New music guide The Neu Bulletin (Emay, Petite League, Sir Was & more)
DIY’s essential, weekly guide to the best new music.
Neu Bulletins are DIY’s guide to the best new music. They contain every single thing that’s been played at full volume in the office, whether that’s a small handful or a gazillion acts. Just depends how good the week’s been.
Alongside our weekly round-up of discoveries, there are also Neu Picks. These are the very best songs / bands to have caught our attention, and there’s a new one every weekday. Catch up with the most recent picks here.
Emay
Deadly and beautiful - the sound of an angel’s trumpet, according to Canadian producer / rapper Emay. On this track, the deadly elements (a no-prisoners delivery) sit up against simple beauty (a shuffling, open-ended set of samples). There’s a filter to Emay - he knows when to drop personal stories and when to hold back and let instrumentation have its way.
ELKI - Sirens
It’s been a brilliant year for all-out pop bangers, and the latest comes from Aussie newcomer ELKI. ‘Sirens’, her debut track, breaks from playful Regina Spektor-style verses into the kind of airwave-hogging chorus the world’s biggest popstars would be hungry for.
Thalab - Wreck
If Wild Beasts’ Hayden Thorpe turned to blog-pop, this would be the result. Barcelona’s Thalab link lusting vocals, simple acoustics and heady beats on ‘Wreck’. Open spaces rule the roost, but every time a silence arrives, paranoia sits in. Instead of ticking the boxes music of this ilk tends to opt for, Thalab try something different.
Petite League - Zokeeper
Don’t expect Lorenzo Cook to find faith in unlikely places. “There are no gods in the animal kingdom,” he barks on ‘Zookeeper’, like he’s giving away the keys to a lion’s den. “No gods for me,” runs the mantra. As Petite League, he finds spirit in a heady rush of guitar parts, vocals wired to the mainframe and doused in effects. Brilliantly frenzied, bedroom-based force.
Casey Mecija - Palms Lose
On her ‘Psychic Materials’ LP, Casey Mecija’s big ideas are given room to breathe. Instead of being left by the wayside once another wave of inspiration hits, they’re explored to the max, like on ‘Palms Lose’, a tropical-soaked dream-pop dose. Mecija’s vocals are a big draw, working against pumped-up bass or frenetic percussion. The Toronto musician remains a criminally unsung talent.
Jons - I Haven’t Learned
Canadian group Jons could easily be mistaken for sedation-heavy Mac DeMarco-ites, but there’s so much more going on than strung out guitars and woozy “ooh” chants. Arrangements arrive in many different sizes on ‘I Haven’t Learned’, a track from their new ‘Serfs of Today’ album. Like a perfectly-compact Grizzly Bear song, every dreamy note serves a purpose.
With Rachel Chinouriri, A.G. Cook, Yannis Philippakis, Wasia Project and more!