From Daft Punk to ZHU some of the biggest names in music have made a career out of remaining mysterious. For a new artist, it's one of the oldest tricks in the book to break into the scene as an enigma. It creates interest and also makes people focus solely on the music. The issue with that is that the music has to be really, really good for people to remember otherwise you're just a name without a face that will drift very quickly from people's memory. The artists below have no traceable identity yet but they do have songs that have stayed with us and made us feel like we've known them for years.
Seramic - Found
Seramic is a London artist and that's about all we know at this stage. He's dropped three songs now carving a lane somewhere between D'Angelo and Jungle with funky, gospel-tinged beats. His latest Found is also his best. It's a mammoth, expansive song, shot into the heavens by choirs and thundering percussion. Just when you think it's all over a guitar comes marching in and brings the whole thing home in spectacular fashion. When the music is this good, it's hard to really get hung up on who the hell the guy is.
Somewhere Else - Move Together
Somewhere Else only have one track to their name but it looks like they're going to be a big deal. Despite not having any details in regards to their identity online, this track Move Together was premiered on Drake's OVO Radio show on Beats 1 and features OVO signees Majid Jordan. Piecing all that together it looks as if they're affiliated with OVO and you know wherever there's Drake there's fire. The track is a glossy, confident cut that sits somewhere between dance and RnB, almost as if Drake and Diplo have buddied up.
WEIRDO - ARMANIO
The only visual we've been handed by Berlin via UK act WEIRDO so far is a rainbow coloured square which literally gives zero hints as to who they are. It doesn't matter though because the confident tunes they're churning out speak far louder than any picture ever could. Their debut track BUTTER was slippery and expertly melodic but it's their follow-up ARMANIO that's likely to turn heads. It's a funk-driven tune that's as colourful as the cover suggests. Stylistically it sits somewhere between Metronomy and early Foals sounding unmistakeably British.
Frank Gamble - Something's Wrong
Once again there's zero we can tell you about Frank Gamble. The name suggest that it's a boy behind the project but the voice and lyrics pretty much confirm that it's a girl. Gamble has delivered an A+ pop tune in Something's Wrong, combining organic elements with boisterous, bouncy synth work. The cover features somebody with a scarf over their head so it looks like she's going to be sticking with the mysterious vibe for a while but if she keeps delivering songs as good as this she'll be changing the face of pop before we even see her face.
Jadu Heart - Warm Magic
British producer Mura Masa has a record label called Anchor Point and he's singed this enigmatic duo Jadu Heart. He told The 405 before anybody had even heard music from them that they were "the most exciting thing I've heard" and now that they've dropped their debut EP Wanderflower we can confirm that he was pretty right on the money. They sound like Alt-J got weird again and traded more in electronics than guitars. Warm Magic is, as the title suggests, intimate and comforting but it's also woozy and off-putting with the vocals left circling your head in a haunting manner.
- Words by the interns' Sam Murphy