In a brand-new segment, Drive host Tom Einarsson has a fairly simple proposition: if you like this song, you’ll probably like these too. Every Tuesday and Thursday at 7pm, he’ll suggest hand-picked tunes based on your suggestions – or on what’s currently making (radio)waves.
In this week’s segment – henceforth wittily titled The Algorhythm – Tom covered music you might like if you’ve been enjoying Dry Cleaning’s new album, Secret Love. Later on, a dear listener also texted in asking whether he had any recommendations of songs that sound/feel like Babybird’s sugary-sweet You’re Gorgeous.
You can listen to both shows right here:
A new segment on Drive where our host Tom recommends you music based on what you already like. This episode: sardonic post–punk band Dry Cleaning.
A loyal listener asked whether Tom – sorry, the ALGORHYTHM - had any song/artist recommendations that they might like if they’re a fan of Babybird’s track.
First, a quick taste of Dry Cleaning’s dead-pan post-punk which so tickles Tom:
It’s a very solid album, neither repetitive nor dependent on the band’s particular shtick. Rather, the quartet have refined and improved their unique formula, having finally found the sonic elbow room to properly play around with their sound. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, granted, but if you like artsy London post-punk with particularly strong lyrics and riff-writing, Secret Love’s a winner.
Anyway, here’s a few tracks you’re liable to like if you enjoyed Dry Cleaning’s latest release.
Canada-based post-punkers Cola gel particularly well with Dry Cleaning on a pure songwriting base alone. Steady riffs and distorted guitars accompany lead Tim Darcy’s similarly nonchalant style – with a kind of emotive earnestness shining through the gloom. Both their albums, Deep in View (2022) and The Gloss (2024), are rock-solid and warrant a serious listen. And if that pace is anything to go by, might we see a new album in 2026?
Witchy, occult folk-punk outfit The New Eves burst suprised listeners last summer with their first LP, The New Eve is Rising. Sounding like the soundtrack to an A24 remake of the Wicker Man, it taps into a kind of haunted undercurrent in contemporary culture, one informed by the nouvelle vague of online esotericism and folk horror. Heavily inspired by post-industrial rock sounds and yet tapping into a deeper, altogether more nebulous past, it’s liable to give you a potent case of the heebie jeebies. Spooky!
The Fall (and Mark E. Smith, for that matter) have their fingerprints all over Dry Cleaning’s sound: potent bass, riffing lead guitars, and a vocalist who drunkenly sees the sober truths of the world. Dry Cleaning are the natural evolution of that core post-punk sensibility, charting the UK’s post-industrial era by means of lyrical cynicism. That being said, Dry Cleaning could cover most any song by The Fall and it’d turn out great. But now imagine Mark E. Smith gurgling ‘Cruise-uh Ship-uh Designer-uh’.
A loyal listener asked whether The Algorhythm had something for lovers of the following song by Babybird:
Boy, does it! There’s some obvious candidates here, most firmly rooted in mid-90s britpop. But that’d be too easy. Instead, we went looking for similarly poppy anthems with soaring choruses – some old, some new.
Instead of rummaging through the annals of mid-90s Britpop, here’s the mid-2010s millenial optimisim-core equivalent. Real Estate scratch that same itch for tingly jangle pop, touch on that same blissful sensibility, soften up their sound for the sake of soaring sentiment. And the best bit: they’ve got loads more tunes like this one.
The most modern track on this list, this outfit hails from Up Narf (in Merseyside) and formed in 1996 – the same year You’re Gorgeous released. They did well in the early 2000s, were nominated for a Mercury Prize, and have been going ever since. Fresh-sounding, fun to spin, and Proppa Norfern.
Finally, something of a wild card. Whilst certainly parallel to Babybird in terms of being a mid-90s Britpop outfit, Echobelly never quite took off. Their sound is certainly a little harsher – the very lo-fi music video linked above only adds to the effect – but suits this scenario quite well in terms of sheer quasi–anthemic catchiness. A fun find for this week’s Algorhythm, and a band Tom is likely to play more of in future episodes of Drive.
You can catch live episodes of The Algorhythm during Tom’s show, Drive, every Tuesday and Thursday shortly after 7pm. This might change in the future – the Algorhythm is still in its beta testing phase, so to speak – but it’s always good fun. Otherwise, you can catch loads of great tunes during the show itself, every weekday between 4 and 8pm.
