DIY, December 2020 / January 2021

CLASS OF 2021

FREE • ISSUE 103 • DEC 2020 / JAN 2021 DIYMAG.COM

STARRING

ASHNIKKO

+ BREE RUNWAY, BABY QUEEN, BLACK COUNTRY, NEW ROAD MASTER PEACE & MORE

A VIVID NEW BREED

DIY

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QUESTION! With our best foot forwards, what are Team DIY's wishes and resolutions for 2021? [Any mention of the 'c' word gets an automatic £10 fine] SARAH JAMIESON • Managing Editor If this year has taught me anything it’s to try and not sweat the small stuff, so with that in mind, I wanna spend 2021 just actually appreciating things that bit more. Take more photos, make more memories, and just, y’know, have even more brilliant times out in the big wide world.

EMMA SWANN • Founding Editor Disorganised fun! Well, fun of any kind tbh, the ability to completely lose oneself amid chaos sounds like paradise right now. But the best kind is always the least planned.

LISA WRIGHT • Features Editor Aside from the usual hopes of staggering success and wild fortune, my main wish is just for some spontaneity. Nice as it is to have things in the calendar, isn’t it even better when you just bump into people and let the night take you where it leads? I want some of that.

LOUISE MASON • Art Director Do a magnificent wild trip away, finish a record, go to every single festival and spend every day in the pub.

ELLY WATSON • Digital Editor All I want is to non-fatally injure myself in the pit at 100 gecs at Primavera in the summer, is that too much to ask?!

EDITOR'S LETTER

As we’ve already said countless times, 2020 has not been at all what anyone expected, and it’s probably fair to say that most of us will be glad to see the back of this year. But now, as we finish up our final issue of 2020, we at DIY wanted to do so in the most optimistic way possible: by facing firmly forwards, and looking ahead to the brightness we hope 2021 can bring.

Because of that, for the Class of 2021, we’ve decided to go down a more vivid route; choosing to celebrate some of music’s brightest new prospects - including Ashnikko, Bree Runway, Baby Queen, Master Peace and loads more - by exploring all things colourful and neon. Because what better way to overcome the darkness, than by spreading some light?

On a more emosh note: we’d like to say a huge thank you to all of you for supporting us across the last twelve months of unpredictable twists and turns. To say that we feel lucky to still be here making this magazine for you is quite the understatement, and we can’t wait to continue to do so in the new year. Now, pass that mulled wine!

I think we all deserve a drink… 2021, we’re coming for ya!

Sarah Jamieson, Managing Editor

CHRISTMAS LISTENING POST What’s been worming its way around DIY’s collective ear-holes this month?

GIRL IN RED TWO QUEENS IN A KING SIZED BED Ahead of her imminent debut LP (see pg10 for more on that), Norwegian star-in-the-making Marie Ulven’s offering to the Christmas gods is part queer festive anthem / part alternative John Lewis advert sweetness. Suitably twinkling and doe-eyed, it’ll doubtless be soundtracking many doe-eyed Christmas mornings come December 25th.

SHAME - FELIZ NAVIDAD Two years ago, just as we were inducting Shame into our Class of 2018 by dressing them up as the nativity (who says we don’t take our jobs seriously), Charlie Steen and co popped out this festive cover as a little treat. Listen to it once and try getting its horribly addictive chorus out of your head; honestly, we’ve only just recovered.

JULIAN CASABLANCAS - I WISH IT WAS CHRISTMAS TODAY Not your immediate first choice for a cheery, cheesy indie Santa in waiting, and yet Julian Casablancas’ (he may not be Jesus Christ, but he has the same initials) 2009 effort was a full-on bell-ringing festive celebration. It’s a Christmas miracle!

ISSUE PLAYLIST

Need a soundtrack while you dig into the issue? Well, funnily enough, we’ve got the perfect accompaniment right here. Scan the Spotify code to listen to our December / January playlist now.

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At BIMM Institute, we explore, discuss and celebrate what music means to people, how it has impacted our world – and how it has made us who we are today.

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From the marginalised to

Throughout time,

the mainstream, people

people have used music

have always used music

to provide a social

to reflect their emotions

commentary on history’s

and environments.

most pivotal moments,

It’s a tool that reacts

create awareness

to, comments on, and

and stoke the fires of

influences so many

progress. They’ve also

aspects of our lives, such

used it to soundtrack

as our identity, culture,

love, work through

politics and society.

breakups and express how they feel.

the world.” - Emanuel J Burton

platform to create a positive change in

a positive message, and I want to use my

world. I am inspired to create music that has

“Music is a healing art, and it unites the

Music can showcase individuality and

Our Music Made Us

subcultures or unite

campaign is told through

entire communities. It

the students, graduates,

can be at the very heart

journalists, experts and

of who we are as human

passionate people who

beings or at the centre of

have been shaped by

worldwide movements.

this creative outlet.

“Music is a universal language, and that’s so amazing to me. Everyone interprets it differently based on their own experiences and views. It is such a powerful tool.”

- Kashi Chellen

Discover their stories at bimm.ac.uk/musicmadeus

CONTENTS

NEWS.

8 Y O U M E AT S I X 10 GIRL IN RED 12 SQUID 1 4 S P E C T O R / D RY C L E A N I N G 13 JULIEN BAKER 1 6 M O O N C H I L D S A N E L LY 20 LUMP

CLASS OF 2021

26 ASHNIKKO 3 2 B R E E R U N WAY 3 6 BUZZARD BUZZARD BUZZARD 38 BABY QUEEN 4 0 P VA 41 JELANI BLACKMAN 42 JAZMIN BEAN 44 BENEE 48 MASTER PEACE 5 2 B L A C K C O U N T RY, N E W R O A D 56 PHOEBE GREEN 5 8 PA S A L I E U 6 0 TAT E M C R A E 6 2 LY N K S REVIEWS 64 ALBUMS Shout out to: Studio 101, Calgary’s Greta Bar, Dot Athena studio, Hannah Diamond, Meesh at Bolt, NEKO Trust, Spotify and all involved with the Our Generation playlist, Shame and The Cribs for hopping on our Instagram over the last month for some fun, and to all the artists in this issue who gamely dressed up in their finest neon during this most un-neon of Novembers.

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Contributors: Alex Cabré, Bella Martin, Ben Tipple, Charlotte Gunn, Chris HamiltonPeach, Chris Taylor, Managing Editor El Hunt, Eva Pentel, Sarah Jamieson Hannah Diamond, Gemma Samways, Holly Features Editor Whitaker, Jack Doherty, Lisa Wright Jack Johnstone Orr, Jenessa Williams, Jenn Digital Editor Five, Joe Goggins, Elly Watson Louisa Dixon, Rosie Art Direction & Design Hewitson, Sean Kerwick, Sophie Walker.

Louise Mason Founding Editor Emma Swann

For DIY editorial: info@diymag.com For DIY sales: advertise@diymag.com For DIY stockist enquiries: stockists@diymag.com DIY HQ, Unit m K309, The Biscuit Factory, 100 Drummond Road, London SE16 4DG

This page: Photo: Baby Queen

by Holly Whitaker Cover: Photo: Vasso Vu Styling & outfit: Holly Wood Hair : Claire Moore Make up: Sophie Moore Jewelry: The Great Frog, Vicki Sarge & Eve Wilson, B Dodi

All material copyright (c). All rights reserved. This publication may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, in whole or in part, without the express written permission of DIY. Disclaimer: While every effort is made to ensure the information in this magazine is correct, changes can occur which affect the accuracy of copy, for which DIY holds no responsibility. The opinions of the contributors do not necessarily bear a relation to those of DIY or its staff and we disclaim liability for those impressions.

Distributed nationally.

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A world without boundaries

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The ‘Our Generation’ playlist, only on Spotify.

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FRESH S TART

START Never let it be said that YMAS don’t take social distancing seriously.

“We were making an album with absolutely no fear.” - Josh Franceschi 8 DIYMAG.COM

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“F

Words: Sarah Jamieson. Photo: Katy Cummings.

undamentally, we were all looking for a bit of escape,” admits You Me At Six’s Josh Franceschi, as he begins to unpack the story of how their seventh album - January’s switch-flipping new release ‘SUCKAPUNCH’ - made its way into the world. It’s not an entirely surprising admission.

Having drawn to the close of their previous album’s touring schedule with a huge, career-spanning show as part of London event Gunnersville (following a series of blistering live gigs celebrating the tenth anniversary of their debut just months before) the quintet seemingly found themselves at a crossroads.

“There were a lot of conversations about what the purpose of putting another album out was, other than it being self-serving,” Josh explains. “It was like, ‘What are we saying? What’s our place in music right now? What are we offering?’”

While they may be questions that artists often ask themselves, for You Me At Six, they felt all the more pressing this time around.

“It’ll be fifteen years since we started the band next January,” he notes. Having all recently passed their 30th birthday landmark, the five-piece have now spent almost more time in the band than outside of it and, coupled with the nostalgia of their recent shows and some tough personal circumstances for several members, questioning what would come next became unavoidable.

“Gunnersville was such a trip because we basically went through every different era of our band up until that point, and what

it all looked like,” recalls Josh.

“Maybe there was an element of understanding and appreciating where you’ve been to know where you’re going to go next.

“We had a very determined group mentality that we just had to do something different,” he says, emphasising the word “had”; “we had to do something that still had the spirit and the DNA of You Me At Six, but it had to be presented in a new and exciting way. I think there are some songs on the record that will really challenge the perception that people have of this band.”

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nd so escape they did.

After pulling together a series of ideas and demos collated during their time on the road, it was in October 2018 that the quintet upped sticks and headed for Thailand’s Karma Sound Studio. “We were all looking for an opportunity to unplug from the world, so we went to a studio that was as far away as possible from England, basically chucked our phones in the bin, didn’t watch TV or listen to the news. We just completely immersed ourselves in this musical rehab and this utopia that we’d not really experienced before as a band.”

Described as a “pretty special experience” which was “definitely alien”, their time away - part working on tracks into the small hours of the morning; part restorative volleyball games in the resort’s pool - reunited them in a way the band hadn’t thought possible. “We just connected in a way that we hadn’t before and I feel like you hear that in the synergy of the music,” the singer enthuses. “We were sort of

[embracing] the idea that we were making an album with absolutely no fear, and I think you hear that in the record.” The freedom to switch off from the world they’d left behind saw them work harder, for longer hours, pushing their creative drive to the limits.

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Almost fifteen years and seven albums in, You Me At Six finally feel as though they've made their defining statement.

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Much like Josh says, throughout ‘SUCKAPUNCH’ the band push themselves into whole new sonic territories. While previous record ‘VI’ saw them lay down confident foundations, it’s on their seventh album that they build more ambitiously. From the searing intensity of opener ‘Nice To Me’ through to the humongoussounding single ‘Beautiful Way’, via the sleazy swagger of ‘Kill The Mood’, it’s an album that fuses together facets of all their previous eras and personal tastes, before turbo-charging the entire thing.

“It’s very reflective of five people being each other’s counterpart,” he nods. “There are people in our band who love dance music, there are some who love hip hop, and then there are others that like those things but also want us - at the forefront - to be a rock band.

It’s like a marriage; everyone’s gotta get something out of this.”

And it’s through that multi-genre collision that the album really finds its strength. “It’s almost that clash of identities and cultures that has brought this record to life,” Josh offers up. “I feel like we’ve been in this endless pursuit of our defining record, or our most complete record. I feel like ‘SUCKAPUNCH’ is probably the closest thing we have to that, and I hope that people will reference it in years to come as their favourite YMAS record.”

FEVER ‘SUCKAPUNCH’ is out on 15th January via Underdog / AWAL.

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AS WE SQUINT OUR EYES AND LOOK INTO THE BRAVE NEW DAWN THAT IS 2021, THERE ARE ALL MANNER OF IMMINENT NEW MUSICAL TREATS AWAITING US JUST OVER THE HORIZON. GRAB YOUR BINOCULARS AND COME JOIN US FOR A PEEK AT THE RECORDS THAT’LL BE ON HEAVY ROTATION OVER THE NEXT 12 MONTHS.

girl in reD WITH A HUGE FAN BASE ITCHING TO DISCOVER MARIE ULVEN’S WORLD IN RED, THE RESULT LOOKS SET TO CEMENT THE SINGER AS AN ICON OF YOUNG, CONFESSIONAL POP. Words: Sophie Walker.

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he best musicians are the ones who grow with you, and in the space of a year alone, Marie Ulven has had more than her fair share of growing pains. 2020 has proven to be a year of whiplash-inducing change for us all and so, when the outside world was ruled out, Marie looked inward and began to build one of her own: a self-styled world in red.

Now she sits on the cusp of a much-anticipated debut full-length. And while its title is still under wraps, she promises that “there’s some crazy shit going down on this album.” “I can tell you that for sure. I’m doing things I’ve never done before. It’s a very, very ambitious album,” she grins. Still bearing the distinctive girl in red hallmarks we know and love - “except way, way cooler,”

“I’ve just been really inspired by how my brain works, and how something can be beautiful yet broken.”

Marie notes - the singer is already sure of her ideal reaction to the album: “‘Holy fuck, I didn’t see this coming!

This is some grown, 2.0 shit.'”

The record, she continues, acts as an “emotional recap” of the past year. “I’m writing a lot about my mental health and the different sides of love - you know, the type of things that take up my time,” she elaborates. This year, Marie was diagnosed with OCD and

Generalised Anxiety Disorder. “I wasn’t doing very well last year,” she nods, “but I’m doing better now - I’m going to a bunch of therapy. I’ve just been really inspired by how my brain works sometimes, and how something can be beautiful yet broken.”

This year’s first taste of the record, August single ‘rue’ (inspired by Zendaya’s character in the show Euphoria), captures Marie’s grapple with her mental health best. “I had to sleep in my sister’s bed for weeks because I was so scared of sleeping on my own,” she remembers. “The song is about how I felt like a burden to my family, even though I know they don’t feel that way - but sometimes, I’d make myself believe that. It’s also about choosing to not give up and trying to get better.”

Meanwhile, for the first time, Marie has worked with a producer, Matias Tellez, to realise her ambitions for the project. “There are a lot of construction sounds in the production,” she says. “I put them there because working on your mental health is just as hard as working physically. It’s the hardest fucking shit ever. I guess ‘rue’ is about saying to yourself, ‘OK, I’ll do the work’.”

Yet though her forthcoming debut represents an emotional progression from her earlier music, the journey, she says, “tells a bigger story”. “I’ve already started to get new ideas that I see in a whole new body of work that has a totally different sound to what I’m making now. Even the songs I’ve sung a million times still make me feel how I did when I wrote them,” she smiles.

“Those songs still mean so much to me, and I’m so proud of them. They document my change - I hope I’m forever changing.”

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DRAWING INSPIRATION FROM SCI-FI, CREATING MUSICAL FAUX-SEANCES AND EMERGING WITH A DEBUT THAT’S “REALLY FUCKING WEIRD”, DID YOU EVER REALLY EXPECT SQUID TO TOE THE PARTY LINE? Words: Lisa Wright. Photos: Holly Whitaker.

Squid

"We’ve gone for the route that might alienate some people..." - Ollie Judge

W

hen Brighton quintet Squid released ubiquitous BBC 6 Music staple ‘Houseplants’ last year - all yelping vocals and galloping, propulsive momentum - you immediately got the sense that, beneath the hummable melody, lay a band far more left-ofcentre than the track might suggest.

Then came the ‘Match Bet’ EP: two ‘hits’ bookended by two tracks of elongated oddities and drones. And so, going into the group’s longawaited debut - written over the last year and recorded with Dan Carey during the summer - the coin could flip either way…

“We could have gone down the route of writing ten easily-digestible tracks, but we’ve gone for the route that might alienate some people,” laughs singer Ollie Judge, Zooming us sat in front of a massive harp. Of course. “Maybe not consciously, but we have ended up making a really fucking weird record. My mum said it’s ‘a grower’, which I didn’t initially know how to take, but it’s grown on her now…”

Featuring almost entirely unheard material (“I hate it when bands put tracks on albums that have been recorded for ages beforehand - it’s cheating”), influenced by dystopian sci-fi and written for the most part in a windowless barn in Ollie’s hometown of Chippenham, the record looks set to be as much of a journey into the stranger corners of the mind as that image might suggest. Having been forced to ditch their usual process of “write something, try it out live and then go back and tinker with it”, instead Squid had to solely embrace their situation.

“We didn’t have the live aspect, so thinking about how different all of the tracks might have sounded if we’d have played them live is quite a strange thought,” he muses. “I think it would be a completely different record. Maybe it’s more bleak than it would have been…” But bleak though the end product may be, that’s not to say the band didn’t have their share of fun during its creation. Heading back to London, there’s more than a hint of the mad scientist to the way the band and their producer approached the recording. “There was one moment where we had a thing that looked like a seance. There was a ring of amps all facing the ceiling, maybe 10 in a circle, and then we had a microphone at the top swinging round with the amps all playing different sounds,” Ollie grins.

“That was a good one. Arthur’s dad is an expert in medieval instruments and he came down with a wind instrument called a rackett, which literally makes a racket, so that’s on one of the tracks too.”

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Eccentric but esoteric, unexpected but also with “a nice push and pull to the poppy elements”, maybe Squid’s debut is actually exactly what they’d been pointing towards all along.

“Pretty terrifying, a debut album!”

Ollie grimaces. “I’ve been having anxiety dreams about it getting one star for ages…” Come 2021, Squid’s star should be rising far, far higher than that.

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Julien Baker WORKING ON NEW ALBUM ‘LITTLE OBLIVIONS’ DURING SOME MUCH-NEEDED TIME OFF, JULIEN BAKER FOUND HERSELF REFLECTING ON HER PLACE IN THE WORLD, AND CREATING HER MOST STRIKING RECORD YET. Words: Sarah Jamieson.

Dear Kenazi THE DIY DRAG-ONY AUNT

Dear Kenazi, What do you do if you find Father Christmas uncomfortably attractive? Asking for a friend.

Eddie Green, Shame

“I spent a lot of time reevaluating my perspective on who I was as a person, and my values.”

T

he last few years have been somewhat of a whirlwind for Julien Baker. Having first uploaded her starkly gorgeous debut LP ‘Sprained Ankle’ to Bandcamp back in late 2014 - picked up and re-released the following year, before she signed to Matador in 2017 - things have barely stopped since. But, after almost four solid years on the road in support of both her solo career and her collaborative project boygenius (with friends and collaborators Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus), the time eventually came to slow down.

“You know, I’m gonna be honest,” she offers up, Zooming us from her home in East Nashville, “slowing down put me in a very weird place.” Having completed touring with boygenius back in late 2018, Julien soon found herself with some well-earned time off. Except things weren’t quite that straightforward.

“I mean, 2019 was a very difficult year,” she says reflectively, nodding to personal issues she found herself grappling with. “I think I spent a lot of that time - once I had the luxury of time to reflect - reevaluating my perspective on who I was as a person, and my values. This thing that had ruled my life, and had been my identity for so long - that was the crux of every day for me - just disappeared and I was like, ‘OK, I guess I’m just a person at home’. I was playing some shows here and there, but largely I was just trying to figure out who I was when my focus wasn’t taken up with the one iteration of myself as a performing artist.”

In search of some “external accountability” and a way to structure her new abundance of time, Julien instead returned to education and her unfinished course at Middle Tennessee State University, while

taking the time to work, and re-work, demos that would go on to become her third record. “For both of the previous records, songs were finished as they were in my brain, and I collected them,” she explains, emphasising the difference this time around. “When we’d go into the studio, I would only ever book up to seven days, but that was it. There was no putting a song on a shelf for two months and going back to it.”

Here’s the deal, Eddie. Father Christmas is the original sugar daddy, in other words the ultimate capitalist lie designed to double Christmas spending under the premise of giving. Everyone prefers to receive, that’s why most men are bottoms. Your friend obviously has a combination of daddy issues and an attraction to large older males. My advice: a sugar daddy of the bear tribe who can fulfil your Father Christmas fantasy. Good luck to him - and Merry Christmas!

And the timeframe isn’t the only change, heading into third album ‘Little Oblivions’. Continuing to build upon the affecting but deft lyricism that defined her previous two albums, it’s on her newest effort that Julien widens her musical horizons, swapping the stripped-back guitar-and-vocals aesthetic previously explored for something fuller.

“I wanted to challenge myself to keep things simple [on past records]. I had just come out of being in a heavy band, and I think that I was of the mentality that I should try to challenge myself to be as minimalist as possible because that would mean it was tasteful…” she laughs. “I obsessed about [second album ‘Turn Out The Lights’]; I [had] to create it with the same sparseness because I didn’t want to afford myself embellishments. But it’s like, I don’t know why I thought that way!

“With this record, I feel a compassion and understanding for the person that I was. I’m not sad that I was an idealist kid trying to make this romanticised idea of music,” she laughs again. “But it’s also OK to be like, ‘I wanna put a drum machine on this song!”

‘Little Oblivions’ is out 26th February via Matador.

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FRED MACPHERSON LETS US IN ON THE INDIE STALWARTS’ UPCOMING THIRD LP AND THEIR PLANS FOR A DECADE IN THE GAME.

Spector It'll have been around 6 years since ‘Moth Boys’ by the time LP3 comes out - why the wait?

Fred: Well in the meantime we’ve put out twelve songs across three EPs and a compilation of all the above called ‘Non-Fiction’. So in a way I see what we’re recording in January as our fourth ‘record’ if not our fourth album.

Four records in a decade sounds a bit more forgivable doesn’t it?

If the record was written over this last year, can we expect an album that tackles all The Big Topics of 2020?

I hope not. I think Yannis from Foals said nobody wants to hear anyone’s lockdown album and I kind of agree.

I’d say the songs on this album are broadly about all the same things our songs (and everybody else’s) are usually about, but I’m sure the

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apocalyptic setting of late capitalism has seeped into the background somewhere. I sent all the poppiest ones to a friend recently and he was like, ‘Well they’re all quite moody’ and I thought, God, wait until you hear the rest of it.

Give us a teaser of a particularly good line from the record.

“Pour homme / Pour femme / Poor us / Poor them” 2021 marks Spector's 10 year anniversary - have you got anything planned for the occasion?

The tenth anniversary of our first show is in January so it’s a shame we won’t be able to celebrate that with a gig. But assuming people still want to listen to us in 2021 (and like this new album) then it would probably be rude not to celebrate the first album’s decade anniversary by playing it in full in 2022.

dry cleaning OUR CLASS OF 2019 COVER STARS ARE FINALLY GEARING UP TO RELEASE THEIR DEBUT - HOORAY!

