Welcome to 2025. It starts here. The first tracks of the week. Forget everything else you’ve heard (besides our first tips piece) this is where your musical voyage into this bright, optimistic, futuristic, brand spanking new year begins. There’s nothing but good times on the horizon.
What could go wrong?!!
Some blimin’ blinders to kick us off. Have a rummage. Rock on!!!
Baby Brave – Cherry Tomato
Why we love it: a scintillating vocals/guitars/bass/drums number that fosters influences ranging from Talking Heads to Warpaint – which share said timeless set-up. But what truly brings it full circle is the titillating use of a motorik beat redolent of Kraftwerk and Stereolab.
Cherry Tomato is Wrexham-based combo Baby Brave’s first single released in advance of their debut album Sugar To The Tongue out this year. The song’s ‘getaway’ lyrical landscape is distinctly far removed from evoking antiseptic shopping malls and autobahns, and even that of Pink Floyd’s introspective San Tropez.
Contrary to any glamorous leanings, ‘Cherry Tomato’’s genesis is a road trip to Llandudno: “telling of trips down to the pier, seagulls and hot chocolate on the beach”.
A funky desirable mix ‘n’ match which is wholly inspiring and relatable for the year ahead. Here’s to counting the days ‘til spring. (Humphrey Fordham)
Marisa And The Moths – Devil
Why we love it: because the devil is in the detail. And there is much to be found in ‘Devil’, the latest offering from the Reading-based rock band Marisa And The Moths, the penultimate track on their second album, What Doesn’t Kill You – released last May and a record that reached #1 in the Official UK Rock and Metal album charts – as it arrives here accompanied by a brand new video.
As the band’s vocalist and frontwoman Marisa Rodriguez explains: “This track is featured at the end of our second album and is a journey which portrays the process of grief after the breakdown of an abusive relationship that I finally escaped from. At the time, I was finally happy – single and enjoying exploring my sexuality and freedom – but then I met someone. I was determined to make sure I wouldn’t get emotionally attached but, deep down, I think I knew from the start that would happen and that scared me after what I went through. If I’m honest, I’ve always been a hopeless romantic so, as much as I told myself it was ‘just sex’, in the end I had to admit to myself the truth of what was happening and bring my protective walls down.
“The song is a reminder to stay open to new love and opportunities because, as scary as it might be to put yourself out there and trust people again, if we don’t and we let our fear take over, then we are the only ones to blame for standing in the way of our own happiness, not the people who hurt us in the past and who aren’t here anymore to see it.”
It is a searing, explosive expression of the merits of emotional honesty and possessing great inner strength, played out over a musical tour de force of pile-driving rhythms, splintering guitars, and Marisa’s resonant voice. (Simon Godley)
Charles Costa – Feel Every Minute
Why we love it: because King Charles – no, not that one – may have abdicated back in May, but Charles Costa acceded him to the throne. After more than 15 years as King Charles – a period that saw him become the first British person to win the International Songwriting Competition in Nashville, Tennessee and release three studio albums – the man born Charles Costa felt it was time for a change. And change he did, not just his artistic identity but also his musical direction.
Charles Costa’s reinvention is reflected here on ‘Feel Every Minute’, the third single to be taken from his self-titled debut album which is set for release on January 24th, as he metamorphoses into a maverick indie innovator, fusing together stirring elements of pop, psychedelia, and a touch of Prince. (Simon Godley)
NOISEPICKER – Chew
Why we love it: because ‘Chew’ is a “7/8 groove and a mountain of fat chugs.” So says Harry Armstrong, one half of the British doom/blues-rock duo NOISEPICKER, and who are we to disagree? Here he rejoins forces with Kieran Murphy and together the two men once more set about battering us into submission with a barrage of bloodcurdling riffs and pummelling noise.
