Fresh Faces: Who To Keep An Eye On In 2016

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    Fresh Faces: Who To Keep An Eye On In 2016
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    Each year we’re presented with a flurry of new music and while a lot of people buy into hype early there’s a handful of new artists making great music that sticks. At the end of last year everybody was talking about Tobias Jesso Jr, Kelela, Shamir and Wold Alice among others with each of them coming through to deliver some of the best albums of the year.

    While it’s inevitable that the hype will often deflate once an artist releases their debut album, a lot of new artists contribute to some of the best releases of the year. With that in mind, we’ve compiled a list of new artists we think will make serious waves with audiences and critics alike next year.

     

    Okay Kaya

    Do you want to know what you’ll be sitting in candle-lit rooms sobbing your heart out to next year? This. Okay Kaya is a New York-based Norwegian artist who’s had an unbelievable run of releases this year, pairing gentle but rich vocals with organic, dreamy soundscapes.

    There’s something far more special about Okay Kaya than your usual singer/songwriter using this same toolkit. She uses space and silence to her advantage. Nothing ever feels rushed and as such she sounds far more mature than an artist who only has three tracks to her name. Her latest track I’m Stupid (But I Love You) was written with Tobias Jesso Jr. who delivered a stellar debut album earlier this year and also contributed to Adele’s forthcoming album. His weighty keys marry beautifully with Okay Kaya’s aesthetic, creating perhaps her most special moment to date.

    An album of tracks just like these is what we need and if she delivers next year, she’ll be filling rooms and mending heartbreak in 2016.

     

     

    Dua Lipa

    You only need to hear the first 30 seconds of Dua Lipa’s latest single Be The One to know that it’s a megahit in waiting. The first thing that hits you is that smokey, sexy voice and then you’re taken away by the sweeping synths and finally your smacked by that beats that heads straight to the dancefloor.

    Lipa is not your average popstar. It doesn’t feel like she’ll be churning out glossy radio hits anytime soon but she is the cross between Lana Del Rey and Carly Rae Jepsen that you never knew you needed. Be The One is her slam dunk but her previous track New Love was edgy and effortlessly cool while her cover of Jamie xx’s Good Times made better on what is already a near-perfect track.

    In 2016 she’ll have people wanting to dress like her and average popstars wishing they were just like her.
     

     

    Mura Masa

    This 19 year-old British beatmaker looks likely to be the go-to man of the electronic music world just like Cashmere Cat or Djemba Djemba - those producers that can make their own interesting stuff but also craft a perfect pop track.

    His debut 2015 EP Someday Somewhere showed that he could traverse electronica, pop and hip-hop with ease, be it weaving in the vocals of Nao or Denai Moore or going it instrumental. The Nao-featuring Firefly felt like he’d pulled out all the stops but he proved us wrong when he bettered it with Love For That featuring fellow Brit Shura. It’s still one of the most beautiful musical moments of 2015, mixing crystalline beats with flourishing synths and a gentle vocal that cuts straight to the heart.

    It’s one thing to make music for the feet but it’s another thing to channel the heart at the same time.

     

     

    Koi Child

    With just two tracks to their name, Koi Child closed out one of the stages at this year’s BIGSOUND music conference with most people there out of curiosity rather than because they were fans. Not one person left that room without being converted thanks to their off-the-chain, energetic performance that fused jazz, funk and hip-hop together in one seamless set.

    Their 2015 track Black Panda is like nothing in Australian hip-hop right now sounding like BadBadNotGood collided with rap scenes from Britain and the US. On-stage they bring that same feeling, with rapper Shannon Patterson vibing off the powerful horn section behind him while looking as if he could rap forever.

    With Kevin Parker already on board as a fan and a producer, the Perth collective look set to make big waves in 2016 with a debut album on the way and a support slot in Australia for Tame Impala.

     

    GL

    While everywhere around the world has produced pop acts that bubble just under the mainstream, it seems that section of music in Australia has been reserved for indie-rock or electronica. It’s about time we had a super cool, Madonna-referencing act taking to the triple j airwaves and GL look like just the duo for the job.

