LeftLion's Latest Listens #35: Notts music we're currently spinning

EP: Kai-Otee - Handover

Punk’s not dead. Kai-Otee returned earlier this year with their latest fist-pumping, heavy-punching EP, Handover. Dirty, chugging riffs underline each track so you can stomp your feet while singing – well, yelling – to some intensely relatable lyrics. Clearly Kai-Otee have decided it’s time to Never Mind the Bollocks and sink their teeth into this striking new sound. Jumping in with a fast-paced and exhilarating introduction, Fastlane sets the tone for the rest of the EP, with the following tracks turning up the intensity in a way that is both contagious and reeking of angst and anarchy. Altogether this EP makes for a fantastic insight into the band’s talent, leaving listeners on the edge of their seats wanting more. Kai-Otee are a band any modern punks should be watching out for, sharing Mutual Feelings of excitement and anticipation towards their promising future. @kai.oteeband (Phillippa Walsh)

Single: Fools & Sages - Ascend With Me

Angelic falsetto gives way to mythic savagery in this delightfully histrionic single from Derby’s most fun rockers. Ascend With Me is a torrent of cinematic guitars and powerful, F-yeah! riffs, with classic rock melding seamlessly with a modern metal sheen. Wearing the obvious 70s influences on her lace sleeve, Grace Leah gleefully provides both delicacy and power in her perfectly judged vocals as she implores the listener to transcend the boundaries of the mundane into glorious escape. Awash with sonic flourishes and with production that revels in layering just-one-more-idea several times, the song nevertheless refuses to topple over. Instead, these details compound into a sense of completeness that belies this band’s newness. That sense of attention to detail seems to pervade everything Fools and Sages do; from their personal aesthetic to their art, everything is considered to maximise the impact of the music. It works. @foolsandsagesband (Kieran Lister)

EP: Revenge of Calculon - CASINO FIGHT!

Revenge of Calculon play sleazy, squelchy, funky dance-able bass lines that collide head on with space invader themed analogue synths. The mask-wearing band’s latest release is the four -track EP CASINO FIGHT! The title track is unusual for the band in that there is a spoken storyline from Marssy Wong. Juicy synth vibes ooze to form a backdrop to Marssy’s dialogue about a shady poker game in 1970’s Las Vegas. There’s also a neat accompanying video made by former Nottingham based film maker Tom Walsh. Basement Freeek is a very danceable song with some funky electronic percussion adding to the grungy synth rhythms interspersed with spacey laser beam sounds. Guerilla Shakes does just that with a magic meld mix of electronic percussion and synth. And finally, The 8 Bit Creep is a stellar track with lots of dirty synth and distorted robotic vocals. Definitely one to give you that warm space cadet feeling.

CASINO FIGHT! will be released on limited edition 10” coloured vinyl and there's a launch show at Rough Trade on Friday, 21st November. @revengeofcalculon (Claire Spencer)

Single: Willow Bay - I Want It All

I Want It All is a song full of beautiful contrasts. On the one hand it's a classic, 6/8-time, blues-inspired folk/rock ballad; on the other, it's an indie song led by beautifully restrained female vocals. It's infused with nostalgia, drawing influences from years gone by; yet it's an up-to-date tale of yearning and love which will resonate with all of us. This Nottingham/Derbyshire trio soak their songs in melody and spot-on harmonies, and add a sprinkling of honest lyricism. The result is solild, heartfelt music which will soothe and inspire you even through the darkening autumn days. @willowbay_uk (Phil Taylor)

Single: Bored Marsh - DoGooder

The title track from their forthcoming EP (released on 21st November), rock outfit Bored Marsh have today released their scintillating new cut, DoGooder. Seamlessly blending together a myriad of rock styles, the track journeys through dreamy shoegaze and thunderous grunge passages, drawing in touchpoints including The Cure, Stone Roses and The Jesus & Mary Chain along the way. Despite this, Bored Marsh continue to forge their own path and sound, with frontman Joe Need’s powerful, foreboding cries of “I can feel it / something coming” propelling the song on the chorus. With their upcoming show at The Bodega in the week of their EP release close to selling out, Bored Marsh continue to cement themselves as Nottingham’s next big thing. @boredmarsh (Karl Blakesley)

Album: LYVIA - Honey, I'm Home

Continuing her deserved rise, Honey, I’m Home is a slick, brilliantly produced package that immediately shows that LYVIA has infinite command of both her art and her brand. Unafraid to flit between genres and importantly, equally at home in all of them, LYVIA’s not-so-secret weapon is her versatility. From the heavily US-inspired Loved U More, with it’s earworm chorus and waves of dramatic reverb, to the more laid back sensuality of 629, the songs cast a wide net of appeal.

Lyrically, LYVIA nails the kind of conversational emotional authenticity of her influences. By those standards, her writing is more than on par with any artist you could name. Her vocals only enhance this; her smart deployment of effects and her shifting of styles pushing emotional lines into even more evocative territory, or withholding when the time is right. This is a hit of R’n’B that deserves to be big, and will be. @lyviamusic (Kieran Lister)