LISTEN: 10 O'Clock Chemical - 'Babylon Is Fallen'

Who doesn't love a synth? Describing their sound as "spiky electronic pop with a bass and funk emulsion", Stoke-on-Trent's 10 O'Clock Chemical have shared their debut single Babylon Is Fallen and it's a bit of a tune. The band are made up of songwriter, keyboardist and vocalist Rhys, drummer Danny, bassist Josh and guitarist Jack, with the four of them meeting through Stoke's music scene and finding that they shared a love for rock and electronica. They've been in the studio for over a year working on their debut EP, due in June, and this is the first release from it, a pretty promising debut which was produced by Matt Johnson (Jamiroquai) and mixed by Adrian Bushby (Muse, Foo Fighters).

While on the surface the track is a quality slice of electro-pop, delve deeper and you find that it explores the "edgy uncertainty of contemporary life". The band describe that it is "about the unveiling of illusion and the birth of skepticism [...] It's a cry for liberty in the midst of our activities being increasingly surveyed, our speech policed and a call to revolt against the mundane order I believe has been put there by a much higher, darker source of power." 

Follow 10 O'Clock Chemical online - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

WATCH: CHILDCARE - 'Getting Over You (By Dressing Up Like You)'

I'm a couple of months late with this one but it's too good not to share - feast your eyes and ears on the debut video offering from CHILDCARE. Getting Over You (By Dressing Up Like You) is the band's "most likely-to-be-featured-on-a-Spotify-playlist song to date [...] depicting an unorthodox approach to moving on from a relationship break up" - all making for a pretty fun tune and video. With a string of festivals, an arena support tour with Bastille, and their first headline tour under their belts already the band are surely more than qualified for a support tour with To Kill A King which kicked off a couple of nights ago in Sheffield, with dates until the end of the month (info here.)

Follow CHILDCARE online - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

LISTEN: The fin. release 'Heat (It covers everything)'

I was introduced to Japanese indie-rockers The fin. when they played our Tigmus stage at The Alternative Escape back in May. Despite some technical issues and delays meaning their set was cut short, the guys delivered a really enjoyable set and I was intrigued to see a new tune from them in my inbox! Re-releasing a track that was on a previous EP, the band describe the new version as "repetitive [with] a big world and reality in it", describing the track as being "about energy which is around everywhere or inside you, and states that it conflicts each other in many ways." Its synths and the dreamy atmosphere the band create are sure to impress fans of the likes of Friendly Fires and Metronomy, and if you like what you're hearing, the chaps are on tour in the UK this week supporting KOYO, before a support slot with Clay on 29th October at Camden Assembly.

Follow The fin. online - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

LISTEN: FAERS - 'Last Of Our Kind'

London five piece FAERS have released a tune inspired by their childhood heroes The Maccabees (it even opens with "no kind words"!) Last Of Our Kind was written during a songwriting retreat to the Welsh countryside, and has been labelled "a shimmering example of the bold and brazen songwriting that inspires youngsters to pick up guitars and form bands in the first place". It's an anthem that is hugely atmospheric and a positive sign of things to come for the band, who since forming in 2015 have already sold out various shows in London and Brighton, supported the likes of JAWS and The Cribs and appeared at Y Not and Camden Rocks festivals, as well as receiving radio support from John Kennedy at Radio X and Gary Crowley on BBC Introducing.

FAERS headline at Camden Assembly in London on Saturday (9th Sep) with support from Electric Child House and BOYS - more info here!