How did a very exciting 2019 set you up for starting work on Album One? Tom: 2019 was a really amazing, transformative year; so much changed so quickly and really peaked when we signed with 4AD. That was like the ultimate vote of confidence in what we were doing and, combined with the fact we’d spent a lot more time together, we grew together a lot more.

What experiences have been inspiring you? Any tracks you can give us some goss on?

Flo: ‘Her Hippo’ is a kind of doomed escape fantasy. Another is ‘Leafy’ - it’s playful and carefree and confident at the start, but turns into something different.

I imagine a person going on and on with a microphone at a wedding or at an award ceremony, so that they have to be ushered off the stage. By the end it’s a break up song. Set to a disco beat.

We’ve had a sneak listen and the record is a lot more direct and riffy than people might expect - would you agree?

Tom: Yes, I definitely agree; I’d say it’s a more layered, fully-realised sound.

You develop a sort of sixth sense for each other when you write together so much, fed by the music and ideas you’ve been sharing, so I think the directness came from the evolution of that dynamic.

What makes a truly great debut?

Tom: I guess it’s totally subjective but I love those debut records that sound like they’re a fully-formed environment of their own straight away; you really feel like you’ve travelled to a new world.

‘Turn on the Bright Lights’ by Interpol is a record we have on in the van a lot, especially on long night time drives.

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SHE’S GOT AWARDS IN HER EYE-LINE AND BEYONCÉ IN HER PHONE BOOK, AND WITH HER FORTHCOMING SECOND RECORD IN THE WORKS, MOONCHILD SANELLY’S MESSAGE OF “FREEDOM, JOY AND LIBERATION” IS EXACTLY WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS. Words: Lisa Wright. Photos: Phatstoki.

Moonchild Sanelly

“I

’m collecting the awards - I’m collecting the Grammys, I’m collecting the BRIT Awards, I’m going in. Now is my flex time and I’m going for EVERYTHING,” hoots Moonchild Sanelly, chuckling manically like a woman with a wickedly delicious masterplan. Blue-haired and speaking a mile-a-minute, the South African singer might only be a couple of weeks into the recording of LP2, but vision is not something that’s lacking.

It’s a trait that’s evidently fuelled her for a long time. Performing and releasing in her hometown for more than a decade, it’s only in the last two years - via notable collaborations with Africa Express, Gorillaz and a not-so-little turn on Beyoncé’s ‘My Power’ - that she’s begun to make waves in more international circles.

The move, she explains, is no fluke. “I have a hustling mentality where I just know how to make things happen for myself,” she explains. “I always said I want to play every festival in the world, I want to be able to go everywhere.

And when I started getting a taste of that, that’s when I started collaborating. I’m not gonna change who I am but I’m going to introduce people to who I am through someone they know.”

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Earlier this year, it led to a re-release via Transgressive of EP ‘Nudes’ - a record that properly introduced the singer’s fundamental “mission” of self-love and acceptance to the world. Now, she’s creating the sonic patchwork of its full-length follow up,

I learnt that whenever they say ‘black sheep’ it’s because they don’t want you to know you’re powerful.” and the ambition - both personal and professional - behind it is tangible.

“The whole message should start with body positivity and sexual ownership because there’s a lot of bullshit [in the world] but if you can control you in any scenario then you’re past bullshit,” she affirms. “I’ll never tire of representing who I am because I wish I had someone like me when I was growing up. People are going to get tired of trying to stop me because I know how to work very, very hard and people will demand my comments more than others can stop me from getting it.

“My mum equipped me with so much confidence in myself. So when she died, by the time the world heard anything - whether that was my music or poetry or fashion - I already knew what would make me happy,” she continues. “I was never expected to be the one that was successful, but now everyone that was living by the rules of society in my family, they’re all [just] surviving, whereas here I am. I learnt that whenever they say ‘black sheep’ it’s because they don’t want you to know you’re powerful when actually it means you’re special.”

With Diplo, Ghetts and more already confirmed to appear on the singer’s newest, the word is clearly getting out.

And as for one final special guest?

“No comment,” she squirms with a cheeky grin when we mention the Queen Bey word. “I don’t wanna jinx it…” We’ll touch wood for tradition’s sake, but clearly Moonchild Sanelly makes her own luck. Superstardom beckons...

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ON DEBUT ‘COMPLIMENTS PLEASE’, REBECCA TAYLOR RE-EMERGED WITH A NEW SOLO PROJECT, A NEW LEASE OF LIFE, AND NEWLY READY TO SEIZE THE WORLD BY THE BALLS. ON ITS IMMINENT FOLLOW-UP, SELF ESTEEM IS TURNING IT ALL UP TO ELEVEN. Words: Lisa Wright.

self esteem “The boundaries have completely disappeared and that’s where I want art to be.”

J

2o21 COMING SOON FOR

ust before we attempt to phone Rebecca Taylor today, an Instagram notification pops up telling us that she’s just clocked on to lead her daily live meditation session. An unusual reason for a minor interview delay for most, but for Self Esteem, it makes total sense.

Since leaving Slow Club behind and returning with a new solo project, Rebecca has set about creating a whole liberating world around her; musically, it first blossomed with last year’s debut ‘Compliments Please’, but alongside that she’s spent 2020 putting on womxn-focused streaming festivals, geeing people up with online workouts and generally charming

the internet with a specific brand of empowering lolz.

“I keep thinking, when we go back to things I’m gonna be singing in rooms with people that have exercised with me for a year,” she laughs. “But I always wanted Self Esteem to be a multi-layered experience, so this is a part of it I think. The boundaries have completely disappeared and that’s where I want art to be.

“The way people have responded to it…” she continues, reflecting on the past 18 months, “it’s hard to talk about without it sounding like I only do this for my own god complex, but it’s just made me feel so much better about all the things that, in my whole twenties, I’d been made to feel bad about. All of those people standing in the crowd screaming the words back to me and relating to it make me feel less like a loser weirdo. That transaction has been just wonderful!”

Taking all the emotional and psychological fuel gained from a period of “feeling so seen and authentic” into the studio with her, a summer of recording LP2 has now coalesced into an album that “turns the dial up on every component [of her debut] to 11”. “Instead of trying to change it up, I really leaned into the bits that I find euphoric,” she enthuses. “I’m really into extremes at the moment: if you’re gonna sing, fucking sing; if you’re gonna speak, speak clearly. There are no grey areas, and I’m enjoying the pomposity of it a lot.”

Yet if, musically, her latest is a riot of “enormous and choral and ridiculous” moments, then lyrically the singer is taking things to a different kind of extreme - pushing herself to talk about the complicated boundaries of sex and power that dominate our daily lives. “There’s songs about assault, songs about being oppressed by narcissistic men and all of that, but there are also songs about how much I love having sex, and how much I love my vagina. And it’s complicated because that’s what it feels like. Some things don’t make sense together, and some inform the others, but tough shit - that’s where I’m at,” she shrugs.

“I don’t know the answers, but I’ve written songs about how I bloody feel and I’ve got a feeling that a lot of people will feel like that too.”

WHAT DO MUSIC’S GREAT AND GOOD RUSTLE UP FOR THEIR SUPPER? LET US PEEK INSIDE THE RECIPE BOOK… BON APPETIT! NAME

Do Nothing DISH

One-pan roast white fish (for 2 people) INGREDIENTS • White fish fillet (haddock’s nice) • 200g baby potatoes, 1cm slices • 2 cloves garlic, halved • 1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives • 1 bell pepper, cored and sliced • 1 lemon • 1 tsp paprika • Bunch of basil METHOD Dead simple. Add potatoes, garlic, paprika, drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper to a mixing bowl. Toss to coat.

Spread evenly on a baking tray and place into 200ºC fan oven for around 20 minutes.

Rub fish fillets with a bit of olive oil and lemon juice, season all over. Remove the potatoes from the oven and mix in the olives and bell peppers. Gently place fillets on vegetables with a slice of lemon on each. Return to the oven for 15 or so minutes until fillets are browning and tender. Roughly chop basil and sprinkle on top when plated. Bon Appétit!

With plans for a podcast and “an enormous, very ambitious film around the album that’s currently keeping me awake at night”, Rebecca is heading into 2021 with the voracious appetite for creativity that’s categorised the whole of Self Esteem so far. Musician, personal trainer, spiritual guide - she might joke that she feels like “a cult leader”, but there are far worse people out there for the job.

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Fresh for 2021

NG OON FOR 2021 • COMING SOON FORC2021 OOKI • COMING SOON FOR 2021 • COMING SOON FOR 2021 • COMING SOON FOR 2021 • VINYL

THE BRAND NEW ALBUM ‘SONGS FOR THE DRUNK AND BROKEN HEARTED’ OUT 8TH JANUARY - PRE-ORDER NOW INCLUDES THE SINGLES

‘SWORD FROM THE STONE’ & ‘THE WAY THAT I LOVE YOU’ PASSENGERMUSIC.COM

THE DEBUT ALBUM FROM THE SCOTTISH SINGER SONGWRITER

‘NEPTUNE’S DAUGHTER’

INCLUDES THE SINGLES ‘BAND OF GOLD’ & ‘KISSING FOOLS’ STREAM THE ALBUM SAMPLER ON SPOTIFY NOW

“KERRI HAS A TALENT THAT CANNOT BE DENIED” - CLASH KERRIWATT.COM

T H E N E W A L B U M - O U T A P R I L 1 6 T H - P R E - O R D E R N OW “ H I S P O P I N F L U E N C E I S T I N G E D W I T H C L A S S I C R O C K G U I TA R TO C R E AT E A S O U N D T H AT I S U N I Q U E TO H I M ” - R O L L AC OA S T E R S A I N T R AY M O N D . C O . U K

S T R E A M ‘ S OM E T H I N G O U T OF N OT H I N G ’ E P N OW + N E W E P C OM I N G F E B ‘ SA M I S ON E OF T H E M AJ OR R E A S ON S W H Y I D O T H I S S ORT OF T H I N G . ’ -

T OM ROB I N S ON , B B C R A D IO 6

FAC E B O OK . C OM / SA M E AG L E MU S IC

THE NEW EP: WEIRD YEARS (SEASON 1) STREAMING FROM JAN 15TH

“DREAMY, SINUOUS SYNTH-POP PERFECTION.” - SUNDAY TIMES MERCHANDISE AVAILABLE FROM FICKLEFRIENDS.CO.UK

‘ D I G I TA L D R E A M ’ T H E N E W E P O U T 2 6 T H F E B S O K O , J E N N Y L E E ( W A R PA I N T ) , P E A C H E S , K T T U N S TA L L AND JAMIE HINCE (THE KILLS)

FEATURING

D E A P V A L LY. C O M

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as part of a seven-piece band, focusing instead on fleshing out the offbeat musical universe of a fictional character. It’s a world that’s definitely got weirder with Album Two. Citing the live dates around the first record as highly influential, alongside the synth sounds of Suzanne Ciani, the textural rhythms of John Hassell and Brian Eno, and Laura’s current studies in psychoanalysis, Mike is billing ‘Animal’ as “a slightly bombastic, twisted synth ride into an inverted universe which we haven't quite understood yet, with big drums and slightly more proggy moments.”

2o21 COMING SOON FOR

COVID-permitting, the plan is to take the album on the road, as well as the giant LUMP puppet - if Laura can figure out how to make him move onstage.

“He’s attached to a marionette bracket, but to work it would require a 10ft ceiling and some scaffolding,” she explains, while Mike chuckles in the background. “So, basically, watch this space.”

on the

‘Gram

lump

These days, even yer gran is posting selfies on Instagram. Instagran, more like. Everyone has it now, including all our fave bands. Here’s a brief catch-up on music’s finest photo-taking action as of late.

THE SECOND ALBUM FROM LAURA MARLING AND TUUNG’S MIKE LINDSAY SEES THE PAIR CREATING AN EVER-MORE-EXPLORATORY WORLD FOR THEIR LUMP-EN MASCOT. Words: Gemma Samways.

Photo: Tamsin Topolski.

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hile the rest of the country binged Tiger King or tended to their sourdough starters, Laura Marling spent the first few months of lockdown building a 7ft-tall yeti puppet out of chicken wire and tulle. “He’s in the basement right now, which sounds quite creepy,” she chuckles over Zoom, at home in north-east London.

The hirsute effigy in question is, of course, LUMP: the eponymous mascot of Laura’s collaborative project with Mike Lindsay of Tuung. Three years on from the psychedelic, synthdriven soundscapes of their self-titled debut, the duo are set to release the follow-up, ‘Animal’, sometime in 2021 - though it’s been on the shelf, awaiting release for the best part of a year already.

“Laura started coming here in the spring of 2019,” Mike explains, speaking from his home studio in Margate. “I’d been working on ideas and sketches for a couple of months already, and then between May and November, she would visit every two weeks. I would present her with a piece of

"I invest a lot in LUMP as an escape."

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music and she would sit on the sofa and react to it in real time, which was always impressive to watch.”

The working arrangement remained much the same as their debut, with Mike acting as lead composer and musical director, while Laura provided vocal melodies and lyrics.

Today, Laura beams as she recalls the division of labour.

“It’s a huge joy being used in that mercenary way in music, using my voice as another instrument. And to just dive into something in a completely different world and let that take over your psyche, and have someone else direct it to where it needs to go.”

At the time of recording, writing was also underway for her seventh studio album ‘Song For Our Daughter’, meaning she had to hone the art of switching fluidly between musical worlds. “Occasionally there were times where it was obvious to us both that I was using the wrong voice; that it was the wrong songwriter speaking,” she smiles. “I was trying to push Laura Marling down to put all my energies into LUMP and she would occasionally fight her way back up again. But ultimately LUMP won.

Shame serving Band T-Shirt Day looks with a side of beef. (@shame)

Answering a work call during Lockdown 2 like… (@theestallion)

“I invest a lot in LUMP as an escape from - what has become quite a weird prison being an artist under my own name,” she continues. “Because however inadvertently, you do get stuck in a persona. LUMP is the complete opposite of that persona, so it's personally a big relief for me.”

With Mike, Laura gets to explore her playful side, while Lindsay gets to scale back his usual operations working “It’s called fashion, look it up.” (@alfietempleman)

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Scan to keep track of your new favourite artists

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RINA SAWAYAMA LUCID

U O Y E V A H ?

D R A E H

If her ‘SAWAYAMA’ didn’t already position her as a tour-de-force, then Rina Sawayama’s latest banger ‘LUCID’ will show you just why she’s up there with the greats. A huge clubready banger that calls to Lady Gaga’s recent epic ‘Chromatica’, ‘LUCID’ sparkles with joy and will have you fist pumping along to the BloodPoppenned beats in no time. Showing off Rina’s pop chops with a fine flair, get ready to dance along in your lounge as soon as the opening beats strike. (Elly Watson)

BIIG PIIG - FE EL S RIG HT On one level, ‘Feels Right’ is the kind of perfectly-written pop song anyone could, in the hallowed words of TV talent judges, ‘make their own’. Miley Cyrus’ husky roar; Little Mix’s faultless harmonies; the theatre of Lady Gaga; it’s possible to conjure up alternate arrangements for each, all of which culminate in the same result - a massive bop. But with her hushed, almost devil-may-care delivery, putting low-key where bombast would once sit, the song all the while weaving in and out exactly on cue, from the beat to bassy breakdown, Biig Piig has just reached a whole new one. (Emma Swann)

BLEACHERS FT. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN CHINATOWN

SLOWTHAI NHS The newly-announced ‘TYRON’ is, as slowthai attests, a record of two halves, both metaphorically and literally: a look at both his inner self, and then the contrasting version he presents to the world, machismo and ego. ‘nhs’, the first single postannounce, follows the James Blake and Mount Kimbie-featuring ‘feel away’ in presenting a softer, sonically mellower side to the Northampton rapper’s sound. Built around a sedate - and yet instant hook, this may be a subtle song, but an earworm it also most definitely is - around which the verses offer up musings, both wry and otherwise (“What’s a Punto to a Beamer?”, “Estate with no dogs that bark?”, “Rick without Morty?”, “A rapper without jewellery?”). (Emma Swann)

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KENNYHOOPLA FT. TR AVIS BARKER - ESTELLA Sometimes it’s nice to think back to the years when life was slightly less mad, and KennyHoopla has arrived with a throwback track destined to take you right back to pop-punk’s heyday. Teaming up with Blink-182’s Travis Barker for the track, the trailblazing artist’s new’un ‘ESTELLA//’ may only stand at two minutes long, but in those 120 seconds the duo manage to take us on a thrilling nostalgia-tinged ride, packing a punch with every exhilarating drum hit and guitar thrash. An undisputed banger, it’s yet further proof as to why Kenny is one of the most exciting artists around atm.

(Elly Watson)

It’s probably fair to guess that most of New Jersey’s musically-inclined residents have been inspired by The Boss at some point during their lives. And with any listen to the output of Bleachers over the years, it’s even fairer to guess Jack Antonoff’s a fan. That’s what makes the new collaboration between him and Bruce Springsteen all the more wonderful; knowing the fanboy glee that probably bubbled within him during the making of newest track ‘chinatown’. Opening up in a haze of distorted guitar - that even evokes a touch of Springsteen’s album ‘The Rising’ - the new track is one which feels to equally embody the heart of both its contributors. A glorious melding together of glitchy pop and Bruce’s gravelly vocals - with a sprinkling of E Street sparkle for good measure - there’s something rather soothing in this unexpected, but spectacular, pairing. (Sarah Jamieson)

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THE HIT LIST

Christmas Gift Guide Hey you! Yes, you! Stop walking around the same square of park, mindlessly checking your Instagram feed and wondering if that pop-up advertising a onesie for a hamster would make an acceptable gift for your mum. You can - and you shall! - do better than that, and we’re here to help. Check out our top festive picks for the music-loving person in your life and don’t forget: if all else fails, nothing says ‘I love you’ this Christmas like a subscription to your favourite monthly magazine… [cough]...

Drink it WORLD OF ZING COCKTAIL BAUBLES

THE DARKNESS X SIGNATURE BREW, BELLS END BEER

NORTHWEST PASSAGE EXPEDITION GIN

PERKY BLENDERS CHRISTMAS COFFEE

If you can’t consume your tree decor, what’s even the point? Enter cocktail baubles: colourful tree ornaments that also have festive pre-mixed bevs (like the Mince Pie Rumhattan) in their bellies. Ama-Zing.

Buy it: worldofzing.com RRP: £25 for four

The Darkness’ naughtily-titled Christmas banger gets an outing in beer form. Good for drinking and for making a sly dig during your work secret Santa. It says ‘Bells’ Karen, calm down!

Buy it: signaturebrew.co.uk RRP: £3.25 / can

Created to fund a researchgathering trip in support of the Big Blue Ocean Cleanup incentive, this rose and angelica-infused gin is a drink with a conscience. The more you buy, the more you help!

Buy it: nwpexpeditiongin.com RRP: £39.95

Award-winning East London roasters Perky Blenders have packed this festive offering with Christmassy flavour notes (orange, caramel, redcurrant, chocolate…) - festive hangover, sorted.

Buy it: perkyblenders.com RRP: £7.50

GORILLAZ VINYL FIGURES Pop our November cover stars next to your record player and turn the ‘Song Machine’ experience 3D, courtesy of Superplastic’s new collection.

Buy it: superplastic.co RRP: From £61

AUDIO TECHNICA TURNTABLE

Collect it

DAVID BOWIE: ICON Collecting the work of 25 photographers, this new book gives a comprehensive window into Bowie’s technicolour visual world. A feast for the eyes.

Buy it: accartbooks.com RRP: £50

THE WHITE STRIPES FESTIVE SPECIALS THE CRIBS CRIBMAS JUMPER Christmas may come but once a year, but it can be Cribsmas every day with a ‘Night Network’-inspired new version of the Jarmans’ annual festive jumper.

Buy it: thecribs.awesomedistro.com RRP: £25

Play it

BEATS STUDIO3 WIRELESS HEADPHONES

The discerning vinyl fan’s player of choice, Audio The latest addition to the Beats empire, these over-ear Technica’s AT-LPW30TK comes with a built-in gems are noise-cancelling and can last up to 22 hours pre-amp, meaning you can plug it straight into your between charges. That’s enough for even the longest rainy speakers and play - no extra tech needed.

Christmas drive.

Buy it: audio-technica.com Buy it: beatsbydre.com RRP: £259 RRP: £299.95

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This year, Jack White’s Third Man Records have outdone themselves.

From snow globes, to jigsaws to Christmas cards, they’ve got your every need catered for - so long as it’s red and white.

Buy it: thirdmanstore.com RRP: Various prices

FENDER ACOUSTASONIC STRATOCASTER Whether we end up stuck in another entertainment-requiring lockdown or can rage on stage together once more, Fender’s acoustic-electric guitar in Christmassy red will set you up for 2021.

Buy it: shop.fender.com RRP: £1,749

THE STORM THE DEBUT EP OUT NOW ‘A FEVERISH DEBUT’ NOTION

‘FRASER IS CRAFTING AN UNDENIABLY PERSONAL SOUND’

Q&A

‘AN ARTIST WITH HIS EYES SET ON STARDOM’

dylanfrasermusic.com

DORK

‘A NAME YOU’LL BE HEARING EVERYWHERE’

ACID STAG

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AS 2020 WINDS DOWN, AND WE CAN FINALLY GLIMPSE SOME LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL, IT FEELS LIKE THERE’S NEVER BEEN A MORE VITAL TIME TO TURN OUR AT TENTION TOWARDS THE FUTURE. AS IT JUST SO HAPPENS, THERE’S A WHOLE WAVE OF BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS TO HELP US DO JUST THAT. INTRODUCING SOME OF MUSIC’S MOST VIVID NEW STARS...

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CL ASS OF 2021: FLUORESCENT ADOLESCENCE

Ashnikko ARRIVING IN A WHIRLWIND OF BLUE HAIR, BADASS LYRICAL QUIPS AND A PENCHANT FOR LIFE’S FILTHIER PLEASURES, ASHNIKKO IS HERE TO DISRUPT THE POP LANDSCAPE - AND RECLAIM THE WORD ‘CUNT’ WHILE SHE’S AT IT. Words: El Hunt.

Photos: Vasso Vu.

A

shnikko sure knows how to make an entrance. At the beginning of this year, much of the world met her for the first time - and looked on with bewilderment - as she strode into the BRIT Awards flanked by two oiled and muscular subs holding up her giant blue ponytails.

Elsewhere, the night was businessas-usual. Meanwhile this newcomer’s turn on the red carpet felt like a proper pop moment: think Lady Gaga’s meat dress, Rihanna’s custard-hued Met Gala couture, or Britney Spears brandishing a snake. Chatting to journalists flanking the walkway, Ashnikko used the opportunity to grab their microphones, merrily yelling “fuck the patriarchy” as she went.

