LeftLion's Latest Listens #45: Notts music we're currently spinning

Album: The Littlemen feat. Hector Moralez - House for Change

Spearheaded by Steve Lee, of East Midlands ravers Smokescreen Soundsystem (pictured above), and Gavin Belton of the Giddy Fruit Collective, this new album from the duo who together compose The Littlemen sees them collaborate with California house legend Hector Moralez. The album is infused with the nostalgic 90s spirit of coming together to dance and create, with the first half focused around a squelchy, acid house atmosphere, and the second interwoven with an upbeat Chicago House sound, with certainly no shortage of funky organs and drum machines.

The project also extends beyond its originators, with artists Inland Knights and Positive Divide featuring as remixers. All proceeds from the album aid the Notts homelessness charity Framework, so buying it supports both resolutely local causes and dance music. It’s out in June, and you can pre-order on piccadillyrecords.com and redeyerecords.co.uk.

@smokescreensoundsystem (Words: Caradoc Gayer Photo credit: Laurence Ritchie)

Single: Lucy Crisp - Snakes and Ladders

Lucy Crisp has gone from strength to strength in the last couple of years with some really positive reviews of her music as well as radio plays on BBC Introducing. Lucy’s latest single follows hot on the heels of her previous release, and is a real banger that you’ll find difficult to extricate from your ears.

Lucy is a strong-minded individual, who bares her soul through the medium of her music which in turn empowers her, and by extension offers inspiration for us all to be strong in the face of life’s ups and downs. Snakes and Ladders is a number that oozes power and self-confidence reinforced by a catchy dance pop tune rich in synth-led melodies along with a danceable bass line. The heartfelt lyrics speak bravely of these obstacles, but Lucy dismisses them all by saying that the very difficulties that she faces in life’s game of snakes and ladders only galvanise her to keep on climbing ever upwards. @lucycrisp_ (Claire Spencer)

Single: KID SPIRIT - Barriers

KID SPIRIT are lead singer and keyboard player Luke Parker, Steve Heather on bass, Lewis Duckworth on guitar, and drummer Matt Bell. The boys are originally from Lincolnshire but have been making a name for themselves in Notts (with frontman Parker enjoying his new life in Mapperley).

Barriers is both an indie anthem in the making and a late-night reflective headphone listen, kicking off with pounding drums and distorted, melancholic guitars that tease a grunge-like sound. But what follows is a haunting, atmospheric vocal performance, with a controlled, expressive sound simmering with tension. Themes of local identity, escape, and frustration are found throughout. KID SPIRIT are playing at The Chapel during Dot To Dot on 24 May. @kid.spirit.band (Ryan Benjamin)

Single: Darling I Dreamt - Nothing Like It

This is a track which takes digital pop to the next level: drowning crisp beats in swirling, slightly dirty synths; setting a pulsating rhythm which seems endless; and adding layers of conflicting yet inter-communicating vocals. Darling I Dreamt is the project and (necessarily blurred) vision of creator Jonah Michael. Nothing Like It is described as setting out "that tension between nostalgia and unease", using 2009 - 2012 pop music as a cultural reference and setting it in this post-Covid, insanity-driven world in which we now find ourselves. Here, Jonah has created something unsettling and hypnotic - and above all profoundly relevant. @darlingidreamt (Phil Taylor)