The Utopiates - Montezuma

The Utopiates released their latest single, ‘Montezuma’, at the end of July via V2 Records. It’s the fourth single from the upcoming second album due in early 2026.

The previous three singles have taken the band on a journey away from the elegant baggy grooves of their debut album. ‘Neighbourhood’ and ‘Reputation’ took them to NYC and Nu-rave, whilst ‘Evanescent’ became their most left-field track to date with its Skint & Demoralised-esque spoken word.

Banner image & artwork courtesy of the band.

On ‘Montezuma’, the flirtations with LCD Soundsystem, Tom Vek, and The Rapture chill out and mesh with the effortlessness of the debut album. The bassline has the funk of those above but has been given Peter Hook’s iconic dose of bliss.  

The keys glisten on sun-kissed waves lapping over pristine beaches, allowing frontman Daniel Popplewell to paint pictures of love in technicolour. Lyrically, this is comfortably Popplewell’s finest moment to date. Too many writers leap to the feeling of love as a get-rich-quick songwriting scheme. Popplewell takes you on a journey from the bleakness of 9 to 5:

“So, pleased to meet you and what do you do? / I fake all these friendships for cash / It’s dragging me down and it’s stealing my prime”

Then reminds you of why you sell your soul to get there:

“Dream of the horizon / Close your eyes and see, / We lived and died in Montezuma”

The Utopiates may be in a lazy mode sonically here, but the creativity at play is making next year’s album a drool-worthy prospect.

Holy Youth Movement – Fearless

Bristol’s Holy Youth Movement have returned with their new single ‘Fearless’. It was produced and mixed by the legendary Jagz Kooner( Sabres Of Paradise/ Primal Scream / Andrew Weatherall) at his Stone Circle Studio.

*banner image credit: Alan Wells

Previous releases have conjured a mesh of Primal Scream and Kasabian. Intoxicating as they have been, in truth, they lacked their own presence to catapult them to the big time.

Step forward, ‘Fearless’.

The sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll of their previous work remain strong as they finally tip over into club classic territory. It’s a realm so many bands flirt with; few have the confidence or the skill to take the plunge, leaving it to others to remix.

Not HYM!

Frontman Tom Newman strikes a poignant tone in his delivery, whilst Tom “Schmidt” Smith’s synths distil the ecstatic joy of Underworld’s ‘Rez’ into a sensational hook. Whilst the gas has been stepped off, the potency remains prominent. The out-and-out club sonic has delicate guitars chiming with the lightest of touches, and basslines destined to be the catalyst for success.

As we approach closing party season, ‘Fearless’ is set to soundtrack lifelong memories and love-fuelled friendships with the skittish synths and defiant vocals soaring through night skies.

 Click the image to buy the hit debut novel from Wrestletalk’s Oli Davis.

All The Young - Bad Blood

Cult icons All The Young have released their second single of 2025. ‘Bad Blood’ was self-released on the 13th June and follows the instant classic ‘Demons’.

‘Demons’ was a deeply personal record, one that examined the relationship of a rock n roll partner. This confessional style continues on ‘Bad Blood’ as they explore the break-up of lead guitarist Tom Crompton’s former band.

Image & artwork courtesy of the band.

Poignant guitars shimmer with echoes of the past as Dooley’s vocal searches the most agonising moments of the fallout. Although not technically about All The Young, it’ll be hard for fans to escape that feeling.

The notion that the third album has to be the masterpiece is probably a bit alien in 2025. For those like All The Young who straddle different eras, it’s still worth striving for. Something seemingly on their mind when Crompton’s solo comes. In both 2010 and 2022, we suspect they would have unleashed a wall of sound at this point. Instead, they unfurl a lighter, almost ethereal but warped moment of majesty to light up yesteryear’s torment.

Dooley’s vocal cadence is nothing short of masterful in 2025. Knowing when to refrain, when to hit the power of ‘Welcome Home’, and when to let his penchant for emotive melody to soar. He tugs on the heartstrings as he lets some couplets fade, and ramps up the bitterness in others when he steps on the gas.

