Round-up This Week In New Music (14th March 2015)

DIY picks out the best new music discoveries from the past week, including Thomston and Loyle Carner.

Words: Jamie Milton
14th March 2015

DIY and Neu’s new music round-ups arrive in two forms - first there’s all our Have You Heard’s from the past week, where the biggest tracks get another seal of approval. Then there’s This Week in New Music, where Neu takes a look at the early days excitement; debut tracks that turned heads; brand new discoveries; premieres that landed first on DIY. All that stuff.

In the past seven days we’ve seen big moves from some of 2015’s most talked-about new acts. Ben Khan’s shunning Jai Paul comparisons for a living now, and his ‘1000’ track - taken from an EP of the same name - heralded in change like nothing previous. Giving the odd nod to Kelis’ ‘Millionaire’, the Londoner showcased his pure-pop knowhow, while still throwing in the odd dazzling, under-ether guitar line. He’s fast establishing himself as one of the best in the game. The same goes for Kero Kero Bonito, a trio who - like Khan - are looking to avoid being pegged in. PC Music associations aren’t the be-all-and-end-all of the South London group, and their ‘Picture This’ single is the kind of song that could thrive in any setting, whether made out of squeaky future-synths or concrete beats.

Elsewhere, The Garden puzzled more than ever with a one-minute track about getting a nose job, Spring King donned balaclavas and chucked around fake guns for their ‘City’ video, and Haelos signed a big deal with Matador while furthering their ghostly pop with ‘Earth Not Above’. Anything but a quiet week, below we’ve rounded up the rest of our highlights.

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

THIS WEEK IN DIY PREMIERES:
Loyle Carner, Speelburg, Banu, COMPNY

UK talent Loyle Carner headed up this week’s first plays. His ‘Mufasa’ track is an off-the-cuff production, put together while tour with Kate Tempest. Still, it holds its own when placed up against early breakthrough material.

We also gave first plays to Speelburg’s debut video for ‘Kline’ (featuring hipster bears, alien influence and communal dances in a field), as well as bigging up COMPNY’s euphoria-first new single, ‘Lovers’. That’s not forgetting BANU, a softly-softly approach defining their ‘Pretty Lady, Me’ track (great title, by the way).

TRACK OF THE WEEK:
Thomston - Grey

There’s at least fifty shades to ‘Grey’, a buzzing track from New Zelaland’s Thomston. INDUSTRY DISCLAIMER: He’s under the same management as Lorde, which probably makes him 10x more likely to take over the charts and win a couple of Grammys. But without knowing that, ‘Grey’’s already an instant pop fix, headrush choruses sharing space with vocal gymnastics flexible enough to warrant life insurance. He’ll be bursting eardrums in your dad’s car for a long time to come.

DISCOVERY OF THE WEEK:
The Whales

Based in Cambridge, The Whales wrap wit around fuzz-embellished pop. Simple as that. There’s a zero bullshit policy in their camp, a one-point manifesto to swear by. ‘Marguerite’ is their best song to date, fizzing by with a contrasting venom to their more subdued ‘Locked Jaw’. Both sides form a (very) promising debut single.

Tags: Loyle Carner, Listen, Features, Neu