THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR: A NEW YEAR’S EVE LOCK IN 2025

We’ve reached the end of another year, and the Real Gone Singles Bar has gone from strength to strength. As is always the case, we’ve received far more submissions over the past six months than we could possibly hope to cover, and ended up with a lot of great tracks that just didn’t find a home in the original weekly columns. Some things are too good to pass by, though, so as is traditional, we’ve rounded up twenty of the best tracks that didn’t get covered upon release and created the Singles Bar New Year’s Eve Lock In! We’ve got a great new wave inspired track, a couple of absolute bangers from the metal world, a little Americana, some jazzy yacht rock, funk, power pop and goth. With the help of a couple of singer-songwriters along the way, we hope there’s something in this selection for almost everyone as we count down to midnight…

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THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #125

This visit to the Real Gone Singles Bar sees the return of a couple of familiar names – including one that should be known to almost everyone. The choice of music, of course, should be new to most people’s ears. We’ve got a well arranged indie pop number, some fantastic sounding goth-rock, another country tune from a brand new face, and even a really strong world music offering. With tunes covering a broad spectrum of sounds, we hope you’ll find something new to enjoy!

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THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #70

Welcome back to the Real Gone Singles Bar, the place where we explore some of the individual tracks that have landed in our inbox over the past few weeks. It’s a proper mixed bag this week, with the return of a multi-million selling singer songwriter, who is contrasted by a sharp edged alternative metal track; something that leans towards country rock, the return of a favourite pop vocalist and more besides…

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OCTAVIAN WINTERS – Nebula / Velveteen (Mark Pistel Remix)

Following a run of enjoyable digital singles, Octavian Winters released their debut EP ‘The Line Or Curve’ in October 2023. Rounding up the band’s previously available tracks and premiering the excellent ‘Velveteen’, its five songs explored an old school goth sound, but by blending that with a much tougher post-punk influence, the release shared a superbly dark mood laced with very strong melodies throughout. One of the EP’s highlights, ‘Surreal’ managed to bring the cold brilliance of ‘Faith’ era Cure into the realms of the more modern, potentially making it amenable to fans of bands like Lacuna Coil, and the combination of Jay Denton’s huge bass melodies and Ria Aursjoen’s soaring 80s vocals resulted in something atmospheric. With slow but wondrous melodies underscored by ringing guitar, it showed how classic 80s goth rock riffs and melodies could sound just as thrilling forty years on.

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