Each week, there are 10 great acts in our playlist, all with a connection to Reading or Wokingham. As always, we have a wide variety of musical styles, but we think they’re all worth a listen, and we hope you find something new to enjoy as well as maybe getting out to experience the thrill of live music. This week, we’ve got three brand new singles, just released in the last couple of weeks.
1. Rosalie Cunningham – To Shoot Another Day –
Rosalie Cunningham wowed the crowd at the Facebar when she performed with her band just last month for Club Velocity. James Bond is taking a break for a while, but if you have a hankering for a Bond-style theme song, the title track from her latest album should keep you happy for a while, as should the rest of the album which is inspired by Cunningham and her co
writer and partner Roscoe Wilson’s love of James Bond soundtracks. She is even trying to popularise the term “spy-chedlic rock” to describe the genre! https://rosaliecunningham.com/
2. Heartworms – Jacked –
Jojo Orme, aka Heartworms, was one of the (many) highlights at Are You Listening? Festival in Reading, both last year and the year before, and they’ve just released their first album, Glutton For Punishment. This track stood out for us; it builds instrumentally, and then the vocals come in, with a suppressed rage and an ominous reverberating rhythm. You’ll be able to see Heartworms in Reading later this year, this time at Reading Festival! https://www.facebook.com/heartwormsband
3. Veronica Drozdowski – Merry Go Round –
Veronica is just 17, but has been performing on the local music circuit for a couple of years already, and she’s just released this, her debut single. She’s played a variety of venues, but this weekend’s must be one of the more unusual ones – she’s performing at Caffe Nero at Heathrow Terminal 2 on Sunday 13th April! If you’re not passing through the airport that day, don’t worry, you’ll be able to catch her at Wokingham Festival over the August Bank Holiday weekend (Early Bird tickets on sale now). https://www.veronicadmusic.com/
4. San Demas – You & I –
Here’s the new single from melodic metal rockers San Demas, and it is indeed most excellent. They’re great live, in just the last few months we saw them at Wokingham Festival, Reading Rising at the Facebar, and in March this year at the Purple Turtle. They’re already booked for some festivals this year, including 2000 Trees in Cheltenham in July, and will surely be playing in Reading again before too long! https://www.sandemasmusic.com/
5. Tom Webber – Taurus –
Tom Webber is from Oxford, but has been honing his craft on the road, with many gigs in Reading courtesy of Club Velocity, and Reading even gets a mention in one of his songs, I’m Yours, which prompts a cheer whenever he performs it there. He’s also been involved in an intriguing film project, about the recording pioneer Joe Meek, and will be announcing live dates very soon. This new self
penned song is a perfect pop track. https://www.instagram.com/tomwebbermusic
6. The Dazed Minded – Harder To Ignore –
The second single from the Reading-based purveyors of a 2000’s indie sleaze vibe is just as good as the first, so we have no hesitation in including it in the playlist! We caught them live at The Butler at the end of last year, and hope to see them again before too long. https:// www.instagram.com/thedazedminded/
7. Lake Malice – Scatterbrain –
Lake Malice are Alice Guala and Blake Cornwall from Brighton; they headlined Reading Rising at The Facebar last November with a dynamic set of their Anime-inspired hyperpop. This is their latest single, just released, which addresses the desperation of modern life and the never ending demands for attention. They have a busy tour schedule already round the UK and Europe. Catch them live if you can; we’re hoping we might see them back in Reading before too long! https:// www.facebook.com/lakemalice
8. Split the Dealer – Freefalling –
Reading-based Split the Dealer is the brainchild of Sam Brett and we’ve featured a few of their tracks in the past, with good reason! They’ve just completed a tour headlining in Bristol, Manchester and Oxford, and this is the lead track from their 2025 EP, The Precipice of a Broken Mind. As the title suggests, it contains a number of songs written at a time of uncertainty and examines how to deal with that. https://www.facebook.com/splitthedealer
9. Masquerader – Vertical Video –
Some math punk from Reading’s noisy bois, Masquerader. The members of the band met at Reading Uni, and found they all felt they suffered from imposter syndrome, and chose the name Masquerader to reflect this. This single also completes their three-track EP, Closer to Death, along with tracks Pyre, and Worse Than the Wolf (which we featured in January). Like Split the Dealer, Masquerader recently completed a short tour, and will be on stage again in Oxford in April. https://linktr.ee/ Masquerader
10. The Borough – Thursday in Baghdad –
Reading-based The Borough have been flying under our radar, but have popped up with this, their debut single. You might possibly have encountered them at their roughly monthly residency at The Butler which goes under the paradoxical branding of “Please Ban Music”; we haven’t seen them yet, but will be looking out for them now, having heard this example of their sound, described as “Surf Punk Funk” by masked surf-rockers Horse Rock (and they should know!). https:// www.instagram.com/the_borough_m16/
You can listen to all the songs featured in our Spotify playlist at https://bit.ly/rawsoundstoday
