Looking for Something Different This New Year? Check These Artists Out!

Yangze

Yangze is part of Copenhagen’s Escho collective, a group of promoters, book publishers, and musicians who have released music from Iceage and Smerz among others. His new single "R U," with its pitched-up vocals and addictive melodic synths, sounds like a dancehall floor-filler run through a uniquely Scandinavian filter.

Rex Orange County

Alex O'Connor (born May 4, 1998), better known by his stage name Rex Orange County, is an English singer-songwriter.

O'Connor grew up in Grayshott, a village in Hampshire, England. At 16, when his peers transferred to the local high school, O’Connor was accepted to London’s renowned music college The BRIT School, where he began writing music.

He is best known for his track Loving is Easy. A classy, heartfelt, old-school flowed track. This is someone that you should for sure keep your eye on.

Benny Mails

Alternative British rap is making bigger waves by the minute, and Benny Mails is easily one of its freshest faces. There is this groovy funk and jazz sound mashed with a modern tranquil sound. This is something that you could possibly get lost in.

Lyrically, he speaks to growing up in the UK capital and rejecting the vices that can envelope his generation.

Jeshi

An increasingly popular name in the world of alternative UK rap, Jeshi marked 2017 with the tracks "Dancing In Headlights" and "Alone In Palm Springs", and concluded the year with the thoughtful and hard-hitting The World's Spinning Too Fast EP.

The eight-track mixtape featured production from Lauren Auder, Jorrdee, Mura Masa, Reign Supreme, Tev'n, Pearl De Luna and more. Apart from showing the remarkable progression Jeshi's made since his 2016 debut Pussy Palace, the new mixtape hints at what could be a fruitful 12 months for the East Londoner.

John Keek

Multi-instrumentalist John Keek, (20, Las Vegas), began playing saxophone and singing in church at age 14. Hailing from a Las Vegas family full of talented musicians, he gravitated early on toward Jazz but has since drawn on his wide-ranging inspirations - artists like Donny Hathaway, Louis Cole, Ambrose Akinmusire, and James Fauntleroy - to craft a sound that encompasses elements of pop, RnB and Hip Hop.

Two early self-released gems - ‘By Your Side’ featuring the voice of Georgia Anne Muldrow and ‘Come Give It Up’ - set out his stall as a musician. With Pigeons & Planes extolling his "penchant for unusual melodies and skillful, jazz-leaning instrumentation”, he also caught the ear of UK musician King Krule, eventually joining him, sax in tow, on his US West Coast tour, including opening a recent secret show in LA

Harry Hudson

Harry Hudson is an American recording artist, songwriter, musician, and cancer survivor. His music can be classed as folk-pop. He has released two mesmerising tracks, “Yellow Lights” and “Cry For Love”. He is a talented musician, but I do feel that he certainly has surrounded himself with successful people which will for sure be helping him push and reach the higher limits. Being long-time friends with Kyle Jenner, which is all that you find when you try and research anything about him and friends with Jaden Smith who keeps posting photos of his tracks. Talk about free promotion. That is a credit to him, using the people around him to advance himself. His music is interesting, I’ll keep an eye out for him but I am not convinced that he is the real deal yet…

Phoenix Martins

Dive into the cool ether of Nigerian-born, Hackey-based mystic Phoenix Martins. Citing inspiration from Brian Eno's hospital soundscape installations, she got her own start by performing for hospital patients as part of the Roundhouse Choir. Her debut EP, Get This, received a boost from producers Nick Carter and Joe Fields, who worked with an array of artists from Dido to the Neptunes. Martins' latest release, a gauzy new EP titled 47, is a series of undulating, ambient meditations with a bluesy streak, prompted by some chance encounters with the divine.

NIMMO

Singers Sarah Nimmo and Reva Gauntlett form the core of this British electro-pop quintet, their husky-yet-sweet harmonies tempering their tunes' romantic yearning and clubby rhythms with a moody sensuality that hearkens back to the Eighties new-wavers they adore. With just a handful of tracks to their name, Nimmo attracted high-profile fans right off-the-bat: Actress and model Agyness Deyn, an early admirer, directed and filmed a video for Nimmo's "Change" back in 2013.