Features The Neu Bulletin (1st April 2014)

The Neu Bulletin is a daily update of the most exciting new things DIY’s listening to. Some of the music you’ll like, some of it you won’t. We can’t please everyone, sorry.

Every day we offer up a choice show, a song of the day (branched under the understated heading “big Neu thing”) and a little something extra that’s caught our attention. Check back here every day for your latest Neu Bulletin delivery.

THE GIG
BANKS - London, Koko


The final leg on her UK tour, BANKS plays a sold out show at London Koko. The in-demand LA songwriter is putting the finishing touches to a debut album, with the newly revealed ‘Brain’ single (produced by Shlohmo) doing the rounds.

THE BIG NEU THING
Blossoms - Madeleine [DIY Premiere]


‘Madeleine’ isn’t a song about Marcel Proust’s great big cake-centric epiphany, but like that beautiful French biscuits ol’ fancy Proust so gleefully bites into, this is a song that recalls the past with magnificent ease. Saying that, Blossoms isn’t some retro-wash. It’s not like walking into a vintage clothes store and leaving emptyhanded because it all feels so grubby and wrong. Taken from a ‘Bloom’ EP out 12th May on RIP Records (Temple Songs), the Tom Ogden-led group breeze their way through previous decades while keeping one eye on the ultimate goal: Making music designed for adoring arena-filling crowds. Such is the sheer bombast of ‘Madeleine’ - like a cross between The Vaccines’ immediacy and Temples’ glitzy strut - it won’t be long before they’re hitting the peak of their powers.

Catch Blossoms on tour this spring:

APRIL
05 London, Purple Turtle
11 Manchester, Ruby Lounge
18 Sheffield, Great Gatsby
24 Glasgow, Oran Mores
25 Nottingham, Rock City

MAY
04 Manchester, The Ritz w/The Rifles
10 Glasgow, The Classic Grand
23 London, The Purple Turtle
24 Cheshire, Audlem Festival

JUNE
13 Manchester, Night And Day
24 London, Old Blue Last
25 Manchester, Ruby Lounge

OTHER NEU BUSINESS
Fickle Friends - PLAY


There’s little doubting the fact that Fickle Friends are going places - and fast. The Brighton group handclap, hip-flick and jive around in new song ‘PLAY’ like Passion Pit and Two Door Cinema Club never happened. Unashamedly gleeful, it’ll either prompt a beaming smile or a great big ‘I don’t get it’. When it comes down to it, gigantic summer-ready pop of their ilk isn’t going to get bogged down by divisive reactions. See you in the festival tents, it happily declares.