    Vocalist Ella Thompson has already got the tick of approval from Mark Ronson who asked her to sing on his recent Australian tour and they’ve capitalised on that momentum with their best single to date Number One. It’s tinged with ‘80s pop gold while sitll bringing that fresh, crisp production that has the international scene frothing over Kate Boy or Empress Of. It’s an area of pop less explored in Australia and if the Melbourne act can bring more from where this came from festival audiences are going to gush over them in 2016.

    Let GL be your number one next year.

     

     

    Stormzy

    Stormzy already doesn’t need much of an introduction. The British Grime MC has already toured Australia this year and picked up accolades abroad including beating out FKA twigs and Little Simz for the Best International Act at the BET Awards.

    It’s not a matter of whether you’ll hear of Stormzy in 2016, you will, it’s more a matter of just how big he can get next year. We saw the meteoric rise of Skepta thanks to cosigns by Drake and Kanye but Stormzy is producing hits on his own that the British public are eating up. His recent freestyle WickedSkengMan 4 reached the top 20 in the UK becoming the highest charting freestyle ever while he managed another top 50 track with Know Me From.

    As Grime continues to spread further and further afield, Stormzy’s name will be the first reference point for newcomers. He’s young, supremely talented and armed with killer beats.

     

    JONES

    Lianne La Havas and Miguel led the way with the best soul albums this year and London newcomer JONES looks poised to lead the pack in 2016. Her Indulge EP this year had critics recalling everyone from Solange to Janelle Monae because it was beautifully soulful while still being sleek and cool.

    Her voice sounds like it was dipped in honey and then drizzled in hot tea and the beats that she’s laying it over have a certain black and white class to them. There’s emotion to her voice and she trades in topics about love but it never sounds depressing or melancholic. Her latest track Hoops is her best yet, giving us plenty of space to hear her voice properly and also delivering a slinky hook to latch onto.

    It’s taken from her album New Skin which is due to drop in early next year and could just be one of 2016’s finest.

     

    Kiiara

    If you can pick up four million Soundcloud plays on your debut track, you’re immediately doing something right and that’s exactly what internet sensation Kiiara is doing. The 20 year-old hardware clerk has four songs to her name now and each of them have spread the Kiiara word further and further.

    She’s making woozy, off-kilter pop songs that dabble in auto-tune and flirt with hip-hop. It’s weird but also oddly familiar, maybe because she’s touching on relatable subjects like alcohol or overwhelming emotion. She know counts Beats 1’s Zane Lowe as one of her biggest fans and he’s driven her expansion by spinning her repeatedly on the International station.

    We still don’t really know anything about her and that’s what makes it so exciting. She’ll probably reveal bits and pieces to us over the course of next year or she may hold everything close to her chest. As long as the tunes keep coming, who cares.

     

    Hinds

    Hinds might just be one of the coolest bands on the planet right now. The Spanish four-piece have been dropping raucous, attitude-filled rock songs for the better part of a year now and their fan base just keeps growing and growing because their videos are stylish but weird and they’re not afraid to say they “fucking love” their own songs.

    In particular, they “fucking love” their track Garden which is the opener to their forthcoming album due in January 2016. From what we’ve heard do far it’s going to be full of scuzzy rock songs with brilliantly obnoxious vocals and little hidden gem melodies.

    There’s nothing polished about what they do at all. They’re the kind of band who could play the festival scene and have most punters crowd surfing and chugging beers in minutes. Just four awesome girls making incredible music.

     

    VANT

    In case you’re not well acquainted with anyone from The Arctic Monkeys to the more recent Wolf Alice, the Brits make blood good guitar bands and VANT are their latest golden export. They are a foursome helmed by confident frontman Mattie Vant and they are the band most likely to satisfy your head-thrashing desires and pop hooks needs in 2016.

