SO.CO Team
New Music Monday - 27th November 2023
This week's New Music Monday features AI paranoia, a surprising cover of a stone cold classic, and some of the best new voices currently emerging in the UK music scene. Strap yourselves in, it's a good one.
Mastermind Specialism - English Teacher
English Teacher are one of my favourite bands to have emerged in the last couple of years, and they continue to go from strength to strength. Mastermind Specialism is the Leeds natives second single on new label Island Records, and on this showing, the album surely isn’t far away now.
Moon Landing Hoax - Benjamin Francis Leftwich
BFL has featured in this column a few time, but when everything he releases feels like the best thing he’s done, I can’t help but include him. This David Ford-esque introspective features Leftwich’s trademark cynical worldview coupled with a beautifully mellow piano line that skirts with ragtime, without ever falling into that particular hole.
AI (Save Yourself) - Kid Bookie
As one of the most exciting young voices on the UK scene right now, Kid Bookie’s crossover of punk, grime and hip-hop is starting to make waves. Fresh off a riotous UK tour with Bob Dylan, he’s dropped AI - an anthem for the paranoid and the cynical, and it’s huge. Play this one loud.
Lover & Friend - Kadeem Tyrell
Another new voice on the UK scene, but Kadeem Tyrell is altogether more soulful. This mellow slow-jam is designed for the small hours when everyone has left apart from that one person who you really want to stick around for the night. It’s a groove laden slice of pure aural gold that drips from the speakers and makes everything feel a whole lot more chill.
West End Girls - Sleaford Mods
If Pet Shop Boys are at one end of the pop spectrum, then Sleaford Mods are the band that are at the exact opposite of that point. Yet here we are, with Jason Williamson and Andrew Fearn covering one of PSB’s biggest hits. The original holds a uniquely ominous charm, but Sleaford Mods manage to imbue it with a new level of menace whilst not straying too far from the original. The single is released in aid of UK homelessness charity Shelter. We'd love it if you clicked here and made a donation.
Words: Thomas Jackson
Header Image: English Teacher @ Deershed Festival 2023