Capturing this kind of delicious silliness is something that Ashnikko does very well – prior to her conversation with DIY, a garish blue shoebox bound with a heavy metal chain arrives one late and spooky evening, complete with a combination code. Housed within, there are bountiful treats: a bottle of lube, a lacey blue thong, some blue roses, hair spray, and a slightly spooky-looking doll bearing the singer’s likeness.

Happy Christmas!

“If you can hear, my voice is a little raspy,” Ashnikko informs us a couple of days later. Over the weekend she’s been necking shots and partying, and with good reason – we’re speaking just two days after Donald Trump was finally ousted from the White House in the 2020 US election. Born in the States, yet based predominantly in London, Ash has seen a series of terrible political developments unfold on both sides of the Atlantic over the last half decade – from Trump and Brexit to respective governments’ handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Being confronted with a positive crumb of news at this point feels exceedingly odd. “I am SO hungover,” she laughs, a hint of Southern twang emphasising the “so” for effect. Despite this, however, she’s managing to sound relatively chipper. “I drank so much

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tequila last night, literally a whole bottle. Too much celebrating...”

Booze-fog gradually lifting in the stark light of day, and with big plans for a restorative smoothie later on, Ashnikko is cautiously jubilant - but acknowledges that the victory of Democratic President-Elect Joe Biden now needs to be followed by substantial and progressive change.

The US turning blue is not enough on its own. “Biden winning is cause for celebration for sure, but it’s just the tip of the iceberg really with all of the problems in America,” she says.

“I’m hoping this is a step in the right direction. It’s just nice to not have a very outwardly racist, homophobic and misogynist piece of shit in office.” Next up, she’s hopeful that the UK will follow suit in voting out Boris Johnson - ”the other man with horrible hair.” ....................................................

Born in the rural town of Oak Ridge, North Carolina, Ashnikko spent her formative years in Riga following her family’s relocation to Estonia, and then Latvia, in her early teens. Currently, she’s back in North Carolina due to the pandemic, where she’s working on her debut album proper.

Growing up between the American south and the chilly Baltic made for a “super-conservative and patriarchal” backdrop, she explains: “Being a very liberal, outspoken feminist did not bode well with a lot of my family members and classmates. I’ve gotten in a lot of family arguments and screaming fights.” Over differing politics? “It isn’t politics when it’s just human decency,” she says resolutely.

And Ashnikko is certainly outspoken, as evidenced on her next mixtape ‘Demidevil’ - a collection that pulls no punches. On ‘Slumber Party’ (also featuring New York rapper Princess Nokia), Ashnikko plays around with predictable and tropey lesbian fantasies about ‘girly sleepovers’ and quickly destroys them. “Me and your girlfriend playing dress-up in my house,” she sings sweetly, before morphing into a Disney villain here to steal your girl: “I gave your girlfriend cunnilingus on my couch.”

Marika Hackman has done admirable work to champion eating out in the field of indie rock (shout out ‘Violet’ and ‘All Night’), while Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s filthy tour de force ‘WAP’ has made valiant strides in the pop world. But still, the number of songs about vagina-havers getting head is tragically low - and fewer artists still have managed to squeeze its full Latin title into a pop hook. “I thought that was funny,” Ashnikko laughs. “I was like, should I put cunnilingus in there? But you know what, it can be a little sex education.

Put the whole word in there, we don’t use slang! The official word!”

Ashnikko’s hopeful that the cunnilingus streak will continue to blaze through the music world - and when it does, she’s even got a genre name ready: cuntry music. “I’ve had this thought before,” she says. “The [Egyptian] root word of cunt means mother. That’s why it’s in the word country. It’s not a dirty word - the word cunt is not a dirty word. Normalise saying cunt, say it more!”

Elsewhere, ‘Demidevil’ features an updated version of Avril Lavigne's

Why do we have an emergency room for physical ailments and not for your brain?”

“But yes.” As soon as she turned 18, she moved to London. “Maybe that’s why I’m so outspoken and loud,” she wonders now, “because of that background?”

‘Sk8r Boi’ - except in Ash’s ‘L8r Boi’ he gets swiftly dumped for being selfish and staggeringly mediocre in bed. ‘Cry’ - featuring “big inspiration” Grimes spirals to roaring, Evanescence-esque heights, while ‘Deal with It’ samples

Necklaces by Vicki Sarge

All hail her satanic majesty.

The [Egyptian] root word of cunt means mother.

Normalise saying cunt, say it more!�

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Shoulders by Keko Hainswheeler, pendant by Inaurem, strapping by Broke Boutique, bracelets & earrings by Eve Wilson, rings by Simon Harrison & horns by Adam Finch.

CL ASS OF 2021: FLUORESCENT ADOLESCENCE

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PLEASURE SEEKER

So, you’ve designed a vibrator…?

“It’s in process, yes.

I’ve been working on a lot of sex toys. My collection is growing – it has been growing quite a lot through lockdown!

I love sex toys, and they’ve really helped me to learn about my body and my pleasure, and prioritise it. Highly recommend. I read a funny quote from an Amazon warehouse worker, and he was mad - for good reason - about the conditions being really fucked up, and warehouses not prioritising safety during COVID. But he also said: I don’t wanna be delivering your fucking dildos.

That’s what everyone’s ordering. Warehouses are exploding, filled to the brim, with dildoe.

Everyone should get one! But from ethical sources.”

Kelis’ signature yell of “I hate you so much right now” from her 1999 hit ‘Caught Out There’. It’s a musical collage of Ashnikko’s biggest influences.

And then, the finale. ‘Demidevil’ closes with a song titled ‘Clitoris! The Musical’ - a campy, giggle-peppered show tune about “cis-gender, heterosexual man”s inability to get her off. “I’ve got double the nerve endings in your pee-pee,” Ashnikko sings gleefully, enlisting orgasmic gasps that would horrify Julie Andrews: “if you do your fucking research this would be so easy.” ....................................................

studio couch” on ‘Thrust’. Since then, her mission has only become more pointed and provocative. Written following a messy break-up, last year’s EP, ‘Hi, It’s Me’ smoulders with whip-smart, sexuallycharged one-liners, and swaggers with confidence. The best of the lot is addressed to the ex in question. “I know you think about me in the shower, PornHub in your browser, fantasize about the pussy power,” she smirks on ‘STUPID’.

The withering post-break up putdown quickly spread like wildfire through viral video app TikTok, and escalated. Within a month, Miley Cyrus was lip-syncing to it. At the time of writing, the music video

My whole stage thing is a persona. I can’t be Ashnikko all the time, or I would go crazy.”

For Ashnikko - now aged 24 - becoming confident in her queerness and sexuality is an ongoing journey, and with her music she wants to channel the kind of sex positivity that she heard from artists like Missy Elliott, Lil Kim, Kelis and Nicki Minaj growing up. “The media would have you believe that female pleasure and orgasm is mysterious and extremely vulgar, but alas,” she sighs theatrically, “it is not. The clitoris is a very accessible part of the body! My pleasure deserves prioritising. Vaginahaving people deserve pleasure, and they deserve to not be censored.

“Why do you see cis-het men [straight men whose gender identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth] ejaculating all over PG movies, and then as soon as you see a vagina or any sort of orgasm pertaining to the vagina - nope, it’s rated R?” she asks. ”I’m learning and undoing a lot of the internalised misogyny that I guess we all have. I think it’s always good to be willing to learn. I’m still learning things about my sexuality, my body, every single day.”

Adapting ‘Clitoris! The Musical’ into a stage-show, Ashnikko adds, is “already in process. I’m writing the songs now. We’re going to get a crazy budget for it, it’s gonna be a touring production: Broadway, West End, the whole nine yards. I haven’t really decided how we’re going to do the clitoris.

I think she might be a character at the end, very elusive. Casting TBC.” And erm… can we expect a jaunty show tune about the g-spot any time soon?

“Perfect idea!” she says. “I’ll add it in. Yes. It’s going to basically be sex education on Broadway.”

Ashnikko’s sex positive mission isn’t a new one - back in 2017, on debut EP ‘Sass Pancakes’, she was taking aim at slutshamers on the title track and boasting about “giving your girlfriend head on my

has been watched 4.3 million times. Tot up all those separate two-and-a-bit minute viewings, and it’ll leave you with enough time to comfortably fill two centuries - with a few extra decades left over for good measure. It’s almost too huge to wrap your head around.

“It was very strange. I remember being in a Popeyes parking lot on tour, and I just started crying,” Ashnikko recalls, looking back to the moment she realised ‘STUPID’ had mutated into a force beyond her control. “Like, hyperventilating crying - snot was dripping into my mouth. I was like: I can’t do this. This is not a normal way of human existence, to be watched, and being so hyper-aware of everything that you do and how you’re perceived. I really wanted to spend my hard-earned cash on a Chanel bag,” she laughs, “but I was like, bitch you’re going to therapy, let’s do this.

It helped.”

everyone, and way more accessible.

Why do we have an emergency room for physical ailments and not for your brain?” ....................................................

Since she was young, Ashnikko has had a skillful command of drama; ”My parents would definitely use the word ‘melodrama’ when describing me…” she laughs. As a kid, she was once suspended from school for penning a troublingly erotic story about her teacher (“there was a lot of poop in it”).

After that came hordes of Twilight fan-fic and a spell running a dedicated fan site for the vampire novels: since, she’s concluded that “the morality in those stories is very questionable.” Eventually Ashnikko’s knack for the theatrical led her to star in a stage production of The Wizard of Oz for a whopping five years.

Initially she played a munchkin, and there was a brief stint as a crow, but the singer insists her time portraying a flying monkey was especially fulfilling. “I got to be strapped to a harness and thrown across the stage,” she remembers. “I got to hold the tiny dog Toto in my harness. Oh man, I think Toto shit on the stage once when I was swinging and holding him up in the air.

There’s a lot of metaphor in that, I just can’t find it right now. Shocking performance art,” she hoots. “It was a very formative role for me, it really shaped me as an artist.”

Clearly she’s taking the piss, but all the same Ashnikko’s time on the stage has stayed with her in some ways; nowadays, she deals with the increasing pressure by seeing her artistic moniker as another role.

“My whole stage thing is a persona,” she says. “I can’t be Ashnikko all the time, or I would go crazy. If you’re putting actual statistics and figures onto your human self, your human body, your mind, soul, everything, that’s a recipe for disaster.”

When it comes to making sense of the steaming hot cesspit of shit that is 2020 and beyond, Ashnikko’s answer often comes from laughing in the face of despair.

“I’ll be laughing on my deathbed probably,” she quips, darkly. “Humour is definitely a coping mechanism for me, I don’t think I can do anything seriously. Young people have a whole lifetime of climate change and fucked-up politics to deal with, and so Gen Z humour is impeccable,” she reckons.

Despite being grateful for the song propelling her to where she is today, Ashnikko is plain-speaking, and doesn’t As much as Ashnikko’s world is absurdist, gloss over the more disorientating aspects overblown, and a little of shooting into the spotlight bit ridiculous, don’t practically overnight. “I love underestimate the ‘STUPID’, and I love that it SHOW US fierce trail she’s happened,” she footnotes, YOUR PARTY TRICK blazing. 2021 looks “but when I think about set to be hers that surreal moment of “It’s burping. I can burp really loud. My for the taking, it going from zero to burps echo and reverberate around the whole room. It’s a very hardened burp, and and ‘Demidevil’ 100, I just think about it doesn’t sound like it comes out of my body. is just the my mental health. I I also think that it honestly helps me with my beginning. was there losing my singing voice. I have a good burping tone, and I think that it has a similar tone to when I rap and fucking marbles, and sing. They all feed off of one another. I burp I was like, I wish there all the time, just ask anybody. Without a care was an emergency in the world on set or whatever, I will burp so loudly that the room shakes. There room for this. may or may not be a fart hidden in ‘Daisy’ on the mixtape. I won’t “I feel like all record labels say whether it’s true, to keep the mystery.” should be providing mental health services to artists, and honestly, all lines of employment,” she adds firmly. “I think mental health services should be readily available to

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CL ASS OF 2021: FLUORESCENT ADOLESCENCE

32 DIYMAG.COM

I got to a place where I just decided: nah, I think it’s time I started stepping into my uniqueness.”

Bree Runway CREATIVE MASTERMIND, FRIEND OF MISSY ELLIOTT AND BUSINESS MOGUL IN THE MAKING: PROJECT RUNWAY IS ALREADY WELL UNDERWAY, AND IN 2021, BREE’S GOING IN ALL GUNS BLAZING. Words: Charlotte Gunn. Photos: Hannah Diamond.

Styling: Holly Adamthwaite. Make up: Page Cole. Hair: Seriahartistry.

B

ree Runway manifested her collaboration with Missy Elliott months before it actually happened.

“My whole life is not a surprise to me,” she says nonchalantly, chewing on Tangfastics at a photo studio in Hackney. “Even the Missy thing. There’s a text from March 2020 where I told someone, ‘Just watch’.

They sent me a screenshot of it recently, like, ‘You literally said that you and Missy would collab!’.”

Bree’s high-glamour Class Of 2021 photo shoot has just wrapped and – as in the manner she arrived – the pop star is back in her own personalised hooded dressing gown, name emblazoned on the back like a tiny, twerking prizefighter. A few weeks ago, she released latest mixtape ‘2000AND4EVA’, a genre-bending riot of a pop record that set out her stall as a megastar of the future.

Oh, and it has THAT Missy Elliott track on it, too.

“When I got her verse for ‘ATM’, I literally almost threw my laptop on the floor, like tears just started streaming out my eyes,” Bree recalls, genuinely excited now. “I was like, ‘It’s Missy Elliott. What?! This is nuts. This is a legend.’ My mum was just staring at me with her mouth open. It still feels so weird that I have a song with Missy Elliott!”

For the rapper, there is no higher co-sign. As the title of her mixtape would suggest, the beginnings of Bree Runway The Pop Star began in the early noughties when her eight-year-old self – known then as Brenda Wireko Mensah – spent her days glued to MTV, waiting to see what “icons” like Missy and Madonna would do next.

“That era of music really defined what a pop star is,” she explains. “They were just loud and proud and so punk, in a way. Artists were constantly reinventing themselves, the sound was always fresh. You never knew what to expect from them.”

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CL ASS OF 2021: FLUORESCENT ADOLESCENCE

That same thrilling unpredictability is felt in Bree’s music and aesthetic today. Her mixtape flits from thrashing nu-metal guitars on ‘Little Nokia’ to the reggae beats of ‘Rolls Royce’, all the while loaded with an energy and polish that’s fast becoming synonymous with her output.

A restless creative, while most of the world was halted this spring, a little thing like a global pandemic wasn’t going to stop Project Runway in its tracks.

Summer bop ‘Damn Daniel’, with its “unapologetic Black girl magic” and Fresh Prince-inspired video, was recorded entirely from the confines of Bree’s Hackney bedroom during those long, lockeddown days - not that you’d know from its multiple outfit changes, slick neon visuals and guest spot from Georgia’s Yung Baby Tate.

“That video was my highlight of 2020,” she says. “I didn’t think I would be able to pull something together like that in lockdown, and for it to turn out how it turned out?

I’m so proud. That really marks strength in such a tough year.” ....................................

Growing up, Bree’s influences were as diverse as her sound suggests.

Obsessing over everyone from emo rockers The Used (“I definitely found my crew in that scene”) to Lady Gaga, she even took to wearing a singular leather glove and carrying around a teacup in homage to Miss Germanotta. “I took it on the train,” she notes of the latter. “That’s 100% true.”

all seem to fit a certain mould. “And not to sound mean, but I can see that sheep culture thing here,” she continues. “Like, ‘Let’s only hype up what everyone else is hyping up’, rather than stepping out of line and hyping something else that’s a bit different. But it doesn’t really bother me honestly, because I’m not a sheep, so whatever.”

Bree’s individuality is her superpower, but she didn’t always see it that way. As a child growing up in East London, she was badly bullied, with colourist remarks prompting her to bleach her skin in the hope she’d be accepted into the fold at school. But despite a difficult childhood and an emotionally tough year (Bree lost pregnant friend, YouTuber Nicole Thea, this summer; a track on the mixtape is dedicated to her), Bree radiates positivity and confidence, no signs of past or recent trauma weighing her down. In a year packed with so much negativity, we could all use a little schooling on how to lift the fog.

“There are two things you need to make use of: awareness and choice,” she says more convincingly than any £70-an-hour therapist. “You need to be aware of what makes you feel lesser than you are. And you also have to realise you have the choice, like, what do you want to do with this feeling? Do you just let it weigh you down and waste your life?

GET A BUCKET AND A MOP….

IT’S BREE ON ‘WAP’

A melting pot of different styles and ideas, Bree’s fresh approach to pop is breathing new life into the UK music scene. Across the pond, she cites the likes of Lil Nas X, Lizzo and Doja Cat as changing what it looks and sounds like to be a pop star.

But over here, she’s carving her own path. “I feel like, in the UK, people often bash what they don’t understand rather than opening themselves up to something different,” she reckons as to why our pop stars

34 DIYMAG.COM

“‘WAP’ was sick.

I love Megan. I love Cardi. They’re powerful voices but [women speaking openly about their sexuality] has always been a thing, though. Lil Kim, Foxy Brown, Trina... that’s been a thing. ‘WAP’ is like something that’s already been said and done. But, they’re powerful voices and social media is here now.

It’s on TikTok, it’s on Twitter… that wasn’t there when Lil Kim was saying it, or Foxy. It is sick though!”

“I got to a place where I just decided: nah, I think it’s time I started stepping into my uniqueness.” .....................................

However, as well as investing in herself, it’s Bree’s prioritisation of solid female friendships that has helped her grow into the selfassured artist she is today. Her best friend is Victoria’s Secret model Leomie Anderson who, after years of bullying, helped Bree see herself as beautiful and embrace her dark skin. The pair met at college and are tight to this day. “I’m such a girls’ girl. I just love being close to great girls where we lift each other up, we support each other’s ventures. It’s more than just looking pretty in pictures –

you can genuinely be each other’s backbones. That’s very, very, very very important to me,” she stresses.

And it shows. For ‘2000AND4EVA’, Bree amassed a small crew of exciting female artists to jump on her songs (Rico Nasty and Maliibu Miitch, alongside Tate and Missy) - women who celebrate their differences and won’t be defined by industry standards.

“When you’re stepping out into music, you can think, ‘I better do what people

but sometimes I don’t mind breaking out of character and showing people how silly I am or how funny in a very non-corny way, because I actually am really funny, aren’t I?” Oh. We’re supposed to answer. “Yes, yes. You’re really funny, yes.” It’s the only hint we’ve had all day that Bree needs any kind of validation. We’re kind of flattered.

Watching her glide through today’s photoshoot, directing the photographer, stylist and make-up artist, it’s obvious we’re seeing a real visionary at work - someone whose career is going to twist and turn in lots of exciting, unforeseen ways.

With artists like Rihanna and Madonna building business empires alongside their musical output, is Runway Enterprises something we can expect in future?

A pop star needs to be a chameleon. A pop star needs to be a fashion icon. And a pop star needs to be any genre they want to be at any time.” would like and I better do what’s popular’,” she says of her earlier, R&B-focused sound. “But again, the choice thing: if it doesn’t feel good and it doesn’t feel completely natural to you, then don’t do it. I’m so much more than what I was doing when I first started. The amount of people that listen to me, the different countries, the amount of fan accounts... The conversations are different, the opportunities are different, everything is different.

That saying is true: when you work hard for a year, things can really really change.”

“Oh definitely,” she confirms. “Just like I said about me being more than one genre, there’s definitely more to me as a woman as a whole. I’m into fashion, I’m into tech, I’m into cars. There’s so much more that lies ahead. I’d love to do a collaboration with Lamborghini - that would be sick.

“A pop star needs to be a chameleon,” she continues. “Your ability to switch and adapt needs to be on 10. A pop star needs to be a fashion icon. And a pop star needs to be any genre they want to be at any time.”

Being a pop star in 2021 is harder With so much achieved in this, the than it was twenty years ago. In the most unconventional of times, it’s early noughties, Lady Gaga could undeniable that 2021 is going to be control the image she projected to a behemoth of a year for Bree. She’s the world, not setting foot keeping tight-lipped about outside without an what’s next, although we’re encasing of bubble sure it’s already mapped wrap, a dress SHOW US out on a vision board made of flesh YOUR somewhere. or, at the PARTY TRICK very least, a Sure, Bree’s got hits for days “What’s coming is really, really and a phonebook already that Bree Runway is bursting with celeb pals on speed dial. But her piece de going to change the resistance? “I can twerk one game,” she says, with butt cheek at a time,” she a glint in her eye. uncomfortable tells us. Bree Runway, we salute you. pair of shoes.

It all helped build the cult of Gaga.

But in an always-on social media age where everyone, famous or not, is expected to share constantly, is that level of stardom still achievable?

“There’s a Bree Runway gloss, and I love my stuff looking star-studded,

We’ll take two ringside seats.

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CL ASS OF 2021: FLUORESCENT ADOLESCENCE

Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard

“Art doesn’t have to always be this socio-political thing.” - Tom Rees

A bunch of socks-y fellas.

CARDIFF’S DENIM-LOVING, ‘70S-CHANNELLING NEW GUITAR HEROES, WAGING A WAR AGAINST EARNESTNESS. Words: Lisa Wright. Photo: Emma Swann.

“Y

ou listen to an interview with Greta Van Fleet and they’re like, ‘Yeah we don’t even listen to Led Zeppelin’,” eye-rolls curly-mopped frontman Tom Rees, “and you just think, stop fucking lying. You have to be a bit self-aware in that regard, because otherwise…” “It’s just hairless monkeys,” interjects guitarist Zac White. Er… what? “We looked at a photo of a hairless monkey and realised how much it looks like a human,” drummer Ethan Hurst nods sagely. “We’re just hairless monkeys who’ve learnt to say dumb shit,” Zac affirms.

posing stark bollock naked on its cover.

“The ambition should be taken really seriously of course; I think there’s a certain level of honour and respect in taking ambitiously seriously. But if I was to sit here talking intensely about what denim means to me then that would just be ridiculous,” he chuckles. “I watched Imagine when the [interviewer’s] asking what he means by certain lyrics and Lennon’s like, ‘It’s just nonsense’. Loads of Marc Bolan stuff is like that too, but I think it’s just as impactful - art doesn’t have to always be this socio-political thing, it can just help people.”

