LeftLion's Latest Listens #3: Notts music we're currently spinning

Single: ALT BLK ERA - Straight To Heart

From MOBO and Heavy Music Award nominations to storming festival sets at the likes of Glastonbury and Download, there is absolutely no stopping ALT BLK ERA’s momentum right now. Now with their highly-anticipated debut album Rave Immortal due for release in January, the alternative sister duo have released the second taste of the upcoming record. The synth-soaked track highlights the continuing maturity of their songwriting, with Straight To Heart seeing Nyrobi open up and reflect on her agonising battles with chronic illness. It’s an anthemic yet emotional cut, one that sees the young siblings at their most vulnerable. Powered by an addictive beat and dreamy vocal melodies, it’s a song that’s sure to resonate with anyone who has ever felt “loneliness, being abandoned or neglected.” @altblkera (Karl Blakesley)

Photo: Richard Davies

Single: Pink Cliffs - Let's Do It Again

Pink Cliffs is Si Miller, a London-based musician with Notts roots, whose music can be best described as genre bending, including psych-rock and alt-rock. His latest single, Let's Do it Again, explores themes of becoming trapped in a disordered lifestyle. The steady pulse exacerbates the negative undertones being portrayed by Miller, reinforcing the repetitiveness of this chaotic lifestyle. Miller’s hazy vocals whisk you away in a hypnotic fashion, leaving you calling back to a similar time in your life. Pink Cliff’s psychedelic elements lay the foundations to this track, which emphasise the subtle playfulness of this temporary way of life. Miller’s outlook isn’t all negative surrounding the idea of this disarray, which can be seen through the catchiness of the track. This single is playful yet serious in all the right places; it acknowledges the impacts of living such a lifestyle, yet toys with idea of how, at times, it can also be fun to let loose. @pinkcliffs (Tyler Kay)

Album: Cappo: S.T.A.R.V.E.

Across the nine tracks of the "semi-autobiographical" S.T.A.R.V.E., Cappo (Dr Paul Adey, who holds a PhD from NTU) delivers a richly-layered commentary on society's ills from an intensely personal perspective, drawing on literary tradition as well as hip-hop history and trip hop inspirations. It's a thoughtful, intelligent record: at times deeply introspective (Slow Poison), and at other points open and hard-hitting (Wi(n)dow). There's raw storytelling (the TERRACE interludes; Strongbow) and cinematic drama (Jar), always infused with earnest vocals, careful beats and subtle melodic flurries. The overall sense is of something immensely brooding and dark: we're invited to plumb fathomless depths, with Cappo as our, well-qualified, intellectual guide. @kafka_poe_murakami (Phil Taylor)

Single: River Drive - Mythomaniac

Backed by Dean Jackson and recently taking to the stage at Billy Bootleggers, River Drive have released five singles so far, the latest one being Mythomaniac. Formed across Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire, the band make the type of indie rock music which is brimming with catchy hooks, energy, and drive, released on their own entirely independent label, 88.7 Records. Their most recent offering combines influence from the greats of the rock genre over the past 30 years – think Blink-182, Arctic Monkeys, Kings of Leon, Oasis and Green Day – but the band succeed in putting their own unique twist on the sound, ensuring it sounds new and fresh. It's a catchy, crowd-pleasing single, destined to be heard on the airwaves, or in a small intimate venue with a passionate crowd of people; but equally, this is a sound which could easily belong in an arena or on the main stage at a festival, without feeling at all out of place. @riverdriveband (Gemma Cockrell)

All of this week's new music picks are available to listen wherever you buy or stream your music.