Our Next Best Thing section
has had another exciting year highlighting some of the most dynamic and
interesting emerging acts, including FKA Twigs, Lola Colt, and queen of bass
herself Meghan Trainor, amongst others.
But what about the
burgeoning year that is about to be 2015 – what hot new artists are beckoning?
Here are some of our predictions for the artists we will all be talking about
over the coming 12 months.
Years and Years
We have been excited about
this London-based electronica trio since our coverage of them at this year’s In
The Woods festival, and throughout the later half of 2014 they have continued
to entice. The group have released a variety of singles on indie labels, but
their recent EP Take Shelter on
Polydor managed to reach the top of the i-tunes electronic singles charts this
summer, leading to heighted excitement over a full length release, due in 2015.
Years and Years create
catchy, soulful dance-pop with beauty, elation and melancholy. Their music is
rinsed in turn of the century aesthetics, rhythms and timbres, yet is alive and
fresh and now. The group themselves are adorably humble, photogenic, and offer
a cover of Blu Cantrell’s “Breathe” so good you will not want to live without it.
Slaves
Ah, a two-piece garage band,
what is not to love about this most perfect of rock combinations? Slaves create
heavy, gnarly rock that will make you feel dark and dirty (in a good way), with
their scuzzy guitars, basic drums, despondent, vaguely humorous lyrics and punk
nuances. Guitar driven music has been quiet for a while now, but these guys
could be at the forefront of something new and exciting for the genre once
again.
Peluche
We only first wrote about
Peluche a month ago, but they have already showed so much promise we are sure
2015 will be a good year for them. The London three-piece offer an enchanting
style of upbeat indie pop, with inspirations as broad as Paul Simon and
Stealing Sheep evident in the mix. These ladies have recently had their tasty
single premiered on Radio 1, and are in the process of recording their debut.
Kwabs
This Ghanaian-born male solo
artist has a rich music heritage, culminating with the study of jazz and the
Royal Academy. His music has had growing hype for sometime, and it is easy to
see why with Kwab’s soulful vocals, adorned with timbres that are emotional,
visceral and cool.
Young Fathers
This might seem like an odd
choice, given that Young Fathers have already released their debut album (which
won the Mercury prize in case you didn’t know), but we still feel that this
incredibly group are not quite getting the hype that they deserve. This is
building, however, and we feel that 2015 will be the year that Young Fathers
finally get the recognition they deserve. They offer the most arresting
performances, defy categorisation, and make surprisingly humorous music with a
real world twist. Perfection.
https://soundcloud.com/youngfathers
See this at MTTM here: http://www.morethanthemusic.co.uk/the-next-best-thing/next-best-thing-predictions-2015
See this at MTTM here: http://www.morethanthemusic.co.uk/the-next-best-thing/next-best-thing-predictions-2015