    They’re making really punchy, melodic and simple punk-tinged tunes that could please the radio as much as it could make a live audience go mental. Their latest single Parking Lot proves all of those things. It’s built around crunching guitars and surprisingly crisp, charismatic vocals there to deliver delicious hooks.

    Parking Lot is already being championed by BBC Radio 1 and no doubt once the European festival circuit hits next year they’ll be one of the bands everybody will be champing at the bit to see.

     

    Methyl Ethel

    Ever since Tame Impala burst onto the International scene, people overseas have been keen to find the next greatest thing down-under. Recently they’ve latched onto Courtney Barnett and if tastemaker festival CMJ was anything to go by this year, the latest Aussie band to bring in the praise is Methyl Ethel.

    The Perth band are making washed-out indie-rock music buoyed by really warm melodies. They released their debut album Oh Inhuman Spectacle and it’s proving to be a grower as word of the band spreads further and further. It’s rare that a band find that perfect balance between scuzz and clarity but these guys have managed it perfectly on the record.

    Their strongest tune Twilight Driving has the ability to soundtrack the Australian summer if it falls into the right hands. They picked up booking agents in the UK and the US at BIGSOUND in Brisbane this year so expect that they’ll have a big year not only here but also overseas.

     

    Dave B

    It feels like rap in 2015 has gotten darker and darker from Earl Sweatshirt’s haunting I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside to A$AP Rocky’s woozy late night trip Long.Live.A$AP. That’s why it’s so refreshing when you hear something like Punch Drunk, the new album by Seattle rapper Dave B.

    The 9-track record is fully of sunny beats whether it be the crystalline vibes of Rain or the warm jazzy undertones of Custom. It’s just the remedy we needed for those of us waiting patiently for a solo release from Chance The Rapper. The pair of them share that effortless feel for joyous flows and that always stands out in a sea of rap music looking towards the darkness.

    In a year he’s gathered together an incredibly strong soundcloud and now with Punch Drunk in hand, more and more people are going to turn their attention to Dave B over the next year.
     

     

    words by the interns' Sam Murphy

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    Tags:
    koi child, okay kaya, dua lipa, mura masa, stormzy,
Submitted by Site Factory admin on



 

 



Each year we’re presented with a flurry of new music and while a lot of people buy into hype early there’s a handful of new artists making great music that sticks. At the end of last year everybody was talking about Tobias Jesso Jr, Kelela, Shamir and Wold Alice among others with each of them coming through to deliver some of the best albums of the year.



While it’s inevitable that the hype will often deflate once an artist releases their debut album, a lot of new artists contribute to some of the best releases of the year. With that in mind, we’ve compiled a list of new artists we think will make serious waves with audiences and critics alike next year.

 

Okay Kaya

Do you want to know what you’ll be sitting in candle-lit rooms sobbing your heart out to next year? This. Okay Kaya is a New York-based Norwegian artist who’s had an unbelievable run of releases this year, pairing gentle but rich vocals with organic, dreamy soundscapes.



There’s something far more special about Okay Kaya than your usual singer/songwriter using this same toolkit. She uses space and silence to her advantage. Nothing ever feels rushed and as such she sounds far more mature than an artist who only has three tracks to her name. Her latest track I’m Stupid (But I Love You) was written with Tobias Jesso Jr. who delivered a stellar debut album earlier this year and also contributed to Adele’s forthcoming album. His weighty keys marry beautifully with Okay Kaya’s aesthetic, creating perhaps her most special moment to date.



An album of tracks just like these is what we need and if she delivers next year, she’ll be filling rooms and mending heartbreak in 2016.

 

 

Dua Lipa

You only need to hear the first 30 seconds of Dua Lipa’s latest single Be The One to know that it’s a megahit in waiting. The first thing that hits you is that smokey, sexy voice and then you’re taken away by the sweeping synths and finally your smacked by that beats that heads straight to the dancefloor.



