As we head even further into a new year, submissions for the ever popular Real Gone Singles Bar continue to be very interesting. This time around. We’ve got a perfect homage to those 90s classics from the 4AD label, the return of a great retro goth band, some British skacore, and even a lo-fi oddity that proves surprisingly effective. With a couple of rocky tracks along the way and some well played Americana, we hope most people will find something new to enjoy.
*
The follow up to their excellent ‘Love Language’ single, ‘Soft Capture’ by Lowsunday has a core sound that resembles ‘Pornography’ era Cure even more than its predecessor. From the second the opening bars hit, a dense sounding drum marks a heavy rhythm, over which swirling guitars, rather heavy on the effects, serve up a perfect blend of shoegaze and classic goth. In this instance, those guitars are so prominent, they come at the expense of the vocal, which merely whispers and echoes in the rear of the track, aiming squarely for atmospherics – and succeeding effortlessly. With everything held together by a brilliantly rigid bass, this track is a perfect homage to the alternative sounds of the 80s, making it another slice of greatness from a band making a very welcome return.
Right from the intro, there’s a feeling that ‘Better Watch Your Step’ by Gus Englehorn has no interest in pitching itself at the mainstream. Bass drum notes collide with a disjointed vocal; a weird jazz inflected guitar drops in atonal notes, and a strange art pop heart meshes with garage rock intents in an unusual manner. Then, when Gus thinks his audience might have settled in, he changes gears completely and takes the single into wavering, neo-psych territory where the ghosts of The Polyphonic Spree meet a low budget Mercury Rev. The sequence then repeats, making it even more obvious that this is two half formed ideas glued down the middle. It shouldn’t work, but it’s never short of fascinating – and it’s exactly the sort of recording where a production credit for Butthole Surfers man Paul Leary comes as no surprise.
British ska/punk legends King Prawn are back…and they’re here to share pointed riffs and pointed messages on the pleasingly raucous ‘Propaganda’. From the outset, the hard edged brass and rhythm guitar makes a huge impact, and even once the band throw themselves into a speed driven ska riff, their edge doesn’t diminish. A really live drum sound gives the track an extra feeling of punchiness, but it’s the metal-edged guitar tones creeping through that give the first part of this track that really show off the Prawn’s pure power. Things get more exciting during the middle eight when a world of turntables and harder beats tip the hat to Incubus, but no matter where the music goes, a sense of energy remains at the forefront. There are moments when the vocal sounds a little too raw – accentuated by a fairly unforgiving end mix – but there’s so much here for fans to love.
When some artists claim to be lo-fi, they mean low budget and discordant. ‘Lay Low’, the current single from K Records signing Winston Hightower, is lo-fi in the truest sense. The electric rhythm guitar sounds like it was recorded straight to a cassette with the aid of an old boombox; although there is some filtering applied to the vocal to make it sound a little brighter, there’s still a sense of something that’s deliberately under baked in Winston’s performance, and the percussion-free track further accentuates a very homespun feel. Look beyond the audio limitations, however, and you’ll discover a track that’s keen to share a really great melody, with strong callbacks to mid 90s works from Tobin Sprout and the mighty Guided By Voices. For fans of the style, this micro-budget, micro-length tune is likely to be an instant hit.
Taking the fuzzy guitar sound of later period Queens of The Stone Age and the sophistication of ‘AM’ era Arctic Monkeys, Alberta Cross create a very big and still very contemporary sound on the brilliant ‘Toy Soldiers’. Coupling a moody, mid tempo riff with a dark edged vocal and lyrics that tackle feelings of uncertainty and applying a huge, rattling bassline, the band take a garage rock/stoner blend and give it a vigorous shake. It ends up sounding like something you’ve always known, but in some ways, that’s actually the track’s greatest strength, since it allows some very strong riffs to hit with an immediacy that’s impressive. With a slightly drawling vocal melody capturing an almost sinister edge that compliments the music brilliantly and a couple of very strong melodic hooks, this track deserves to win the Anglo-Swedish act a wave of new fans as they head into ’26.
The combination of otherworldly keys and hard strummed guitar that forms the basis of Shapes Like People’s ‘Find Me There’ will immediately bring back some very positive memories of the 90s, but the retro feel doesn’t end there. The shift from semi acoustic into shimmering electric guitar sounds helps to form a perfect indie/jangle homage falling somewhere between a brilliant homage to the 4AD label and a deep cut from The Sundays, with a melody that’s so familiar, yet feels very welcome. Across these three minutes, husband and wife duo Carl and Kat Mann prove themselves a perfect team, with Kat’s ethereal vocal style being a very natural fit for the wonderfully airy music, and the way Carl’s guitar sound builds throughout each verse really helps to create atmosphere on a track that in lesser hands might have felt a little too floaty. This is slightly softer around the edges than the previous Shapes Like People single ‘Under The Rainbow’, but potentially better for it; a few listens in, and ‘Find Me There’s subtle chorus hook will really start to shine.
As part of the promotion for their excellent new album ‘If You Go There, I Hope You Find It’, Australians The Paper Kites have just released ‘Morning Gum’ as a digital single. A number driven more by the band’s advertised folk influences than the Americana sound that’s at the heart of the LP, the track’s mid tempo arrangement allows for a flowing melody, and the marriage of voice and guitar carries a hint of Bob Dylan, alongside a huge wave of early Wilco. The percussion free first half of the performance places a focus on a great, aching vocal from Sam Bentley, before gradually introducing a little banjo, and latterly a steady drum, gradually moving the piece from folk and further into an Americana sound. The transition is gorgeous; not only does it introduce the band slowly, but by the last bars, it has also been a welcome reminder of how inviting and warm The Paper Kites can sound. If you enjoy this, then checking out the album should be a priority.
‘The Villain’ by Stonegate was originally released as a digital single during the last quarter of 2025, but it’s receiving an extra round of promotion to kick off what the Canadian band will be a very successful 2026. The opening riffs set a pleasingly old school melodic metal sound in place, and by coupling a great sounding, jagged guitar line with a huge round of whoahs, the band catch the ear with a classic style. As things progress, you’ll find other nods to an 80s brand of classic rock via a tough sounding vocal and huge lead guitar break, but not everything here is inspired by sounds from so far back in the past. There are bigger sounding riffs present that tip the hat to latter day Stone Sour, bringing a touch more heaviness, and a big production sound closer to Shinedown recordings to help Stonegate maintain a much more confident sound. The way the musicians rework these influences in their own style leads to a sharp edged track that’s still very accessible. Although their current LP ‘Hope Dies Last’ features some very different sounding fare (a few tracks sound like “KoRn light”), this is a single that’s strong enough to pull in the first time listener with ease.
January 2026