58th Post: NME (14 Artists)

NME is short for New Musical Express. NME is a British music, film and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a ‘rock inkie’, the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a free publication, before becoming an online brand which includes its website and radio stations.

Recently NME selected their Top100 emerging artists. I listened to their most recent recordings/videos. Then, rated each song from 1-10 (10 being the best). Here are my top picks:

This is the only band to receive a 10 rating from me. Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering SPRINTS’ second single, “The Cheek” (https://youtu.be/IoWw4w-2Tq8) (RQ 9). The Irish punk band’s new track calls out these night-ruiners and barroom creeps on behalf of anyone who’s ever had a good time halted by them — and let’s be honest, who hasn’t? They can really play those guitars!

I also rated 13 artists/bands with a score of 9 (10 of the top 18 artists are from the UK):

Alewya (2020). “Sweating” https://youtu.be/AaA8UbpxrKg. (London, UK).

Ashnikko (2020). “Daisy” https://youtu.be/6i01tOMgBDU. North Carolina, USA.

Cat Burns (20 yrs old). “Go” https://youtu.be/tEmwO-E9axk. London, UK.

Claud (21 years old). “Gold” https://youtu.be/SiXQyIbaPa0. New York, USA.

Hope Tala (24 yrs old). “Cherries” https://youtu.be/2fHph8nT4yM. London, UK.

Jany Green. From Anchorage, Alaska. Emerging is a bedroom pop-indie rock-soft rap mosaic privileging catchy guitar riffs and gooey bass lines. One of his tunes: “Little” https://youtu.be/6-vi0vGvRgo. California, USA.

The Lathums (2018- ). An English indie band. A sample song: “All My Life” https://youtu.be/tnYe6hWqfI8. From Wigam, UK.

Michelle. A sample song: “Unbound” https://youtu.be/BkxOwHemyzw. From New York, USA.

Hye Park Jin (26 yrs old). Sample song: “Like This” https://youtu.be/XBkWNlVBvls. From Seoul, South Korea.

Priya Ragu (35 years old). She is a R&B style singer. An example: “Good Love 2.0” https://youtu.be/wHZ2nuvIGdA. From Zurich, Switzerland.

Scalping. Techno-metal heavyweights. (2019) “Chamber “https://youtu.be/80AXXZFt8Cc. From Bristol, UK.

Ezra Smoothboi (18 yrs old). The rising musician has been capturing the hearts and ears of listeners all over with their introspective and forward-thinking brand of indie-pop artistry. Sample song: “My Own Person” https://youtu.be/erbr-c8-QbY. From Wicklow, Ireland.

The Snuts. A Scottish indie rock band formed in 2015. A sample song: “Juan Belmonte” https://youtu.be/ob_WY0JwOek. From West Lothian, UK.

Tiana Major9 – born: Tiana Thomas-Ambersley (26 yrs old). Is a British singer-songwriter from London, England. She is currently signed to Motown and gained worldwide recognition with the Grammy nominated single “Collide”, from the Queen & Slim soundtrack. One of her recordings:“Same Space?” https://youtu.be/DQ5xYwtZkK0.

There were four others that I gave a 8+ rating: Gracey (UK), Josie Man (UK), Lucy Deakin (UK) and Meet Me @ The Alter (USA). Daine, from Melbourne, Australia, is the youngest (17) on the list. I gave her song “My Way Out” (https://youtu.be/8JYw6ZyYl2I) a rating of 8.

It is interesting that almost 50% (45) of the artists were given ratings 6 or less. I was surprised at the number of poorly rated artists. Also, there were 24 (7) ratings and 11 (8s).