Stand Up...You Can Do It...You Got This!

More top tunes from this year so far, including a few from last week's Bandcamp Friday haul.

I like to imagine that there's someone out there who rips my selections onto a CD or cassette, which is why most of my compilations hover around the 45 to 60 minute mark.

Today fits the bill, with 10 songs at a smidge under 47 minutes, spanning multiple moods and genres.

I always look forward to new music from Duncan Gray and he's spoiling us in 2026 by releasing a track every month. Duncan's also got a bit of a funky groove going on, as evidenced on July's offering Netbacks. A tease at 5:24, this could run on a loop for hours and never get tired.

I enthused about Bounce & Salute by Cornershop and Bubbley Kaur a month ago, and my feelings haven't changed. I described it as "a joy to these ears" : swirly keyboard, dub effects and the melodic voice of Bubbley all combine perfectly. This should be the smash hit of the summer, in my opinion. 

In my round up of new releases, my one-liner for Blue Bird by Coyote was "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen) for 2026? Even better."  Well, of course it is, it's Coyote.

I've been obsessed with Blue Bird and it's words of advice for the age of madness we're currently inhabiting. My favourite right now is

"What other people think of you is none of your business"

I should start applying these mantras to my own life.

Too Good To Stay first appeared on The Woodentops' fabulous 2024 album Fruits Of The Deep, a song which my review at the time labelled "indie pop par excellence bathed in the Balearic sunshine."  A 'Nightclub Mix' appeared at the tail end of last year, stretching the song and the vibe out over seven minutes.

In last Friday's BF shopping trip, I added the newly released Moongoose remix of the song, I know next to nothing about Moongoose aka David 'Yorkie' Palmer, but this is a cracker. A slow fade in (and out), building up an electronic throb, layered synths and guitars and the inimitable voice of Rolo McGinty. It's fantastic.

dee eye why's Bungalow Legs EP came to me via my subscription to Roberta Fidora's Neighbourhood on Bandcamp; she also gifts vocals to the opening song. dee eye why aka Mel Houghton operates in the same wheelhouse, straddling indie and electronica. Like A Winner leans to the former, pleasingly so.

Mindbender and 100 Poems is an unexpected but very welcome team up. Mårten Attling and Mike Wilson. Like Coyote's contribution, the songs is structured around a spoken word piece, this time from Irish poet Emmet O'Brien. That's where the similarity ends, especially on Mike's 100 Poems remix.

Dirty Dublin is "a postcard from the back streets [a] love letter to a city that refuses to become tidy." The remix provides an acid rain dance rinse that will leave you feeling energised, if a little grubby and segues perfectly into...

....Don't Stop by Bristol rapper Diz Undone, produced by Tom Caruana. The radio version files down some of the sharper language but the power and potency of the narrative is untouched. I'm looking forward to the album Love & Rage later this year.

A moment of chill, thanks to Richard Norris and Lol Hammond's collaborative project Moon Dust. Scarlet Traces is the closing track on Memories, Dreams, Reflections, an album that finds new shapes and forms from deceptively simple structures. One to lose yourself in.

My Electric Dreams has already appeared in a 2026 'round up' selection, back in March. My get out is that last time it was superb remix by Airsine; this time it's the original single version by Pete Bones. The Tubeway Army sample is used sparingly but effectively in this compact 4:39 banger.

And the selection comes back down again one final time for the closing song by Bristol-based, French-born voice-over artist, actor and musician Anne Gallien. Walking Barefoot / Marche Pied Nu is a one-off single, an irresistible mix of throbbing bass, sensual vocals and - the clincher for me - thumb piano and egg shakers. 

1) Netbacks: Duncan Gray

2) Bounce & Salute: Cornershop ft. Bubbley Kaur

3) Blue Bird (Single Version): Coyote

4) Too Good To Stay (Moongoose Remix): The Woodentops

5) Like A Winner: dee eye why

6) Dirty Dublin (100 Poems Acid Rain Mix): Mindbender & 100 Poems

7) Don't Stop (Radio Version): Diz Undone X Tom Caruana

8) Scarlet Traces (Album Version): Moon Dust

9) My Electric Dreams (Single Version): Pete Bones

10) Walking Barefoot / Marche Pied Nu: Anne Gallien

Stand Up...You Can Do It...You Got This! (46:57) (GD) (M)

...No Sweeter Genius

The second half of tunes that have tickled my fancy in the first 26 weeks of '26

 

The final thirteen feature a couple of returning artists in The Rotations and Fluke, more than justified in both cases. The rest are new to this selection, even if the names are familiar.

deary has confidently picked up the shoegaze baton and are running away. Thankfully, being shoegaze, it's at a fairly languid pace so you'll have no trouble catching up. And it is worth catching up with their debut album, as today's pick No Sweeter Feeling will attest.

