New music guide The Neu Bulletin (Soccer Mommy, Orchards, Snapped Ankles & more)

DIY’s essential, weekly guide to the best new music.

22nd March 2017

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.

Orchards - Honey

What do you get if you mix up a bubbling potion of first album Foals, Paramore in mega-anthem mode, and an added slug of balloon modelling for added kick? Follow the recipe properly, the results are likely to sound a little like Brighton rabble Orchards. “I can tell what you’re thinking,” claims Lucy Evers, on their latest, ‘Honey’ “just from the way you’ve been lingering around my lips all night long.” The band’s own claim to fame – they’re a glittery gateway drug, apparently – isn’t far off the mark. (El Hunt)

Paddy Hanna - Sunday Milkshake

On Paddy Hanna’s last track ‘Bad Boys’, he showed “boundless energy and confidence,” and he’s just as self-assured on its follow-up, ‘Sunday Milkshake’. The track bounds along with all the humour and drawl of Mac DeMarco, before swathes of strings make things a great deal grander. Paddy Hanna’s just fine lounging around on lazy Sundays, but he’s not afraid to get intense too. (Will Richards)

Soccer Mommy - Left Girl/Be Seeing You

The excellently named Soccer Mommy quietly released an ace album – ‘For Young Hearts’ – last summer, and now Sophie Allison has shared a couple more gems penned during the New York heatwave. Often musical simplicity is far harder than it looks, yet ‘Last Girl’ and ‘Be Seeing You’ make it look easy. Tangling up sadness, insecurity, and the all-consuming fear of losing somebody close, this Orchids Tape signee is a bit like Adam Lallana in the Southampton days - aka right before he got massive. (EH)

Azusena - Better

On her debut track ‘Crosby’, Azusena teamed “gloomy folk, late night trip-hop and no-strings-attached pop” to stunning affect. Its follow-up ‘Better’ is a menacing, bubbling beast which is perfect for the introspective early hours. The track continuously switches tempo, and is a shape-shifting monster that buries Azusena even deeper into our hearts. (WR)

Snapped Ankles – I Want My Minutes Back

Despite its title, the latest track from East London foliage-lovers Snapped Ankles won’t have you begging for your time back. ‘I Want My Minutes Back’ is fit to bursting with frenetic blasts of motoric rhythms, angular post-punk riffs and vintage, reverberating synths. It’ll have you wanting to go back in time to experience its frenzied rush of noise over and over again. (Eugenie Johnson)

Honey Hahs - Beer Fear’

With the current slew of South London bands (Goat Girl, Shame, Fish et al) making waves, it would be easy to see Peckham’s Honey Hahs - three sisters aged 9, 11 and 15 - as the insane apex of the scene. A desperate attempt for London’s industry folk to cotton on to the Next Big Hopes before they’ve even hit puberty. A recently uploaded Resonance FM session (their first material unveiled online), however, reveals otherwise. Full of otherworldly folk harmonies, theirs are dark fairytales told with the innocence of actual childhood. If Let’s Eat Grandma gave you goosebumps on first listen, then prepare to be a shivering wreck. (Lisa Wright)

Tags: Orchards, Soccer Mommy, Listen, Features, Neu, Neu Bulletin