Listen Neu Recommended - September 2015 (Liss, Loyle Carner & more)

DIY’s new music know-it-all picks out four new acts to get obsessed over.

Words: Jamie Milton
18th September 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 daily Neu Bulletins are testament to that.

Neu Recommended aims to filter things down to the absolute must-hear names. Catch up with last month’s picks, including Los Angeles superstar-in-waiting Moses Sumney and the fast-rising Frances.

In September’s magazine, we interview Amber Bain aka The Japanese House, Matador signings Haelos and future political know-it-all Declan McKenna. Amidst all of that, we pick out the following, all making their first steps:

Liss

You must Liss-ten to these guys.

Aarhus (“in the middle of the street!”) is home to Liss, a Danish four-piece who weaselled their way into XL producer Rodaidh McDonald’s studio for debut single ‘Liss’. McDonald might usually put his name to murky but precise pop by way of The xx or Låpsley, but this is a different ball park. A candy-coated pop song, it’s romantic but only in the sense that it might pick out a bunch of flowers from the soil itself, instead of ordering a bunch online. Frontman Søren Holm sounds like a runaway case waiting to happen.

Listen: ‘Try’.
Similar to: Frank Ocean covering fellow Danes Blaue Blume.

Sun Club

Fans of berserk psych-pop should join the club.

In terms of bands who threaten to self-destruct at any second, they don’t come more attuned than Sun Club. Not in the sense that they’re rabid, fame-hungry nasties who might strange each other in order to get to the top (we’d hope not). More that they bring a sense of chaos that you wouldn’t find in chirpy newcomers perfectly content with slotting into a scene. The Baltimore group share characteristics to Animal Collective, especially in Avey Tare’s satanic delivery. But there’s more. ‘Tropicoller Lease’ is a driven take on oddities, where substance meets outward-thinking head on. Debut album ‘The Dongo Durango’ is out 30th October on ATO Records.

Listen: ‘Tropicoller Lease’ is a maniacal introduction.

Similar to: Animal Collective meets Vampire Weekend.

Partybaby

Everyone’s invited to this California band’s shindig.

Californians PARTYBABY have everything within their locker to bark out FIDLAR-style YOLO chants, throwing a great big escapist party. They’re built for that stuff. Instead, with their remarkable first move ‘Everything’s All Right’, they get sinister. Across their debut three-minute juggernaut, they travel between fluttery piano lines, light acoustics, abrasive pop-punk and unadulterated noise. Within the melee, there’s an answer in there somewhere. Masters of several crafts at once, there’s so much to feast on in the space of one introductory song, you could live off this for years. PARTYBABY are in a completely different league - that much is already clear.

Listen: ‘Everything’s All Right’ is a 24-hour party.

Similar to: Big nights out without the hangover.

Loyle Carner

This South Londoner has more than just a way with words.

Storytelling doesn’t come naturally to most newcomers. Hiding behind effects and ambiguous meaning might be a default mode. But Loyle Carner is one for direct, straight-for-the-gut delivery. The South London MC doesn’t make things easy for himself, taking on subjects like the death of his father on debut EP ‘A Little Late’. But when things tick with Carner, they point towards a talent who can dance with deep subjects just as easily as lighthearted quips.

Listen: ‘Tierney Terrace’ is a familial charmer.

Similar to: Kate Tempest meets Nas.

Taken from the September 2015 issue of DIY, out now.

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Tags: Liss, Loyle Carner, Listen, Features, Neu