News This Week In New Music (2nd November 2013)

All three of Neu’s picks from the past week are working in completely different environments. Put them on a gig bill together and it’d be like dipping sushi in ketchup and sprinkling it with hundreds and thousands. On their own, they’re doses of heaven. Our video of the week is a band cementing their status as one of the most exciting in the UK, our track comes from an artists trying new things like a kid stepping out into the world for the first time and our discovery of the week? Who knows. There’s zero info. But that’s part of what makes her debut track so impressive. Surely a mastermind’s behind it all - only time will tell.

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

TRACK OF THE WEEK
Empress Of - Realize You


Lorely Rodriguez aka Empress Of doesn’t sit still. Over the past year she’s gone from apparent St. Vincent ‘soundalike’ to Spanish song-penner to dance enthusiast, as evidenced in latest turn ‘Realize You’. This fidgety pop number is a head-spinning turn, shape-shifting to the point of collapse. Trying to keep pace is like attempting to out-run Usain Bolt. ‘You haven’t been you with me,’ Lorely claims, overwhelming the subject with a flurry of scatterbrained percussive patterns. Once ‘Realize You’ maps out and begins to make sense, it becomes her best song to date by a hundred miles.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Blaenavon - Prague


There’s nothing special about Blaenavon’s ‘Prague’ video. Except, maybe there is. It’s a low-budget performance clip. It doesn’t show a great deal. If it’d been performed by anyone else it’d leave zero impression. Something about Blaenavon however spins a rough-edged video into something nigh-on spectacular. Filmed in dark, old-school shades, like it’s documenting a previous era, it’s as if we’re peering into a glimpse of things to come. Big things aren’t far off for Blaenavon - the trio excel live, and it’s conveyed in the best way possible through ‘Prague’.

DISCOVERY OF THE WEEK
Álauda


She might not be towing the mystery line, but Álauda’s already attracting some speculative chat about who might be behind the ‘Falling Star’ song. Organic instrumentation is built into an eerie climax, grandly expressed from the off. There’s an awful lot going on - this is anything but a spontaneous bedroom project, that’s for sure. As first steps go, Álauda’s already leaving everyone chasing her tail.