The best new artists we covered in 2023
Each week, we interview a rising musician who’s caught our eye. From UK rap wunderkinds to trance aficionados and jersey club experimentalists, here are some of our favourites from the past year.
Music
Words: Jade Wickes
BXKS is re-energising UK rap
The young Luton musician is one of the genre’s rising stars, setting herself apart with commanding freestyle and an affiliation with Victory Lap, the London radio station that’s reinventing cyphers for a new wave of up-and-coming MCs.
Read more here.
DJ HEARTSTRING on aliens, Ableton and wholesome raving
The elusive Berlin duo, who simply go by Leo and Jonas, have picked up huge momentum thanks to their freewheeling EP Teenage Dreams and a selection of critically acclaimed sets played over the summer.
Read more here.
Swank Mami: “My music is for crying in the club”
Norwegian musician Umal Moses straddles jersey club, soulful R&B and breakbeats with ease, propelled by a “sonic curiosity” that forms the backbone of her experimental EP, Eurostar.
Read more here.
Babymorocco wants you to have a good time
Surely one of London’s most eccentric musicians, Babymorocco’s EP SUN SEX PARTY was the hedonistic anthem of the summer; a seven-track medley of “attention-seeking, booze-cruise party music”, as he put it. Heavy fun, heavy bass, zero irony.
Read more here.
Frost Children: “Nothing can tear us apart”
We spoke to sibling duo, Lulu and Angel Prost, about their third album Speed Run, filled with DJ-friendly club tracks, video-game samples, and an infusion with hyperpop. Who knew they’d go on to release a rock album just a few months later?
Read more here.
Blaketheman1000 on false politeness and TikTok pasta
FACE friend Blake Ortiz-Goldberg caught the attention of New York’s discourse-heavy Dimes Square scene and beyond with a string of avant-garde EPs. Featuring self-referential tracks that are nihilistic and irreverent in equal measure, Blake packs humour into occasionally sincere lyrics that elevate the everyday. Listen to him on THE FACE podcast here.
Read more here.
Tendai: “I’m telling the story of a very overwhelming year”
East London musician Tendai doesn’t do things by halves. This year, he released a trilogy of musical projects “telling the story of a very tumultuous year in my life,” as he put it. From indie rock-balladry to alt‑R&B, they’re all killer, no filler.
Read more here.
Waterbaby is Stockholm’s swooning singer-songwriter
Waterbaby’s EP Foam was one of the most gorgeously understated projects of the year, marrying the trepidation of new love with soft vocals that borrow from jazz, R&B and neo-soul.
Read more here.
London experimentalists Nukuluk on rage music, bad habits and turning off the internet
This atypical five-piece hip-hop collective describe their music as “free-form, shape-shifting and quite dramatic”. We’d tend to agree. Their last project, Superglue, is a poetic take on synthy trip-hop that’s as unexpected as it is great listening.
Read more here.