If 2022’s ‘Tales of Grandeur’ was a return to form, then their third album is shaping up to be a masterclass in songwriting.

Ryan Dunn – Lovin’ You

Former Gazelle frontman Ryan Dun released his second single, ‘Lovin’ You’, last week. It followed his debut solo venture ‘Ale House Blues’ in 2024, can it stack up to the promise shown/

‘Ale House Blues’ was indebted to Dylan circa ‘Bringing It All Back Home’. This time out, we see Dunn in a buoyant Motown mood akin to the back end of his former band, Gazelle.

Image % artwork courtesy of Ryan Dunn.

Dun lands himself instantly in the melody and beats of Stevie Wonder and Frank Wilson on this soul-pop gem. At points, he counters the uplifting northern soul with moments of real drama and intensity as a wall of sound eclipses the sunnier climates.

Vocally, this is Dunn’s most varied performance to date. He moves from Smokey’s angelic side of soul to Sam Cooke’s defiant nature with a grace that warrants serious attention!

Two singles deep and any ghosts of his former band are showing no sign of haunting Dunn. His eyes are focused on reimagining the classics for the modern age, and the results are triumphant.

Subterrania – Peaks

With Pastel in the ascendency and label mates Marseille in the rear-view mirror, something is afoot in the UK right now. Ballsy shoegaze and escapist rock ‘n’ roll is on the rise. Throwing their name into the hat next are Subterrania. Their latest single ‘Peaks’, was recorded with Wolf Alice producer Michael Smith and was released last week via Echo Bass Records.

banner image courtesy of Songbird PR.

Artwork courtesy of the band.

Frontman Dylan Cai serves up a vocal that beds in between Liam Gallagher and Pastel’s James Yates. In the angelic verses, Cai arguably delivers the finest homage to Gallagher’s early Oasis days yet.

It’s a record that twists from angelic indie melodies to bruising shoegaze and bluesy rock 'n' roll, forged in the hedonism of the 90s. Like their label mates Marseille and Pastel, the sense of Richey Edwards’ ‘4 Real’ oozes from this single. The lyrics deliver hope (“I see the road ahead”), and the muscular blasts of guitar distribute hope. Together, they can forge a new allegiance of righteous souls marching on big venues and festival main stages.

Despite the many layers, it’s a simplistic record: Melody, noise, and a burst of sweet release in a solo. It’s a reminder that the music's principles haven’t changed, only its purveyors have been weak for too long. Subterrania have kicked off 2025 with a bang!

The Kowloons - I Don't Care

At the end of May, Liverpool outfit The Kowloons released their latest single ‘I Don’t Care’ via Ripe Records.

*banner image credit: Matt Owen

The LA’s defiant acoustic jangle looms large on this remarkable slice of guitar-cum-pop music. To compare The Kowloons to anyone beyond this would be a criminal injustice. There’s an effortless quality to this record that breeds a warm familiarity through its melody. The kind usually reserved for radio stations indebted to the past that stir up childhood car journey memories.

Melodies this good are so often met with lyrics which don’t stack up. Not here! The Kowloons have served up a deeply personal ode of love and heartache. Characters with darkness are drawn back to the light, and lifelong friendships are put to the test. Lyrically, he closing stages are poignantly open-ended, so that the joyous sonic becomes an emotive juxtaposition.

The Kowloons next gig is a big home city gig at Liverpool’s District on October 10th. It’s difficult to imagine this being anything other than triumphant based on this form.

Click the image below for tickets to their upcoming show:

Marseille – Heaven’s At My Door

Derby’s Marseille recently released their latest single ‘Heaven’s At My Door’ via Echo Bass Records.

*banner image & artwork courtesy of the band.

There have been past singles which felt too rushed. Enjoyable, yet too fast, not allowing the majesty of Labrum and Brown to flourish. On ‘Heaven’s At My Door’, those attempts to speed up the work of the Roses click with spectacular results.

By adopting the trippier drums of Reni’s work on ‘The Second Coming’ and Andy Bell’s hazy jangle-jangle Beatles-inspired guitar sound, they forge a realm that marries big psychedelic rock ‘n’ roll and pop sensibilities.