As a snapshot of conversation, it’s not a regular one, but it makes Lyrically name-checking their cultural cornerstones on the not-sofor a weirdly accurate glimpse into the minds of Cardiff’s Buzzard subtly-titled ‘John Lennon Is My Jesus Christ’ (Bolan and Bowie Buzzard Buzzard. Vocal detractors of both self-serious musicians also get the nod), Buzzard’s lineage is worn audibly and proudly, but and, specifically it seems, the band Greta Van Fleet (“It’s important there’s enough of a playful wink to keep them away from pure to take something that’s already been done and make it more pastiche. Going into their debut album proper next contemporary, because otherwise we’d just be like Greta Van year (it’s “about 82% done”, we’re informed), the Fleet doing cock rock to a crowd of 60-year-old dudes who SHOW plan is simply to push it even further. “I think want to be back in the good old days,” Tom pipes up US YOUR the aspects that are already present in the at another point), the quartet - completed by bassist PARTY TRICK band, we’ve been following that road but and brother Ed Rees - are all about embracing fun cranking it,” Tom grins. “The pseudo-rock and flippancy, and making some tasty slices of How low can you go? Frontman Tom, it turns out, is a regular element, and then the romantic end of the stomping glam rock along the way. limbo-ing champion despite EP, just trying to crank those two things being the tallest of the bunch by so you get a bit of a smiley face,” he says, The lightbulb moment, it seems, came a few years far. As for the other Buzzards…? drawing the curve in the air. ago when the singer decided to stop “thinking that Ethan: I’d really like to be able to flip. songwriting has to be a certain way” and instead Tom: As in get really angry very quickly?

“There’s no mediocrity, only really loveyleant into his true personality. Out came ‘Double Ethan: No, as in the somersault. If we were standing here and I just did a dovey stuff and then hell-or-death rock.”

Denim Hop’, a riffy, ‘70s-indebted ode to the joys of front flip and no one was expecting matching your jacket with your jeans, and thus began it, you’d be impressed. the road to this year’s unapologetically giddy ‘NonTom: No, I’d just think: show off.

Stop EP’ - a debut release adorned with a picture of Tom

36 DIYMAG.COM

iDKHOW Razzmatazz

Best Coast Always Tomorrow

Sylvan Esso Free Love

Soccer Mommy Color Theory

Matt Berninger Serpentine Prison

The Best of 2020 OUT NOW 37

CL ASS OF 2021: FLUORESCENT ADOLESCENCE

Baby Queen SLOWLY CREATING A FANCENTRIC POP UNIVERSE WHERE SHARING IS CARING, BELLA LATHAM’S KINGDOM AWAITS… Words: Elly Watson. Photo: Holly Whitaker.

If you’re going to open up like this in your music, you have to be willing to let people in closer than other people might have to.”

38 DIYMAG.COM

Growing every day, the kingdom of mega-fans currently partake in 100-people-strong Zoom chats and have a WhatsApp group, with a few that Bella speaks to every day and FaceTimes every night. Some replica tattoos of the crown on her finger have even started making an appearance. As she talks about the community, she plays with fan-made bracelets adorned with the names of all of her songs - as well as Taylor Swift’s albums, of course.

A huge Swift stan herself, Bella attributes the ease that she chats with her fans to the fact that she is one herself. “I had a Taylor Swift fan account when I was 13: @SocietyOfSwift, it was iconic,” she laughs. “So I understand it! I think that one of the ways you understand how to do this career and make the experiences for your fans as good as they can be - and why I feel like I’m really good with the people who listen to my music - is because I’ve been a fan, so I know what that experience is like.

But it’s weird when it’s actually you.

I look at Taylor and she’s this perfect thing, and now people are looking at me and my life is a fucking shambles!” ...............................

It’s this candidness about the ups and downs of her life that has resonated so much with her fans, discussing anxiety, social pressures, mental health and more, with an openness not often seen among her pop peers. “I think that honesty is definitely my thing,” Bella nods. “That’s why I speak to my fans maybe more than most people do, because when you open up to people about those issues - about depression, and eating disorders, and all this stuff - there’s a really close connection. If you’re going to open up like that in your music, you have to be willing to let people in closer than other people might have to.”

F

ew burgeoning pop deities have had a quicker jump into the spotlight this year than South African-born Baby Queen. Case in point? Back in May, the singer - aka Bella Latham - was working at Rough Trade on East London’s Brick Lane, boxing records and sending them to people. Now - just six months later - she’s retweeting their announcements to preorder her new record. “It’s so odd!” she exclaims. “Like, how has this happened in a year? I was terrible at that job. I do not belong in a 9-5. My name there was SHOW US Bella Late-Than-Never, like betterYOUR late-than-never,” she laughs. “I PARTY TRICK was doing that and then lockdown “There’s an extra bone in my happened and I never went back chin! Do you feel the knob? I don’t to work!” know what it is. What else can I do? Oh, I can make a frog noise!

This is gonna be really wild when Now already the buzziest name written down, like she’s got an on the scene, her anti-pop bops extra bone in her chin and can make a frog noise, haha... have rapidly swelled Bella’s loyal Party trick: she is fanbase, which she lovingly refers secretly a frog.” to as The Baby Kingdom. “That’s the part of this whole experience that’s been the most weird and shocking,” she smiles. “You plan for this career like, ‘I’m gonna do this, I’m gonna release this, and get that many streams or get that Grammy’, but you never think there’ll be people that actually care about what you’re doing!”

Bella notes that her forthcoming music is a lot more honest even than her previous material. Due to land next year, following recently-released November debut EP ‘Medicine’ and a new 10-track mixtape (“I mean, it’s practically an album!”), her upcoming music marks a new Baby Queen era. “There’s a big change creatively, and we sort of go into a different world. It’s very adolescent,” she explains. “I don’t even know how to explain it without giving it away! It feels like a very teen angst, adolescent journey to being a functioning person.”

The first of many new eras set to come, Bella’s ready to channel her own version of Sasha Fierce, already having worked out exactly what the stages are for the next three albums. “If you’re going to stay in the same mindset and the same world, how do you stay exciting?” she asks. “I finished the mixtape so now we’re starting to write Album One, and I have to have something new. I have to have something that’s going to inspire me otherwise you keep on treading down the same road. For me, it’s really exciting to see things differently and to have new ideas. It’s like a breath of fresh air and the world is your oyster again!”

Clearly only just getting started, Bella’s confident that next year she’ll live up to her current hype and then some. “I know that I’m great,” she smiles. “If there’s one thing that I can do, I can write good lyrics. It’s amazing that people have come back and noticed the lyrics. The hype feels right - without sounding like a dick! There’s other parts which are really weird but the least weird stuff is the music.

Everything else is weird, but making music is fine. That feels okay. The rest of the fucking madness is wild.”

• Baby Queen is also featured on Spotify's Our Generation playlist. Head to diymag.com/spotify-our-generation for more info on the playlist, and to check out its recent artist takeovers.

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CL ASS OF 2021: FLUORESCENT ADOLESCENCE

PVA

TREADING THE LINE BETWEEN THE GIG AND THE CLUB, PVA ARE BRINGING A NEW TYPE OF EUPHORIA TO THE LIVE STAGE. Words:

T

owards the start of 2020, PVA’s Ella Harris, Josh Baxter and Louis Satchwell were mid-performance at their SXSW fundraiser when the festival announced its forced cancellation. It marked a sudden end to a wave of early success that had already seen the trio team up with Speedy Wunderground’s Dan Carey for debut track ‘Divine Intervention’, and that foresaw a trip to Japan and a number of breakthrough festival appearances on the cards. Thriving in a live environment, their unconventional marriage of techno-heavy electronics and post-punk melodies no longer had a stage.

“There were a lot of disappointments, but everyone has had those,” Ella says now, looking back on the uncertain time.

“You have to take positives where you can, and maybe it was a blessing in disguise.” For, despite taking away the trio’s opportunity to perform live, the UK’s lockdown did provide Ben Tipple. Photo: Emma Swann. PVA with the unexpected luxury of time. “I wasn’t taking any time for myself,” Ella admits, “and having this time I just felt more creative.”

That creativity has flourished, leading to the release of debut EP ‘Toner’: a collection of avant-garde euphoria with a handful of big-name remixes to match. The result of pulling together their live band roots with new technologies, it’s their most

assured sound yet. “I’m so proud of the package we’ve been able to create,” Josh celebrates. “It feels like a statement we’re all happy to put out. It’s an honest reflection of who we are.”

Born out of South London’s live scene, but with a drive to transform the hedonism of electronic music for the stage, PVA tread the line between the two with unique style. “It’s a constant conversation that we are having within music,” Josh says. “Are we a band or are we dance music? Are we both or are we neither?” While at the start of the year their approach was more band-centric, things have changed.

“We rehearse together and build it from scratch,” Louis explains. “With lockdown, our mentality is more focused on repetition, patience, tension and release.” Their primary focus is on generating an exhilarating collective atmosphere.

“We’re constantly surprising ourselves with what we can do,” Ella agrees. “It feels like we aren’t playing within a limit; we’re constantly expanding and evolving.”

Dedicating their time to the intricate art of bringing club highs to the live stage, the result is nothing short of exhilarating.

Preparing to begin work on their full-length debut and itching to return to the stage, the trio are reinvigorated and ready. “You know when you go to a party and you know your ex is going to be there so you’ve got a really cool outfit on?” Ella grins. “Well, we’ve got that feeling of, ‘I look so good, I’ve glowed up’.”

ARE WE A BAND OR ARE WE DANCE MUSIC? ARE WE BOTH OR ARE WE NEITHER?” - Josh Baxter

SHOW US YOUR PARTY TRICK Ella: I can make a 10p coin disappear in my hand.

Josh: I do a very good Boris Johnson impression.

Louis: I can throat sing.

40 DIYMAG.COM

CL ASS OF 2021: FLUORESCENT ADOLESCENTS

Jelani Blackman LEANING INTO HIS STRENGTHS, AND PUTTING SUCCINCT STORIES TO THE FORE, THE WEST LONDON RAPPER IS REFUSING TO GIVE IN TO LABELS. Words: Nicolas-Tyrell Scott. Photo: Eva Pentel.

F

or 28-year-old rapper Jelani Blackman, instinct has always been paramount. First emerging in 2016, the West London native could be heard infusing his early EPs ‘1 - 4’ and ‘5 - 8’ with potent, often enigmatic penmanship and ghouling runs, creating a rapled, melodic universe. Soon after, however, he shifted gears. “I had a moment of clarity,” he shares. “I did enjoy using melodies, but as much as I loved it, I realised that using melody in smaller places suited me better.”

ambiguities over his identity, poetically helping audiences and his family to hear him. “I was going through a change in life. I’d accepted for the first time that I was angry.

It was about accepting that anger and getting to a point where I had to let that anger go,” he says of the track.

Coming from a mixed background - his mother Sierra Leonean and Irish, and his father of Bajan heritage - Jelani’s ear is an eclectic one and, as such, he’s loath to let the industry box him

I FELL IN LOVE WITH RAP AGAIN AND DIDN’T KNOW WHY I WASN’T RAPPING MORE BEFORE.” Jelani always knew deep down that of the two - singing and rapping - the latter was his weapon of choice.

The result of this shift?

2018’s pulsating, operatic and ambitious ‘Lockjaw’ EP, which saw his gravelly cadence prick up the ears of grassroots audiences nationwide. “Sonically, I was a little more in an upbeat space. I’d mark the ‘Lockjaw’ EP and 2017 / 2018 as me bringing my rap self to the forefront, consolidating my sound and getting my sonics right,” he explains. “I fell in love with rap again and didn’t know why I wasn’t rapping more before.”

To many, Jelani Blackman’s instantly recognisable tone is his leading quality, but to him, there’s a more unique skill in his arsenal: “In my real life, I go off on tangents, but I can say a lot in a few words, which helps,” he says. Probably the strongest example to date lies in his recent ‘Brixton’ EP. On the cathartic title track, he tackles his childhood and adolescent resentment towards his father, bearing his soul to the masses; across sombre verses, he laments on

into one area. “I would say that I exist in the alternative rap space,” he explains. And this sub-genre has continued to grow over the last few years because of ambitious figures such as Blackman.

During 2020, he managed to land prestigious sessions on COLORS, Fire In The Booth and more; to date his performance of ‘Hello’ on the former platform boasts over a million views. “When [those opportunities] start to happen at the right time, things feel aligned,” he says. “I almost felt a sense of serenity, I was excited, but calm.”

As he gears up for an equally potent 2021, buoyed by the success of an array of experimental singles released over the last few months, Jelani Blackman is set to shed even more of his skin.

“Based on this year, I mean it was always SHOW US coming… I’m YOUR ready to talk PARTY TRICK more about Not what you might have love, about my expected, but it turns out Blackness,” he Jelani Blackman can French nods. “People plait hair. “My mother always said it was a valuable are ready for life skill for if I had that [from me] a daughter,” he now.” chuckles.

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CL ASS OF 2021: FLUORESCENT ADOLESCENCE

Jazmin Bean

EXTREME BEAUTY, SHOCK TACTICS AND THE PURSUIT OF THE PARTICULAR: WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF JAZMIN BEAN. Words: Lisa Wright. Photos: Perou.

I Jazmin Bean: real gutsy.

FREAK OUT THE SQUARES Perhaps unsurprisingly, Jazmin has had their fair share of conservative backlash. But they’re standing their ground.

“When I was 14 I would hang out with this one person on the weekend and I’d put them in dresses and we’d have a fun time. They were shoplifting girls’ clothes from Urban Outfitters and their auntie found them and drove to my house like, ‘These are yours; you’re trying to make him gay’. It just resonates with me so much with the messages I see now, where kids are like, ‘I love you so much, but my mum just found this fan account I made and now I have to shut it down’. ‘I would love to come to your shows but if my parents ever found out you existed they’d kill me’. I feel so bad because I never grew up [in that kind of environment]. I would like to know what it’s like growing up like that so I could understand, because I just feel awful that I never had to go through that.

42 DIYMAG.COM

t’s midday in LA and a bleary Jazmin Bean has just woken up. Yesterday, on their flight to the US from Serbia, they were detained at the airport for four hours, as they regularly are when trying to enter the country. They assume it’s because, this time, they didn’t try to tone down their make-up; bizarrely, it was a security guard’s predilection for Amy Winehouse (having seen Bean’s British passport and status as a musician) that eventually got them over the border. Now we’re greeted by a floating forehead backed by a picture of an eight-eyed octopus cat over Zoom: never knowingly underdressed, the rest of the singer isn’t ready to appear to the public until their daily routine has been completed.

If it’s an unusual way of operating for someone who may or may not, according to the internet, be around 17 years old, then living against the grain of society is very much Jazmin Bean’s raison d’etre.

Raised by a supportive family (both their mother and father were in a punk band) but bored of the conservative-minded nature of their school, since they first started picking up a make-up palette Bean has used extreme forms of self-expression as a means to differentiate themself from the mundanity of day-to-day life. “On the weekends I would go to clubs and perform and do the most extreme things that I could do and see how many people I could shock,” they recall. “I would really push it. I’d do a lot of singing, but mixed with really horrible things. I did one [performance] with a big jug of chicken liver that I poured all over myself, and in the same shock era I did a performance at this drag bar to [Marina and the Diamonds’] ‘Primadonna Girl’ and tried to pee in a cup and drink it and it just didn’t work cos I was so nervous.

And I’m quite glad that happened because I just don’t know if that needs to resurface on the internet right now…

“I feel like most people’s thing is that they’re getting pushed down hard so they come back harder; the more repressed you get, the more you want to lash out. But mine was just that I wanted life to go faster,” they explain. “I was feeling like I’m not old enough, I’m not this enough, so I was just trying to make it go faster for myself by doing things that were so, so so extreme. And I don’t regret it because, at 15 years old, life was going very fast! School was so slow, but being on the internet and doing all these extreme things, meeting all these new people and having occasional internet dramas - it was more SHOW exciting for me, which I guess was what I US YOUR PARTY TRICK was trying to get from it.”

“I’m hyper-mobile and I can bend my thumbs backwards,” says Jazmin. [Note: they also went off on a long tangent about having an argument with a waiter in an Italian restaurant but we’re not entirely sure arguing counts as a party trick - Ed]

..........................................

Beginning as an early teen by emulating the looks that adorned the thenpopular Monster High dolls, make-up became a way for Bean both to overcome their everyday insecurities and become a souped-up, nth degree version of themself.

“It’s the face I want to put on for myself all the time because that’s how I see myself,” they say. “If I

saw my [normal] face I’d think, OK that’s a nice face, but that’s all you can say. But if I were to put on the face I do then I’d have so much more to say about myself; you can tell more about me.” In an ideal world, they say, they would make the changes permanent; there are no legal ways currently to do it, but the dream would be eye enlargement surgery and to get their “ears pointed like an elf”.

Music for Jazmin - the first installment of which came with last year’s ‘Worldwide Torture’ EP, recently rereleased via Interscope - feels more of an arm of the whole project that is their life than its entire core. The horrorpop of their output - pop-metal hybrids that spin twisted fairytales of “gouging out [their] eyes” with love [‘Saccharine’] and create an evil manifesto on its title track (“A pure violation of God’s great creation / It’s an infestation‚ it’s world domination”) - comes backed by elaborate, theatrical videos, Bean soaked in blood or strapped to a candy pink latex dentist’s chair. Perhaps incongruously, they state that their dream musical collaborators and favorites are Avril Lavigne, Nicki Minaj and Gwen Stefani. “If I could have them on a song I’d lose my mind,” they sigh, “I think I’d just have a stroke or something.”

Yet if Avril’s skater girl schtick doesn’t quite marry up to the Manson influences you might expect, then perhaps what unifies Bean and their idols is a commitment to whatever their specific schtick may be. Rather than attempting some great act of political transgression with their art, Bean seems to be a fairly cheerful, confident person who is simply drawn to the more hyperbolic

I WOULD PERFORM AT CLUBS, DO THE MOST EXTREME THINGS THAT I COULD DO AND SEE HOW MANY PEOPLE I COULD SHOCK.

possibilities of life. They have Aspergers, they explain, and are a very particular person with regards to all their creative decisions. “When I watch mainstream pop artists’ videos, obviously it’s pop and it’s made for the masses, but it just makes me feel very…” they tail off. “I just think being particular is everything and why wouldn’t you want to be?

“I had this really weird psychosis half a year ago where I was like, I wanna win a Grammy,” they giggle. “Even though we’re nothing alike, I saw people like Billie and Lana nominated and it made me think, oh my god a Grammy! That just seems gorgeous! I just thought it

would be such an entertaining idea to have someone like me experiencing that. I thought people would be like, ‘What has music turned to?!’ if they saw someone like me win a Grammy, so I was quite set on that for a few months and then I just started having my normal ideas and fell out of it because all of them were so far from sounding like a Grammy nomination or any nomination…

“You can’t ever aim to please anyone, though, ‘cause they’re all gonna be dead in 200 years…”

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CL ASS OF 2021: FLUORESCENT ADOLESCENCE

BENEE RIDING HIGH OFF THE BACK OF MEGAHIT ‘SUPALONELY’ AND HER RECENT CELEBFEATURING FULL-LENGTH DEBUT, BENEE’S ALREADY DONE THE HARD BIT NOW SHE’S READY TO REAP THE REWARDS. Words: Elly Watson.

FRIENDS LIKE GUS ‘SUPALONELY’ collaborator Gus Dapperton recalls what it was like working on the mega-hit.

“I hadn’t done too many features before, but I was a big fan of Stella’s. When they sent over the song I could immediately hear myself on it and wrote the part in a couple of days. It happened really fast and seamlessly; I’m super grateful to have been a part of it.”

2

020 has been a year of viral hits, but few have reached the heights of New Zealand newbie BENEE’s Gus Dapperton-featuring pop smash ‘SUPALONELY’. Blowing up on TikTok and subsequently filling the airwaves almost non-stop, the track now has nearly 200 million views on YouTube and over 450 million Spotify streams following its release in February - and no one seems more surprised of its success than BENEE herself.

“I made the song and I was like, ‘I feel like people might hate it’,” the singer - aka Stella Bennett - laughs.

“I was really happy with it, and usually the songs that I’m super, super stoked about, people don’t connect to; I’m always disappointed because people don’t like my favourite ones. But this was a pleasant surprise! I was swearing in it, and being really self-deprecating and using loads of autotune, and I was like people are gonna think, ‘What is this girl doing?’. But it ended up being something different, which is nice. What happened with it is just next level for me! So many people in so many different parts of the world now know who I am and it’s opened so many doors,” she smiles. “It’s been a good ol’ time so far!”

Growing up in Auckland, Stella always dreamt of being a musician, but it wasn’t until her final year of high school that she began to believe it was something she could genuinely pursue. “I understood that a lot of people try releasing music and making it their career path, so I didn’t want to get my hopes up so high,” she says. “It’s all pretty surreal and I’m so stoked that I’m now doing it every day. I was releasing music thinking it was something I’d be doing as a hobby, but I got to quit my pizza-making job and my dishwashing job!”

Inspired by a wide array of artists, she marks James Blake, Björk and

44 DIYMAG.COM

Groove Armada as some of her early faves, but singles out fellow Auckland-based star Lorde as a direct influence. “Her coming out and doing something different was really inspiring,” Stella recalls. “I remember going to the first concert that she did and you had to win tickets to it, and I went and was like, ‘Oh my god, this girl is really cool!’”

Now experiencing a similarly meteoric rise as Lorde did with ‘Royals’, BENEE’s debut album arrived last month to fully cement herself among the next pop greats.

Only starting work on the record in February, ‘Hey u x’ hops between genres, showing that the singer has more musical muscles to flex than merely writing hugely successful pop bops. “This album is all over the place!” she explains. “There’s a drum and bass song, a pop-rock song, an indie folk song. I guess a lot of my melodies are poppy or indie, but I really like how you can pull elements from anything you want and make something new.” ..........................................

‘Hey u x’ does just that. Flowing between styles, it also finds huge names including Grimes, Lily Allen, Flo Milli, Bakar and more endorsing the newcomer by hopping on songs for some standout features. “I still don’t really understand why they want to feature on any of my songs!”

BENEE laughs. “I mean, the Grimes thing still doesn’t make sense to me at all! I’ve been obsessed with her. My publishers were like, ‘What about Grimes for the ‘Sheesh’ feature?’ and I was like, ‘No way, shut up, don’t let me get my hopes up’. I saw that she was following me on Instagram and I fangirled the fuck out. She slid into my freaking DMs! I was so stoked; I was like, ‘What the heck is my life anymore?’”

