Neu This Week In New Music (26th January 2013)

Even for a group of people who spend every single waking minute (aside from when Bake Off’s on the tele) listening to music in one way or another, the beginning of 2013 has been completely overwhelming in terms of the amount of STUFF that’s being released. Quit with the stuff, will you, bands?

Well, that’d be unfair on the groups who’ve been making great stuff, helping ease us through January and the familiarly daunting prospect of spraining your ankle by slipping on a block of ice outside your front door. It’s hard to explain the proliferation in new music - to sound all academic for a second - but it’s a cross between bands wanting to get a shoe-in for this year’s showcase festivals and groups wanting to remind people ‘hey, I exist! I’m in a band that might have an album out this year!’ All of this makes the process of finding something a little bit special even more rewarding. Which leads us to the best of the past seven days in new music. Check out our picks below and pretend the 10,000 other new bands don’t exist for a few minutes.

TRACK OF THE WEEK
Disclosure - White Noise (ft. AlunaGeorge)


Context can be important, even if it’s a right old bore sometimes. What first attracts you to this track is the knowledge that some of 2013’s hottest talents conversed in a studio one day, shut themselves off from all the hype and the photoshoots and the big gigs and just went for it. There’s an assuredness in ‘White Noise’ that tells us that brothers Lawrence and Aluna Francis know how good they are. It doesn’t shatter any dance music mould into shiny shrapnel. But it’s about as good as it gets from these genre-fusing know-it-alls. They’re making 2013 exciting and they’ve started with a bang. Today’s context is that these guys exist, and we’re not going to forget about them anytime soon.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK
The White Album - Seasons End


Men with beards aren’t allowed to make us weepy. They’re supposed to tap on our shoulders, force us to turn round and shriek. At the very least, they could give us a furry cuddle. Instead, the Denmark group premiered a new clip with us in a Neu interview and it’s frightfully tragic and we’ve been sobbing into the sleevenotes of the group’s ‘Conquistador’ album ever since. There’s a guy, with a teddy bear, by a fairground and by the looks of things he’s lost everything. We won’t ruin it for you, but don’t expect to come out of the experience with a beaming smile on your face.

DISCOVERY OF THE WEEK
Gaps


The bare fact: There’s something really special about Gaps. From Brighton, they make songs that are twisted up in all kinds of bright ideas, which eventually rattle down to one glorious chant or vibrant noise. Put the spirited, electronic roots of Portishead, add a half measure of The Decemberists and throw in some Beach House, just for the sake of it. Then you’ve got Gaps.