This Week In New Music (25th April 2015) • Neu • DIY Magazine

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 glance. 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.

6th-7th June just nabbed a big spot in the DIY calendar. We’re set to host the Shacklewell Arms stage at Victoria Park for Field Day 2015, which welcomes in the likes of Tei Shi, LA Priest and TALA - aka the who’s who of exciting new artists. While Savages and Hookworms set the agenda on 7th June, it’s something of a Neu takeover on the preceding day. Couple this up with stages at Live at Leeds, The Great Escape and Sound City, and we’re talking about two of the busiest months ahead in yonks - make sure you miss none of the excitement by staying up to date with DIY Presents.

Here’s a round-up of our new music highlights from the past seven days:

THIS WEEK IN DIY PREMIERES:

Yak, Club Kuru, Yung, Groves

Yak are described in this year’s DIY Festival Guide as “Tame Impala after drinking Special Brew”, and that only half-sums up the chaos at work in their early singles. The Olly Burslem-led trio like to keep things on their terms, and so far that’s led to dazzling live shows and enough psych-doused early numbers to disorientate thousands. Their ‘Plastic People’ video debuted on the site this week, and it gives a precious insight into a live show that’s set to sweep the nation. Dates at The Great Escape and BST Hyde Park are just round the corner.

Elsewhere this week we gave first plays to Club Kuru’s romantically-lined, sweltering pop, Yung’s desolate ‘Denmark’s not so great, y’know’ video for ‘A Stain’ and Groves’ graceful, Richard Formby-produced ‘Backless’.

TRACK OF THE WEEK:

Wet - Deadwater

Wet don’t just write straight-up pop songs. For the past couple of years, with each of their statements, there’s something else lurking. Kelly Zutrau delivers heartbreak with a new spin. It’s exceptional on ‘Deadwater’, where the group’s traditional ‘80s wash and muted guitars step into darker territory. Zutrau lists off all the ‘what if’’s imaginable in a personal chasm of direct pop. “Shaky, but I believe,” there’s a sense of purpose with their every move. Debut album ‘Don’t You’’s been a long time coming, but it remains an exciting prospect.

DISCOVERY OF THE WEEK

Loppa Albon

Loppa Albon is the moniker of Alexander Lappin. His songs leapfrog from gentle verses to enraged chants - if Avey Tare could make horcruxes, this guy would be carrying one of them. The way he bursts into a chant of “let’s hope that Christmas doesn’t bring much rain, rain, rain!” makes season changes feel all the more enlivened. It’s not just the aesthetic that works here, either. It’s the build - there’s an insane amount of craft going into this thing.

Tags: Yak, Listen, Features, Neu