Neu This Year In New Music: 2013

New artists in 2013 didn’t exactly knock two times, sweep their feet on the doormat and politely make themselves at home. Despite column inches and twitter arguments being nigh-on monopolised by big names making big comebacks and everything-is-big-let’s-drop-everything, the biggest buzz continued to come from those who’d taken their first step. Some stirred with word-of-mouth Bandcamp releases, others made bold opening statements with a debut EP. Seeing Haim go global might’ve been more anticipated than the sight of a band like MONEY finally making their move. This year was, ultimately, one crammed with surprises and forseen breakthroughs in equal measure. Neu’s look back at 2013 is less an all-encompassing round-up, more a tiny snippet of all the brilliant things that happened in the last year. It’d be impossible to recount all the introductions that made an impact. This Year In New Music instead takes a look at the standout movements - however abstract - that shook up the collective system, as well as considering who might be capable of achieving the same next year. 

THE BREAKTHROUGHS
Days before the end of 2013, shunning end of year polls and ‘Sound Of…’ chatter, a band called London Grammar stopped mucking about and decided to release their debut track ‘Hey Now’. It came accompanied with simple, predictable but striking imagery of city lights streaming across the band’s city of choice. It was clear from the very beginning that London Grammar weren’t going to stick to a insular, bloggy crowd. They had Radio 1, maybe even Radio 2 success written all over their emotion-drenched songwriting. Hannah Reid possessed a voice that belonged on big stages - it didn’t take the group long to end up in that very environment. For a trio that’ve waited in the wings for several years before picking their moment, ‘If You Wait’ proved that, well, if you wait you might end up where you belong. 



The fact that King Krule entered 2013 unsigned remained a remarkable, brilliantly exciting prospect. Years and years he’d spent on the edge of people’s lips, a debut album in his locker waiting to be unveiled. Again, Archy Marshall proved that patience pays off when everything’s in its right place. Eventually ending up with XL - few, if any, labels would be better suited to easing a 19 year old into the limelight - Archy’s ‘6 Feet Beneath the Moon’ debut collected songs the Peckham resident penned from the age of 15. Less a mission statement, more a reflection of his beginnings, it’s anything but flawless - but sometimes debuts ought to end up that way. 

Certainly, a subsequent performance on Conan proved that Archy’s only heading upwards. Dressed in loose suits, performing alongside an esteemed brass band, they looked like a bunch of kids stumbling into a smoky New York jazz bar before suddenly finding their environment. It stands out as the televised slot of the year; more striking than Kanye on Jools, more intense than bloody Broadchurch. The most exciting aspect of King Krule’s 2013 is the fact that it’ll eventually be judged as a tiny first step. Already breaking America, the guy’s going far.



All this, without even considering the year that Lorde and Haim ended up enjoying. Again, artists who didn’t exactly burst out of nowhere. Lorde’s been signed since the age of 12; Haim’s previous incarnations have often been a source of criticism, many ignoring the sharp-edged strut of their current form. 

2013 also stands out as a year that rewarded unlikely underground stalwarts. Both Parquet Courts and Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield have spent years writing brilliant songs, be it through their current guise or in previous bands. Crutchfield’s ‘Cerulean Salt’ arrived as a re-affirmation of everything she’d mastered in the years preceding. In turn, Parquet Courts’ ‘Light Up Gold’ is easily the best thing Andrew Savage and pack have ever put their names to, but it remained a surprise breakthrough, proof that people can turn their heads at any moment. 

These records were purpose-built for friends or the makers themselves. Suddenly launched into hyperspace, they took on a new meaning, where in-joke-heavy or self-therapeutic songs ended up being a cause for mass rejoice. Without going too much into a much-documented ‘emo revival’ - something that looks certain to continue in the next 12 months - sad songs sounded bigger, increasingly vital. Oddly enough, they ended up accompanying giant gatherings of beaming smiles more than anything else. 



