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2 weeks ago | 
theguardian.com | Ben Beaumont-Thomas |Dave Simpson
Photograph: Frank Hoensch/RedfernsDavid Gray, singer-songwriterFor all the sophistication that everyone talks about, Brian never loses the thread of the song: the emotion. They have this childlike quality. These days we’d probably say he’s on the spectrum – there’s a sort of Asperger’s type innocence. He makes the lyrics and the melody speak. It’s so welcoming and without edge; it’s not part of a cynical adult world.
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2 weeks ago | 
theguardian.com | Ben Beaumont-Thomas |Alexis Petridis |Laura Snapes
Yazz Ahmed – A Paradise in the HoldYazz Ahmed’s Bahraini heritage has always been key to her take on jazz: from the start, the London-based trumpeter/flugelhornist has deployed Arabic quarter-tone scales (she has a specially made flugelhorn to play them) and Middle Eastern percussion. But on her fourth album, it’s more pronounced than ever: the tracks are rooted in Bahraini wedding poems and in fijiri, the songs sung by pearl fishers around the Persian Gulf.
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3 weeks ago | 
msn.com | Alexis Petridis |Ben Beaumont-Thomas |Laura Snapes
Microsoft Cares About Your PrivacyMicrosoft and our third-party vendors use cookies to store and access information such as unique IDs to deliver, maintain and improve our services and ads. If you agree, MSN and Microsoft Bing will personalise the content and ads that you see. You can select ‘I Accept’ to consent to these uses or click on ‘Manage preferences’ to review your options and exercise your right to object to Legitimate Interest where used.
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3 weeks ago | 
msn.com | Alexis Petridis |Ben Beaumont-Thomas |Laura Snapes
Microsoft Cares About Your PrivacyMicrosoft and our third-party vendors use cookies to store and access information such as unique IDs to deliver, maintain and improve our services and ads. If you agree, MSN and Microsoft Bing will personalise the content and ads that you see. You can select ‘I Accept’ to consent to these uses or click on ‘Manage preferences’ to review your options and exercise your right to object to Legitimate Interest where used.
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3 weeks ago | 
theguardian.com | Alexis Petridis |Ben Beaumont-Thomas |Laura Snapes
From LondonRecommended if you like King Krule, This Heat, Wu-LuUp next Debut mixtape, Lightning Hit the Trees, out 11 JulyParade’s recent debut single offered music that was very hard to put your finger on, not least because its two tracks sounded absolutely nothing like each other.
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4 weeks ago | 
theguardian.com | Laura Snapes |Ben Beaumont-Thomas
From DenmarkRecommended if you like Arthur Russell, ML Buch, Rachel’s Up next Ressed / Falter EP out now on UntitledThe Guardian visited Copenhagen’s Rhythmic Music Conservatory recently to find out how a single music school was producing such a ridiculous amount of new experimental pop innovators: Clarissa Connelly, Smerz, Erika de Casier, ML Buch, Astrid Sonne.
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1 month ago | 
theguardian.com | Ammar Kalia |Ben Beaumont-Thomas |Laura Snapes
From LondonRecommended if you like Nikki Nair, Anz, AhadadreamUp next Debut EP Jellyfish out 6 JulyOn her NTS Radio show, London DJ Debbie Ijaduola, AKA debbiesthuglife, is liable to throw everything from 2000s dancefloor-fillers such as Basement Jaxx’s Oh My Gosh and Kelis’s Acapella with apocalyptic dubstep bass, trap lyricism, Jersey Club beats and Britney Spears. It’s a high-octane, unpredictable mix, only unified by the fact that when Debbie is on the decks, the energy is up.
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1 month ago | 
theguardian.com | Shaad D'Souza |Ben Beaumont-Thomas |Laura Snapes
From Los Angeles via VirginiaRecommended if you like PinkPantheress, Kylie Minogue, Daniel Lopatin’s Chuck Person aliasUp next Album She Comes from Nowhere, released 20 JuneNeggy Gemmy has quietly spent the past decade building one of the strongest catalogues in underground pop.
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1 month ago | 
theguardian.com | Ben Beaumont-Thomas |Laura Snapes
From LiverpoolRecommended if you like Playboi Carti, 2hollis, YT Up next New music soonSecond in the league table of unfairly maligned British accents behind Brummie, nothing sounds like scouse, consonants rolling around at the back of the mouth while vowels wheedle their way to the front. Delivering the accent at its most potent is rapper EsDeeKid, part of a vibrant UK rap underground going any which way after the drill years.
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1 month ago | 
theguardian.com | Laura Snapes |Ben Beaumont-Thomas
From Boise, IdahoRecommended if you like Devo, Chai, Remi Wolf Up next Debut album Switcheroo released via Innovative Leisure on 27 JuneThe freshly hatched Gelli Haha is an old-school pop world-builder. The aesthetic world of her few singles so far recalls a kids’ soft-play centre, all bright primary colours and bouncy surfaces. Live, she fires bubble guns into the air, surrounded by caged inflatable sea creatures and red-clad backing dancers dressed as boxers.
