Charlie Ashcroft’s Musosoup Round-Up November 2023
Charlie Ashcroft: Presenter @amazingradio, DJ @SomebodyTM_Club. Also a @QPR fan, a @RecCollMag columnist + #Spotify Playlist curator with @music_gateway
If you’re looking for ten new songs to soundtrack the winter freeze, look no further! Some excellent tracks have landed in the last few weeks.
Let’s start with RHY and the incredible ‘Thai Milk Tea’, to provide a welcome dose of brightness with its wonderful slacker-pop stylings. The Australian songwriter, based in Perth, has well and truly struck gold here.
Another emerging talent whose recent release impressed me hugely was Livi Jacobs, with her fifth single of the year, ‘Better That Way’. The Vienna-raised pop singer now lives in Florida, and clearly has a very bright future.
Back in Australia, but this time on The Gold Coast, we find an amazing slice of alternative pop by akurei. As well as having a keyboard-challenging title, ‘smile ヾ( ˃ᴗ˂ )◞ • *✰’, is a genuine earworm that I keep returning to.
Continuing our international journey to Stockholm, where we land on ‘lēv’ by JACOBOOM, the alter ego of songwriter/composer Jacob Lahovary Olsson. This track draws on elements of folk and electronica alongside Olsson’s stunning vocals, resulting in a beautiful, sweeping, 4½-minute epic.
Bennett Heidelberger was another new name to land in my inbox this month, with an excellent debut single in the form of ‘Spinning’. It’s an ethereal, acoustic-led journey, just 97 seconds in length, but enough to provide a welcome dose of meditative calm.
Songwriter Ryan Davies continues to make brilliant music under the name Man With A Corduroy Heart. His second release of the year, ‘The Joy of Giving Up’, arrived in November, with nods to stripped-down 60s pop and 70s psychedelia. A real treat.
Charlotte Lansman unleashed a great new track too, with ‘So Long’ proving to be a superb vehicle for her soulful vocals and film-soundtrack-worthy production. Having impressed us with previous single ‘Stupid Love’ back in the summer, it’s fair to say that Charlotte is on a tremendous run of form at the moment!
As debut singles go, ‘Only Nineteen’ by Caleb Francis is right up there with the most ambitious I’ve heard all year, with the Sheffield-based musician’s multiple influences coming to the fore. It’s like TV On The Radio jamming with Black Sabbath. So good.
Continuing with the riffs, I bring you the phenomenal Nashville outfit known as Shedonist. The brooding, brilliant ‘Ask Me Why’ is Jasmin Toubi and the gang’s first single release since they put out the ‘Young, Dumb & Stupid’ LP late in 2021. Great to have them back!
Closing out this round-up, it’s Harker, with their triumphant fourth single of the year, ‘Lights Go Out’. It’s everything you’d want from a band known for their high-energy, anthemic punk. An absolute belter to see us home this time around.