Round-up This Week In New Music (22nd November 2014)

Neu rounds up the best premieres, new tracks and discoveries.

Words: Jamie Milton
22nd November 2014

The past seven days have seen one of the most prized bands, Interpol, lodged in the snow, stuck with nothing to do but live-tweet their miserable experience. Had they possessed any real initiative, they’d have either written a new record or browsed Neu for a few hours. A big bulk of new music’s come out, from the heady productions of J£ZUS MILLION to the serene contrast of Oceaán. Both have upped their game, much like the latest Track of the Week, below.

Elsewhere, we’ve heard new cuts from 2015 hopefully Vaults and Honne, while dead certs for Years & Years played one of the year’s best Maida Vale Radio 1 sessions for Huw Stephens. In completely new stakes, 19 year old songwriter Alex Burey’s taking the jazz-leaning beauty of King Krule and forging his own route. That’s something to keep an eye on.

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

THIS WEEK IN DIY PREMIERES:
Demob Happy, Saint Pepsi, Travis Bretzer, Man Made

DIY debuted videos from opposite sides this week. First, there was Ryan DeRobertis’ Saint Pepsi project, documenting the sweet pitfalls of love on his ‘Fall Harder’ video, emotions strung along like a leash without a pet. Demob Happy don’t need romance, though. Hailing from Brighton, their ultra-grubby, grease-lined slab of rock couldn’t come off any dirtier, and it’s only enhanced in their clip for gruesome beast ‘Succubus’. This song will slay 2015’s festivals - be warned.

Newer names landed through Man Made, a project led by Nile Marr, son of that there Johnny, one of the country’s greatest ever guitarist. Instead of falling on old family-led habits, however, Man Made are a very different prospect to Johnny’s free-to-roam guitar wizardly. Theirs is a more brooding and atmospheric routine, romantic without overdoing it. The same can’t be said for Travis Bretzer, who simply cannot do enough in the serenading stakes. Here’s a handsome love obsessive, unashamed in his intentions. And he ought to be embraced through the Grant Singer-directed ‘Promises’.

TRACK OF THE WEEK:
Lxury - Pick You Up

There’s the average raising of the game, and then there’s this. Lxury hasn’t exactly been outside of the spotlight before now. Previously working in the under appreciated band Amusement, his links with Disclosure landed an eventual production credit on a stirring debut track. Follow that up with an EP on Greco-Roman and the wheels were truly turning. ‘Pick You Up’ is the first time, however, that this Londoner’s appeared to forge his own signature. Deep, propulsive house is given a new sheen, with a single vocal line reverberating around, a circuit in full stream. The guy even makes sax samples sound like a worthy addition, instead of some muddled attempt to soar ‘Pick You Up’ into Ibiza territory. Blending icy cold elements with dazzling bursts of warmth, this is Lxury’s future, mapped out right ahead of him.

DISCOVERY OF THE WEEK:
American Wrestlers

The first - and only - comment on American Wrestlers’ debut track ‘I Can Do No Wrong’ at the time of writing says, “sounds extremely compressed…”

It’s a fairly obvious observation for a track that does indeed feel like it’s been squeezed into a tiny shell, like a sponge seeping out water streams in a dozen directions. The Glasgow-raised songwriter likes to claim that this isn’t lo-fi music, strictly speaking. But it’s clearly the opposite of a plush Abbey Road session. The beauty of American Wrestlers is how a simple, gorgeous melody is actually enhanced by this approach. Nobody likes the feeling of having their ears flipped inside out, except when a siren cry this sweet is ringing out. Let the compression continue.

Tags: Lxury, Listen, Features, Neu