Listen The Neu Bulletin ( Cryalot, Keg, Regressive Left and more!)

The debut solo offering from Kero Kero Bonito’s Sarah Bonito, ‘Hell Is Here’ takes the hyper-pop palette of her main band, wrings the sweetness out and sends it plummeting down into the fiery abyss. True, there are moments of levity when the singer’s trademark sugary vocals pop up out of the darkness like a glimmer of hope, but the main order of the day is gnarly, screamo vocals, warped hellish electronics and the general aura that - under the guise of Cryalot (one of the lesser revered Knights of the Round Table) - Bonito is summoning up a demon that’s lain dormant inside her all along. (Lisa Wright)

Keg say their new single ‘Elephant’ is “loosely written about a mass camel cull in Australia, sniped from a helicopter,” and things only get more surreal from there. The seven-piece Alcopop! signings pack a world of ideas into two-and-a-half minutes, with the angular punk of Squid turned up to 11, before squalls of barely contained noise give way to an anthemic, horn-flecked outro. How this has all been packed into 150 seconds, we’ll never know, but it’s a thrilling ride. (Will Richards)

Where Working Men’s Club’s canon of aggy, ravey electronica feels plucked from life’s underbelly, then London trio Regressive Left’s superlative latest arrives to show what would happen if you took those ideas and shone a little more light and humour on them. A propulsive, nearly-eight-minute opus, ‘The Wrong Side of History’ nods to LCD Soundsystem and Talking Heads, throwing out memorable one-liners (“I only talk about free speech when it concerns my freedom to be a dick”) over slowly escalating synth pad hooks and chanty, punctuated backing vocals. It’s all sorts of fun: think ‘Losing My Edge’ having a crisis of wokeness rather than age. (Lisa Wright)

Returning with their first new music since 2019, Ugly are back and better than ever. Armed with new single ‘I’m Happy You’re Here’, their latest is an eight-minute-long gem, pulling influences from pop, folk, rock, as well as the group’s choral background, and showcasing the group’s “new sound” with beautiful flair. In their own words: “It’s good to be back!” (Elly Watson)

Devon trio Pale Blue Eyes are named after one of The Velvet Underground’s most beautiful and most famous song, and there’s a similar majesty to their new one, ‘Star Vehicle’. Through reverb-drenched guitars and widescreen melodies, they recall the shoegaze greats on a song that’s “about daydreaming of the future and riding out difficult times together.” (Will Richards)

Appearing under the somewhat deceiving guise of Low Loudly (a more delicate, feather-light vocal you’re unlikely to find), Drug Store Romeos’ Sarah Downie has a knack for turning everything she touches into a sort of enchanted, otherworldly fairytale. Pitch that against the minimal, slow-building electronic textures that come courtesy of South London producer Saint Jude, and the result is like a stripped back Massive Attack emerging bleary-eyed into the dawn. Less a banger, think of it more as the chilled-out soundtrack for the squinty-eyed morning walk home. (Lisa Wright)

Tags: Cryalot, Listen, Features, Neu, Neu Bulletin