Hot For 2018: International Ones To Watch (Day 2)

Sorry

The rebirth of ’90s style gauzy-indie pop is set to be a recurring theme in guitar music through 2018. Joining the club is Sorry, a London crew with a sound, and look, straight out of American college rock circa 1992 – enlivened with sprinklings of electronic production and hip hop cadences. They’re signed to Domino and have already impressed with shimmering, passive-aggressive single ‘Lies’.

Hear: Pavement-esque latest release ‘Wished’ is a good starting point.
See: The terrifying murky video accompanying April 2017 single ‘Sorry’.

Goat Girl

An all-female Libertines anyone? That’s a blunt but, we’re going to say, not entirely inaccurate summation of Goat Girl – a South London quartet whose music throbs with attitude and is lit through with a gorgeous coherent rage. “Being in a band, it’s like… well old, it’s been done for fucking ages,” says guitarist Ellie. “I think it’s not cool now.” With single ‘Crow Cries’ blowing up on Rough Trade, there’s every chance of Goat Girl, already a toast among fashionistas, making ragged guitar pop chic again.

Hear: ‘Cracker Drool’ – a rollicking two minutes and forty-two seconds of poise, angst and guitar.

See: ‘Scum’ – the icky video to which you won’t forget in a hurry.

Niulfer Yanya

Talk about a tough baptism. The evening following the Manchester Arena bombing in May 2017, Nilüfer Yanya had to go on stage at the city’s Albert Hall and open for Broken Social Scene. “We really wanted to do it, and the crowd was still there,” was how she recalled the incident. With a fluttering voice, and a heritage that includes Turkish and Irish roots, her music hops and skips all over. Kate Tempest is a comparison that has cropped up. But with Dave Okumu of The Invisible a sometime mentor on guitar, Yanya has crafted a sound uniquely hers.

Hear: Brilliant slow-burn single ‘Baby Luv’.
See: Yanya performing ‘Baby Luv’ and ‘Small Crimes’ at the TEDx Teen showcase.

Salen
The name suggests a pagan death metal band from north of the Arctic circle. London-four piece Sálen are actually a whole lot scarier. Single ‘Diseasey’ features singer Ellie Kamio looking as if she’s about to keel over from an irritating spot of cholera – her fake sick sweat distressingly convincing – while a whomping huge chorus lurches in over the top. It’s fantastic and disturbing – like The Knife if they were a band that had a chance of being played at Top Shop. Adding to the unease, the track was informed by her father’s extramarital affair and her mother’s heartbroken reaction.

Hear: ‘Copper Kiss’ – the unambiguously catchy single likely to become their calling card.
See: The video to ‘Diseasey’ – but only if you’re feeling up to it.

Abra Cadabra

Thanks to Skepta and Stormzy, British rap is no longer a joke without a punch-line. The latest London rhymer with a shot at the big(ish) time is Abra Cadabra – a much more exciting prospect than his terrible, Google-defying name might suggest. A remix of his single ‘Robbery’ by Krept and Konan has garnered five million views – and to top it off, he bagged the 2016 ‘Best Song’ Mobo for ‘Robbery’. As it happens, there was a whiff of the Oscars La La Land snafu about the Mobos. The single of the year was initially announced as going to Wstrn – an error blamed on an envelope mix-up. Minutes later, the gong was handed back and Abra Cadabra named the victor. Feel free to insert your own joke about ‘Robbery’ being almost robbed.

Hear: It really has to be ‘Robbery’.

See: A live version of his smash single, performed at the #RatedAwards 2016 and available on YouTube.