Through Brown’s harmonious vocal and Labrum taking a back seat for the most part, the vocals ease their way into 60s pop and allow tinges of the Roses and the everyman infectiousness of Shed Seven to shine.

No Marseille single is complete without Labrum emerging as this generation's Squire, Bell, or McCabe, and this is no different. His work with Lennon Hall on rhythm here lays a platform for Brown to shine until the time comes to spiral heavenwards with rapid-fire licks from the gods.

With Y Not Festival just around the corner, Marseille are set to win yet more die-hard fans this summer with tier spiralling majesty.

Siracuse - Chase The Morning

Cheltenham’s Siracuse returned with their first single of 2025 ‘Chase The Morning’ at the end of May. Released via Vibrant Sky Records, it was produced by Dave Draper in Pershore, at The Old Cider Press Studio. It follows last year’s hedonistic ‘Simple Pleasures’ with both expected to feature on their new album due in 2026.

The thunderous intro lands you in ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’s rabid intention of world domination. From there, through a divine key change, they depart from Oasis and forge a new path of intoxication and aspiration but with greater heart.

With each circling year, Ben Zakotti - frontman, guitarist, poet in chords - edges closer to the ranks of the almost-forgotten greats. Once, the phrase belonged to the slow-blooming, the ill-starred, the haunted. Now, in 2025, Zakotti stares down a music world hollowed and hunched. Even the stations that once swore by bands have drawn up the ladder, leaving echoes where anthems should be.

With hope now an almost bygone era sentiment, Zakotti’s performance becomes more vital. As his hypnotic vocal decrees, “take your chance to electrify” and “chase the morning”, a generation of guitar fans fed up with the lack of exposure have their clarion call. Images of stadiums shaking with limbs flying to this electrifying anthem become the goal, an insurrection among guitar lovers imminent. Their time miust be now!

2025 is going to be the year that Oasis came back. It should be about Pastel’s debut and The Bracknall’s seminal second album. It should be about Marseille, Rolla, and The Crooks selling out venues. It should be about Siracuse!

The North – Trainspotting

Leeds outfit The North recently released ‘Trainspotting’, the last single from their upcoming debut EP.

It’s been seven months since they released their scene-shifting debut single ‘Soundtrack Your Soul’. It seems fitting that they open this with a grunge-tinged vocal howl of “nostalgia”, leading to climatic roars of “soundtrack your soul” in the close.

Memphis and lead guitarist Kobi Griggs’ guitars tonally tap into the poignancy of early Coldplay and the forlorn joyfulness of Electric Soft Parade. These, alongside introspective lyrics, could easily have allowed classic indie morbidity to unfurl. However, buoyancy and directness at play have the hallmarks of a great coming-of-age story.

The guitars punch with a knowingness that it’s now or never. Where ‘How Soon Is Now?’ swelled with angst and failure, ‘Trainspotting’ balloons with hope and promise of what is yet to come. Lyrically, Memphis tempers this with the protagonist searching for their place in the world a la Egg in This Life:

“nothing you can do boy / feels slightly blue ‘cos / you can’t go back in time”

The North’s debut EP ‘Blood Orange’ is out now and is not to be missed.

Good Health, Good Wealth ft Fredwave - You Don't Know Me

London’s Good Health, Good Wealth returned last week with their new single ‘You Don’t Know Me’ featuring additional vocals from Fredwave.

*banner image courtesy of Alan Wells Photography.

‘You Don’t Know Me’ was written after a fake festival promoter ripped off the duo. The duo was due to play a festival alongside Tinchy Stryder and Toploader just off the A13. A rare chance for a new act to step out in front of an older, more eclectic crowd to win hearts and minds. In reality, they played to 12 people and some burger vans. Scams have come a long way since the Prince of Nigeria emails.

Single artwork courtesy of Fear PR

Sonically, it’s their sleekest moment to date. Chic in sound, bleak in nature. Vocalist Bruce Breakey is bedding between Rich Archer (Hard-Fi) and Simon Franks (Audio Bullys). The gritty nodes lend the lyrics a weight of despair that would drag most under!