And did she keep her cool during the DM back and forth? “I can’t remember what I said to her! Right I’m gonna find out what I said…” she giggles, picking up her phone to scroll through to the message. “Oh yeah, I did fangirl. I said ‘I’ve been listening to ‘4ÆM’ literally every day for the last four weeks, you’re crazy.’

Wow, that’s really embarrassing, but hey!”

Elsewhere on the record, Lily Allen and Flo Milli jump on ‘Plain’ for an

I still don’t really understand why these [famous] musicians want to feature on any of my songs!�

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CL ASS OF 2021: FLUORESCENT ADOLESCENCE

I DON’T TAKE MYSELF TOO SERIOUSLY, WHICH I THINK PEOPLE APPRECIATE.” excellent double feature on the self-proclaimed “bad bitch anthem”. “I actually had a second verse on ‘Plain’ with me doing this spoken word rap thing which I hated,” Stella recalls. “I was like, what if I get two features on it? I hadn’t done it before and I wanted two females, and Lily and Flo Mili came to mind because their sass is quite well known, and they’re both queens. I’m so happy with all the features and I’m so glad there are so many of them. I’m so lucky how I can get these artists that I’m super obsessed with!”

Already receiving glowing reviews, BENEE’s direct lyricism is what makes her music stand out. “I write pretty honestly and it’s all stuff about how I’m feeling and all this relatable stuff. I feel like people connect to that,” she muses. “But also I don’t take myself too seriously which is why I’m self-deprecating in songs like ‘SUPALONELY’, which I think people also appreciate. A lot of people feel the same way and I think it’s nice when someone can joke about it. People can relate, but I also try and make music that’s interesting and fresh; I’ve had people reach out and tell me that’s something they like - that it’s different sounding.”

She pinpoints album opener ‘Happen To Me’ as her personal favourite on the record and an example of her forthright lyrics, which see her questioning “I think about these things too much / My mind likes to wind itself up / And I don’t get a lot of sleep / ‘Cause what if they happen to me?”. “It’s about my anxiety and I was feeling pretty low at the time when I wrote it,” she explains.

“I think it’s very important to talk about mental health, and with that one I was pretty honest in the lyrics.”

Other songs on the record pull inspiration from all over the place, from former relationships on ‘Same Effect’ (“I’ve written the majority of my songs about my ex-boyfriend, unfortunately. But that’s all right, thanks for the inspo!”) to musicians she thinks are effortlessly cool on the aptly-titled ‘Kool’. “I wrote it about a couple of musicians who I look at and think ‘Oh my god, they’ve got everything together and they won’t be filled with anxiety or worry’. But people message me saying they think I’m cool now and I’m like, what?!” she laughs. “I’m very uncool.”

Still coming to terms with her rise to stardom, yet surely destined to climb the pop ranks even further in 2021, BENEE remains surprised at the sheer volume that she’s achieved this year. “It’s pretty crazy,” she smiles. “I don’t think I would’ve believed it if I knew that this was what was going to happen with my year. It’s very weird to think about!”

• BENEE is also featured on Spotify's Our Generation playlist. Head to diymag.com/spotify-our-generation for more info on the playlist, and to check out its recent artist takeovers.

46 DIYMAG.COM

SHOW US YOUR PARTY TRICK

Turns out even hundreds of millions of streams can’t help in certain areas of life…

“When I’m really drunk I make a seagull noise. I think I’m really good at doing bird impressions, but I’m not, I’m really not. But I get super confident and it’s really fucking embarrrassing. I can also do a firework noise too.”

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CL ASS OF 2021: FLUORESCENT ADOLESCENCE

Master Peace A PANDEMIC-BASED FALSE START NEARLY DERAILED MASTER PEACE’S CAREER BEFORE IT HAD EVEN REALLY BEGUN, BUT NOW THE LONDONER IS BACK AND MORE FOCUSED ON MAKING SOLID GOLD INDIE BANGERS THAN EVER. Words: Elly Watson.

never felt like the right time.”

W

hile 2020 has seen the music biz concede huge blows across the board, the emotional rollercoaster aspect of it all is something Master Peace has become fully acquainted with.

Photos: Holly Whitaker. Beginning the year with loads of hype, his September 2019 debut track ‘Night Time’ saw the London musician lauded for his expert blending of indie and rap, selling out his headline tour and landing early praise from a number of notable ears. Then lockdown hit and suddenly everything changed.

“It started off so sweet,” he reminisces. “I was like, headline show - bish, bash, bosh, done! - I don’t need to drop any music because I’m killing it in the live scene. Then boom! Lockdown slapped man in the face. Then I disappeared offline because I thought I was like Drake. I don’t know what I was smoking! Trying to disappear when you haven’t got any music... Any artist who thinks that they’re the shit, you will get humbled. And I got the biggest humbling in the world.”

Without any live events to keep up the momentum, Peace retreated away from the internet, feeling the hype that was surrounding him slowly beginning to slip away.

“I was slapped in the face with ‘You’re not the shit yet, you’ve got to carry on giving them smoke!’,” he concedes.

SHOW “Realising that so US YOUR early on is so good.

PARTY TRICK I was seeing people’s music “My party trick?! The only thing I can really do is the one where go off [during you hold your hands together and lockdown] and twist round your middle fingers.

I was like, I What’s that called? The finger trick? Let’s go with the finger know mine’s way trick.” [We’re not entirely better! But it was convinced that’s a thing... - Magic Ed] all timing. There was so much stuff going on in the world as well as the pandemic and it

48 DIYMAG.COM

Feeling helpless due to the lack of shows, emotionally drained after breaking up with his girlfriend, and a bit lost as an artist overall, there was even a time that Peace thought about giving it all up. “I was so up and down mentally; I was so close to packing it all in,” he explains. “But I was like, ‘Nah man, we’ve worked too hard these last three years to pack it in now just because things aren’t going your way’. It was so draining and there was so much stuff going on. I needed to figure stuff out and figure out where I’m going with this and I finally figured it out.” .....................................

Using the time to reaffirm his intentions as an artist, Peace threw himself into working, releasing his debut EP ‘Love Bites’ at the beginning of November. Six tracks of irresistible indie hooks, the EP proved just why people were right to keep an eye on him back at the top of the year. “With my previous work, everything was so scattered,” he says. “People were like ‘Master Peace does rap’, ‘No, Master Peace does grime’, ‘No, he’s an indie artist, what are you talking about?’ It was one of those ones where I had to find a sound for me and execute that sound. I had to find something that separates myself and people really love the indie music from me. I think when I hit them with [‘Love Bites’ single] ‘PNE’, people woke up. All my supporters were like, this feels really you.

My phone hasn’t stopped going off since the release!” he beams. “People are going crazy for the EP, and this isn’t even my best work…”

Not only winning praise from his previous supporters, Peace has even found a new fan in Bloc Party frontman Kele Okereke, who’s currently helping out on his debut album.

“I tried my hardest to keep it together when we met,” he laughs, “but I’m a massive Bloc Party fan and I was like,

Master Peace sporting the Kenny from South Park A/W 2020 collection.

Moonchild Sanelly She’s got awards in her eye-line and Beyoncé in her phone book, and with her forthcoming second record in the works, Moonchild Sanelly’s message of “freedom, joy and liberation” is exactly what the world needs. Words: Lisa Wright.

“I learnt that whenever they say ‘black sheep’ it’s because they don’t want you to know you’re powerful.”

-“I’m collecting the awards - I’m collecting the GRAMMYS, I’m collecting the Brit Awards, I’m going in. Now is my flex time and I’m going for EVERYTHING,” hoots Moonchild Sanelly, chuckling manically like a woman with a wickedly delicious masterplan. Blue-haired and speaking a mile-a-minute, the South African singer might only be a couple of weeks into the recording of LP2, but vision is not something that’s lacking.

It’s a trait that’s evidently fuelled Sanelly for a long time. Performing and releasing in her hometown for more than a decade, it’s only in the last two years - via notable collaborations with Africa Express, Gorillaz and a not-solittle turn on Beyonce’s ‘My Power’ - that she’s begun to make waves in more international circles. The move, she explains, is no fluke. “I have a hustling mentality where I just know how to make things happen for myself,” she explains. “I always said I want to play every festival in the world, I want to be able to go everywhere. And when I started getting a taste of that, that’s when I started collaborating. I’m not gonna change who I am but I’m going to introduce people to who I am through someone they know.”

Earlier this year, it led to a re-release via Transgressive of EP ‘Nudes’ - a record that properly introduced the singer’s fundamental “mission” of self-love and acceptance to the world. Now, she’s creating the sonic patchwork of its full-length follow up, and the ambition - both personal and professional - behind it is tangible.

“The whole message should start with body positivity and sexual ownership because there’s a lot of bullshit [in the world] but if you can control you in any scenario then you’re past bullshit,” she affirms. “I’ll never tire of representing who I am because I wish I had someone like me when I was growing up. People are going to get tired of trying to stop me because I know how to work very, very hard and people will demand my comments more than others can stop me from getting it.

“My mum equipped me with so much confidence in myself. So when she died, by the time the world heard anything - whether that was my music or poetry or fashion - I already knew what would make me happy,” she continues. “I was never expected to be the one that was successful, but now everyone that was living by the rules of society in my family, they’re all [just] surviving, whereas here I am. I learnt

that whenever they say ‘black sheep’ it’s because they don’t want you to know you’re powerful when actually it means you’re special.”

With Diplo, Ghetts and more already confirmed to appear on the singer’s newest, the word is clearly getting out.

And as for one final special guest?

“No comment,” she squirms with a cheeky grin when we mention the Queen Bey word. “I don’t wanna jinx it…” We’ll touch wood for tradition’s sake, but clearly Moonchild Sanelly makes her own luck. Superstardom beckons...

≤ girl in red With a huge fan base itching to discover Marie Ulven’s world in red, the result looks set to cement the singer as an icon of young, confessional pop.

Words: Sophie Walker.

“I’ve just been really inspired by how my brain works, and how something can be beautiful yet broken.”

-The best musicians are the ones who grow with you, and in the space of a year alone, Marie Ulven has had more than her fair share of growing pains.

2020 has proven to be a year of whiplash-inducing change for us all and so, when the outside world was ruled out, Marie looked inward and began to build one of her own: a self-styled world in red.

on my own,” she remembers. “The song is about how I felt like a burden to my family, even though I know they don’t feel that way – but sometimes, I’d make myself believe that. It’s also about choosing to not give up and trying to get better.”

Meanwhile, for the first time, Marie has worked with a producer, Matias Tellez, to realise her ambitions for the project.

“There’s a lot of construction sounds in the production,” she says. “I put them there because working on your mental health is just as hard as working physically. It’s the hardest fucking shit ever. I guess ‘rue’ is about saying to yourself, ‘OK, I’ll do the work’.”

Yet though her forthcoming debut represents an emotional progression from her earlier music, the journey, she says, “tells a bigger story”. “I’ve already started to get new ideas that I see in a whole new body of work that has a totally different sound to what I’m making now. Even the songs I’ve sung a million times still make me feel how I did when I wrote them,” she smiles. “Those songs still mean so much to me, and I’m so proud of them.

They document my change - I hope I’m forever changing.”

Now Ulven sits on the cusp of a much-anticipated debut record.

And while its title is still under wraps (although fan theories are picking up ‘world in red’ as a frontrunner), she promises that “there’s some crazy shit going down on this album”. “I can tell you that for sure. I’m doing things I’ve never done before. It’s a very, very ambitious album,” she grins. Still bearing the distinctive girl in red hallmarks we know and love - “except way, way cooler,” Marie notes - the singer is already sure of her ideal reaction to the album: “‘Holy fuck, I didn’t see this coming! This is some grown, 2.0 shit”.

The record, she continues, acts as an “emotional recap” of the past year.

“I’m writing a lot about my mental health and the different sides of love – you know, the type of things that take up my time,” she elaborates. This year, Marie was diagnosed with OCD and Generalised Anxiety Disorder. “I wasn’t doing very well last year,” she nods, “but I’m doing better now – I’m going to a bunch of therapy. I’ve just been really inspired by how my brain works sometimes, and how something can be beautiful yet broken.”

This year’s first taste of the record, August single ‘rue’ (inspired by Zendaya’s character from the show Euphoria), captures Ulven’s grapple with her mental health best. “I had to sleep in my sister’s bed for weeks because I was so scared of sleeping

Kele Okereke was like, ‘I really rate you heavily’.

49

CL ASS OF 2021: FLUORESCENT ADOLESCENCE ‘Bro, you’re like a superhero to me!’

And he was like ‘I really rate you heavily.’ He explained that he made this sound years ago and out of the new people he’s seeing he said, ‘You are the one person that I was like, yo this guy is it’. That meant a lot to me because I know how much competition there is out there and I know how many indie artists are way more talented than me, but he was like, 'You’re killing it'. It was an honour for me. I nearly fainted!”

Seeing his upcoming debut as a new beginning, Master Peace is ready to show that he’s far more than your run-of-the-mill indie artist. “It’s very raw,” he says of the record’s sound, “it’s not polished. I feel like ‘Love Bites’ is very polished and

I was seeing people’s music go off [during lockdown] and I was like, I know mine’s way better!”

50 DIYMAG.COM 50 DIYMAG.COM

everything is very clean, but this is more in-your-face. Like a bit of Busted links up with Linkin Park. It’s got ‘Crashed The Wedding’ vibes!

It’s more like the ‘PNE’ sound where it’s hard-hitting; I’m showing a side that people haven’t seen before in this genre.

“I still don’t think I’ve given them what I know I can give them,” he smiles. “We’re just getting started for me personally. I know what I’m capable of and I know what music I can give to people, so don’t sleep on me and just enjoy the journey. Next year is going to be the year!”

Ultraísta Sister

Laura Marling Song For Our Daughter

Pottery Welcome to Bobby’s Motel

Fontaines D.C. A Hero’s Death

Chubby and the Gang Speed Kills

IDLES Ultra Mono

Emel The Tunis Diaries

Craig Finn All These Perfect Crosses RSD

Bombino Live in Amsterdam RSD Black Friday

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CL ASS OF 2021: FLUORESCENT ADOLESCENCE

Black Country, New Road

ON THE CUSP OF A DEBUT THAT COMES GOOD ON ALL THE OBTUSE, ESOTERIC GROUNDWORK THEY’VE SPENT THE PAST TWO YEARS LAYING, BLACK COUNTRY, NEW ROAD AREN’T HERE TO PLAY NICE. Words: James Balmont. Photos: Holly Whitaker.

S

at in a Deptford photography studio next to the Commando Temple gym, the seven members of Black Country, New Road stick out like a septet of sore thumbs. Dressed in an array of casual clobber and mumbling among themselves, the band look more like a student Chess Society than Brixton Windmill alumni - but therein lies the intrigue. A vehicle for an excess of art and music school graduates, Black Country, New Road also, somehow, manage to sound like the most menacing and transgressive band of their day.

Despite having little interest in the music industry "game", they’ve amassed a significant cult following over the past two years, leaving a mark on people’s eardrums from SW2 to Slovenia. But in 2021 they're set to carve out a more singular place in history. Forthcoming debut 'For The First Time' was one of the last albums recorded before the UK went into lockdown in March, and the record feels wholly befitting of such disruption. Full of towering, post-rock odysseys and sardonic pop culture references, it's as anticommercial as they come: if you were expecting pop music, you've turned to the wrong page.

With an online presence that could be described as meagre at best, it's unsurprising to discover that Black Country, New Road are entirely unassuming in person. Naturally reserved as a band, saxophonist Lewis Evans sums up a clear missive early on: "I don't think people should need to buy into our personalities to enjoy the music."

It's almost issued as a challenge.

Fortunately, the band created themselves on The Sims during lockdown this summer, and their character traits serve as a handy primer for the uninitiated.

Alongside "cheerful goofball" Lewis - the de facto mouthpiece for the group today - sits "gregarious" guitarist Luke Mark and "quick

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learner" Charlie Wayne, who plays the drums. "Musical genius" keyboardist May Kershaw is the quietest of the bunch, while "ambitious" violinist Georgia Ellery (also of experimental South Londoners Jockstrap) and "artloving" bass player Tyler Hyde complete the female faction of the band. "Perfectionist" guitarist and vocalist Isaac Wood, meanwhile, sits silently gazing into his cup of tea like it's a portal into the future he'll stay like this for the remainder of the interview. "They're pretty accurate representations," Lewis admits of the gaming avatars.

"Although they do always just piss themselves." ..........................................

Good hygiene notwithstanding, the band's introversions have hardly got in the way of cultivating a dedicated fanbase. As one deft online forum poster puts it: "people get weird about this band."

Vinyl copies of towering debut single 'Athen's France' have been changing hands for up to £100 apiece online, while members of 2000-strong Facebook fan group Sunglasses Posting speculate daily about the band's unconventional merchandising forays (including jigsaw puzzles and USB sticks).

Isaac's lyrics for 'Sunglasses', meanwhile, have recently ended up plastered on cans of posh booze against the band's will. I Am Locked Away In A High-Tech Wraparound Translucent, Blue-Tinted Fortress is now the title of a kettle-soured IPA from Cheltenham craft brewery DEYA, and "it's an absolute belter,” according to the beer makers. The band won't be pressing charges, though: "We have bigger fish to fry," says their singer.

Signing to experimental dance label Ninja Tune was likely the catch of the day, then. It's about as unconventional a signing either party could make - and therefore, a perfect fit. The sense of the unknown was part of the appeal,

THERE MIGHT NOT BE ANYTHING IN THE SAME STYLE, MADE WITH THE BUDGET THAT WE’VE MANAGED TO SECURE, FOR A LONG TIME.” - LEWIS EVANS

SHOW US YOUR PARTY TRICK “I can do this thing with my finger," says Lewis, who offers a doublejointed pop-and-shove with his index finger. It looks a bit like the classic '90s dance move 'The Worm' only on a smaller scale.

"I can do the real thing," Charlie exclaims proudly. "I was the toast of every year six disco."

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CL ASS OF 2021: FLUORESCENT ADOLESCENCE they explain. "I don't think we recognised anyone on their roster," says Luke of the tastemaker label, known for championing trip-hop and turntablism in the '90s. Lewis was sufficiently satisfied by their non-musical credentials: "Did you know that in Shaun of the Dead, Shaun's lounge has a Ninja Tune poster?"

can't even really remember what I was supposed to be saying." .........................................

Perhaps Isaac’s obtuseness is just a symptom of real-life anxieties; the song does, after all, climax with the deranged, screeching refrain of "I'm more than adequate / Leave my Daddy's job out

The mystery of Black Country, New Road only thickens when the band's musical influences are brought to light. The six cacophonous epics that make up 'For The First Time' are fuelled by screeching horns, jazz drums and strings that hark back to the pioneering postrock of Talk Talk and Slint. But, for Black Country, New Road, these touchpoints are nowhere near obscure enough. Take 'Science Fair' - a scuzzy, avantgarde guitar-and-brass monster that serves as the band's most recent single. "It's a pretty straight-up Cuban beat flip," says Lewis, as if the statement makes perfect sense. Sensing our confusion, he offers another take: "It's a scientifically perfect drum beat."

Georgia, meanwhile, explains that traditional Jewish Klezmer folk music has informed the band elsewhere. "It's like celebratory party music," she exclaims.

"But it sounds sad because it's in a minor key." Even the album title is plucked from strange pastures. It's a reference to an obscure Dave Brubeck jazz album titled 'We're All Together Again for the First Time' that Isaac chanced upon. We've never heard of it, either.

Speaking of the enigmatic vocalist (still nursing his cup of tea), it’s through him that Black Country, New Road boast their most compelling asset. Oft-compared to the cutting social commentaries of The Fall's Mark E Smith, Isaac's lyricism posits the band's work in the chaotic present day. You'll find references to Kanye, NutriBullets and Danish crime dramas in 'Sunglasses' alone; they combine to spin a vivid tale of millennial trauma.

But for all his aptitude for a good one-liner, Isaac is strangely bereft of insight. What inspires such vivid and contemporary tales? He's blunt: "I

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of this!". When pressed on why he re-wrote the lyrics to several tracks for the album recordings, the theory gains further credence. "I considered my best attempt to say something a failure. They just didn't succeed in doing the job they were supposed to."

He does admit, though, that he hopes "to make the story universal, and easy for the person to put themselves into."

It seems at odds with the band's sprawling, uncommercial sound, but then again, Black Country, New Road's paradoxical nature is at the heart of their appeal.

One song in particular sums up the plight of a leftfield scene better than any other. The disarmingly sweet 'Track X', which mixes cooing backing vocals and staccato strings a la Lou Reed's 'Street Hassle', could almost sell itself as Brixton Windmill's answer to 'Fairytale of New York'. "I told you I loved you in front of black midi," Isaac sings gently - as if to suggest that there's solace to be found at the heart of all the disharmony.

THAT’S A MOUTHFUL

Black Country, New Road vocalist Isaac Wood has got a knack for imaginative storytelling. We take a look into some of his most memorable one-liners so far...

‘Athen’s, France’ “It’s a one-size-fits-all hardcore cyber fetish early noughties’ zine / She sells matcha shots to pay for printing costs and a PR team” Verdict: Not quite the same business model as DIY, but a good effort nonetheless. Put us down for two copies.

‘SUNGLASSES’ “Mother is juicing watermelons on the breakfast island, and

with frail hands she grips the NutriBullet” Verdict: Almost sounds a bit naughty, doesn’t it? Still, can’t say no to a slap-up meal.

‘SCIENCE FAIR’ “I was just covered in bubbles of methane gas, and you ended up burning. I’m sorry, I have always been a liar.”

Verdict: Oh God, this isn’t going well is it? Lesson learned: never bring flammable gasses to a Tinder date.

For all their muteness, the band do, at least, take huge stock in how lucky they were to be able to complete their debut when they did.

"If any of it was delayed by a couple of months, we simply wouldn't be where we are,” says Lewis, pointing out the financial struggles of record labels across the world in the wake of the pandemic. And in that regard, the album could end up being more culturally significant than any of them could have anticipated. "There might not be anything in the same style, made with the budget that we've managed to secure, for a long time," Lewis concludes.

He's right. Because, whatever the future brings in the coming years, it's likely to be a bumpy ride for everyone.

But whether 'For The First Time' is the final Frankenstein creation of an industry on the brink of a major overhaul, or the foreboding sound of another hurricane ready to strike, Black Country, New Road prove that one thing is certain: let the music do the talking, and you'll always make a powerful statement.

