Neu This Week In New Music (8th February 2014)

Consuming enough coffee to render sleeping hours obsolete, Neu’s writers have been up and about searching for exciting new things without so much giving a second thought to a quick nap. Within this energetic, absolutely tragic time, there’s been a few exciting new songs, videos and EPs hitting the surface. This week’s witnessed great new music from Jamie Isaac, Relics, Sundara Karma, Kelela, and christ knows how much more. But within this busy 7 day snapshot a couple of standouts ended up suggesting they’d be sticking around for a little longer.

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

TRACK OF THE WEEK
Oceaán - To Lose


It’s a shallow and awful thing to admit, but it did sort of help to see Oliver Caen’s actual face. For months he’s been giving away very few details about Oceaán, and it was beginning to feel increasingly certain that this Manchester producer was actually a robot of some kind. How else do you explain the confidence and sheer audacity of these early recordings he’s put his name to? Without actually going up close and tugging on his hair (let’s not do that), it does appear conclusive that Oliver is a real human being of some kind, albeit one capable of extraordinary things. ‘To Lose’ - his first single proper - gives even more than the muddied soulful debut tracks he shared last year.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Years & Years - Real


Fair enough, this video benefits from starring moustached alt-lothario Ben Whishaw, but that’d mean nothing if it wasn’t soundtracking one of the most hot-to-trot, whizzing and exciting singles in ages. Years & Years’ gradual rise to the top hit a new level this week. It’s rare that a fairly oddly conceptualised, rave-tastic video will achieve this, but somehow the bright colours and indie actors lent the song something more, a further environment to explore. Plus, this song’s so clearly a party anthem for the summer we may as well just skip the next four months. Please?

DISCOVERY OF THE WEEK
Allie X


There’s enough buzz about this Toronto newcomer to serve mayor Rob Ford’s ‘curious’ cravings for years. Something about ‘Catch’ - Allie X’s debut track; a fizzing, Chvrches-channelling triumph - gives the impression she’ll be a worldwide superstar in 12 months’ time, without the slightest tongue-in-cheek hyperbole. Some people look and sound like superstars from the very beginning, and Allie X is one of those. Just imagine what she’s capable of next.