Repeat Prescription #3: Emerging Talent
A celebration of small artists with big potential
In my day job, repeat prescriptions are regular medications that can be requested and issued without the need for a consultation. They are stable, routine, consistent — all things this newsletter is not. As such, the choice to name my irregular series of playlist-based features Repeat Prescription was a misleading one. But my penchant for puns trumps my desire for accuracy, so I’m sticking with it.
Thankfully, the premise of this series is quite straightforward — each playlist has a loose theme, I write about a selection of highlights, and if you like what you hear, a more extensive Spotify playlist is included.
This time I’ve decided to focus on smaller “under the radar” artists. I know everyone despises Spotify, but its monthly listener figures provide a useful guide to an artist’s popularity. I have restricted this playlist to those with less than 10,000 monthly listeners1 on Spotify because I want the majority of picks to be as new to you as they were to me. All the tracks included come from the first quarter of 2025, so they’re all fresh and relevant, even if some (ok, Flathead’s “I Won’t Be Satisfied”) sound like minor power pop hits from the 1980s.
If you’re accessing this via Substack, please let me know if you discover a new favourite in the comments.
DISSO!VER
“Ich will wie du sein”
The first rule when making a playlist? Start strong. Disso!ver is the work of Köln-based Roman Biewer, who plays everything on “Ich will wie du sein” except the drums. It’s an instantly satisfying slab of indie rock goodness, with a ripping guitar solo that J Mascis would be proud of. Es ist wunderbar.
TELEVISED MIND
“National Hero”
The start of “National Hero” reminds me of Doves track, “There Goes The Fear” — until it explodes into something far more frenetic and, dare I say, appealing. Lincoln’s Televised Mind fuse post-punk with more traditional indie rock sounds, injecting colour into a traditionally monochromatic genre.
NÄRA DÖDEN
“Helvete”
“Helvete” (‘hell’ in English) is my Swedish wife’s expletive of choice if she stubs her toe or sprains her ankle. She’s pretty clumsy, so I hear it a lot, which endeared me to this track on Nära Döden (‘Near Death’) second album Villkorslöst (‘unconditionally’). The whole record is very strong and I’ve got a soft spot for Swedish indie bands singing in their native tongue — check out Bear Quartet, Vapnet, and Bob Hund for more excellent examples.
SOOT SPRITE
“All My Friends Are Depressed”
Do you know what else I love? Classic alt-rock songwriting with shoegazey guitars. It just so happens that this is Exeter band Soot Sprite’s calling card and “All My Friends Are Depressed” is a wonderful example of their strengths.
BIATLÓN
“Evergreen”
Amsterdam’s Biatlón only released their first song last month, but it’s a beautifully atmospheric little slice of dream-pop heaven that recalls Slowdive at their mellow best. One to watch.
MÉNADES
“La Lune”
Last but not least, we head to Paris to take in the gloriously idiosyncratic sounds of Ménades. Jumping between French and English, their debut Sur Leurs Cendres is an engaging collection that is sonically varied yet consistently punk in spirit. “La Lune” is one of its less raucous moments, but an obvious standout.
THE COMPLETE PLAYLIST
So here it is: 18 tracks and 54 minutes of emerging talent. I hope you find a new favourite (or two) from this selection.
<10,000 listeners at the time of publication. In the unlikely event this playlist leads to an explosion in someone’s popularity, I’m hardly going to remove them.
"all of my friends are depressed" is a song title that speaks to me immediately