And from the same perspective, Chvrches’ ‘The Bones Of What You Believe’ might sound like a joyous collision of giddy forces, but barely buried in the depths is a clear, underlining anxiety. These are tense, terrified songs that pierce through nervous energy and fight free into the wider world. There’s no shame in any synth-backed turn, as Lauren Mayberry’s unveiled threats - ‘I’ll be a thorn in your side / until your die’ - make for the most unlikely, defiant choruses in an age. Out of all the debuts to go stratospheric in 2013, something in the Scots’ first move sounds like it’ll stick to these past twelve months. It’s a perfect match to post-milennial fear, loosely likened to the previously cited US successes in giving meaning to heightened emotions on a huge scale. Something suggests it’ll remain just as crucial a debut as years go by. 

THE FUTURE
Beyond the heavy supply of 2014 hopefuls - something which DIY happily contributes to by naming 40 acts set to define the next year - there’s a further flock of perhaps lesser-known newcomers capable of doing something special. If 2013 was a year that witnessed darkness manifesting itself in curious, exciting new forms, 2014 looks set to continue the trend. 

At the forefront is a guy still confronted with accusations of being too pretentious, a magician with no tricks. It’s difficult to imagine how anyone could come to that conclusion after hearing Ellery James Roberts’ ‘Kerou’s Lament’. The song boils up and finds refuge in miserable, dingy corners. Horns collide with audible spits, like dredges of someone’s past re-emerging to interrupt moments of optimism. Belonging to one of the brains behind now disbanded Manchester group Wu Lyf, this debut song remains his only release to date. Strapped up in Japanese iconography, there’s no doubting it’s emerging from the mind of someone almost drowning in their own self-belief, but that’s what makes it such a triumph. 



2014 won’t be defined by a post-Wu Lyf (‘Lyf after death’) legacy, although Los Porcos’ disco revival and Francis Lung’s Radiohead-tied solo work might have something to say about that. FAMY - linked to Los Porcos and Wu Lyf - have also returned, out of the blue with word of a debut album on Transgressive. Their curious folk-linked sway is like nothing else out there. Undeniably weird but also, at a push, ready for festivals and giant stages, the band’s own oddities might get in the way of some grand uprising, but that won’t stop their first full-length from being one of the year’s most game-changing. 

Ben Khan is another name capable of allowing complexities into music that’s clearly got its sights set on the charts and beyond. He’s an as yet anonymous musician, clearly channelling Jai Paul (who’ll undoubtedly have his own say on 2014) and Sound Of… hopefuls JUNGLE. Finely-tuned to the furthest point, dagger-like songs like ‘Savage’ are drenched in cool. At the same time, they’re also bubbling up with immense melodies. Don’t discount big things from this guy, even if he shuns the act of revealing his actual identity.



By relative terms Honeyblood are a more conventional pair. They wield guitars, force bold ideas through speaker-shaking chords, and there’s no doubting their debut full-length on FatCat will back up stunning recent single ‘Bud’. Recording with Peter Katis (responsible for The National’s ‘Alligator’ and Interpol’s ‘Turn On The Bright Lights’), the Scottish duo of —- Shona McViccar and Stina Tweeddale - bleed out darkness and, like 2013 standouts Chvrches and Waxahatchee, flip anxieties inside out into animated, enlivened songs that mean everything to so many. 

Broods and Astronomyy represent a crowd of poised, post-xx newcomers similarly capable of big things. Both add a sleepy daze to poised and pristine pop. The former have been writing with Joel Little (who boasts studio experience alongside Lorde), while the latter’s recently signed to a major on the back of menacing but swaggering pop pieces that do anything but hideaway. It’s very early days, but if London Grammar can go from zero to chart-bothering sensations in just over 9 months, these lesser-knowns could go far in no time at all. Whether the hype machine-toppers can translate their energy into albums proper could be a test that takes time to conquer. Maybe it should, if 2013 is any evidence.