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55

CL ASS OF 2021: FLUORESCENT ADOLESCENCE

Phoebe Green SUCCESSFULLY TRANSITIONING FROM SELFCONSCIOUS TEEN TO A TWENTY-SOMETHING WITH HER SHIT SOMEWHAT MORE TOGETHER, FLAME-HAIRED MANCUNIAN PHOEBE GREEN IS DOCUMENTING THE JOURNEY WITH PANACHE. Words: Lisa Wright. Photos: Eva Pentel.

I I always say it’s fine getting upset as long as you can take the piss out of it afterwards.”

f the first step to recovery is admitting that you’ve got something of a problem, then Phoebe Green’s recent two singles - July’s ‘Reinvent’ and October’s ‘Golden Girl’ - acted as a giant leap towards personal victory. Two observations on the Mancunian singer’s fluctuating sense of self that spared no punches, both subscribed wholly to the idea that if you name something and laugh at it, then you own it - even if you sort of forget at the time that you’ve then got to share it with the world, too. “‘Reinvent’ was written a year ago at a point where I was getting sick with the way I was living and dealing with social situations, but the rest have been written during this last year. I only realised quite recently that I’d been writing these songs that are so vulnerable and self-analytical and forgetting that people are gonna hear them,” Phoebe chuckles. “Because it’s been a very isolated - literally - situation to write in, you’re less self-conscious because you’re not having to see any responses. But I always say it’s fine getting upset as long as you can take the piss out of it afterwards. I like to be vulnerable, and I love talking about the way I feel in my music, but I don’t want people to cry over it.”

Penned with the help of The Big Moon’s resident indie hitmaker-in-chief Jules Jackson, who she explains helped coax a new level of honesty out of her, ‘Reinvent’’s smoke machine synth haze and ‘80s pop chops landed with enough wistful musical highs to more than balance out any slightly cringey personal lows. But Phoebe’s journey hasn’t just been one of opening up lyrically; having self-released a low-key album back in 2016 (entitled ‘02:00AM’) as a mere 18-year-old, she’s also spent the interim years leaning into the full spectrum of her tastes and - in her words “trying less hard”.

The old bloke from Up has really had a glow-up of late.

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A collection of suitably-nocturnal-sounding tracks that nod more to Bon Iver or The Japanese House than the hook-laden golden nuggets she’s been producing of late, that record, SHOW she explains, was the result of US YOUR a youth spent kicking against PARTY TRICK the “posh old people’s town” “I can do she called home. “I had a lot SpongeBob’s to say and I wasn’t in an enlaugh.” vironment where I could really say those things because it was a very small town and no one really

talked about anything, so that was my outlet,” she recalls. “I think when I was younger I was very much taking influence from more alternative places because I was so used to being in an environment that frowned upon being alternative. So, because that’s what I identified as, I felt like I needed to go completely that way. Now I’ve just moved away from being pretentious! It’s OK to have alternative influences, but don’t act like that’s the only thing that exists.”

Taking the years between that first release and a series of recent singles that began with 2019’s ‘Dreaming Of’ and ‘Easy Peeler’ to build a team, go to uni and get a bit more acquainted with her own personality, Phoebe is grateful for the early sparks of interest that record gave her but ultimately ready to fully enter Phase Two. “The intention when I released it wasn’t for it to get to a professional place that quickly; it was just me creating a space and putting it out there. So when it did get attention I just thought, I wish I’d have thought this through more!” she laughs.

“I think the sentence ‘you need to find your sound’ was going around a lot and it was so true; musically, and as a person, I needed to find out what I actually wanted to do, so those few years gave me that opportunity. And just like, aging! More experience, better perspective on things…

“You wouldn’t think it, but [18 to 21] are really transitional years. I feel like I’ve massively changed as a person; I’m less embarrassed of myself and what I like and what I want to put out. I’m just not as bothered about what people want from me, because you can so tell [when people are] - with my first album, you can tell it’s a kid who’s trying to be edgy.”

And so these days, Phoebe Green isn’t attempting to be anything but herself. Despite her mini foray into the music world as a teen, her new clutch of singles - and this month’s debut EP for Chess Club ‘I Can’t Cry For You’ - mark the true reveal of an artist who happily notes that she “doesn’t really want to sound like anyone”. “As I get older, I draw less inspiration from other people,” she shrugs.

“Every song on this EP is very different, but what connects them is the person within them. It’s quite brutal and initially people might think that my songs are me slating other people to their face but they’re actually about me. So yeah, people might think, ‘what a bitch’. But actually no, I’m just a bitch to myself!” she giggles. “Interesting lyricists and people whose performance is dominated by their own personality: they’re the kind of people I like.”

Consider both boxes already firmly ticked.

• Phoebe Green is also featured on Spotify's Our Generation playlist. Head to diymag.com/spotify-ourgeneration for more info on the playlist, and to check out its recent artist takeovers.

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CL ASS OF 2021: FLUORESCENT ADOLESCENCE

Pa Salieu FROM COVENTRY TO MAGAZINE COVERS ACROSS THE COUNTRY, PA SALIEU IS THE UNDENIABLE FORCE SHAKING UP THE FACE OF BRITISH RAP. Words: Jenessa Williams. Photo: Bolade Banjo.

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f you were on the hunt for the new face of afro-futuristic rap, Coventry might not be the first place you’d look. But by skating over Pa Salieu, you’d be doing the scene a solid disservice. Born in Slough before moving to the Midlands, the 23-year-old has been making waves through his ability to blend the sounds of British cities with the rhythmic pace of Gambian dancehall and West-African percussion, crafting stories that tell the truth about inner-city living without glorifying their hardships.

If Pa sounds confident in his delivery, it’s because he’s truly lived the life he raps about. On the day of his first single in October 2018, his best friend AP was the victim of a fatal stabbing; in October 2019, he himself was shot in a drive-by attack, sustaining head injuries that could easily have ended his life. Three weeks after the incident, however, he was supporting GoldLink at Birmingham’s 02 Institute with a Warner Records deal in hand. His words? “You can’t defeat a man with pure energies.”

Both life-changing experiences have fed directly into his music.

Back in January 2020, we met ‘Frontline’ - a defiant, waist-winding hit that racked up 3.2 million YouTube views with its disposable camera vistas of Hillfields, eyes always darting past the horizon in search of a big break. It’s a track that he says he wrote in a mere half-hour and nearly didn’t release, but one that demonstrates his keenest abilities – to push rap in new directions that don’t rest on the laurels of what’s gone before.

For a guy that’s been bigged up by J Hus and hugely influential designer Virgil Abloh on Twitter, and taken selfies with FKA Twigs in the studio on Instagram, he’s lining himself up as someone happy to play with visionaries, but also someone adept at experimenting with the form until he finds something uniquely his own. This year’s ‘Betty’, ‘Block Boy’ and ‘My Family’ all hint at understated greatness, with last month’s full mixtape release ‘Send Them To Coventry’ tackling huge and ever-timely issues around racial tension, inequality and personal identity, drawing on drill, grime and afroswing.

Though each of Salieu’s tracks would go hard in the club, they’re always underwritten with a determination to carve out a new path, of pushing to be an ambassador for other young people in similar circumstances. After all, it’s not strictly about where you come from, but where you’re going - and in 2021, this self-professed, not grime star but “everything star” is headed to the stratosphere.

www.transgressiverecords.com

2020

BONIFACE BONIFACE

MICHELLE HEATWAVE

TRANSMISSIONS: THE MUSIC OF BEVERLY GLENN-COPELAND

MOONCHILD SANELLY NÜDES

SONGHOY BLUES OPTIMISME

LUPIN LUPIN

MARIKA HACKMAN COVERS

COMING SOON….

ARLO PARKS COLLAPSED IN SUNBEAMS OUT 29TH JANUARY 2021

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CL ASS OF 2021: FLUORESCENT ADOLESCENCE

Tate McRae ALREADY BREAKING INTO THE CHARTS WITH HER SLICK CONFESSIONAL BANGERS, TATE MCRAE MAY HAVE BEEN IN THE GAME SINCE SHE WAS 13, BUT SHE’S ONLY JUST GETTING STARTED.

Words: Sarah Jamieson. Photos: Jenn Five.

T

here aren’t many new artists around who’ve spent the past few weeks juggling filming for a performance at the MTV EMAs while preparing for their mid-term exams.

But then again, there aren’t many new artists quite like Tate McRae. “Urgh, my god!” she half-laughs, half-grimaces, in reaction to the mention of her recent school exams.

“When I was watching the European Music Awards, I was studying for Social! It was awful, so this is refreshing!”

The journey to her current undoubted rising star status hasn’t exactly been a short one for the Canadian teen. Having first gained notoriety, aged just 13, after appearing on US TV talent show So You Think

You Can Dance in 2016, it was after finishing third in the competition that she decided to turn her hand more towards music. Through her YouTube channel - and pithily-titled series Create With Tate - she’d showcase songs she’d written on a near-weekly basis, including her breakthrough track ‘One Day’ which, according to her original video, “she whipped up in, like, an hour”. It’s since gained a casual 34 million views and counting.

“I mean, the thing about when I released songs on YouTube was that I was writing them just me and my piano, and [there was] also no criticism whatsoever,” she offers up today. “I could write those songs in like, twenty minutes - super fast - but then there was no one else in the room to challenge me on my thoughts.” Now, her focus seems to

be more on education, and striving to see the world through different eyes. “The sessions now may be longer and more of a thought process, but I’m looking at things from a million different perspectives,” she affirms. “Every different writing session with a new writer, you learn new things about how they look at life. As a 17-year-old, that’s different to how I look at life. It’s been a really cool learning experience.”

Marking the new era of her career in early 2020 with debut EP ‘All The Things I Never Said’, its five tracks were, according to Tate, “definitely just one big experiment” - a means to explore what she hoped to say as an artist now. Slick R&B-indebted, confessional offerings, the likes of ‘All My Friends are Fake’ and ‘Tear Myself Apart’ (co-written with none other than Billie Eilish and Finneas) soon garnered even more attention for the young star. Since then, her most recent single - the headstrong banger ‘You Broke Me First’ - has amassed over 300 million Spotify streams and edged into the Top 3 of the UK Charts.

For some young artists, this level of attention would be too much - especially during such a turbulent year.

To the contrary, it’s something the

It’s really important to take moments and sit back and think, ‘Wow, I did that’.”

Imminent superstardom?

The ball’s in Tate’s court.

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singer seems to take in her stride.

“I think something I’ve noticed since I was younger…” she begins, recalling her former dancing days.

“I used to compete every weekend, so I was constantly on stage and constantly exposed to pressure, so I don’t really get nervous, which is a really good thing. There are high pressure situations, and there’s a lot of people telling you a lot of different things, and I think when you don’t have nerves, you can literally dial in on what you wanna say.”

Revisit Tate’s aforementioned EMAs performance and you’ll get a sense of the cool head she already possesses. Comprising a shadowy but fluid dance routine performed in the middle of a watery channel, there’s something haunting, yet striking, about seeing the young star’s vision fully come to life on the stage.

“My biggest thing that I wanted to do was just to be able to dance and sing at the same time,” she enthuses. “I thought I might never be able to do what I really want, but performing at the EMAs, it was literally like one of my biggest dreams: to make the vision and song come to life.”

The appearance also marked a special moment closer to home for her, too; though the milestones are already coming thick and fast for the singer, they’re clearly not without meaning. “I was sitting with my Grandpa watching the show on the TV, and he just started bawling his eyes out,” she smiles. “I was like, ‘Woah, this is real! We’re watching myself on MTV right now!’

“I’ve not really had a lot of those moments because I feel like it’s all work-focused. You grind and grind, and yeah, you’re successful but you’ve got to keep going, and striving for the next goal.

But I think it’s really important to take moments SHOW US and sit back YOUR and think, PARTY TRICK ‘Wow, I “I have this weird thing - this is going did that’,” to sound so weird! - but I’m like 5”8 she nods.

1/2, so I’m pretty tall, but I can shrink “You’ve my torso?! I can shrink it so that it goes to about half the size. I don’t even gotta be know how but I do it all the time! I proud of can literally shrink my spine. I think it’s [because of] my proportions your work. and the fact I have literally no At the end space between my hips of the day and my ribs…” that’s the only thing that really matters.”

HANDS! FACE! SPACE! Of course, in 2020, there have been some strange obstacles for artists to overcome. But for Tate, launching a career in the middle of a pandemic has certainly thrown up some particularly odd moments...

“It’s been one of the craziest summers ever. I remember on the EMAs set, I was filming in Toronto, and there were people on set in masks, face guards - the whole shebang for Covid. Then I had my entire team on this stick and iPad, where I could just see all of their faces.

Usually they’d be on set, giving me information right there, but if I wanted to ask them something, I’d have to swipe to their face on the iPad! It was so weird! I think I’ve definitely been doing things in an odd way… And I am so done with Zoom. I cannot wait until this pandemic is over and Zoom is not a thing anymore!”

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CL ASS OF 2021: FLUORESCENT ADOLESCENCE

Lynks

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ARMED WITH A NEW NAME, AN EVEREXPANDING COSTUME BOX AND AN ARSENAL OF SONGS THAT AIM TO REPRESENT THE QUEER EXPERIENCE FROM A LESSER-DESCRIBED ANGLE, LYNKS IS STRUTTING INTO 2021 IN FINE STYLE. Words: Rosie Hewitson. Photos: Holly Whitaker.

t’s a chilly afternoon in early November and a very scantily-clad Elliot Brett is wrapped up in a blanket in the corner of the DIY photography studio, talking about his vagina costume. “I taught myself how to use a sewing machine over lockdown and it’s been quite game-changing for my outfits,” the musical maverick better known as Lynks (fka Lynks Afrikka) enthuses, tapping through a series of outlandish creations saved on his phone.

wonky electro beats soundtracking oversharing lyrics about the existential crises and mundanities of life as a twenty-something queer kid, Lynks is a refreshingly different, Leigh Bowery-esque act inspired by the weirder side of the UK’s drag scene. But unlike the immaculately made-up queens on RuPaul’s Drag Race, or the polished perfection of today’s queer megastars like Years & Years’ Olly Alexander or Troye Sivan, Lynks wants to celebrate “the imperfect side of queerness”.

“I think most outwardly queer pop stars have this front of epic strength and pride, and I think that’s so good, but it’s also OK not to be like that all the time. I like to show the dark underside “I made this one out of some scraps left from an outfit a bit,” Elliot explains. “You know, SHOW I did for Josh Baxter from [Class of 2021 classmates] the flipside of pride is shame, and US YOUR PVA,” he says, gesturing to today’s skimpy green it is there for gay people. We can’t PARTY TRICK neoprene number, “but the vagina one has to be pretend it’s not. I have so much “I can do the worm, my favourite. Obviously I’m gay, but I think vaginas pride in my sexuality, I mean, look and I can make my are so beautiful, so I decided to make a kind of pecs dance!” at what I’m wearing!” he jokes. “I Elizabethan-style ruff thing on the front of a leotard just think it’s important to also talk and I’m so pleased with how it turned out. It’s so fun!” about self esteem and awkwardness, and how alienating and lonely it can feel Fun it definitely is, but there’s more to it than that. “When being gay sometimes.”

I first started performing, I did another music act that was comparatively very straight-laced and ‘normal’ and I found it quite scary being on stage,” Elliot continues.

It’s these feelings in particular that are responsible for “But as soon as I put my Lynks mask on, I just felt this Lynks’ breakout track ‘Str8 Acting’: an energetic and complete and utter abandon, like I hilariously cutting remonstration of how being ‘straightcould do whatever and act passing’ is fetishized in the gay male community, whatever way. And even if it inspired by “scrolling through Grindr and seeing went terribly and I totally ‘straight acting’ and similar stuff on so many profiles,” embarrassed myself Elliot shares. “I remember just feeling really sad and it’s fine cos I can go alone, so I wrote that song thinking that it would be nice backstage, take the mask for people experiencing that to know that they aren’t the off, take the makeup off only one.” and nobody would know it was me.”

It’s partly this sense of what it feels like to be alienated Watching clips of Lynks strutting about on the stages of London and Bristol’s underground venues in tutus, wigs and cowboy hats, belting out tongue-incheek bangers about everything from how to make bechamel sauce to passive-aggressive Sainsbury’s cashiers, it’s hard to imagine the singer performing anything remotely “straight-laced”.

With an outré brand of squelchy synths and

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by a scene that provoked the artist’s recent name change, dropping Afrikka from his original deodorantinspired moniker, following in the footsteps of The Blessed Madonna (formerly known as The Black Madonna). “The name originally came from a fancy dress party where I dressed up as a can of Lynx Africa, and then at first I was only performing in drag venues,” he explains. “I think as a drag act it’s standard to have a punny name and people expect it. But when I started moving out of the drag world and into music venues, a lot of people just didn’t get the name and I got a few messages from people asking why I had Africa in my name considering I’m caucasian.

“My show and the entire point of it is to create a space where people can completely let go and get total catharsis, where even people who normally don’t dance at gigs get to be the ones starting the mosh pit,” he nods. “I don’t want to be alienated or get a weird feeling when they see me and see my name. I want everyone to get in on the party!”

As soon as I put my Lynks mask on, I just felt this complete and utter abandon, like I could do whatever and act whatever way.�

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RICO NASTY Nightmare Vacation (Sugar Trap / Atlantic)

revi

In a year that has seen female artists forging boundary-breaking new musical paths all over the place, fewer artists have shown themselves to be as much of a rip-roaring force as Rico Nasty.

Having made a name for herself with a series of fiery mixtapes over the last few years, her self-coined “sugar trap” musical style, no-holdsbarred lyricism, and balls-to-the-walls attitude has seen her pushing the boundaries of what a female rapper has been seen as, and now she’s unleashing ‘Nightmare Vacation’ to solidify just why she’s at the forefront of the new scene.

A snarling debut that’ll leave you shaking, ‘Nightmare Vacation’ hits hard at every twist and turn. Darting from punk, to rap, to hip hop, to pop, to R&B and back again, her debut fizzes with the electricity of an artist doing exactly what the fuck she wants and thriving in the chaos. Best summed up in her own words on spiky opener ‘Candy’, she spits “On a dark and stormy night, I don’t blend in, bitch, I shine bright,” and shining is what she does throughout the record.

Teaming up with several established contemporaries, Rico flourishes when going toeto-toe with her peers. Feature highlights come in the form of the ‘00s-leaning ‘Loser’, featuring Trippie Redd, which calls back to teen-flick classic Mean Girls with the lyrics “We’re going shopping loser get in” and the Aminé-featuring ‘Back & Forth’ which sees the duo’s vocals effortlessly flowing together. But its the hard-asfuck remix of 2018 single ‘Smack A Bitch’ that stands out, with Rico teaming up with fellow female rappers ppcocaine, Sukihana and Rubi Rose for a snarling reworking that will rile up even the most chilled-out listener.

However, flying solo is where Rico clearly excels, and across the 15-track album, she lets rip. ‘Let It Out’ is a biting punk-tinged thrasher, while ‘OHFR?’, one of the many bangers where 100 gecs’ Dylan Brady hops on production duties, sees Rico tearing into her haters as she growls “fuck how you feel” in her signature brash vocals. ‘Pussy Poppin’ sees her refreshing her sugar-trap style as she spits fire about getting it on in a saccharine tone over the bass-heavy beat. ‘Check Me Out’ oozes confidence as she growls over dark-tinged piano chords, while ‘No Debate’ sees a slightly more reserved Rico flexing her musical muscles over an infectiously dance-a-long ready beat. Jumping between her kaleidoscopic influences, Rico’s determined flow remains the driving force throughout every track, effortlessly guiding the differing beats with her cutting lyrical delivery, and proving why she’s considered one of the best in the biz.

Biting and abrasive in the best kind of ways, ‘Nightmare Vacation’ finds an artist stepping up into the hype that’s been surrounding her for years, and delivering on it tenfold. It will chew you up and spit you out, and you’ll love every minute of it. (Elly Watson) LISTEN: ‘OHFR?’

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You’ll love every minute of it.

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ARLO PARKS Collapsed in Sunbeams (Transgressive)

In a year that has been full of unpleasant twists and turns, there is a reassuring pleasure to be taken from watching an artist embark on a career that prioritises a sense of inner calm.

A thoughtful and introspective voice for her generation, Arlo Parks has risen to prominence not by courting controversies or being especially polarising, but by proffering a steady stream of honest songs and selfcare open letters that feel strangely grounding in their specificity. She’s an easy star-next-door to root for, and on her debut record, she makes light work of demonstrating exactly why the nation has become so invested in her art.

Perhaps unsurprising for someone who started out in poetry, ‘Collapsed In Sunbeams’ is an excellent character study, of both Arlo herself and the people who orbit around her. Her stories are often rooted in the primal senses - smells and tastes brought to life through loosely-slung rhythms that capture mental health and romantic unease. Sometimes she describes things merely to capture a mood, but often there is a larger message at hand - ‘Caroline’ is told so vividly that you can see the couple arguing at the bus stop right it in front of you,

while ‘Bluish’ contrasts the demand for personal boundaries, with a chill afrobeats sway, gently pushing fingers into eye sockets to explode a riot of colour behind the lids.

If the emo-angst inflections of her previous EPs are less obvious in the music, they’re still very much there in the words. Arlo is a placid vocalist, but she always makes her point, often in disarmingly frank form.

‘Black Dog’ and ‘Eugene’ remain her core affirming hits, but ‘Green Eyes’ is a standout single to rival them both, channelling Frank Ocean’s swooning melodies to encourage the listener to find ways to learn from her cautionary tale about sexuality and self-acceptance. ‘Hope’ and ‘Portra 400’ look for similar optimism in the darkness, with the latter offering something of the record’s modus operandi chorus; ‘making rainbows out of something painful / getting high as hell and dodging gravestones”.

For musicians drawn to the melancholy, it can be difficult to know how to capture catharsis without glamourising the all-consuming nature of poor mental health. It’s a trick well turned by some of her heroes - Lorde, Hayley Williams, Phoebe Bridgers… all women who proffer a quiet safety in their own respective soundscapes.

With ‘Collapsed In Sunbeams’, Arlo Parks makes a strong play to be considered among them - an ambassador for a new era of empathy.

(Jenessa Williams) LISTEN: ‘Green Eyes’

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GOAT GIRL On All Fours

(Rough Trade)

Of all the bands to emerge from the first wave of South London’s fruitful scene, Goat Girl were the ones who scratched the most itches. Weird enough to release a 19-track debut featuring multiple subtwo-minute, wonky bursts, but with an ear for melody that landed them on radio playlists, the quartet staked their claim as accessible but never obvious, with a curious point of view that felt fresh. It was a trick, however, that thrived on a sense of rickety, charming naivety, and Goat Girl thankfully have understood that that trick doesn’t necessarily work twice. And so, on their second, there are no lurching, 40-second interludes; instead, the band have audibly blossomed as songwriters, whilst keeping the integral sense of the unexpected at their core.

