It is time to organize ourselves so as not to lose anything of the good that it can bring us. In addition to the records of those who have a certain notoriety, there will also be those of those who have yet to make themselves known. To make sure you don’t miss them, let’s try to give you some tips on some emerging names in the music scene to keep an eye on.
Arlo Parks
She is the only one among the 13 we have already talked about, also because it is really difficult not to notice the precocious and mature talent of Arlo Parks. Born in London in 2000, he first started with poetry and only later to write songs. In this interview with NME he mentions St. Vincent, Madlib and Vashti Bunyan among his musical heroes, and from this one immediately understands how eclectic his music is. Extremely intimate and personal, she expresses many of her generation’s anxieties through a touching mix of bedroom-pop, soul and indie-folk. To his credit he already has two EPs (including the excellent ‘ Sophie ‘) and several singles; Arlo is expected to release the debut album by the end of the year.
Beabadoobee
Even Beatrice Laus Kristi aka Beabadoobee was born in 2000, in his case in the Philippines, and then moved to London with his family just three years. Emerging now full-blown, reported by both the Brit Awards and the BBC Sound Of, it can already boast about forty million streaming on Spotify. This is thanks to a rather prolific creative vein (she has two mini albums and a lot of EPs to her credit), but also to a certain talent in writing songs, which led her to open for 1975 (Matt Healy has professed his big fan). Bea cited Elliott Smith, Moldy Peaches, Pavement, Mazzy Star, Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel and Daniel Johnston among her models, and titled a song “I wish I was Stephen Malkmus“. Clearer than that…
Cable Ties
Rough and loud rock ‘n’ roll has citizenship in Australia almost as much as koalas and kangaroos; therefore it should not be surprising the determination put in place by the Cable Ties, three garage-rockers from Melbourne who certainly do not send them to say, with hard-rock riffoni and punk screams that bring to mind the first Yeah Yeah Yeahs and compatriots Amyl And The Sniffers. After an LP for a small local label, the signing with Merge Records and the first single for the American label, ‘Tell Them Where To Go’, has arrived, prelude to a sophomore scheduled for 2020.
Heavenly
Celeste Epiphany Waite is already enormously famous, known to all simply as Celeste, born in ’94 in California but raised in Brighton with her mother after her parents’ separation. Its timbre is something (authentically) celestial, so much so that BBC, MTV, NME, Vevo and Amazon have all put it on their list of promises for 2020. We do it too, because in spite of the little rock genre (the hers is a much more refined soul than that of Amy Winehouse, to whom she is often compared), she has a crystalline talent, very evident in the single ‘ Strange ‘, and certified by Michael Kiwanuka who took her with him on tour.
Disq
Only two songs known for the moment, but there is already an important contract with Saddle Creek for Disq, a quintet from Madison, Wisconsin, raised on bread and in the 90s. Especially the first half of that decade, that of distorted guitars played in college gyms. Surely in debt to Pavement and Weezer, those who appreciate Cloud Nothings and DIIV today will like them. The single ‘Communication’ is a very interesting first taste of their debut album, ‘Collector’, which will be released on March 6th.
Ducks Ltd.
Imagine what Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever would sound like if they were featured on the infamous C86. Probably like the Ducks Ltd, a duo from Toronto who wrote an excellent EP, ‘Get Bleak’ (released by the Madrid label Bobo Integral) just over a month ago, to which we hope they will be able to give a more substantial following by the end of ‘ year just started. They deserve it, because their mix of new genres – jangle-pop and college-rock is absolutely enjoyable, as the single ‘Anhedonia’ attests.
Girl In Red
There is even a Facebook page of Polish fans of Girl In Red, the almost 21-year-old Norwegian from Oslo who has not yet made her debut on an album, but who has already collected millions of streams and thousands of admirers everywhere. All thanks to an almost endless series of singles and EPs in which his “Lo-fi dream pop with a grunge-y kick” (as NME defines it) speaks to the hearts of the younger generation with great sincerity and transparency. Example is the video of ‘We Fell In Love In October’, in which Marie Ulven Ringheim (this is her name at the registry office) has no problem highlighting how the piece is dedicated to a woman.
Inhaler
In fact, that Bono‘s son was the Inhaler frontman we found out after listening to their first songs. With hindsight the paternal timbre is evident, especially the vocal one, but Elijah Hewson and associates can easily be considered regardless of illustrious kinship. Surely they too have a certain idea of how you can make a stadium sing by playing rock, seeming able to take that place – between adult and alternative-rock – occupied in 2019 by Sam Fender. Killers and Stereophonics, in addition to U2 themselves, are equally similar bands, even if Inhaler on Facebook declare themselves influenced by “Joy Division and Stone Roses“.
Muckers
In these gloomy days of war winds, the Muckers could be a shining example of cultural dialogue between Iran and the United States. Formed in Tehran by frontman Emir Mohseni, they found the final set-up after his move to New York. They propose their own personal vision of psychedelic rock, juxtaposing it with a pressing rhythm reminiscent of the punk-funk of a few years ago. Everything is very well represented by the single ‘ This Town Will Drag Us Down ‘.
Porridge Radio
Maybe something better could have been done in terms of naming, but otherwise Porridge Radio has far beyond what is needed. Their songs boast very unpredictable structures, characterized by continuous changes of rhythm and intensity, with the guitars weaving ever more intricate textures. For this reason, the comparison with the Savages is not so far-fetched; after all, the personality of the frontwoman Dana Margolin is comparable with the very bulky one of Jehnny Beth. Very interesting is the single ‘ Lilac ‘, the first release for the Brighton band after the signing of the contract with Secretly Canadian.