Playlist: fringe benefits

Isabel Maria – Holy Smokes

Last time we wrote about Isabel she was taking her brand of subtle chamber pop to the Stone’s Throw festival. Since then, the teenaged singer-songwriter has released a new track and announced a bunch of gigs. So there’s no excuse not to catch up with her music.

The new song, “Holy Smokes”, shows Isabel’s impressive maturity once again. Categorically, this is not the kind of music you’d normally expect from a college student. Lyrically it’s more engaging, musically it’s packing a bigger punch: alongside the trademark keyboards there’s a nice chunk of electronica underpinning a strong vocal. It makes for a bigger, more dramatic sound; it’s an ear-grabbing combo that can only draw more followers to one of the brightest young talents in the region.

Those upcoming shows: there are two coming up at the Durham Fringe Festival on July 24 and 25, then a gig at the Ship Isis in Isabel’s native Sunderland on August 3. Definitely worth looking out for.

Jam Tub - Riverside

Durham’s Jam Tub are one of the more exciting new arrivals on the scene. The three-piece initially got together towards the end of lockdown with a promise to make “big dirty radgy beefy songs that you can dance to”. That’s the kind of manifesto that should pull in the votes, but can they deliver?

So far, the evidence is good. Still young, still new to the circuit and still learning, this shouldn’t be taken as a finished product yet. But there’s plenty to enjoy. “Riverside”, the first single, got picked up by BBC Introducing and became something of a sleeper success on the various streaming platforms. The video, self-shot and edited, is engagingly lo-fi and makes an old man nostalgic for the lost days of laddish daftery around Durham. But musically there’s enough going on to suggest a tight band with a sharp ear for some killer guitar work. Definitely one to watch in the coming months.

Jam Tub launch their new EP on July 20 at Bede Lodge Working Men’s Club in Framwellgate Moor. Then they play the Durham Fringe on July 28 in the tent on Palace Green.

Binaries – Hush Money

Another new act here, preparing to release a second single on July 26. That one, “If God Exists, I Don’t”, has a great title. Before that, though, we’ve already been excited by debut release Hush Money. Combining fractured electronica with vocals mixed to a peak of icy paranoia, it’s drawn comparisons with Radiohead and Alt-J among others.

Regular readers know we’re suckers for a bit of electronica here, and Binaries certainly trip that switch. This is one of those trucks that builds and builds into a blazing, breathless pay-off. Lyrically, we’re dealing with a world where lies are so prevalent they become truth: once we’d have called it Orwellian, but now it just sounds like social media.

“Hush Money” all adds up to a great starting point, with the promise of a debut album to follow later this year. There don’t seem to be any upcoming gigs booked just yet, but we’ll be watching closely for a chance to catch these guys live.

Thanks for reading another playlist. If you liked it, give a like and subscribe. If you really liked it, consider buying me a coffee. But, most of all, please consider supporting the artists by buying their music or attending their gigs.

Previous playlists: Folksy flavours / Politics / Stockton Calling / Russia / Aelius / #6 / Border Crossings / #8 / Safe hands throwing stones / More Than a Stone’s Throw / Fusion / Pigs, parties and Portuguese / From Bronte to Black Metal / Punk Princesses / Mackem magic and a mystical remix / Narc.Fest