Lead single ‘Sad Cowboy’, with its opening synth spirals and cantering riff, threw open the bar-room doors with a new energy, and it’s a melding of ingredients that crops up repeatedly in strange and sublime ways throughout ‘On All Fours’. ‘Badibaba’ seesaws from off-kilter drum patterns and plush electronic moments into a chorus that’ll be in your head for days, while ‘Jazz (In The Supermarket)’ is an almost-instrumental dip into experimental territory, underpinned by a bassline straight out of Lou Reed’s ‘Walk On The Wild Side’. ‘P.T.S.Tea’ could find its way onto the weirder end of a mid-career Metronomy album; ‘The Crack’ is interjected with guitar moments that you hope will get delightfully heavy on the live stage, while the four-part harmonies that elevate ‘Bang’’s chorus are perfect. Indeed, it’s this sense of a group that truly gel that makes Goat Girl’s second such a success; the quartet’s ability to instrumentally weave among each other has always been one of their great strengths, and here (with the addition of new bassist Holly Mullineaux) the band sound more unified than ever, able to spin strange sonic tales all the better as a result. A triumph. (Lisa Wright) LISTEN: ‘Bang’

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FLOHIO

No Panic No Pain (AlphaTone) Flohio’s first release since 2018’s ‘Wild Yout’ attacks any expectations including those shunned by her opting to release a mixtape in place of album proper - head on. It doubles down on her distinct trap sound, offering up ten tracks rammed full of frozen beats and doom-tinged flow. ‘Unveiled’ and ‘Flash’ burst onto the scene early doors, the tracks being fresh, urgent and familiar, and oozing with a special type of confidence that suggests that her gamble has more than paid off. Even when things are brought down a notch, Flohio ensures that things tick along nicely. The slow burning, Clams Casino-inspired chimes of ‘With Ease’ provide the perfect backdrop to the South London MC’s ripped-out rhythms, in the process dispelling the myth that trap music is one paced and generic. Admittedly, there are a few moments that slightly miss the mark (‘Roundtown’ & ‘Medicine’), but that doesn’t matter one bit.

With 'No Panic No Pain', Flohio has provided the ideal mixtape blueprint, proving that, when it comes to music, you’ve just got to do things your own way. (Jack Doherty) LISTEN: ‘Flash’

The band sound more unified than ever.

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BABY QUEEN Medicine (Polydor)

Rounding up her singles to date (plus a bonus in the form of woozy lullaby ‘Online Dating’ - a knowing nod to the disconnected nature of modern ‘romance’), ‘Medicine’ acts as a potted primer into the playful, self-examining world of Bella Latham’s alter-ego: the main takeaway being that Baby Queen really knows how to pen an earworm. On one side you get the sugary pop rush of the Insta-baiting ‘Pretty Girl Lie’ and ‘Want Me’ - less a casual slide into the DMs of her crush than a 100mph headlong hurtle; on the other, highlight ‘Buzzkill’’s deadpan monotone and the title track’s sedated swagger.

The result is a bipolar window into an artist who celebrates exactly those struggles and swerves, emerging with the chirpy, tongue-in-cheek sound of modern-day miserabilia.(Lisa Wright) LISTEN: ‘Buzzkill’

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THE AVALANCHES We Will Always Love You (EMI)

In a year that’s been the sort of dystopian hellscape normally reserved for Orwellian fiction and Morrissey interviews emerge The Avalanches, smuggling out 25 tracks of pure audio sunrise. If 2016’s ‘Wildflower’ was the hedonistic adolescence, then ‘We Will Always Love You’ is their self-reflecting autumnal years. Whether it be the lyrical redemption arc of ‘Gold Sky’, the seizethe-day mentality of ’Take Care In Your Dreaming’ or the outstandingly catchy refrain of ‘Music Makes Me High’, there is an ever-present desire to uplift and persevere in the face of adversity. As the tracks roll slickly into each other like some great snake eating its own tail, it’s quite easy to lose yourself among all the dreamy trip hop textures and cathartic messages. The band’s trademark sampledelic sound provides a tasteful glimpse of the familiar, while also sidestepping overt pastiche, remaining consistently fresh throughout. At a time where it is often painful to remember past freedoms, here we are instead treated to a hopeful look forward. It’s the sort of artistic escapism we could all use more of. In that regard, The Avalanches have reached the top of the mountain. (Jack Johnstone Orr) LISTEN: ‘Music Makes Me High’

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SHAME

Drunk Tank Pink (Dead Oceans)

Colour theory nerds might recognise ‘Drunk Tank Pink’ as the name of a shade psychologists once used in prison cells to calm violent inmates. If Shame are the inmates in this scenario, it hasn’t worked. These eleven tracks are beefier, more confrontational, more dissonant than before, and all the better for it, Charlie Steen’s primal taunting on the in-your-face opener ‘Alphabet’ a fitting introduction to the ride ahead.

Inspired by the travelling circus of touring 2018 debut ‘Songs of Praise’, then the stark mundaneness that followed, ‘DTP’ itches with frustration, realised via an instrumental arsenal that includes percussion, piano, and synths.

‘Born In Luton’ is a swaggering funk-tinged cavalcade - think Talking Heads with anger management issues - ‘March Day’ is a highlight, cokey and carnivalesque, while ‘Human For a Minute’, which was given the odd live outing

on the ‘...Praise’ tour is dressed entirely differently to its former upbeat arrangement, Josh Finerty’s hefty bass groove helping to make it one of the band’s best cuts to date.

Where the album lacks is its lyrics. Halfpunk half-poet, Charlie Steen has proved himself a witty narrator before, but for all the snappy choice phrases he dishes out on these songs seemingly as they come to him, there’s little substance. Take ‘Station Wagon’, the slow-building end track that reads like the monologue of some trippedout soul you’d find slumped in the corner at a party. It pales in comparison to the beautiful balladry of ‘Angie’ on ‘...Praise’, and ends an otherwise eclectic collection blandly.

Nevertheless, the urgency of ‘Drunk Tank Pink’ is contagious. It’s like the boys can’t get this music out of their bodies quick enough - the latter half of the record segues together without pausing to come up for air - and you can bet your bottom dollar that once ‘all this’ has blown over and live music returns, these tracks will come into their own. Until then, crank up the volume and stomp around your prison cell.

(Alex Cabré) LISTEN: ‘Human For A Minute’

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BREE RUNWAY

2000AND4EVA (EMI) From leather coin belts to Jersey Shore, the noughties introduced a great many dubious cultural trends that deserve to stay firmly locked in millennium time capsules. But if there is one thing that does deserve to live on, it’s the music. Dusting off all things Britney‘n’Justin, 90s baby Bree Runway channels the best bits for ‘2000AND4EVA’, a fun mixtape that pays testament to her nostalgic versatility.

Flourishes of nu-metal and Neneh Cherry bring the party to ‘LITTLE NOKIA’ and ‘DAMN DANIEL’, while Queen Missy Elliott herself turns up for a twerk on ‘ATM’, a track that begs to be huge in America without compromising its London roots. Bree might be inspired by icons of yesteryear, but her sights are firmly set on being the Queen of 2021. (Jenessa Williams) LISTEN: ‘LITTLE NOKIA’

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ANOTHER SKY

Music For Winter Vol. 1 (Fiction) Another Sky shone on August’s debut full-length ‘I Slept On the Floor’. And inspired by lockdown isolation, ‘Music For Winter Vol. 1’ feels more like a supplement to that record than an attempt to usher anything radically new into their sweeping sound. Where cuts like ‘Fell In Love With the City’ burnt with warmth and optimism, this EP does well to reflect the numbness of winter via sparse arrangements and nakedly earnest, poetic lyrics. ‘Pieces’ is a strong opener, a collaborative effort between vocalist Catrin Vincent and bassist Naomi Le Dune as the latter wrestles with her experiences of conflicting sexuality and religion. It’s a slow builder - something this band are dab hands at - and its crescendo swims in catharsis. ‘Sun Seeker’ also ranks among the group’s bests to date, an intimate ebb and flow that pairs orchestral elements with Jack Gilbert’s crisp guitar tones for gorgeous results.

Another Sky have showcased their aptitude for minimal, ambient songwriting on numerous past projects, and that’s why this EP drifts a little in the second half. For any other band, ‘Leaving the Lighthouse’ or ‘It Keeps Coming’ would be promising cuts, but with ‘I Slept...’ Another Sky set themselves a high bar and here their tranquil efforts, overshadowed by the more upbeat ones, feel repetitive and plain. Ultimately, expressing bleakness in a way that is itself engaging is not an easy feat, and this EP is a commendable attempt. ‘Volume 2’ is to be looked forward to. (Alex Cabré) LISTEN: ‘Sun Seeker’

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YOU ME AT SIX SUCKAPUNCH (AWAL)

THE WHITE STRIPES Greatest Hits (Third Man / Columbia)

It was no great surprise when the White Stripes announced they were no more back in early 2011. Since calling their 2007 tour short due to Meg White’s “acute anxiety,” Jack White had released two albums with the newly-formed the Dead Weather, a second with the Raconteurs, and despite his repeated claims of the duo’s imminent return to the studio, there had only been a handful of joint public appearances. The split was, they reasoned, “to preserve what is beautiful and special about the band.”

The title ‘Greatest Hits’ can only be indicative of a continuation of the pair’s playfulness: sure, they’re responsible for one of the biggest global sporting chants, but with a grand total of three Billboard Hot 100 features in the US (though a not inconsiderable five UK Top 10s here), the record feels more like opening a time capsule than self-congratulation; as if that 2011 statement locked a door we’re only now allowed to peek back into. Also crucially, many of the songs here were never even released as singles.

And sure, it’s not as if their work has disappeared in the interim - but like ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ before it, by the time ‘Seven Nation Army’ hits to close this collection, you remember just how great the song is, its genius having been lost in its ubiquitousness. The non-linear tracklisting helps, too: we might start, as they did, with 1998’s ‘Let’s Shake Hands’, but by skipping from 2000’s yelping ‘Hello Operator’ to the slow-building ‘I’m Slowly Turning Into You’ from 2007’s ‘Icky Thump’, back from their take on Burt Bacharach’s ‘I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself’ from 2003’s ‘Elephant’ to the stomping ‘Astro’, from the charming ‘Apple Blossom’ (2000) to the sprawling ‘Blue Orchid’ (2007), the breadth and depth of how much they did while still keeping it (relatively) simple is so evident.

Plus by sequencing the record as a live set would be the highest-charting singles are scattered throughout, the beautifully nonsensical ‘I Think I Smell A Rat’ featuring before a final big three - it’s almost as if we’re primed to rediscover the band all over again. Which is no small joy. (Emma Swann) LISTEN: ‘I’m Slowly Turning Into You’

It’s no secret that throughout their fourteen-year lifetime, You Me At Six have tried on their fair share of styles. From the glorious pop-punk of ‘Cavalier Youth’ to the gnarlier ‘Sinners Never Sleep’ via their most recent record ‘VI’ - named both after its spot in their discography and as a nod to their identity as a band - they’ve happily pushed against their own boundaries, aiming to explore different territory with each album. It’s on their seventh record - the in-your-face ‘SUCKAPUNCH’ - that they do so again, but this time, it arrives with a more aggressive edge. While ‘VI’ saw them reclaim their own sound, ‘SUCKAPUNCH’ feels to throw caution to the wind. Building upon the electronic flourishes they flirted with last time around, it’s here they embrace experimentation, with ‘MAKEMEFEELALIVE’ and ‘Beautiful Way’ both turbo-charged by Prodigy-esque samples.

A melting pot of the band’s real-life influences - with more elements of dance and hip hop thrown into their rock hybrid than ever before - this is a version of You Me At Six we’ve never seen before, and it’s certainly bold. (Sarah Jamieson) LISTEN: ‘SUCKAPUNCH’

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BLACK HONEY

Written & Directed (Foxfive) Over two years on since their self-titled debut arrived as a thrilling first output, Black Honey are back with their second offering, and they’re going bigger and bolder.

Self-described by the band as their sound “on steroids,” ‘Written & Directed’ sees the quartet evolving into the rock outfit they’d always threatened to be. Take the thrashing end of ‘Disinfect’ as the purest example of their reinvigorated rock attitude. Elsewhere, their beloved Americana-tinged sound still shines, with retro leaning lead single ‘Beaches’ and spine-tingling opener ‘I Like The Way You Die’ acting as classic Black Honey bops, while ‘I Do It To Myself’ is a mesmerising number about confronting your inner demons. Lead by Izzy B Phillips' biting vocals throughout, her songwriting is what strikes in the record, coining the phrase “vagina rock” to describe her empowering anthems, with ‘Fire’ being the best example of her moving and rousing lyrical ability. (Elly Watson) LISTEN: ‘Fire’

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It’s almost as if we’re primed to rediscover the band all over again.

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DEFTONES

Black Stallion (Warner) If we go by the wisdom that album anniversary celebrations tend to be the last refuge of the dying creative force, then there was never any reason for Deftones to mark the 20th birthday of ‘White Pony’ this year. In September, the titanic ‘Ohms’ extended to ten years and four albums one of the most remarkable runs of any band this century; a brooding modern masterpiece, it confirmed that they remain close to the peak of their powers as they enter into the fifth different decade of a career that began in 1988. Still, many of their fans continue to contend that ‘White Pony’ is their finest moment, and as a nod to that, the group have finally realised what presumably seemed like a good idea when they first had it; a remix album, originally inspired back in 2000 by frontman Chino Moreno’s love of DJ Shadow’s Endtroducing… Shadow himself is one of eleven artists to step up to the plate on ‘Black Stallion’, chipping in with a irritatingly glitchy take on ‘Digital Bath’. The bulk of the record is similarly throwaway; Clams Casino strips down ‘Feiticeira’ so far past its bare bones as to be beyond recognition, Salva’s choppy reimagining of ‘RX Queen’ fails to properly translate the urgency of the original, and Purity Ring’s spacey ‘Knife Prty’ falls awkwardly halfway between cover and remix. The low point is a new version of ‘Passenger’ from Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda, a baffling choice to begin with given how unfairly ‘White Pony’ was so often lumped in with the nu-metal of the time. In fact, though, ‘Passenger’ does not nod to ‘Hybrid Theory’ or even ‘Meteora’, but instead to Shinoda’s more recent work, meaning no guitar, a boring synth loop and horrible, pseudo-AutoTuned vocals. There are occasional flickers of inspiration - see the maximalist rework of ‘Elite’ from Blanck Mass and the minimalist ‘Teenager’ that Robert Smith contributed - but otherwise, you have to hope that everybody involved enjoyed putting ‘Black Stallion’ together, because it ain’t much fun to listen to. (Joe Goggins) LISTEN: ‘Teenager’ (Robert Smith Remix)

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THE KILLS Little Bastards (Domino)

If history will likely remember The Kills as a slightly more cult concern than many of their garage rock peers, then ‘Little Bastards’ - a collected b-sides and rarities release amassed from the first decade of their tenure as a band - underlines the idea that Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince were always more suited to the shadowy peripheries of the mainstream anyway. Though a round-up such as this technically shines a light on a group of tracks that, at their simplest, weren’t good enough to make it onto a studio album, ‘Little Bastards’ doesn’t feel that way; before the duo began to up their polish around 2008’s ‘Midnight Boom’ (the very end of the period represented here), The Kills revelled in scratchy, caustic rock’n’roll and thus, the lo-fi charm of ‘No Wow’ bonus track ‘Half Of Us’ or ‘London Hates You’ (part ‘Be My Baby’ drumbeat, part dead-eyed lyrical listing) nestle in happily among the recogniseable bones of the band. Recentlyreleased attic find ‘Raise Me’ prowls along on handclaps and Alison’s vocal snarl - a characteristic lack of musical fat to be found, while a trio of covers (Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Howlin’ Wolf, Dock Boggs) hammer home the outlier roots of the pair. If there’s a criticism it’s that some of these tracks feel like abandoned early incarnations of more familiar songs; opener ‘Superpowerless’, for example, is essentially a hybrid of half of ‘Midnight Boom’, while a session version of 2005 album track ‘Love Is A Deserter’ seems fairly unnecessary. Still, if these are The Kills’ offcuts, then there’s more than enough here to hopefully switch a new generation onto the main event. (Lisa Wright) LISTEN: ‘Kiss The Wrong Side’

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PHOEBE GREEN

I Can’t Cry For You (Chess

Club)

Oozing style, personality, and talent by the bucketload, Phoebe Green is poised to become Manchester’s next big thing. ‘I Can’t Cry For You’ finds the 23 year old forging an identity for herself by tying lush indie-pop melodies to an uncompromising lyrical voice. Nowhere is this more clear than on ‘Reinvent’, a half-sung half-spoken contemplation on people-pleasing co-authored by The Big Moon’s Juliette Jackson. It’s a brilliant introduction to what Phoebe is all about; her charming northern drawl will have you hanging on every word if the spacey instrumental bubbling away in the background isn’t appealing enough. “I don’t wanna be an open book, it’s got me in a mess / I would rather be a liar for them to only see my best” she muses starkly. If her earlier tracks ‘Dreaming Of’ and ‘Easy Peeler’ are anything to go off, lush, retro vignettes seem to be something of a speciality for her, and ‘Golden Girl’ follows that trend. There’s a hint of Kate Bush in the drama of the EP’s second single, and its wispy top line fits snugly with the likes of Declan McKenna, Clairo, Beabadoobee - the brat pack of the moment who are lacing vintage aesthetics into smart and catchy pop hooks. ‘I Can’t Cry For You’ is a promising introduction to a potential future superstar. (Alex Cabré) LISTEN: ‘Reinvent’

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PAUL MCCARTNEY McCartney III (Capitol)

There’s something inherently pleasing when the all-time greats acknowledge a sense of their own legacy and mythology; Bowie was a master of it in later life, and there’s an undoubted feeling of circles completed and patchworks pieced together with the arrival of ‘McCartney III’. The legendary Beatle’s first self-titled album landed in 1970 as a largely-acoustic solo affair; 1980 brought with it its follow-up, complete with the playful eccentricities of cult favourite ‘Temporary Secretary’; now, 50 years after the original, Macca begins another decade with its third outing - also written and recorded entirely on his own during lockdown, and featuring the kind of easy warmth that made its predecessors so full of charm.

As with any great McCartney offering, ‘III’ mixes a wholesomeness and heart-tugging purity with still-unexpected moments of musical intrigue - sometimes on the same track, as with ‘Find My Way’, which putters along merrily before breaking into a curveball middle-eight. Tales of family farm life on closer ‘Winter Bird / When Winter Comes’ sit next to the more structurally experimental ‘Deep Deep Feeling’, or ‘Lavatory Lil’ - the latest in the singer’s great tradition of cheeky fictional character studies. It’s impossible, meanwhile, not to crack a slightly misty-eyed smile at ‘The Kiss of Venus’ - a simple, acoustic-plucked lullaby in which the singer’s 78-year-old vocal sounds simultaneously fragile yet as familiar as a favourite jumper. Adding another instalment to a successful legacy is always a risk, but with ‘McCartney III’, all the icon’s beloved songwriting quirks are out in full force.

A more than worthy third prong of the trilogy.

(Lisa Wright) LISTEN: ‘The Kiss of Venus’

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BICEP

Isles (Ninja Tune) It’s something of a cliche to say that the club is like a church - bringing together communities under one banner; the almost spiritual experience a good night out can give. But it takes on a different meaning when you’re from a city where religion is the most divisive topic going. For Belfast-born Bicep, the club was the exact opposite of church; one of the only places in a divided city where religion didn’t matter. As they put it “It felt like the safest place but, on paper, it should have been the most dangerous”. Religion is something they’ve understandably been reticent to talk about. But it’s all over their second album ‘Isles’. From the choral vocals that back the crystalline synths of ‘Lido’, to the ghostly melodies of ‘Cazenove’, ‘Isles’ moves back and forth between the devotional and the secular, creating something altogether cosmic. The two sides of life on the dancefloor laid bare but always with the one thing they share in mind: that sense of community. There’s a melancholy at play here too. The duo couldn’t have imagined what the world would look like when they started making ‘Isles’, but it’s become a record in mourning. Tracks like ‘X’ seem to elicit foggy memories; Clara La San’s gorgeous vocals feeling just out of reach. Even ‘Atlas’, the closest relation to the likes of ‘Glue’ and ‘Orca’, takes on a different feel. It’s both a comfort and a lament. Never overstaying its welcome, and always intriguingly structured, the lights might have come up, but the Belfast duo want to remind us that the memories and communities aren’t going anywhere.

(Chris Taylor) LISTEN: ‘Cazenove’

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LOKOY

Badminton (Propeller)

He’s so far best known as bassist in Norwegian party-starters Sløtface, but with debut solo full-length ‘Badminton’, Lasse Løkoy shows himself a deft hand at producing low-key bedroom pop. Gathering a cast of neighbours - from Nils Bech who pops up on the Tame Impala-a-like ‘relay’, to hyped rapper Safario on ‘both eyes’, a track that lands somewhere around the playful side of Bakar - the record is packed with deft bops - light relief from the outside world. There’s also the Lauv-esque ‘glitter’, earwormy chorus of ‘limbo’, echoes of Clairo on Emilie Østebø’s spot on ‘a mistake’ and melancholic closer ‘ghost town’, but the soft sonic thread that ties them together - helped by a series of patchwork interludes keeps it all just coherent enough. (Bella Martin) LISTEN: ‘limbo’

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VIAGRA BOYS Welfare Jazz (Year0001)

Saxophone-toting, tattoo-adorned Swedish punks Viagra Boys’ penchant for all things grotty is a reputation that precedes them but, by the close of ‘Welfare Jazz’, the story might have a slightly more conflicted ending.

Opening with the ‘orrible stomp of recent single ‘Ain’t Nice’ - a classic V Boys offering that finds singer Sebastian Murphy repeatedly declaring its title over filthy basslines - the band’s second LP arrives with declarations of independence and bravado; ‘Toad’ kicks off with a strangely Elvis-esque spoken word piece before breaking into song (“I don’t need no woman”), while interlude ‘This Old Dog’ is the first of three tracks in which canine behaviour becomes an analogy for their human counterparts’ often less desirable qualities. The claustrophobic chugs and oppressive brass that marked their debut meanwhile are ever-hovering - sometimes pushed to the extreme such as on the hellish ‘Girls & Boys’ (definitely not a Blur cover); sometimes eschewed for occasional surprises such as the genuinely-rather-melodic ‘Creatures’.

