After yesterday’s Outlaw Ocean selections, The Sound Sniffer’s Lockdown Mixtape returns for episode six. After a fine weekend weather wise, the heavens finally opened again last night, dampening the surface and probably people’s spirits too. I assembled this list whilst looking out my window at the cars splashing by – I tucked in beside the radiator and sipped on a warm brew. It was a melancholic evening and I’m sure these selections will reflect the mood I was in!
Little Suspicions / Wasting All My Time
I was down in Kent a couple of weeks ago, where I stayed with my music obsessed uncle Tom. He used to be a DJ on EKR (East Kent Radio) – an online station which is based just outside Folkestone. When I was visiting, we discussed the Indie music scene in Kent and he showed me interviews he conducted on-air with upcoming Kent based bands in his prime. We sat and listened to Arctic Monkeys‘ Humbug album as we spoke.
The reason for all that seemingly irrelevant information is because I’ve just come across a band, who are from Tonbridge, Kent and sound like Arctic Monkeys. Weird. Their name is Little Suspicions and here is their debut single ‘Wasting All My Time‘. I’m not doing the song itself enough justice here – it’s top drawer and well worth a spin if you are into British Indie stuff.
Sal Dulu / Alien Boy 96
An artist from my hometown of Dublin with a throwback instrumental track with plenty of groove. I first heard Alien Boy 96 last week on SubmitHub and was instantly impressed by the old-school nature of the production. The whole thing kind of reminded me of Linkin Park‘s ‘A Cure For The Itch (Hybrid Theory)’ – I loved that song and sometimes revert back to it when I’m sitting on the train, it’s a train-gazing essential.
Sal Dulu works heavily in the glitch-hop sphere and as Alien Boy 96 trickles along, the wavy vocal snippets, euphoric strings and staggered drum patterns capture our hearts and minds. This is an ode to 90’s electronic music, this is an ode to good music, this is Sal Dulu.
Luke Royalty / I Could Get Used To This
As I scrolled through MusoSoup.com for some musical inspiration, I stumbled upon a tune worthy of a double-take. Luke Royalty, a twenty one year old singer from Liverpool teams up with a Manchester rapper called Sweets for this catchy single. Both musicians put a fierce city rivalry behind them to work together and bash out this collaborative piece. ‘Royalty’ provides the main lyrical hooks while ‘Sweets’ chips in with a section of words towards the latter stages. Decent stuff lads, I Could Get Used To This isn’t a bad ol’ tune.
Stranded Mermaid / Know Ya
Ah yes, some sweet sweet Scandinavian Indie Folk Fusion from Stranded Mermaid. Know Ya is the latest track from this exciting Swedish band who are on the cusp of doing something great. They are not a new collective by any stretch, having formed in 2014, however, this is only their second single in four years – following on from 2020’s other release ‘Dust In The Badlands‘. Mermaid’s sound is both bright and radiant – indie fusion with a distinct pop appeal. The chorus chirps with back and forth vocals which are reminiscent of early Santigold. Mad happy to have come across this tasty little thing, a really crisp sound.
Feathership / Saviour
The final pick for today comes all the way from Montreal, Canada. I can’t recall the last Candanian to feature on The Sound Sniffer – I will have to have flick back through. Anyway, this slick little indie tune called Saviour gets my seal of approval this morning. Simple and well executed in it’s construction, Feathership don’t over-do it with needless clutter. This is just a bunch of strong vocals, plucky bass lines, consistant drum patters and smooth guitar melodies. The quality of my writing is starting to lag here, let’s leave it at that for today – have a listen.
About ‘The Sound Sniffer’
The Sound Sniffer is a one-man music blog which is still only a baby – Founded and run by Kevin Coakley in early 2019. He is a music writer and ghostwriter. ‘The Sound Sniffer’ also runs gigs and showcases in London since Oct 2019. The showcases are picked from artists I find in my submissions inbox.
Check out my Interviews HERE