Hidden Gems (Week 7)

Lost in finding new music you like? No problem. Hidden Gems is back for its seventh successive week with four of your new favourite artists to listen to.

1. The Capollos

2. Divisions

3. Ben Alexander

4. King Violet

Check out the weeks prior below:

The Capollos

Must-Listens: Electrify, Addiction

Out to make a name for themselves, The Capollos are doing just that. With an already unprecedented in-demand status throughout native Scotland, The Capollos are aiming to do the same for us down South. Similar to their inspired counterparts of Arctic Monkeys and Kaiser Chiefs, their contagious tongue-in-cheek style of song-writing has festered into an effortless and rambunctious live performance. They are definitely the ones to watch, so make sure to save these lot for your calendars when live music can return in late 2021.

I can totally imagine the sheer dominance display of performing such songs like, Electrify and Get Out (Out) to a full-house when this pandemic over.

Their recent release, Telephone has received with high praise and popularity since its release just a month or so ago. This certainly puts any future releases – albums included – in good stead to receive the same treatment, as the name of The Capollos is amplified from every new reveal. The only way is up, boys.

Divisons

Must-Listens: Constants, Blessings in Disguise

Beautifully moving and intelligently crafted, it seems that Divisions are in another league of their own. The combined class of those vocal arrangements with the delicate electronica senses is an absolute favourite of mine. From here, we are taken on a stupendous show-and-tell on exactly how they work as musicians – it’s all there, and they’re not afraid to show any of it.

If similar soundings of Arcane Roots and Sleep Token stripped their sense of chaotic dispel and left us with their unwinding moments of beauty, you end up with the brilliant array of Divisions. You can also feel their awe and presence of Radiohead‘s In Rainbows on songs like, The Waiting Song and The Greater Good with their dynamic story-telling abound.

Their most recent EP, Constants (2019) shows their maturity and interdependence on one another, as their musical story-telling comes in full swing. I think I speak for everyone when we say how excited we are for their second LP…

Ben Alexander

Must-Listens: Lucozade Mornings, vanilla milkshake

Fit for any ambient interstellar soundscape, solo man Ben Alexander is fully exploiting the term, bedroom musician, as he expertly dives around making the perfect atmosphere.

Favoured singles, 2812 and flowerbed are great examples of this, as they never detour off-track, and just pull you in that bit more with it all. While also being the driving beat for dreamy indie five-piece, Sukko as the drummer, it’s safe to say Alexander is diving his fingers into as many musical pies as he possibly can.

His most recent release, Lucozade Mornings, gives you the perfect alarm to wake up for, as it flicks in between a syncopated lo-fi drum track, the pleasantries of a warming saxophone line and piano trills that weave in and out throughout. It seems he has found what works for him, and is going all the way with it.

King Violet

With a name that represents the same feeling of domestic bliss and europhia, King Violet are an all-alternative and all-divine 4-piece from St.Albans. Venturing into cities with a more successive music scene to bite the bullet, they have instantly harnessed a mass following behind them, especially since sharing the same stage as indie favourites, Declan McKenna and the Sad Boys Club. To say that they only have two singles that have been officially released, too? Not bad going, not bad going at all.

Easy to play over and over and over again, October is one of those moments that fits into any pocket of soul-comfortin’ and relaxin’ indie-listening and could just as easily fit on the bill of bands like, Wolf Alice and The Big Moon, without anyone battering an eyelid. Excited and hungry for more.

Let me know what you think …

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