New music guide The Neu Bulletin (Methyl Ethel, BLUSH, Junk Son)

Perth group Methyl Ethel are newly signed to 4AD, presumably on the back of their debut album ‘Oh Inhuman Spectacle’, which came out last year before being given another run this week. Said record ended up nominated for the Australian Music Prize, but the trio’s tightly-arranged, brittle pop - think All We Are with a caffeine kick - deserves more praise, this being the first step. They’re playing SXSW, with UK shows scheduled for London’s Shacklewell Arms (17th May), The Old Blue Last (23rd May) and Brighton’s The Great Escape.

It wouldn’t be a surprise to learn that Brighton four-piece BLUSH named themselves after Wolf Alice’s early EP. The similarties are there in ‘Lily’, its demo version swinging from hushed vocals to sinister, full-blown madness with the blink of an eye. These are demos in the purest sense. They’re loose, ready to be tinkered with. But BLUSH’s initial charm comes in how they spin brilliance out of rough edges.

Palatial pop in the vein of a slinkier St. Vincent is Brodka’s game, and on ‘Horses’ she reaches for the crown. Embellished with all manner of regal instrumentation, it’s might be her first foray into English language music, but it harbours the confidence and immediacy of an artists fluent in every language under the sun.

Dance designed for the year 2060, Amnesia Scanner’s ‘AS Chingy’ smashes the present day into smithereens, hanging everyday emotions out to dry. Signed to Young Turks, mystery surrounds the project. Based in Berlin, the duo first released the disorienting ‘ANGELS RIG HOOK’, in 2015, while also collaborating with Holly Herndon on ‘An Exit’. ‘AS Chingy’ shares a similar spirit to early Arca and his ability to spin gorgeous melody out of the most disorienting production imaginable.

Dutch band Eerie Wanda are led by Marina Tadic, a vocalist who majestically links simple melodic pop knowhow and an experimental edge. On debut album ‘Hum’, Wanda finds a comfort zone between the sedated and the stupidly excitable, from the sedated ‘Volcano Lagoon’ to the glistening opener ‘Happy Hard Times’.

With recent tours with PWR BTTM and Adult Mom behind them, and a new EP ‘haha and then what ;)’ released last week, New York’s Jawbreaker Reunion are making clear steps forward this year. The EP’s standout ‘Lakeland’ lays the most honest, to-the-point chanted vocals over sugary-sweet melodies in a style that recalls the fuzz of many of their contemporaries, but with choruses that stick like few can manage. (Will Richards)

Jens Kuross could be a complete stranger, but when he sings, he has the uncanny ability of being a long-long friend whispering secrets. There’s up-close and intimate, and then there’s this. “I guess your heart beats steadier than mine,” he sings, on the first taste of his new EP. Newly signed to Aesop (early home of SOHN and TÃLA), Kuross is an electronic-pop talent worth paying close attention to.

Throws’ Icelandic heritage is dusted all over their debut track. ’The Harbour’’s suitably shivery opening is just the tip of the iceberg, too - from the topsy-turvy, snowy accompanying video to the stabs of wobbly bass that puncture its shimmering pop oddness, there’s an ice-cold cool to every element of this this first step.

“Hey you, I saw you from across the room,” smirks Gothenburg newcomer ShitKid as her first work steps out of the shadows. All gothic atmosphere and distant, tonally-bent vocals, it’s a quick-fire introduction to a blacker-than-night pop prodigy in waiting.

Skipping between downbeat electronics and massive, mountainous swells of sound, Junk Son’s baritone holds everything together on ‘Fool’. Crooning a tale of a romantic relationship’s breakdown, it’s that emotional swing that defines this glacial, slippery take on laptop pop.

Tags: Methyl Ethel, Listen, Features, Neu, Neu Bulletin