News This Week In New Music (25th January 2014)

After last week’s noise-heavy round-up of new music - topped off by The Orwells being impersonated by Letterman’s house band - conveniently things have evened themselves out this time round. Although Girl Band are a focal point, they’re joined by someone who could actually topple the completely unrealistic cliche of an ‘angel voiced’ singer, and the most insanely experimental pop-skewing talent this side of Neneh Cherry. You’ve been warned.

Here’s what happened this week in new music:

TRACK OF THE WEEK
LAW - Haters


Maybe it takes actually being there, seeing LAW alarmingly stand completely static, bursting a lung when projecting each of her songs, to really get the jist of just how insanely different she is from everything else out there. But that would render her music to nothing but stage-based showmanship, and good lord is ‘Haters’ full enough of character to play the role of converter. At the heart of the song is simple, straight-up love - “Don’t wanna press you boo / I like ya’” - but every inch of sweetness is smothered in a smorgasbord of samples, like The Go! Team attacking Valentine’s Day head on. There are no actual laws to Lauren Holt’s music; just a resolute determination to be different. It’s serving her well.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Girl Band - Lawman


The absolute, nothing-comes-close highlight of the past week was seeing Girl Band play the comfy confines of London’s Old Blue Last. They departed leaving everybody with not a single doubt that they could play venues ten times the size. This sound - it doesn’t float. It soars, it reaches the inners of any casual crowd and ups the collective pulse. Their ‘Lawman’ video is a harrowing, astute example of their craft. Although sometimes it resembles the kind of music you might hear in a torture chamber - abrasiveness defined - repetition wouldn’t grate. It’s capable of being listened to a thousand times over. Watching them live could become a daily habit, an hour-long contribution to the best Groundhog Day ever.

DISCOVERY OF THE WEEK
Shivum Sharma


To call someone angel-voiced seems a bit ridiculous because let’s face it, none of us have ever actually encountered an angel (unless we’ve met Beyonce) and thinking about it, the voice of an angel probably doesn’t resemble a human’s. It’s more likely to be a soothing projection of air that heals the soul. On reflection, maybe Shivum Sharma really does have the voice of an angel, because the previous description pretty much matches his ‘Flicker’ song to a T.