The grit and charm of The Streets, Audio Bullys, and Burial spelt out an alternate reality to reside in in the 00s. They painted pictures of subcultures, clubs, and post-rave squalor, but hope and optimism were never out of sight. Their characters, rich in the game of chance, taught lessons in drugs, nights out, and love from the position of the underdog.

Good Health Good Wealth tap into that sonic but reflect the stark futility of life in 2025 for anyone under thirty. Work doesn’t pay, and the housing market is a cruel joke. Despite this, they, like others, persevere with their passion projects, knowing there are no record deals or life-changing publishing advances, which were once a way out of towns and cities with integrity intact.

Good Health, Good Wealth merges the promoter's lies, the lack of opportunity, and their fallibility (“flying off the handle down the local on a school night”) to further push their sense of being the underdog. Hope that was tangible twenty years ago is now merely a twinkle in their eye, and for that, they are a triumph of the human spirit!

The Cases – Where Is It (That You Wanna Go)

Preston outfit The Cases recently released their latest single, ‘Where Is It (That You Wanna Go)’. It follows last September’s eye-catching ‘Just Like You’. Can it maintain the momentum?

*banner image credit Izzy Scott

Where ‘Just Like You’ was indebted to current indie darlings Lock-In, ‘Where Is It (That You Wanna Go)’s soul belongs to the 00s greats! The achingly infectious licks evoke the carefree abandon of The Maccabees beginnings. They summon the humble glory of Battle and the raucous collectivism of Kubichek on this ode to self-discovery.

00s revivalism. It’s been done, right?

The cascading guitars and angelic vocals are a divine combination, making those sweat-filled nights at Frog and the decadence of Club NME at Koko pertinent once again.

It’s a single blessed with the effortlessness of youth, which only The Goa Express has achieved recently. They conjure images of friendships bonded by intense love. Every generation needs great coming-of-age stories. The class of ’25 has it’s first!

The Slates – Fiesta

Yorkshire’s The Slates are back after twelve months with their latest single ‘Fiesta’.

* Banner image credit: Tom Oxley. Courtesy of This Feeling

Last time out, the band was in an anthemic yet reflective mood on ‘What Have You Done’. Upon return, the internal scrutiny has been altered for living in the moment on this ode to the journey, not the destination.

Through the riotous mod-cum-rock ‘n’ roll of Twisted Wheel and the debauched euphoria of The K’s, The Slates have fired themselves out of a cannon into 2025. This is nothing short of the joyride across a town destined to be escaped for sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll a ragged-out Fiesta deserves!

Louis Barnes’ vocals have taken on an urgency, an almost vicious tone that allows the guitars to breed the now-or-never sonic. This is a vital record that deserves to be rammed into the consciousness of those who care, and especially for those who don’t!

It’s easy to see on this form why Radio X icon John Kennedy is giving them a spin.

Yon Mon - Warmongers

Yon Mon recently returned with his third solo single, ‘Warmongers. ’ It follows ‘Shine On’ and ‘Picture This.’ Can the former Shed Project frontman maintain his run of form?

*images courtesy of Yon Mon.

Yon Mon, aka Roy Fletcher, has found a brooding intensity in this dark tale of our times. The cataclysmic drums and Doves-esque guitars make their way to the mind's dark corners.

The single is lit up with the devilish psyche guitar solo. Huge in sound and demonic in stature, Yon Mon’s sonic has been set to destroy. Where ‘Shine On’ and ‘Picture This’ were bursting with the joy of a young Tim Burgess, ‘Warmongers’ delves into a tank of despair and is a fine counterpoint in the Yon Mon cannon.

Three singles deep and Yon Mon’s underdog status is beginning to steadily rise to contender status.

