This week’s installment of FEISTY Likes features all of the best new music you need to hear, including brand new singles from bands including Glass Animals, Yumi Zouma and Purity Ring.
Our weekly showcase highlights the tenacious and the ethereal, the wild and the chill, with alternative, indie, rock, pop and punk picks from across the musical spectrum.
There’s 30 tracks in total this time, including a cutting feminist statement from Dream Nails, a rescue from the cutting room floor from Jay Som and a second single in as many weeks from PINS.
FEISTY’s Single of the Week is Stress, the frenzied new single from post-punks Talk Show. With fevered vocals and howling guitar lines, it’s another reason to be excited for their forthcoming debut EP These People.
Other highlights include the hot debut from Scandipop newcomer Hedda Mae, Zurich’s under-the-radar collective Inbetween Movies and an infectious social commentary from six-piece Sports Team.
There’s also the first track in a while from Chemtrails, sombre folk from Isadora Eden and the latest from Aussie rising star San Mei.
Read on for all 30 picks, including a synopsis on each from FEISTY’s Katy, and boot up the Spotify playlist below to fall in love with this week’s selections! ♥︎♥︎♥︎
Love our music taste? Follow the playlist to hear your fresh dose of FEISTY Likes every weekend, and follow us on Twitter at @feistymag for the latest throughout the week.
Michi – Night Moves
Luxurious pop from Los Angeles’ Michi, whose warm and nostalgic sounds are inspired by ’60s and ’70s grooves and even the Bee Gees. Formerly part of indie pop band Private Island, she’s now picking up plenty of fans and streams with her solo singles.
Glass Animals – Your Love (Déjà Vu)
Slick, R&B-inspired indietronica from Glass Animals, whose third album is on the way this year. Your Love (Déjà Vu) is about “fucked-up relationships” and is the follow-up to their collaboration with Denzel Curry in November.
San Mei – Cherry Days
We’re long-time supporters of San Mei, so we’re excited that her alluring blend of dream pop, indie pop and synthpop is finally picking up the wider attention it deserves. Cherry Days is a chirpy track taken from her new EP Cry, which drops in March.
Purity Ring – stardew
The general consensus on this fanciful comeback single is that it’s not the synthpop duo’s best, but it’s still new Purity Ring, and is that ever a bad thing? A second new track, Pink Lightning, is out as part of a browser game.
Hedda Mae – Pride Goes Before a Fall
Introducing Hedda Mae, a Norwegian newcomer inspired in part by the clean-cut saunter of early 2000s pop music. Her debut single is an impressive, feminine piece of big-league pop complimented by some especially snazzy basslines.
Honeymoan – Fidelio
Taken from alt-popster’s Honeymoan’s new EP Weirdo, Fidelio encourages the listener to own their sexuality and contentiously suggests it’s possible to find positives in being objectified. It’s yet more exquisite pop from the Cape Town quartet.
PINS – Bad Girls Forever
The second new PINS single in as many weeks, Bad Girls Forever builds on the promise of Hot Slick and confirms the Manchester ladies’ reinvention as bringers of glamorous, disco-tinged post-punk tunes.
Sports Team – Here’s the Thing
Sports Team’s latest single is a biting social commentary told through a slew of catchy guitars, a truly infectious vocal melody and even a spot of whistling! The six-piece will drop their promising debut album on Island Records in the spring.
Coach Party – Breakdown
Only the second outing for hotly-tipped Isle of Wight newcomers Coach Party, Breakdown is fractious indie pop and desperately tells of the jealousy, drama and insecurities that can plague romantic relationships.
Talk Show – Stress
Harrison Swann’s fevered vocals and Harrison and Tom Holmes’ howling guitar lines are the highlights of another essential Talk Show single. The post-punks’ debut EP These People is on the way soon, with a six-date headline UK tour penned in for April. – FEISTY’s Single of the Week
Dream Nails – Payback
Dream Nails are as jagged and incisive as ever on their new track, a cutting statement on how the British justice system fails survivors of sexual violence, complete with heated refrains from feminist activist group Sisters Uncut.
Cuffed Up – Danger, Danger
The self-styled “sad punks” wowed us last month with their last single French Exit, and have now dropped their stellar, self-titled debut EP. Danger, Danger is the new track included, and it’s got all of the vitality we’re coming to expect from the LA standouts.