But it’s when you reach the final one-two of ‘To The Country’ and ‘In Spite Of Ourselves’ - the former a stripped-back cry for a purer life; the latter, a backand-forth duet that calls to mind The White Stripes’ ‘It’s True That We Love One Another’ - that it seems even Viagra Boys themselves might be slightly exhausted with the constant darkness that they’ve cultivated. Come LP3, maybe they’ll reinvent themselves as a more wholesome proposition; for now, ‘Welfare Jazz’ stands as a document of a band that are perhaps more in limbo than they might first appear. (Lisa Wright) LISTEN: ‘Toad’

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Q&A

The Oslo-based producer and Sløtface bassist lets us in on how his lockdown’s been and going solo (ish).

How has lockdown treated you?

From here, it looks like Norway has dealt with it relatively well compared to most…

Sløtface were going to have a very busy year of touring and though I wish we could have played all the shows we were supposed to play, I’ve had a lot of time to write music and make videos for Lokoy - which has been great! I actually got infected by Ms Rona about a month ago (it wasn’t too bad for me, and I’m fine now) and I spent my time in isolation making a video explaining how I made the beat for ‘both eyes’.

‘Badminton’ is described as an ‘exploration of pop’, suggesting something a little scientific - are you a real studio-head?

I think that depends on who you compare me to. I’m not a very techy type of producer. I hate learning about software and all the science behind sound recording, which results in me never learning! But I can obsess over tiny fractures of sounds for hours. I feel more like a kid just playing around with sounds and running on instinct, rather than it being anything too scientific.

How did making a debut solo record compare to with the band?

It’s less structured - which means I need to make systems for myself. I think it’s super difficult. And I think it’s harder. I’ve mixed all the songs - bar one - in addition to producing them, as well as writing and performing. In Sløtface I have a much smaller part in the whole ‘machinery’ - which makes it a less tiring process. That being said, when things begin to come together nicely with Lokoy, it’s a lot more satisfying - as I know I’ve had complete control of all the different sounds.

As part of one of Norway’s leading exports, how important was it to showcase some of your neighbours on the record?

The collaborators on my record are people I love working with and people I have high hopes for. It’s so cool to see how much talent is in the Norwegian and Scandinavian music scene. I’m also honored that some of these artists (Sofus, Varpu and Emilie Østebø) are super fresh and new and this will be a sort of introduction to a whole new audience. It’s very cool - because I know how good they are, and now I get to show that to the rest of the world as well.

• THE ORIELLES • Disco Volador

• CHERRY GHOST • Live at the Trades Club

• KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD • Eco-Friendly Vinyl Reissues

• BAXTER DURY • The Night Chancers

• ANNA BURCH • If You’re Dreaming

• MARK LANEGAN • Straight Songs of Sorrow

• MILDLIFE • Automatic

• WORKING MEN’S CLUB • Working Men’s Club

• KATY J PEARSON • Return

• THE MAGIC NUMBERS • The Magic Numbers

• CHERRY GHOST • Beneath this Burning Shoreline

• TERRY HALL • Home

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ROSE GRAY

dancing, drinking, talking, thinking (On The Blue Line)

RECO MMEN DED Missed the boat on some the best albums from the last couple of months?

Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.

That Rose Gray opted to look back to ‘90s dance for her signature sound now seems a masterstroke, the Londoner keying into an imagined nostalgia for a club culture unaffected by both gentrification and a global pandemic. Her singles, the euphoric ‘Save Your Tears’ and Lily Allen-indebted ‘Same Cloud’ both feature, and most of this debut EP continues along similar lines - especially the earwormy ‘Easy’.

The record doesn’t always land on its feet: spoken parts are tricky at the best of times, and despite its soaring chorus ‘The Best Thing’ is patchy as a consequence. But while there’s still enough time for a metaphorical comedown with the heartfelt ‘Billy’, ‘dancing, drinking, talking, thinking’ still marks Rose’s out as a name to watch. (Bella Martin) LISTEN: ‘Save Your Tears’

THE CRIBS

Night Network The eighth album that nearly never was, Wakefield’s finest returned in (suitably noisy) style.

YUNG

Ongoing Dispute (PNKSLM) That it’s taken over three years for Yung to follow up debut album ‘A Youthful Dream’ doesn’t really play into the ‘worth the wait’ trope; seconds into opener ‘Autobiography’ and it’s as if the Danes were never never gone. This is no blistering return, but a pleasant one nonetheless.

Fuzzy and frustrated, much like its title, the tension throughout ‘Ongoing Dispute’ frequently threatens to bubble over into fury, but is always brought back. ‘Lust and Learning’ has hints of ‘80s icons Echo and the Bunnymen; ‘Above Water’ nods towards American noiseniks Cloud Nothings with frontman Mikkel Holm Silkjaer’s tortured vocal nearing breaking point; while the repeated snarl of “you’re such a man” on ‘Such A Man’ is at least halfway to being as disgruntled as neighbours Iceage. (Louisa Dixon) LISTEN: ‘Such A Man’

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NILÜFER YANYA Feeling Lucky?

(ATO)

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SLEAFORD MODS

Spare Ribs (Rough Trade)

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Yes, there’s a lot to be angry about: even an abridged list of worthy 2020 gripes would last far longer than this review’s word count. And an ability to articulate in simple terms the kind of frustrations faced by many in an at least semi-rhythmic manner should be, right now, an easy sell. Unfortunately ‘Spare Ribs’, the latest from East Midlands agitators Sleaford Mods falls far closer to Abe Simpson’s online legacy than a call to arms. Take ‘Elocution’. The majority of the song’s somewhat noble cause is directed at people play-acting posh to get ahead, but in a line curiously close to a subtweet, the exaggerated well-spoken intro directly references support of independent venues. Or the Amy Taylor-featuring ‘Nudge It’ which has the pair sounding like a conspiracy theoryspouting couple you’re desperately dodging on the way to the pub toilets. Not one for anyone who’s not already won over by the pair’s particular charms.

(Bella Martin) LISTEN: ‘I Don’t Rate You’

Nilüfer Yanya wrote the lead single from this EP in response to the increasingly nagging fear of flying that set in as she took her superb debut record, ‘Miss Universe’, around the world last year.

Perhaps she’d have felt better about it if she could’ve known that she’d be taking an enforced break from the road this year anyway; either way, the nerves that inspired ‘Crash’ certainly don’t show - driven by roaring, overdriven guitar fuzz and an earworm of a refrain, there’s a genuine swagger to the track that suggests the Londoner is still riding the crest of ‘Miss Universe’’s wave. Fittingly for a release that arrives in the dying days of 2020, all three songs on ‘Feeling Lucky?’ deal with themes of uncertainty, lack of autonomy, chance, and change. ‘Same Damn Luck’ flits between both extremes of Nilüfer’s vocal register as she laments missed connections over slick guitar-and-bass interplay that recalls ‘Stories from the City’-era PJ Harvey, while the studio version of ‘Day 7.5093’ - previewed in stripped-back form during an NPR Tiny Desk Concert back in July - is a bracing, breezy slice of power-pop. ‘Feeling Lucky?’ is not necessarily a sure signifier of the direction that the follow-up to 'Miss Universe' will eventually take - all three of the EPs that preceded that album had their own distinct identities - but it does suggest that she remains locked in to a rich vein of songwriting form. (Joe Goggins) LISTEN: ‘Same Damn Luck’

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SHAMIR Shamir

It’s the start of a whole new era for the now Philadelphiabased songwriter.

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ADRIANNE LENKER

songs + instrumentals ‘songs’ and its lyricless companion feel like unearthing an old puzzle a piece at a time.

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BAIO

Dead Hand Control (Glassnote)

Chris Baio released two solo LPs in the gap between Vampire Weekend’s ‘Modern Vampires of the City’ and ‘Father of the Bride’ proving himself in the process as a prolific force to be reckoned with. On ‘Dead Hand Control’ - his third offering - Baio adds another bright electro-pop gem to his solo cannon.

And for an album named after a Soviet missile system designed to destroy America, it’s surprisingly optimistic. There are shades of David Bowie in the brooding baritone he adopts throughout, which helps preach the part doom-riddled, part tongue-in-cheek observations across the LP. “I’ll give you whatever it takes for you to make it through the times / I’ll give you endless me, endlessly” he sings on ‘Endless Me, Endlessly’. Closer ‘O.M.W’, a co-write with Ezra Koenig, blooms around a hypnotic piano loop that slowly curls under layers and layers of synth across its ten-minute running time. On the other end of the dial, there are tight two-minute pop blitzes here too, ‘Take It From Me’ is indebted to an infectious funk groove and bright off-beat synths as Baio flexes a little Nick Cave stanning - “If you wanna hear some Cave, I can put on ‘Stagger Lee’” he promises.

Packed full of bright ideas and moreish hooks, ‘Dead Hand Control’ is a hopeful document about finding peace in your relationships and immediate surroundings, even when the world is on fire. (Sean Kerwick) LISTEN: ‘Take It From Me’

A rich vein of songwriting.

A PERFECT GIFT FOR THE PEARL JAM FAN IN YOUR LIFE… NOT FOR YOU PEARL JAM AND THE PRESENT TENSE

t

RONEN GIVONY Discover Pearl Jam’s odyssey and importance in culture, from the ‘90s to today.

Get DIY delivered to your door every month diymag.com/ subscribe

9781501360688 • £17.99

Order at Bloomsbury.com/NotForYou

PR A H .C O.U K

PRAH

Gentle Stranger Loved And Unlearnt (Remixes)

Hiro Ama Uncertainty EP

Hannah Holland Adult Material (Original Score)

Falle Nioke & Ghost Culture Youkounkoun EP

Eve Maret Stars Aligned

Pozi 176 EP

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BACK TO THE

DRAWING BOARD WITH PUMA BLUE

Q1: Where did you record ‘In Praise of Shadows’?

Q2: What kind of tree do ‘Velvet Leaves’ fall from?

Q3: What are ‘Sweet Dreams’ made of?

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PUMA BLUE

In Praise of Shadows (Blue Flowers) We’ve all been there. It’s 8pm on a Sunday. You’re knackered, almost too knackered. There’s only one thing for it. It’s time for an early night. The problem is, try as you might, you just can’t get to sleep. Thankfully, this problem can be a thing of the past. Puma Blue has got your back. ‘In Praise of Shadows’, his debut album, is pretty much the musical equivalent of Night Nurse (other sleep aids are available), but in the best way possible, filled with tracks tailor-made for nights under the duvet. From the slow-mo, vinyl crackling R&B of ‘Cherish (Furs)’ to the weighted blanket beats of ‘Opiate’, the album covers the listener in a cosy veil of reverb. When artists set the dial to “chill” there’s always a risk that they slip into the realm of coffee table irrelevance, the sort of dreary nonsense dads put on at a mediocre dinner party. Thankfully Puma Blue never lets this happen. While at times he toys with jazz (‘Velvet Dreams’ and ‘Oil Slick’) these moments are fleeting enough to be endured, safe in the knowledge that we’ll be taken back to the fluffy R&B dreamland before long. Sunday nights might never be the same again. (Jack Doherty) LISTEN: ‘Cherish (Furs)’

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The Last Exit

Burrows

STILL CORNERS (Wrecking Light)

If 'The Last Exit' were a road movie, it’d be Paris, Texas; this is at once both Still Corners’ quietest album and their most thickly atmospheric. Yet leaning more heavily into their influences seems weirdly to have freed them up, as if by choosing to be more referential than experimental, they’ve been able to make their most cohesive and nuanced album since ‘Strange Pleasures’. In places, they can be a little too on-the-nose - ‘Till We Meet Again’, for instance, literally has some Lynchian ‘ethereal whooshing’ - but 'The Last Exit' is largely worthy of the cultural touchpoints it so proudly nods to. (Joe Goggins) LISTEN: ‘Bad Town’

CARO (YALA!)

With their soft, soothing sonic palette and a tendency to jump between rhythms at the throw of a (hi) hat, Caro very much follow in a similar vein to a long line of fellow hushed indie types - think Gengahr, Bombay Bicycle Club or alt-J. The Leeds-based group’s long-delayed debut might not offer much in variety (in short, if you’re into a combination of those groups’ sounds, you’re going to love it), but in our current long, dark winter nights there’s a nostalgic tint to the songs on offer, whether the bassy synths of the title track, or folky ‘Smorgasbord’ that hits right in the warm and fuzzies. (Louisa Dixon) LISTEN: ‘Burrows’

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KIWI JR

Cooler Returns (Sub Pop)

Q4: What kind of shadows are the best kind?

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That Kiwi Jr. have followed up last year’s charming debut so quickly - even in the middle of a pandemic - feels about right; there’s a breeziness to their brand of indie rock that suggests it’s something they’re able to knock out effortlessly. The same basic blueprint that the Canadian four-piece laid down on 'Football Money' forms the crux of 'Cooler Returns', too, albeit with the occasional flash of polish here and the odd augmentation of the arrangements there; the furious riffery of the title track feels like new territory (and will do nothing to dampen down comparisons to Parquet Courts), while ‘Only Here for a Haircut’ is inflected with country hallmarks, including slide guitar and harmonica. The band rattle through a seemingly inexhaustible supply of hooks and melodies as the record wears on - ‘Omaha’ and ‘Domino’ are particular earworms in point - but what really holds 'Cooler Returns' together is frontman Jeremy Gaudet’s wry and decidedly singular style of storytelling; in that respect, the brilliantly tongue-in-cheek ‘Nashville Wedding’ might be the standout, replete with a slew of knowing lyrical winks to the listener (“I wanna hold the minister’s hand / strangle the jangle pop band”, in particular, might alarm guitarist Brian Murphy, who plays bass in Alvvays). If 'Football Money' was a fullhearted paean to the likes of Pavement and Archers of Loaf, then 'Cooler Returns' is the sound of Kiwi Jr. moving forward, planting their own flag in the power-pop ground. (Joe Goggins) LISTEN: ‘Omaha’

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Coming Up SLOWTHAI - TYRON He's following 2019 debut 'Nothing Great About Britain' with a record that looks inwards. With help from pals including A$AP Rocky, Denzel Curry, Skepta, Deb Never and more. Out 5th Feburary.

PALE WAVES - WHO AM I? If single 'Change' is any indicator of the foursome's second outing, '90s pop-rock nostalgists are in for a right treat. Out 12th February.

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LANDE HEKT Going to Hell (Get Better)

Having garnered underground attention as one third of pop-punk trio Muncie Girls, Lande Hekt transports her unfiltered and overt lyricism to her debut solo full-length, ‘Going to Hell’. In part chronicling her acceptance of her sexuality, the deeply personal album opens with the scene-setting ‘Whiskey’ - a candid unfurling of the exhausting effort of hiding herself and the destruction that brings. From here, Lande explores the complex journey from self-doubt to personal acceptance with the raw urgency and atypical melodies that have underpinned her full band project. The journey comes to a head in the brilliant title-track, itself a playful response to the thankfully dwindling condemnation of the LGBT+ community, yet one that portrays the ever-present struggle with enforced shame and guilt that plagues many. It’s testament to the record’s cathartic power, one that concludes with Lande triumphantly declaring that “I’m more powerful than you’ll ever know” on the politically charged closer ‘In The Darkness’. It cements ‘Going to Hell’ as a celebration of personal freedom. (Ben Tipple) LISTEN: ‘Going to Hell’

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LONELY THE BRAVE The Hope List

(Easy Life)

Throughout their time as a band, Lonely The Brave have managed to create a slew of boldly cathartic anthems and with new record, ‘The Hope List’, that tradition looks set to continue. Despite the departure of previous vocalist David Jakes back in 2018, new frontman Jack Bennett picks up where he left off; managing to tread the same fine line between fraught and ultimately hopeful that David made so vital during their first two records. Backed up by powerful guitars and soaring vocals, their brand of intense but atmospheric rock feels rejuvenating - and is perhaps even a tonic - with the likes of ‘Chasing Knives’ and its title track providing a real sense of solace after such a conflicting period of time time for us all. (Sarah Jamieson) LISTEN: ‘Chasing Knives’

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CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH New Fragility (CYHSY)

With Alec Ounsworth the sole remaining member, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah has, for the last few years, existed for all intents and purposes as a platform for the Philadelphian to run unchecked. Following a series of patchy releases, ‘New Fragility’ strives for structure, toggling between social awareness and slack harmonies in an interplay that never fully attains the unity it craves. A need to tackle current pressing concerns does, however, work to its credit: ‘Thousand Oaks’ confronts the ever-present threat of gun violence in the US and political inaction, sobering and much-needed commentary that lapses into plodding nod-offs such as ‘Dee, Forgiven’, a listlessness that succeeds in dragging the title track into a similar state of drift. Alec’s wavering holler remains stubbornly distressed, if a little paler – fundamentally so when stacked up against the endearingly kooky promise of CYHSY’s 2005 debut. (Chris Hamilton-Peach) LISTEN: ‘Innocent Weight’

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LICE

WASTELAND: What Ails Our People Is Clear (Settled Law)

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RAISSA

HEROGIRL (Zelig) FOO FIGHTERS - MEDICINE AT MIDNIGHT The stadium rockers' tenth is haunted, according to main man Dave Grohl. It's released on 5th February.

JULIEN BAKER - LITTLE OBLIVIONS It's time to get emosh again, as the Tennessee songwriter returns for LP3, this time with a full band in tow. Out 26th February.

CLOUD NOTHINGS - THE SHADOW I REMEMBER Ten years on from debut 'Turning On', the Cleveland outfit returned to Steve Albini's Electrical Audio for LP8. Out 26th February.

Coming Up

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It may be an ever-increasingly saturated market right now, but not every solo pop singer launching themselves full pelt into 2021 has the cosign of one of popular music’s leading lights. Raissa follows in the footsteps of King Princess by signing with Mark Ronson’s Zelig label, and if debut EP ‘Herogirl’ is any measure, is set for a similar path. There’s a touch of confessional bedroom pop (‘Constellations’), choruses that reach for the skies (epic closer ‘Sane’) and a killer earworm with single ‘Go Fast Baby’. Somewhere between the off-kilter delivery of Lorde and Charli XCX’s bop factory, Raissa shouldn’t be a pop star-inwaiting for long.

(Bella Martin) LISTEN: ‘Sane’

A notable departure from past material, their full-length debut feels like LICE’s conscious uncoupling from the contemporary musical landscape. A conceptual commentary on the band’s perceived banality of the ‘satirical guitar music boom’, they lampoon the cliche across 11 barnstorming tracks. But for all the bridge burning, there is still a touch of the familiar. Deeply rooted in modern leftfield sensibilities, they combine their unique brand of artistic experimentation with the grounding influence of their peers: the industrial thump of Black Midi, the caustic drawl of IDLES, and on closing track ‘Clear’, drafting in the literal croon of Goat Girl. The result is a collection of biting, esoteric hymns that readily combine the earthly and the cosmic. (Jack Johnstone Orr) LISTEN: ‘Clear’

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BUCK MEEK Two Saviors (Keeled Scales)

It’s not exactly necessary to know that for ‘Two Saviors’, Buck Meek headed down to New Orleans in the heat of summer to record, one block from the Mississippi.

But it doesn’t hurt. A feather-light collection of alt-country, packed with pedal steel, lilting melodies and Buck’s own evocative Texan burr, whether it’s the tranquil ‘Candle’ (co-written with day job bandmate Adrianne Lenker) or the playfully bumbling ‘Ham on White’, Buck’s latest outing is a soothing antidote to literally everything else 2020 has thrown our way. (Louisa Dixon) LISTEN: ‘Ham on White’

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IT’S YOUR ROUND

A big inter-band pub quiz of sorts, we’ll be grilling your faves one by one.

NO BROUW GHT TO YO U VIA ZOOM !

THIS MONTH:

WILLIAM DOYLE

Where: London. Drink: Water.

Price: Free from Mother Earth.

Specialist Subject: Christmas Songs Q1. Name both the Beatles-affiliated Christmas songs and tell us which one placed higher in the charts.

‘Wonderful Christmastime’ and ‘Happy Xmas (War Is Over)’ - I’m gonna say ‘Wonderful Christmastime’ charted higher.

The songs were correct, but Lennon’s got to Number 2, whereas Macca’s got to Number 6.

I think I prefer ‘Wonderful Christmastime’, it’s the better tune. If he’d have had a children’s choir, he would have got the Number One. Q2. Slade’s ‘Merry Christmas Everybody’ and Wizzard’s ‘I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday’ were both released in which year?

1973.

Correct!

Slade’s one, we need a moratorium on that one, but great sideburns. The Wizzard one has a lot of kids in… with hindsight, it feels a bit inappropriate.

Q3. How many Christmas Number Ones did the Spice Girls have?

Three? ‘2 Become 1’, the one after Geri left and another one.

Correct - the other two were called ‘Goodbye’ and ‘Too Much’.y Q4. Which two artists were the only people to feature on both the original Band Aid and Band Aid 20?

Bono of course, he’s always there. And… who are the other old people in the other one? Paul McCartney?

Correct!

Q5. Why did Rage Against the Machine’s ‘Killing In The Name Of’ end up taking the top spot in Christmas 2009?

There was a campaign to keep the X Factor song off the top.

Also correct!

It was a simpler time, then.

That’s not the sort of thing people would bother doing now; we’ve all got bigger fish to fry.

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General Knowledge Q6. What year did the first series of Big Brother air?

2001?

So close! It was 2000.

I would have been… nine, so I didn’t watch it. The only Big Brother thing I remember was when Angie Bowie was in the celebrity house and David Bowie died and everyone thought when she said ‘David’ it was David Gest, who was also in the house.

Q7. What number adorns Heinz products in relation to the number of available Heinz products?

52.

It’s 57.

Jarvis Cocker was talking about that on a podcast the other day. I was obviously five off. Damn it.

Q8. If you had a glossectomy, what would you have removed?

I’ve gone for

something in the throat area…

It’s in that region!

Eyes? They kind of get glossy.

You were much closer before. It’s actually the tongue.

Maybe I should know that, given the singing.

Q9. What is the famous pub in Emmerdale called?

I’ve no idea. I’m gonna go for a shot in the dark - The Hay Bale Arms.

It’s The Woolpack.

Q10. What’s the name of Uma Thurman’s character in Kill Bill?

Oh I can’t remember… It totally escapes me. I’ve only seen one of them once; I’m not a big Tarantino guy.

You could have had The Bride, or the real name which is Beatrix Kiddo.

God I’m doing terribly, I’ve got 0%.

0/5 FINAL SCORE:

4.5/10

Verdict: “Evidently I know a lot about Christmas and not much else. It’s a shame I’m staying put this Christmas and not going to visit family so I can’t apply my expert Christmas knowledge.”

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