MOSES - Skin

London’s MOSES returned at the end of February with their latest single, ‘Skin’. Recorded at Magic Garden Studio, they again hooked up with legendary producer Gavin Monaghan (The Blinders / Ocean Colour Scene / Rosa Caleum)

*image credit Mike Rădulescu. Courtesy of Artbeat Promo

Artwork credit: JJ Eringa

The early days of MOSES were a rabid animal. Ferocious guitars which fizzed with fire and brimstone alongside frontman Victor Moses’ frenetic vocals. As they approach album number three, the power remains, but they are older and wiser, and things are more measured.

Victor is barely at jogging pace in the verses, allowing the New York-enthused basslines and measured guitar snarl to wrap around this ode to love. The choral backing vocals build the track to a breaking point via a scintillating Bloc Party meets The Strokes solo.

MOSES third album is due out this autumn and is shaping to be a real contender.

The Crooks – Carry On

Chesterfield’s The Crooks return This Friday with their new single ‘Carry On’ produced by Embrace’s Richard McNamara.

*image and artwork courtesy of the band.

Photos taken for cover by @Buncity_ on Instagram

It’s a marked difference for the band sonically but a natural one for them. Through the vocals and primordial drums, the nomadic spirituality of Stone Roses’ ‘Your Star Will Shine’ and ‘Tightrope’ emerge alongside their inclination for rock ‘n’ roll’s bombast.

The guitars during the build flicker with the grandiose stature of ‘Champagne Supernova’ and howl with heaviness as life comes on top. It’s through Duncan Couch’s lyrics and Jacko’s defiant vocal that light finds a way in:

“My heart kickstarted up again, and beat so hard It shattered all my chest / But I still breathe.”

Modders’ guitars in the closing stages, whilst huge and deafening, are beautifully understated. His connection to songwriter Couch’s lyrics brings an integrity and humble reflection of the times we endure.

Pre-Covid, the band was unleashing lights up fist aloft singalong anthems. Upon return, they nailed the noise and confusion of the psychedelic banger. This was enough to make their debut album one of the hottest prospects. In ‘Carry On’ they’ve strayed into the explorative world of Pastel and The Verve and opened up their future cannon. Key to its success is the gradual step. They’ve retained their sense of death or glory amid the new nodes of shoegaze and psyche. The anticipation of the debut album has now skyrocketed.

Click the image below for tickets to their upcoming shows:

The Utopiates – Evanescent

London-based groove machine The Utopiates return this Friday with their first release of 2025. Their new single ‘Evanescent’ was produced by Pigeon Detectives and Maximo Park cohort Andy Hawkins. It will be released via V2 Records.

Image & artwork courtesy of the band.

Previous singles ‘Neighbourhood’ and ‘Reputation’ have been privileged to lift 00s NYC indie-electro back to the fore. As it turns out, they’ve been the perfect bridge to ‘Evanescent’ where the band, arguably, step out alone sonically for the first time.

Frontman Dan Popplewell adopts the poetic fire of Skint & Demoralised in the verses, allowing the songs’ discourse of time passing you by to swell. His newly adopted spoken word delivery comes after years of post-punk bands doing the same. It is a testament to his venomous clarion call speeches that it sounds fresh, a lone wolf in a bloated crowd of intolerable bores.  

Josh Redding’s punchy riff condenses Art Brut and TV On The Radio into a slick, angular moment of aggression. Not since Stone Cold kicked to the gut pre-stunner has something so jarring been this enjoyable! Its brutal impact allows the looping synths and Popplewell’s angelic chorus to melt away life’s ills.

Live, The Utopiates have always had an air of defiance that hasn’t shone through on the records. It hasn’t needed to; such was the beauty of the debut album. On stage, though, their humanity shines through, and they’re band desperate to prove to the world they’re worthy of attention. On ‘Evanescent’, they’ve allowed this sentiment to seep in, and it’s freed them up to take creative risks, and it’s paid off.

Click the image below for tickets to their upcoming tour:

THIS IS WAR - Lucifer’s Party

Liverpool’s THIS IS WAR returned at the end of January with two new tracks, ‘Lucifier’s Party’ and ‘Talkin Blues’ featuring Sterlin.

