New release radar - Best of January 2024

January is the Monday morning of each new year bringing a sense of doom and foreboding about the long, grinding slog ahead of us in doing whatever it is we do for a seeming infinity. Special thanks has to go to those artists who decide that this is the month they want to pitch their new music to a tired world who might simply be devoid of any enthusiasm until the caffeine and sugar kick of Pancake day arrives to really get the new year rolling. 

Below is my selection of highlights from those brave artists souls with January releases, who hopefully can transcend everyone's innate desire to press snooze on music and have another couple of weeks in our warm beds.  

I'm Just Being Honest - Jack Kane

First up is London actor/singer Jack Kane with a follow-up track to the very popular Swimming Pool, and this is another hook-laden slice of unapologetic feel-good, indie-style pop music.    

Veronicavon - Party

Party is a classic "soundtrack to an indie film" vibes from LA based synth pop duo Veronicavon, who have been building quite a reputation and following for themselves with a long sequence of uber-cool, laid back releases and videos during 2022 and 2023. The vocals and guitars swirl, float and swoon in a perfectly produced gust of delays, reverbs, synths remind us that this Party is over and everyone is clearly exhausted and ready for bed.   

Sandcatchers - The Lines (album)

I usually reserve a healthy amount of scepticism about any artist that describes themselves as having "visionary" band members, but as massive fan of Firewater's Golden Hour, I noticed that the visionary in question is an accomplished Oud player and they are promising a blend of atmospheric folk and Arabic maqam. Very interesting and right up my particular street. Do they pull it off? I'd say they do so spectacularly and I've shared their cover version of George Harrison's Within You Without You as what is perhaps the most accessible entry point to an album that is full of grooves, quirks and middle eastern ambience and some great song-writing.  

Pilgrim - Tokyo Town & Rika Miku

Tokyo Town has been making mash-up home recordings using Fruity Loops since he was 12 years old, and if new single "Pilgrim" evidences anything, it's that he's become something of a master of the bedroom studio game despite not being out of his teens yet. For this track he's joined by his girlfriend Rika Miku - another teenage producer virtuoso (and Skrillex fan!!) - and together they've crafted sublime beat, impeccable sample editing and this is something of a banging piece of electro-break beat. The producer couple hail from Lima, Peru and they big futures ahead of them.  

If No-one Else Cares, Why Should I Care? - Good Good Blood

Good Good Blood (aka James Smith) hails from Mirfield, an unremarkable northern town in the UK. James is a prime example of what this blog was set up to uncover - a DIY self-recording, singer-song writing lo-fi womble who decided to found his own record label - Fox Food Records, has a pocket full of killer tunes, creative ideas, authenticity and an internet connection. If No-one Else Cares, Why Should I Care? is an album forged from a 12-month project to release a new song every month, even though (probably) No-one Else Cares. The title track in particular is a gem, humming guitars and delicate vocals building to a crescendo of defiance against the indifference that James is clearly indifferent towards.