Neu This Week In New Music (5th October 2013)

Talk about looking ahead. Every band mentioned in the latest new music round-up is barely a track into their respective careers. There are probably albums worth of material being hidden behind the scenes. Still, that doesn’t stop this lot from being ahead of the pack with mere baby-steps. Debut tracks and so on might not be the clearest indications of full-lengths or even further directions, but the following have whet the appetite and then some. One’s from a brand new artist who’s already signed up to a branch of Sony in the US, the other’s getting label attention from all sides while creating something ridiculously fully-formed in the process, and the song of the week comes from someone who could, somewhere down the line, become a festival staple. We’re just looking ahead, y’see.

TRACK OF THE WEEK
Attu - Don’t Sleep


This premiered on DIY at the beginning of the week and it’s since taken on a little life of its own. Attu - the guy behind one of the year’s best debut EPs - has expanded from being the project of Stefan Antoinette into a bright-eyed London four-piece. ‘Don’t Sleep’ is as restless as its title; a bleeping, glitch-heavy ode to nights spent awake and in the company of close, giddy friends. If this doesn’t get commissioned for some uplifting movie closing sequence, someone’s not doing they’re job right, and it sure ain’t Attu.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK
JUNGLE - The Heat


JUNGLE may as well just make an album of videos instead of songs. Even though nobody really knows who they are at this stage (they’re not the guys in the video, that’s for sure), they’re still making a big impact without showing a single face. Following the genuinely viral ‘Platoon’, this one shirks on the break-dancing five year olds and instead roots for synchronised roller-skating. As you do. The result is something that extracts every speck of the song’s cool and puts it to smart use.

DISCOVERY OF THE WEEK
Mapei


Signed to Downtown Records, Mapei’s already a star in the making. Considering she comes from the same label as Gnarls Barkley and Santigold, there’s a good chance she’s been expected to write a fully-fledged chart-botherer.

It didn’t take long. ‘Don’t Wait’ skews some brassy instruments with R&B lyricisms and thumping tribal drums. It’s a mish-mash to top them all, coming from a Stockholm resident with ultra-ambitious intentions. ‘Don’t Wait’ to bring out another track, please.