Listen Neu Recommended - November 2015 (Girli, Slutface, Chain of Flowers, Cross Record)

DIY picks out four new acts to get (very) excited about.

Words: Jamie Milton
27th November 2015

Every month in DIY, we pick out four new artists who stick out in a big, ever-growing crowd of fresh faces. With each day that passes, there’s someone else turning heads, another act to follow and keep track with. Our weekly Neu Bulletins cram in everything brilliant we’ve heard.

Neu Recommended aims to filter things down to the absolute must-hear names. Catch up with last month’s picks, including big-thinking Londoners Pumarosa and serenading types Trudy.

In November’s magazine, we interview buzzy newcomer Frances, pop experimentalist Bo Rocha and too-cool-for-school Diet Cig.

Here’s what else we’re getting excited about.

GIRLI

Attitude-dripping, tongue-in-cheek pop.

GIRLI is going to make a lot of people have very strong opinions. She sings about punching “a granny in the tooth”. She has the swagger of M.I.A. and the postcode of a London geezer. Everything under her locker so far is attached to the capital, from Boris bikes to a sweltering, grime-nodding pulse. There’s spit and fire defining her every move, and on a relentless stampede, GIRLI is going to prove a magnetising opinion-splitter. We know which side we’re on.

Listen: ‘ASBOys’ is a deadly opening statement.

Similar to: Too many alcopops, and repeat.

Slutface

Uncompromising, razor-sharp pop punk from Scandinavia.

Norway’s Slutface were a standout name at their own country’s Oya festival, earlier this year. Hitting with heavyweights, they announced themselves with fireball-breathing pop punk, crammed to the brim with giant hooks. They’re even better in recorded form. Fronted by the American-born Haley Shea, there’s a fighting spirit in everything they produce, from the defiant ‘Shave My Head’ to the does-what-it-says-on-the-tin ‘Angst’.

Listen: ‘Shave My Head’ premiered last month on DIY.

Similar to: Paramore with a Scandi edge.

Chain of Flowers

Cardiff six-piece with no limit.

On their debut full-length, Cardiff’s Chain of Flowers break the doors down. Six members make up the Welsh force, led by disarming frontman Joshua Smith. But you wouldn’t rule out this bunch expanding, adding more fuel to their already all-guns-blazing tankard.

Listen: ‘Crisis’ is a vicious statement from their debut album, out now.

Similar to: Eagulls staring into the abyss.

Cross Record

A multi-dimensional revelation.

In each of Emily Cross’ songs as Cross Record, there’s enough going on to feed the imagination for weeks on end. Guitars flutter before breaking into knife-edged notes, broken strings each around the fringes, chugged bass lines enter the fray. Glueing it together is Cross’ voice, a lighter blanket on the otherwise berserk arrangements. It’s no surprise she reaches so far. Art, photography and classical composition are further skills she’s keeping close to her chest.

Listen: ‘Steady Waves’ is an exciting start, taken from debut album ‘Wabi-Sabi’, out 29th January.

Similar to: Grizzly Bear with a broader palette.

Tags: Cross Record, Girli, Sløtface, Listen, Features, Neu