New Music Guide The Neu Bulletin (Strange Boy, Summer Heart, Leyma & more)

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

12th July 2018

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.

Strange Boy - Suburbia

Strange Boy - London duo Kieran Brunt and Matt Huxley - are releasing their new EP ‘Suburbia’ next month, and its title track is a lush, swirling cocktail. Existing on the fringes of techno, Kieran’s work on the new Nils Frahm LP ‘All Melody’ can also be felt; amongst the storm-like chaos, the track is held together by a drone-y backbone that makes it all the more immersive. (Will Richards)

Leyma - Lavender

17 year-old Leyma is cut from the same smooth, jazz-flecked cloth as Rex Orange County and Yellow Days, and his debut single ‘Lavender’ presents an artist with buckets of charisma, and a lack of regard for genre restraints. Half singer-songwriter, half Frank Ocean-influenced soft rap, it’s a cocktail of sounds that proves infectious, and points an exciting way forward. (Will Richards)

Krush Puppies - PetalHead

Sharing the same South London practice space as Mellah and ALASKALASKA, Krush Puppies are the latest rabble-rousers emerging from south of the Thames. Debut single ‘PetalHead’ take power from simplicity, and bases itself around choppy, fuzzy guitars, and worms its way into your head without changing the script along the way. It’s catchy enough to work though. (Will Richards)

Summer Heart - Aftershock

Summer Heart is the solo project of Swedish musician David Alexander. Taken from his appropriately titled collection ‘12 Songs of Summer’, on ‘Aftershock’ he debuts a sleek cut of dream-pop that pairs electronic textures with hazy vocals, making it the perfect accompaniment to the UK’s (somehow still happening…?!) heatwave. (Rachel Finn)

Ariel - All Night

Apparently Ariel wrote debut single ‘All Night’ after picking up a copy of The Little Mermaid during a particularly difficult time. Of course, Ariel doesn’t live happily ever after in the book, but there’s a defiance to this debut cut, that sets lyrics of introspection over gut-punching pop and r’n’b. (Will Richards)