‘Chew’ is taken from the band’s forthcoming second album The Earth Will Swallow The Sun which will be released on 21st March via Exile on Mainstream. The song is complemented very nicely by a most inventive video featuring Armstrong and Murphy as a couple of wonderfully demented puppets. (Simon Godley)
Billie Maree – Open Myself To
Why we love it: Totnes artist Billie Maree has quietly established a compelling reputation for delicate folk-inflected tunes, haunted by the ancient magic of their Devon homeland.
However, on new single ‘Open Myself To’ (out Jan 10) Billie has gone in a new direction, inspired by the propulsive, electronic-infused alt-pop of artists like London Grammar and Aurora.
“I’ve been following a thread,” says Billie of this new direction. “A pang of excitement leads me to a sound, so I follow it. I acquired a Prophet Rev 2 synthesiser, and I made a demo in Logic with a drum sampler. It’s exciting to me how the right groove can change the entire vibe of a song.”
It’s a moving paean to never stressing about the small stuff and taking life as it comes. Also – non incidentally – it’s a total bop. (Andy Hill)
Them There- Blue Light
Why we love it: Them There are Phoebe Killdeer (Nouvelle Vague) and Craig Walker (Archive and Power of Dreams) the multitalented duo who wrote the worldwide hit ‘Fade Out Lines’ in collaboration with The Avener. It clocked up a mind-blowing 300 million streams and featured in films, adverts and HBO series across the globe.
Their band contains members of LCD Soundsystem, Stereolab, Siouxie and the Banshees, Nouvelle Vague so are quite the supergroup. After releasing their debut album ‘Love is an Elevator’ in 2019 they are back with the stunning ‘Blue Light’ complete with a fresh futuristic concept video by Francois Martinache. In our first Tracks of the Week of 2025, it only seems right to celebrate this gift of a track, ‘Blue Light‘. With cavernous electro soundscapes, stylish syncopated rhythms dance beneath the lush mellifluous vocals of Killdeer. Elegance and expert craftsmanship abound in the soundscape, vocals and production while the immersive, futuristic riffs swell, ebb and flow. Walker’s resonant, soulful vocals are the Yin to Killdeer’s Yang, perfectly complimenting each other in their introspective existential lyrics of shattering melancholy and soaring hope.
As James Joyce said, “In the particular is contained the universal,” Like a snapshot of the subconscious., it has the rich, poetic, deep, universal and melodic ingredients to be as big as ‘Fade Out Lines.’ It’s stunning. (Carmel Walsh)
Winona Fighter – R U Famous
Why We Love It: Winona Fighter have released another single from their debut album MY APOLOGIES TO THE CHEF which is set for release on 14 February via Rise Records. ‘R U FAMOUS‘ is an aggressive message for social climbers and hangers-on. From the opening scuzzy bars this has exuberant energy stamped all over it. Having read about the inspiration for the track, its no surprise this is an impassioned explosion of frustration. Frontwoman Coco Kinnon doesn’t hold back, disloyalty and betrayal are furiously described in whip smart lyrics and their delivery.
Kinnon shares the following on the track: “’R U Famous’ is about someone who always tries to see what they can get out of people doing well in their music career. I think the term is called a “starfucker” but I don’t think you can say that in an article haha! But that’s seriously what it’s about. It’s a situation I think unfortunately happens to a lot of up-and-comers, and something that has happened to us via a person we thought was a friend.”
About the video she adds: “We’ve always said ‘if we REALLY start leaning into a Y2K aesthetic then that’s how you’ll know we’re just going for a money grab.’ So what better way to represent a slimy person than to be that money grab! We’re All Gonna Die productions did an amazing job at really bringing our Tony Hawk Pro Skater aesthetic to life. We had so much fun being a couple of Y2K bros for the day but I’m okay never wearing low-rise pants ever again…. like ever.”
Along with the album release, the band will also be hitting the road on their headlining Yes, Chef Tour in the US this February/March before heading to the UK in May for Slam Dunk Festival. Let’s hope there are more dates on this side of the pond in 2025. (Julia Mason)