 

With A Sense Of You, The Rotations offer up another song that sounds like it's been transmitted from a parallel universe, very much like our own, just a little...off. The vocals sound like Tom Waits belatedly finding out that Neighbours has been cancelled (again), which only adds to the charm.

 

If you only remember Chad Jackson for Hear The Drummer (Get Wicked) way, way back in the mists of time, then you are in for a pleasant surprise. Genius Of Skank Pt. 1 is not an overreaching title and sums up the track perfectly. This track appears on the excellent Evil Acid Barons double album and is well worth your pennies. Now, when we get Pt. 2, Chad?

 

I enthused about Fluke's gorgeous new double album The Second Bite yesterday, albeit as a side reference to an accompanying Daniel Avery remix of their classic Atom Bomb. This time, I've picked from the album itself. Several of the tracks are subtle tweaks, polishes and updates of the original, others take the song on a bit more of an excursion. Case in point: 1995 single Tosh goes cruising around mid-70s New York, gets funked up and wakes up the following morning, wanting to do it all again. Great stuff.

 

In the 1980s, both The Bluebells and The Kane Gang flirted with the UK record-buying masses. The former have come back in the 21st Century, arguably even stronger than before and latest album This Is... proves more than a match for anything they've done.

 

Whilst The Kane Gang are no more, two thirds of the band have reconvened as Autoleisureland. In many respects, the New Road Movie album sounds like barely a day has passed since Closest Thing To Heaven and Motortown. Your personal history with 80s pop whether you enjoy Autoleisureland's album or not. I like it.

 

In the 2000s, a band called The Strange Death Of Liberal England existed. No, me neither. However, thanks to being a fan of Roberta Fidora, I've been hooked up with TSDOLE's former organ player and their latest project, dee eye why. Debut song Autonomous features Roberta on vocals and is most enjoyable.

 

Spanish DJ/producer Roglar aka Victor Balaguer Alonso nest, getting the remix treatment courtesy of London boy Ian Vale and, as ever, neither disappoint. Fly With Dumbo is pumped up without going over the top...

 

...by contrast with the dappled sounds of Rays Of Sunshine, just one example of why Pye Corner Audio's current album More Songs About The Sun is a gift to the ears. Writer Ian Rankin features on another song and Andy Bell (Ride/GLOK) lends his guitar talent to several others.

 

Speaking of which, Alliance, the GLOK / Timothy Clerkin album from 2025 has been reworked and remixed by a host of contemporary artists. I've gone back to the old school for a remarkable job by Richard Sen. Well, I say remarkable, but I'm struggling to think of a time when Richard has been anything less. The competition is stiff, but this reimagining of The Witching Hour is a standout on the record.

 

The Moonrocks are new to me but their song Cardiac Arrest definitely leans more heavily on the classic rock stylings that the cosmiche that their name suggests. You don't always have to innovate to be fun.

 

That said, Broken Chanter is a perfect example of great pop rock songs that manage to sound familiar and catchy whilst having something fresh to play and say. I've fallen deeply in love with Broken Chanter since being introduced them a few years ago and the latest album is brilliant. 

 

Almost as a response to Scarlet Fantastic's opening call on Volume 1, a year without a summer is almost too much to contemplate.

 

And, as if on cue, rays of sunshine through the window and a nudge for me to get up and get out. 

 

 

1) No Sweeter Feeling: deary (Birding)

2) A Sense Of You: The Rotations (Gung-Ho)

3) Love Is Gonna Keep Us Cryin': Autoleisureland (New Road Movie)

4) Nave (Malaphors Mix): Sister Ray Davies (Holy Island Baby EP)

5) Autonomous: dee eye why ft. Roberta Fidora (Bungalow Legs EP)

6) Tosh (The Second Bite): Fluke (The Second Bite)

7) Cardiac Arrest: The Moonrocks (A Room With A View)

8) Fly With Dumbo (Ian Vale Remix): Roglar (I Know EP)

9) Rays Of Sunshine: Pye Corner Audio (More Songs About The Sun)

10) Indian Summer: The Bluebells (This Is...The Bluebells)

11) Genius Of Skank Pt. 1: Chad Jackson (Evil Acid Barons)

12) The Witching Hour (Richard Sen Remix): GLOK / Timothy Clerkin (Alliance Remixed)

13) A Year Without A Summer: Broken Chanter (This Could be Us, You, Or Anybody Else)

  

Summer Feeling, No Sweeter Genius (1:00:47) (GD) (M)