Neu The Neu Bulletin (Nilüfer Yanya, Girl Ray, Laurel & more)

The shifty guitar that provides the foundation for Nilüfer Yanya’s latest is juxtaposition at its finest. By black-and-white contrast, she sounds more confident than ever - “I’m getting tired of your games,” she states, “you just don’t stop speaking.” It’s a to-the-point delivery, one that’s buoyed by the warmth of that world-beating vocal.

Girl Ray might sing the line “so-oh-oh, I guess I’m in trouble again” with the apathy of someone getting caught skipping a queue, but there’s a special thread running through the North London trio’s new single. With a heart-skipping baseline leading the way, they hop scotch between dark confessions of a broken heart like they’re just passing the time. ‘Trouble’ is out 25th November via Moshi Moshi on 7”.

Taking the super-happy side of Nao’s biggest dancefloor numbers and whacking another ten jagerbombs into the mix, Girlhood’s debut track is a disco ditty that feels staunchly of the present day. Lifted straight from a sun-kissed boat party, it’s a summer anthem to carry you through the snowier months.

With a guitar line worthy of making Paul Simon jealous, Sacred Paws’ new track lifts off from ‘Graceland’ comparisons into a world of its own. It’s taken from a double-a single due 21st October via Rock Action.

Where previous outing ‘San Fransisco’ pitched Laurel up alongside vocal goliaths like Florence, ‘Hurricane’ takes a different route. Skittering, fragile and nervous, that voice is every bit as huge as it always was, but it’s her a delicate edge that proves Laurel’s best asset.

Off Bloom are three Copenhagen-based producers making hyperactive pop with an eye for the extreme. Dissected, each tiny part making up their ‘Thorns’ track could set off fireworks. Crammed together into a crazed, shuffling chasm, they’ve ripped up the rulebook entirely.

With their second track to date, Liverpool four-piece HAARM give pop a panoramic feel. Grand, wide-scoping instrumentation runs riot on the suitably-titled ‘In the Wild’. It’s a seriously impressive next step, following on from jolting introduction ‘Foxglove’.

Signed to Nicolas Jaar’s Other People label, Ian Mugerwa’s music sounds like D’Angelo recordings being drowned in a pool of glitter. Out To, Not To is the alias, and ‘Regretta II’ is a foot-shuffling, ultra minimal glimpse of debut album ‘Goshen’, out 18th November.

Smart and sassy, ‘To Move On’ is a dazzling first impression of Alex Izenberg. Combining falsetto, piano chimes and a 70s pop-nodding chorus to die for, Alex’s craft has a classic feel, but it also has a knack for dodging mere nostalgia. A debut album, ‘Harlequin’ is out 18th November on Weird World.