal based singer-songwriter and this track may have been around on the internet from as far back as 2022. But the mystery is around the identity and back story, for I have found the song presented under the artist name Ama & Jaguar Dream although it is definitely the same person. Whatever, this is an great new song sung and played with a conviction that demands proper attention and incites use of the old cliché, one to watch.

Paul Kelly – Rita Wrote A Letter

If you are inclined towards a knee-jerk resistance or cautious suspicion when an artist is heavily touted as a ‘great songwriter’ then I fully understand, I am of a similar disposition myself. After all, there are people who pile those kind of accolades towards Ed Sheeran or Chris Martin and it rather lowers the bar in terms of being credible, worthy praise. However, if you are of the opinion that a great songwriter will have a flare for chord progression and melody, an acute facility for observing the minutiae of human life and interaction, strong story telling instincts, a sense of the absurd and a self-effacing tendency to recognise the fallibility in themselves, then wrap it all up in a song shaped bundle that will keep you listening and coming back for more, then Paul Kelly is a great songwriter. Furthermore, this Australian tunesmith has got 45 years of experience behind him and the advance single presented here, from November’s forthcoming new album ‘Seventy’, shows there are no signs of his craftsman like quality diminishing any time soon.

Peter Holsapple – Larger Than Life

Releasing his first new solo music in seven years with the album ‘The Face Of 68’, this is a recent live clip of Peter performing ‘Larger Than Life’ from that record. The song itself is a tribute to Carlo Nuccio of the Continental Drifters and features, as does the rest of the LP, Robert Sledge from Ben Folds Five on bass and Rob Ladd of The Connells on drums. As this tune definitively makes plain, the Holsapple of 2025 is firmly in touch with his jangle and power pop roots for there is a more than passing echo of this former dB’s co-founders musical heritage. And that is great news indeed, as this is the sound of a man in touch and plugged in to the pretty damn wonderful music he is making.

Luke Haines & Peter Buck – The Pink Floyd Research Group

Moving on from a former R.E.M. sideman to a former R.E.M. man in acting side man guise, it is always so great to hear Peter Buck bring that trademark jingle-jangle style of his to the table in the name of niche, outsider, eccentric British songwriting. The song itself is a whimsical slice of Summer-of-67 flowery spacedust which, if the Pink Floyd Research Group of the title are to be believed, was written by some kind of artificial AI assisted song bot. At least that is what someone claiming to be the PFRG in the YouTube comments are claiming and if it is really them, what a brilliantly offhand way to have a gentle retaliatory slap back to a song that is not as convincing in its sincerity as it is in its freak flag flying quirkiness.

Richard Thompson – Siggy’s Song

For the recent Radio Two hosted project called ’21st Century Folk’, five current folk artists were introduced each to five people in order to learn their back story and write a new folk song about their lives. In this edition arguably our greatest living folk composer Richard Thompson meets Siggy, who came to London from Barbados in 1962. He began working on the railways and playing cricket as soon as he arrived. At the age of 85, he still works at a train station, and he still plays cricket! Tapping into the folk tradition of participation, Richard’s new song pulls in Siggy’s teammates at the Holtwhites-Trinibis Cricket Club in Enfield for some rousing backing vocals.

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Fresh Juice

Fresh Juice 11th August 2025

Dodie – Old Devil Moon

This weeks Fresh Juice is like a visit to the Jazz Club with half a dozen new offerings from the cool world of vibes, improvisation and musical excellence. First up is a cover version by Dodie who might just feel like two worlds colliding with her current career trajectory. She gained attention, and continues to, via a prolific release schedule of original songs and interpretations on YouTube but here she is brilliantly contributing to an album available in the traditional vinyl format through the jazz classic Blue Note label (in the US, it is on Decca in the UK). The record in question is ‘Chet Baker Re:imagined’, released to mark the 70th anniversary of ‘Chet Baker Sings’, it features fifteen re-workings by various newer artists in a modern context of Baker classics.

Manon Mullener – Nostalgia

Heard here playing a piece from her new album ‘Stories’, Mullener seems to work the piano with a rare ability to both lead and explore her instrument simultaneously. Her style is melodic and easy to appreciate but it can bare multiple repeated listens and highlight many a nuance in her flourishes with each revisit. Manon is a Swiss player and composer who, with this new album, has released her most cohesively concept driven work to date and it impresses as a record that frequently imagines real life scenarios as breath taking musical presentations.

Brad Mehldau – Better Be Quiet Now

Jazz pianist supreme Brad Mehldau’s appreciation of the late Elliott Smith’s music is nothing new, there is film footage available of him playing with Smith on TV some twenty five years ago. Even then they seemed a good match, Mehldau coming across as an understanding foil for Elliott’s introspective singer-songwriting and his mastery of what Brad describes as the “dark/light admix”. Neither is this new work the first time the piano man has honoured Smith on record but his latest release does represent a proper step towards paying a full, album length, affectionate tribute to the man and his music. And, as you would expect if his previous recordings have ever moved you, Mehldau does a fantastic job on new release ‘Ride Into The Sun’, capturing Elliott’s wondrously potent blend of major / minor ornate compositional elegance. An essential, piano led orchestral jazz work awaits.

Amina Claudine Myers – Solace Of The Mind

The latest album by pianist Amina features this emotional centrepiece song as its title track, it is a record that she describes as a “balm, a mirror, a space to sit with your thoughts”. Released this year on Red Hook Records, it finds the now 83 year old trailblazer exploring music that touches base with jazz, blues and spirituals. Although she did not start recording music until the late 1970’s, Myers is widely recognized and appreciated in jazz circles as one of the masters of improvisation and is highly regarded for her musicianship on Hammand B3 organ and piano, not to mention that resonant, expressive voice. Long may she run.

David White Trio – Close The Door

Playing a simmering electric guitar led tune from their latest album ‘While You Were Sleeping’, this is a sublime live studio rendition from the guitarists combo who have been favourably compared to top jazz guitar names like John Scofield and Pat Metheny. Still, as you can witness here, they are not a group inclined to sit still on structure, showing a perpetual inclination to explore and innovate whilst holding firmly onto the listeners ears. There is much to enjoy on this new record, especially in the groove driven backbone that locks in some of the tunes, add to that the top drawer playing and this is a new jazz album that rewards taking a deep dive towards.

Joshua Redman – A Message To Unsend

This soothing yet seductively mournful piece is taken from Joshua’s latest album ‘Words Fall Short’ released on Blue Note Records and it proves that the label, this far into its history, remains a hallmark of jazz quality. Now in his mid-fifties, Redman has a hard won reputation as one of the finest saxophonists of his time thanks to an intangible mix of intuition and fervor in his playing. This is a record that Joshua reports was largely composed during the pandemic and the reflective mood that permeates certainly enhances that impression. However, the real magic is in the way the recordings come alive with organic warmth, displaying the kind of stunning results that can only come out of a group naturally feeding off each other to bring their music alive in the studio and then, fantastically, on record.

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