News This Week In New Music (12th October 2013)

Next week, new music enthusiasts and lucky industry types who can put it on their expenses flock to New York for CMJ. DIY’s involved, plenty of Neu favourites are involved, basically everyone is involved in some small part. It’s an odd one, in that unlike SXSW where there are five, maybe six opportunities to see bands (it’s like a marathon for those performing), this is a much more organised event where there’s one or two gigs per band, plus the odd after-party. Anyway. If you’re going, great, we’re real happy for you, but two of the names below are rooted in the UK, spilling heady punk out from their systems like there’s no tomorrow. The other band? They’re the most sought after at at this year’s CMJ. But enough about that.

Here’s the best of what happened this week in new music:

TRACK OF THE WEEK
GEMS - Medusa


GEMS are said band, the group who’ll ensure CMJ punters spend a good chunk of their time in stuffy NY venues where there’s not a route in sight to get to the bar. Arguably the most talked about band ahead of the fest, ‘Medusa’ is an upping of stakes. It backs up their rep as one of the US’ most exciting new bands. Introspective, soulful to the bone and produced with serious knowhow, it’s their most assured song to date. GEMS can’t go anywhere but upwards.

Listen to GEMS’ exclusive Neu Mix.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK
The Wytches - Robe For Juda


Freakish kids The Wytches are here to haunt dreams and send average, perfectly innocent humans stir-crazy. That’s exactly what happened when DIY premiered their ‘Robe For Juda’ video, which still stands out as a weekly highlight because of its sheer bombast. It depicts a really rubbish nativity play with awful costumes and absolutely nobody in the audience. But it’s a band not giving a shit about anything, which in this case is a breath of fresh air.

DISCOVERY OF THE WEEK
AUTOBAHN


AUTOBAHN are angry. They’ve only been together since February 2013, but in that time, the Leeds group have managed to save up a lifetime’s worth of hate, all set to explode out of their venomous music until the inevitable apocalypse. Signed up to Tough Love, their debut track ‘Seizure’ premiered on DIY this week - on the same day as The Wytches. It was a terrifying 24 hours - offering enough hateful post-punk to render Savages a ‘bit tame’ in comparison.