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

This week belonged to JUNGLE’s dance troupe bonanza, all stomping feet in dozen-member unison. It wouldn’t be a surprise to hear that the cast of ‘Busy Earnin’’s video are still bouncing away right this very moment. They’ve been out of the loop, though (poor buggers) because an awful lot’s happened elsewhere in terms of exciting songs, videos and fresh faces arriving with their first song. From curious producers remaining nameless to future pop-giants just waiting for their moment, here’s the best of what happened this week in new music.

TRACK OF THE WEEK
JUCE - Braindead


It’s probably (definitely) too early to be getting carried away with JUCE. Let’s not down all the sunny D and get struck by the sugar crash to render all comedowns meaningless. But really - if ‘Call You Out’ was a groove-spliced, funk-trotting beast, ‘Braindead’ is even better. The beat doesn’t quit. It’s something James Murphy would fawn over. It’s all coined out of instinct too. This entire track was put together in 24 hours alongside Speedy Wunderground’s Dan Carey. This is medicine for people who can’t dance, a cure for the happiness-culled. Dance ‘til you’re ‘Braindead’.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Yumi Zouma - ‘The Brae’ & ‘A Long Walk Home For Parted Lovers’


Yumi Zouma’s music was made for films, just like leather sofas were made for idiots. Sure, the songs on the trio’s debut EP could be fledged out into a feature-length, but this’ll do. These two videos for ‘The Brae’ and ‘A Long Walk Home For Parted Lovers’ focus around the most beautiful people in the world having a relaxing time in their beautiful city. There’s donkey-riding, lying in the grass, nighttime drives, enough hipster 90s attire to give The Spice Girls cause for a comeback.



And as it plays out, there’s substance to the tale too. It’s not just strolling around and posing in vintage attire. Ok, there is a lot of that, but it’s a cause for celebration in itself that Yumi Zouma’s music has a visual match worthy of such uncontrolled gawping.

DISCOVERY OF THE WEEK
QUAYS


Phone QUAYS up and a track plays called “Sleepers.” Muffled and cautious to express itself in fine detail, it’s the genuine equivalent of having a kid at the back of a night bus play Burial until his ears bleed. “Cursiv” is a little different. Studio-recorded, it has hints of trance being rinsed within an inch of their lives, like wedging casual euphoria into the ground until it’s all crushed up. This is terse, attack music of a strange order.