Lipa is not your average popstar. It doesn’t feel like she’ll be churning out glossy radio hits anytime soon but she is the cross between Lana Del Rey and Carly Rae Jepsen that you never knew you needed. Be The One is her slam dunk but her previous track New Love was edgy and effortlessly cool while her cover of Jamie xx’s Good Times made better on what is already a near-perfect track.



In 2016 she’ll have people wanting to dress like her and average popstars wishing they were just like her.

 

 

Mura Masa

This 19 year-old British beatmaker looks likely to be the go-to man of the electronic music world just like Cashmere Cat or Djemba Djemba - those producers that can make their own interesting stuff but also craft a perfect pop track.



His debut 2015 EP Someday Somewhere showed that he could traverse electronica, pop and hip-hop with ease, be it weaving in the vocals of Nao or Denai Moore or going it instrumental. The Nao-featuring Firefly felt like he’d pulled out all the stops but he proved us wrong when he bettered it with Love For That featuring fellow Brit Shura. It’s still one of the most beautiful musical moments of 2015, mixing crystalline beats with flourishing synths and a gentle vocal that cuts straight to the heart.



It’s one thing to make music for the feet but it’s another thing to channel the heart at the same time.

 

 

Koi Child

With just two tracks to their name, Koi Child closed out one of the stages at this year’s BIGSOUND music conference with most people there out of curiosity rather than because they were fans. Not one person left that room without being converted thanks to their off-the-chain, energetic performance that fused jazz, funk and hip-hop together in one seamless set.



Their 2015 track Black Panda is like nothing in Australian hip-hop right now sounding like BadBadNotGood collided with rap scenes from Britain and the US. On-stage they bring that same feeling, with rapper Shannon Patterson vibing off the powerful horn section behind him while looking as if he could rap forever.



With Kevin Parker already on board as a fan and a producer, the Perth collective look set to make big waves in 2016 with a debut album on the way and a support slot in Australia for Tame Impala.



 

GL

While everywhere around the world has produced pop acts that bubble just under the mainstream, it seems that section of music in Australia has been reserved for indie-rock or electronica. It’s about time we had a super cool, Madonna-referencing act taking to the triple j airwaves and GL look like just the duo for the job.



Vocalist Ella Thompson has already got the tick of approval from Mark Ronson who asked her to sing on his recent Australian tour and they’ve capitalised on that momentum with their best single to date Number One. It’s tinged with ‘80s pop gold while sitll bringing that fresh, crisp production that has the international scene frothing over Kate Boy or Empress Of. It’s an area of pop less explored in Australia and if the Melbourne act can bring more from where this came from festival audiences are going to gush over them in 2016.



Let GL be your number one next year.

 

 

Stormzy

Stormzy already doesn’t need much of an introduction. The British Grime MC has already toured Australia this year and picked up accolades abroad including beating out FKA twigs and Little Simz for the Best International Act at the BET Awards.



It’s not a matter of whether you’ll hear of Stormzy in 2016, you will, it’s more a matter of just how big he can get next year. We saw the meteoric rise of Skepta thanks to cosigns by Drake and Kanye but Stormzy is producing hits on his own that the British public are eating up. His recent freestyle WickedSkengMan 4 reached the top 20 in the UK becoming the highest charting freestyle ever while he managed another top 50 track with Know Me From.



As Grime continues to spread further and further afield, Stormzy’s name will be the first reference point for newcomers. He’s young, supremely talented and armed with killer beats.



 

JONES

Lianne La Havas and Miguel led the way with the best soul albums this year and London newcomer JONES looks poised to lead the pack in 2016. Her Indulge EP this year had critics recalling everyone from Solange to Janelle Monae because it was beautifully soulful while still being sleek and cool.



Her voice sounds like it was dipped in honey and then drizzled in hot tea and the beats that she’s laying it over have a certain black and white class to them. There’s emotion to her voice and she trades in topics about love but it never sounds depressing or melancholic. Her latest track Hoops is her best yet, giving us plenty of space to hear her voice properly and also delivering a slinky hook to latch onto.