‘Lucifer’s Party’ comes rip-roaring 2025 with their archetypal sound in full flow. The relentlessness of The Jam is injected with the muscular riffage of Pete Townsend.

There are few finer things in this world than seeing frontman Paul Carden attack a vocal like this. Aggressive yet soulful, his cadence distils a purity that allows you to make sense of our times.

Lyrically, he doubles down on this spirit as he attacks the casualness with which the world has lurched to dictators, fascists and oligarchs. The disbelief they conjure at a world of Trump, Putin apologists, and Reform on the march is the righteous angst-ridden tonic we’ve all been unable to wrench from despairing souls.

Countering this is ‘Talkin Blues’, featuring Midland’s artist Sterlin, a self-described electro-punk-rap performer. Sterlin’s introduction to THIS IS WAR is a match made in heaven—his wry and inciteful polemic fizzes with excitement around the NYC-enthused basslines. Jonny Roberts’ guitars fire like an early Bloc Party or Rapture single. Destined for sticky dancefloors in underground sweat-filled indie clubs, ‘Talkin Blues’ broods with the erstwhile menace of The Streets and the understated volatility of a Jagz Kooner remix. Long may this collaboration continue!

The North – Blood Orange

Leeds four-piece The North are back with their new single ‘Blood Orange’.

Soundtrack Your Soul put 2025 on notice with its electrifying guitars and raucous attitude. ‘Blood Orange’ is the antithesis of this. It is measured, downbeat, but no less evocative. At the heart of this creative expansion is Billy Memphis’ vocal. He pivots from Kele Okereke’s hushed indie soul to the early laconic drawl of Jonny Borrell, allowing the agonising confusion of the lyrics to swell.

Memphis’ guitars overlap each other with a masterful precision. As he sings, “I go round and round and round...” his licks howl in every direction, searching for a way out of the mental torture they emanated from.

Memphis and Co have displayed songwriting ability way beyond their years here. Two singles deep and they’ve shown they cut loose and turn inwards. The future is bright; the future is blood orange.

Sonnet – Changeover

Aberdeen band Sonnet released their first single of 2025 at the end of January. It follows the breakthrough EP  ‘Wishful Thinking’ released last summer.

*banner image credit: DMCaptures

To date, Sonnet have been a whirlwind of punk and rock ‘n’ roll. This time out, with unrequited love and isolation dominating the discourse, Sonnet finds themselves more introspective.

The opening line, “Life moves faster, but I don’t know where it goes,” set a melancholic tone as yet untravelled for the band. The guitars, tinged with The Cure's gothic psychedelia, elevate the vocal to a frightening level of vulnerability.

The vocal strays from angelic to unhinged without notice, making this single rise from downtrodden to euphoric, one of great intrigue at all points. The sense that it all could fall apart at any point is tangible. Nevertheless, Sonnet finds a way through the mire to release a scintillating solo into the ether to enrich souls and save lives!

The Lilacs – Calling It A Night

Wigan outfit The Lilacs have come roaring out of the blocks in 2025 with their new single ‘Calling It A Night’. The single is released via Scruff of the Neck Records.

Infectious and sun-kissed, they explore the avenues of taking life to the edge of debauched oblivion and questioning its legitimacy. Many adopt the imagery of “bensons in one hand and heels the other”, too many, but The Lilacs’ infectious and sun-kissed sonic allows them a space to operate credibly. The sense of the gang loitering in the corner of a Spoons, watching others' worlds fall by the wayside with great amusement, shines through. A British pastime as traditional as conkers or cricket.

Sam Birchall’s guitars tap into the rippling joy of ‘Cavorting’ and provide a platform for the melody to breeze into the nation's souls yearning for bands to fill big rooms. Upon first listening, anyone who came of age in the 00s will inevitably feel The Courteeners’ presence looms too large. However, such is the melodic exuberance coursing through the single that ultimately, most will end at a destination of “who cares”.

The Lilacs have kicked off 2025 with an effortlessness that suggests those big rooms are soon to become a reality. A band in such a free-flowing mood can be a hard juggernaut to stop, woe betide anyone attempts it in 2025.