MARTYRS – The Church Street EP

Towards the end of 2025, Welsh indie band Martyrs released the ‘Halloween Dream’ EP, a release that incorporated bits of 70s rock, light psychedelia and a host of drum loops that conveyed more of an influence from electronica. This created a cornucopia of sound that appeared to never settle, and in that respect – and especially with the presence of a lax vocal – the material showed influence from fellow Welsh band Super Furry Animals. If that somehow got missed on the band’s self-penned numbers, a trippy cover of ‘The Man Don’t Give A Fuck’ was on hand to make it very clear. Although short, ‘Halloween Dream’ was a release that more than suggested Martyrs would share more great music in the future.

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THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #154

The eight picks that make up this selection for the Singles Bar cover a lot of musical ground. Joining a couple of superb singer songwriters, there’s a reggae-centric number from some legends of British ska, a beautiful track that pushes beyond the boundaries of dream pop, a slab of great post punk, and more besides. It’s one of our stronger selections in a while. As always, we hope you find something new to enjoy!

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THE CHELSEA CURVE – The Rideout

Those keeping a close watch over the Boston music scene in a post-lockdown era will certainly be aware of The Chelsea Curve. Vocalist Linda Pardee and her band have really carved out a niche in feel good sounds, blending the hooks of the early 80s power pop bands with a mod driven feeling of power. Their short and sharp approach has delivered lots of superb sounding chorus oriented numbers that revel in their love of recycling the past, yet never sound stale.

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PREMIER JESTER – Turn You On

Premier Jester aren’t afraid to mix genres. Since the release of their earliest singles ‘PJ Lovers’ and ‘Sales King’, the UK band have shared an energy driven sound that takes the guts of metalcore and splices its aggressive edge to a world of electronica and dance sounds, but also throws in a bit of retro alternative and some big choruses to create something huge. In many ways, their best work sounds like Electric Callboy, but steered in a slightly more accessible direction. As you might expect, such intensities work brilliantly in short bursts, making PJ masters of the digital single.

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INTEGRA PINK – Pura Cura EP

On their 2024 release ‘Mall Grab’, alternative band Integra Pink fused indie rock with a hefty dose of post punk angularity on a selection of short and punchy tracks that showed off their energetic style in a very direct way. Even from first listen, it was hugely gratifying to hear The Cure’s ‘Seventeen Seconds’ era guitar tones cutting through the heart of ‘Push Pop’, and ‘A Forest’s incessant rhythm jostling against a vocal that felt decidedly more new wave on the equally cool ‘As You Feel’. With tracks like ‘Lockjaw’ owing more to punk by pushing forth a harder guitar sound, and ‘How’s It Going To End?’ leaning further towards smart alt-pop when applying a funk bassline beneath a heavily filtered vocal, the album threw so much into a musical blender, it was likely that most listeners would come away having heard something interesting.

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