Chemtrails – Paranoiacs
Chemtrails are back, and they’ve lost none of their distinctive garage-punk charm. Mia Lust and Laura Orlova’s new track is barbed, fuzzy rock, and as good as anything on their 2018 debut album. The Peculiar Smell, their second full-length, is out on 15 May.
FLOWVERS – Throwaway Generation
Guitar-wielding Portsmouth foursome’s Throwaway Generation, the bright title track of their new EP, asks: “Is it our fault, or our parents’ procrastination?” The band are favourites of influential promoters This Feeling, who are backing their spring tour.
Fire in the Radio – EX-SF
Riotous, exasperated alternative rock from Philadelphia, PA. Fire in the Radio have packed plenty of urgent riffs into EX-SF’s 155 seconds of frantic, melodic punk energy.
Violent Soho – Lying on the Floor
Long-runners Violent Soho, who are massive in their native Australia, caught our attention with this gritty alt-rock effort. The raucous live performers release their new album Everything Is A-OK on 3 April.
Jackie – Unspun
Fronted by singer-songwriter Jackie Mohr, Canadian trio Jackie will appeal to fans of MarthaGunn and Black Honey. Unspun, from their New at Drugs EP, is a fresh pop rock earworm with an insatiable chorus.
Colour Tongues – Control
Sprightly indie pop from the under-the-radar Vancouverites. Catchy chords and memorable vocal melodies combine on their first single since 2019’s Almost East EP. Foals, Phoenix and Minus the Bear are cited amongst the band’s influences.
Jay Som – A Thousand Words
Jay Som’s latest AA-side single is comprised of two tracks from the sessions for her highly-rated 2019 album Anak Ko. A-side A Thousand Words is leisurely, gentle indie rock that builds to a fuzzier guitar crescendo.
Marlin’s Dreaming – Sink or Swim
Hailing from the New Zealand city famed for the Dunedin Sound, Marlin’s Dreaming’s new track features some exquisite old-school jangle and will feature on their upcoming album Quotidian.
Inbetween Movies – Kiddios Cave
Dazzling Swiss newcomers Inbetween Movies ably describe their music as “electro-shoegazing” and cite Slowdive as a primary influence. Kiddios Cave, their third single, is spectacularly cinematic and undoubtedly a hidden gem.
Ellis – Embarrassing
Elegant, introspective pop from the Canadian’s upcoming debut album Born Again. The daughter of a piano teacher, Ellis – a.k.a. Linnea Siggelkow – uses keys carefully to punctuate her reflectful lyrics on her second single of the year to date.
Yumi Zouma – Southwark
“I am imperfectly yours”, sings Christie Simpson on Yumi Zouma’s latest filmy alt-pop single. Their new album Truth or Consequences is out on 13 March on Polyvinyl.
Isadora Eden – Anhedonia
The first track from Colorado’s Isadora Eden since 2018 is, as prior fans of her overcast folk will expect, a sombre effort. It’s a captivating one too, though, and one that conveys the intense, vivid angst of the lyrics perfectly.
Bessie Turner – Donkey
The latest from Suffolk singer-songwriter Bessie Turner, who formed her own label several years ago to promote her music and now works in tandem with LAB Records. Her new single reminds us of indie pop favourite Hazel English and is a definite grower.
Public Practice – Compromised
A memorable single that sounds a lot like a modern take on the femme C86 bands of the 1980s, as well as taking inspiration from American bands ESG and Blondie. The four-piece are set to release their debut album Gentle Grip in May.
The Lottery Winners – Headlock
Brash indie rock from the Lancashire band’s forthcoming first album, as described by The Lottery Winners’ frontman Thom Rylance as a “twisted love song”. They’re embarking on an extensive UK tour in March.
Locate S,1 – Whisper 2000
Quirky, artful pop that’s packed with crisp guitar lines and produced with aplomb by Of Montreal frontman Kevin Barnes. Whisper 2000 will feature on Personalia, the second album from Christina Schneider under her Locate S,1 moniker.
¡BangBang Watergun! – Disperse
A debut single via Diamond Club that combines rudimentary synth rumble, hip-hop influences and Ragnhild Moan’s kind vocals and somehow manages to make it all work. The Oslo fivesome style themselves in exclusively ’80s tracksuits.
Sizzy Rocket – That Bitch
This week’s FEISTY Likes concludes with boastful electropop from Sizzy Rocket. We don’t know why, but we have a taste for the self-assured swagger and punk energy of her latest single, which bombastically declares: “Motherfucker, I’m that bitch”.
