Up And Coming Music

This year has seen an abundance of fresh and talented artists enter the music scene. Continue reading to discover up and coming music from brilliant, emerging musicians, including Punk band Happy Diving and Jazz vocalist Julia Biel. We’re certain they’ll be topping the UK charts in no time!

Happy Diving

You may not think of the East Bay as a hotbed for Punk, but after Country Joe and the Fish and co. were long gone, San Francisco had a very dense Punk scene in the 1990s with bands such as Rancid and Green Day throwing it on the worldwide stage. From that same place, comes Happy Diving, a four-piece band who recall the best of Weezer, Pixies and Tony Molina. So far, they have only released one four-song EP s/t but it’s all bound to change soon. Impressively, they have only been playing together for a year, and their debut full-length album Big World, is due out in October.

Recently, they unveiled the first single ‘Weird Dream’ which is two minutes of hard-rocking Punk with a massive sound and energy a la Nirvana, lots of distortion and guitar licks you can sing along to. If this sounds like something for you, I’m sure you’ll agree it’s one of the best singles of the year so far, and once Big World is released this Fall, Happy Diving could well be the most talked about band on the Punk scene.

Julia Biel

Every once in a while an artist comes and washes everything else away. I’ve heard many talented singers, but not a lot on the level of Julia Biel, a London-based Jazz singer. Her debut LP Not Alone came out almost a decade ago in 2005. Since then, she’s been busy collaborating with artists as diverse and exciting as experimental jazz band Polar Bear, Deep House icon Ben Watt and Afrobeat/Reggae collective Soothsayers. Now, she’s ready to come back with her own material and those numerous collaborations will no doubt have helped her find her own singular voice. In June, Biel released a delightful brand new EP entitled Nobody Loves You Like I Do. When listening to the title track from the EP, it’s hard not to think of Frank-era Amy Winehouse, and other classic Jazz singers such as Sarah Vaughan and Billie Holiday. Simply put, Julia Biel is the best British vocalist we’ve heard in some time. She is currently “putting the finishing touches to her new self-penned record” on which you can rightfully expect musical nods to Radiohead, PJ Harvey, Björk and Nina Simone.

Larkin Poe

Larkin Poe is the name of Rebecca and Megan Lovell’s great, great, great, great grandfather, who himself was a distant cousin to tortured genius Edgar Allan Poe. “There were a lot of creative, hotheaded and intelligent branches that went against the grain in our family tree”, Rebecca explains. Thankfully, the Lovell sisters inherited that creativity, and after having toured as backing musicians for Elvis Costello and Conor Oberst, and more recently an appearance at Glastonbury Festival, Larkin Poe are releasing their debut album Kin in the UK this month.

Produced by Chris Seefried (Lana Del Rey, Fitz and the Tantrums) and Damien Lewis (Rihanna, Rita Ora), Rebecca and Megan have really found their voice in this grainy, rocking interpretation of Americana.

Larkin Poe’s songs have enough guitar riffs to please classic Rock fans and Pop appeal for everyone else, while a song like ‘Crown of Fire’ will have First Aid Kit fans jubilating. Rebecca and Megan Lovell have the songs and the attitude: surely it’s only a matter of time before they make it big.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2aQZtoTeYA