It’s taken from her album New Skin which is due to drop in early next year and could just be one of 2016’s finest.



 

Kiiara

If you can pick up four million Soundcloud plays on your debut track, you’re immediately doing something right and that’s exactly what internet sensation Kiiara is doing. The 20 year-old hardware clerk has four songs to her name now and each of them have spread the Kiiara word further and further.



She’s making woozy, off-kilter pop songs that dabble in auto-tune and flirt with hip-hop. It’s weird but also oddly familiar, maybe because she’s touching on relatable subjects like alcohol or overwhelming emotion. She know counts Beats 1’s Zane Lowe as one of her biggest fans and he’s driven her expansion by spinning her repeatedly on the International station.



We still don’t really know anything about her and that’s what makes it so exciting. She’ll probably reveal bits and pieces to us over the course of next year or she may hold everything close to her chest. As long as the tunes keep coming, who cares.



 

Hinds

Hinds might just be one of the coolest bands on the planet right now. The Spanish four-piece have been dropping raucous, attitude-filled rock songs for the better part of a year now and their fan base just keeps growing and growing because their videos are stylish but weird and they’re not afraid to say they “fucking love” their own songs.



In particular, they “fucking love” their track Garden which is the opener to their forthcoming album due in January 2016. From what we’ve heard do far it’s going to be full of scuzzy rock songs with brilliantly obnoxious vocals and little hidden gem melodies.



There’s nothing polished about what they do at all. They’re the kind of band who could play the festival scene and have most punters crowd surfing and chugging beers in minutes. Just four awesome girls making incredible music.



 

VANT

In case you’re not well acquainted with anyone from The Arctic Monkeys to the more recent Wolf Alice, the Brits make blood good guitar bands and VANT are their latest golden export. They are a foursome helmed by confident frontman Mattie Vant and they are the band most likely to satisfy your head-thrashing desires and pop hooks needs in 2016.



They’re making really punchy, melodic and simple punk-tinged tunes that could please the radio as much as it could make a live audience go mental. Their latest single Parking Lot proves all of those things. It’s built around crunching guitars and surprisingly crisp, charismatic vocals there to deliver delicious hooks.



Parking Lot is already being championed by BBC Radio 1 and no doubt once the European festival circuit hits next year they’ll be one of the bands everybody will be champing at the bit to see.



 

Methyl Ethel

Ever since Tame Impala burst onto the International scene, people overseas have been keen to find the next greatest thing down-under. Recently they’ve latched onto Courtney Barnett and if tastemaker festival CMJ was anything to go by this year, the latest Aussie band to bring in the praise is Methyl Ethel.



The Perth band are making washed-out indie-rock music buoyed by really warm melodies. They released their debut album Oh Inhuman Spectacle and it’s proving to be a grower as word of the band spreads further and further. It’s rare that a band find that perfect balance between scuzz and clarity but these guys have managed it perfectly on the record.



Their strongest tune Twilight Driving has the ability to soundtrack the Australian summer if it falls into the right hands. They picked up booking agents in the UK and the US at BIGSOUND in Brisbane this year so expect that they’ll have a big year not only here but also overseas.



 

Dave B

It feels like rap in 2015 has gotten darker and darker from Earl Sweatshirt’s haunting I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside to A$AP Rocky’s woozy late night trip Long.Live.A$AP. That’s why it’s so refreshing when you hear something like Punch Drunk, the new album by Seattle rapper Dave B.



The 9-track record is fully of sunny beats whether it be the crystalline vibes of Rain or the warm jazzy undertones of Custom. It’s just the remedy we needed for those of us waiting patiently for a solo release from Chance The Rapper. The pair of them share that effortless feel for joyous flows and that always stands out in a sea of rap music looking towards the darkness.



In a year he’s gathered together an incredibly strong soundcloud and now with Punch Drunk in hand, more and more people are going to turn their attention to Dave B over the next year.

 

 

words by the interns' Sam Murphy

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