New music review with singles from Mouth Ulcers, Oral Habit and Radio Free Alice
- Julia Mason aka The Decibel Decoder
- Jun 8
- 5 min read
Our weekly fix of the best new music as Julia Mason (aka The Decibel Decoder) brings us her new music review with singles from Mouth Ulcers Space, Oral Habit Thin Trippin' and Radio Free Alice Lunch Money
Artist: Mouth Ulcers
Track: Space
London risers Mouth Ulcers share new single Space, the latest from upcoming debut EP Silent Pictures set for release 10 July via LAB Records.
Emanating from the capital’s shadowy underground, the fast-rising quartet are redefining modern goth through a lens of post-punk revivalism and cinematic atmosphere. Formed in 2025 by vocalist/guitarist Zak Watson, alongside Josephine Rose (guitar/vocals), Jamie-Lee Culver (bass), and David Zbirka (drums), the group have quickly evolved from a spontaneous studio experiment into one of the UK’s most talked-about acts.
Blending the stark emotional minimalism of Joy Division with the romantic gloom of The Cure and the angular intensity of Bauhaus, Mouth Ulcers craft a sound built on melodic basslines, wiry guitars, and cavernous baritone vocals, and have already attracted praise across the press landscape for EP lead singles Prevail and Closer To You.
Having recently made their live debut with sell-outs shows in the UK and the Netherlands, the four-piece are in the midst of a busy summer on the festival circuit, and are positioning themselves at the forefront of a new gothic resurgence, one that feels both reverent to the past and urgently contemporary. Their ascent has been swift, but their aesthetic, rooted in atmosphere, vulnerability, and emotional intensity, suggests a band built for longevity.
Speaking ahead of the release, Mouth Ulcers added: “Space explores how nostalgia can feel like both a physical presence and a permanent loss. Something that’s a common theme across the whole EP, seeing how the past is a part of you but you have to leave it behind to survive.”
Mouth Ulcers Live Dates
July
3 - The Warehouse, Leeds (UK)
29 - Paper Dress Vintage, London (UK)
August
15 - District, Liverpool (UK)
29 - Hit The City, Eindhoven (NL)
October
7 - Beyond The Music, Manchester (UK)
30 - Grenswerk, Venlo (NL)
31 - London Calling Festival, Amsterdam (NL)
November
6 - Kentish Town Forum, London w/ The Mission (UK)
29 - Post Punk Strikes Back Festival, Porto (PT)
2027
January
8-11 - Rockaway Beach Festival, Bognor Regis (UK)
* * *
Artist: Oral Habit
Track: Thin Trippin'
Offering the final teaser from forthcoming debut album A Broken Chord landing 12 June via Falmouth-based indie label Krautpop! Records (School Disco, Kernow Beat!), Brighton psych-garage trio Oral Habit share baggy-inspired new single Thin Trippin'.
With the band about to embark on a UK headline tour later this month, Thin Trippin' encapsulates Oral Habit’s road-tested, fuzz-drenched garage-rock. Recorded in the white heat of a live take, the track snaps from ballsy riffage to spiralling baggy breakdown and back in a tight 2 minute turnaround, as sprawling as it is concise.
The accompanying video documents footage of the band recording the LP with Harry Hayes and Rory Lethbridge of labelmates School Disco. Speaking about the single, Charlie says: “A trip so strong the song hypnotised itself. A sleazy groove that rolls on over until it abruptly comes undone, pulling you in and spitting you out.”
The trio show us almost everything they’re capable of on A Broken Chord. Founded by Charlie Hales (guitar), his brother Felix (drums), and Tippi Lewis (bass), the band’s psych-garage stands as an aural battle with the delicious unreliability of the vintage technologies at their disposal. Listening to A Broken Chord you can almost sense the searing heat of amp valves, guitars wailing to within an inch of their strung-out lives. As Charlie says: “if a button’s there, it’s there to be pushed.”
Oral Habit Live Dates
June
23 - Portsmouth, KOLA Basement
25 - Cardiff, Fuel
26 - Bristol, The Old England
27 - Birmingham, Sunflower Lounge
28 - Oxford, Truck Store
29 - Sheffield, Sidney & Matilda
30 - Gateshead, The Central Bar
July
6 - London, Shacklewell Arms (Supporting O.R.B.)
7 - Brighton, The Hope & Ruin (Supporting O.R.B.)
18 - Edinburgh, Cowgate Block Party
* * *
Artist: Radio Free Alice
Track: Lunch Money
Naarm/Melbourne new wave/post-punk band Radio Free Alice (N.B. first reviewed in this very blog over 2 years ago - Ed) share new single Lunch Money alongside the news that they have signed to Atlantic Records. First conceived at a Nottingham soundcheck while Radio Free Alice toured the UK last year, Lunch Money is a nostalgia-fuelled earworm of jangled guitar pop.
“It was the back end of the tour and it had started getting really cold,” frontman Noah Learmonth says. “I remember us writing it on the stage at the empty venue, all with jackets, scarves and gloves on. It was one of those songs that came together pretty instantly.”
Lunch Money sees the Aussie quartet reignite their creative partnerships with producer Ewan Pearson (Foals, Confidence Man, Metronomy) and mixer Peter Katis (Interpol, The National). When Radio Free Alice made their way over to the UK late in the summer of 2025, expectations were measured. The band had garnered a respectable following here through two well-received EPs and a tireless approach to touring underground venues since 2023. Nothing, however, could have prepared them for the reception that awaited their arrival this time around. One show sold old immediately. Then another. And another until the quartet had six sold out headlines in London alone; each full to capacity with lively, crowd surfing fans and one supporter with a Radio Free Alice tattoo emblazoned across his torso.
This caught the attention of Reading & Leeds Festival, who booked Radio Free Alice a few weeks ahead of their event to another immense turnout. Sold out dates in USA followed before the band quickly announced the current flock of UK headlines, all of which, as you might’ve guessed promptly sold out. Earlier in 2026, Radio Free Alice joined Geese for their sold-out February tour of Australia, and will have made their US debut at New York’s Governor’s Ball last weekend.
Radio Free Alice Live Dates
June
6 - New York, NY - The Governors Ball Music Festival
6 - Brooklyn, NY - Baby's All Right
11 - Hradec Kralove, CZ - Rock For People Festival
13 - Hilvarenbeek, NL - Best Kept Secret
20 - Glasgow, UK - TRNSMT Festival
July
3 - Werchter, BE - Rock Werchter Festival
4 - Arras, FR - Main Square Festival
9-11 - Bilbao, ES - Bilbao Live
11 - Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer, FR - Pete The Monkey Festival
24 - Sheffield, UK - Tramlines Festival
25 - Abingdon, UK - Truck Festival
31 - Derbyshire Dales, UK - Y Not Festival
August
8 - Newquay, UK - Boardmasters Festival
14 - Gothenburg, SE - Way Out West Festival
21 - Saint Pölten, AT - Frequency Festival
23 - Istanbul, TR - Babylon Soundgarden Festival
27 - Oost-Vlieland, NL - Into The Great Wide Open Festival
29 - Reading, UK - Reading Festival
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