Neu Bulletin The Neu Bulletin (cumgirl8, Tapir!, Emei and more)

cumgirl8 enjoy injecting danger into everything they touch and, with ‘gothgirl1’, they’re seizing hold of the ’80s goth rulebook and electrifying it with the shock of the new. Riding in on some kind of death disco siren, the Manhattan quartet draw familiar Banshees /Joy Division guitar shapes, but the track’s atmosphere is dripping with erotic menace, as spectral voices wail and waver in the air. “It’s a yes, it’s a no,” repeats vocalist Lida Fox with a studiously disaffected shrug, but it’s definitely the former for us. (Max Pilley)

Certain styles of music transform as May turns to June, and Tapir! have certainly picked the perfect time to unleash ‘On a Grassy Knoll (We’ll Bow Together)’. Over gently finger-picked acoustic strings, a Richard Dawson-like falsetto hovers, a voice that is simultaneously sweetly innocent and ever so slightly crazed. The warm salve of a chorus of harmony vocals is enhanced by elegantly downplayed brass as the track unwinds. Throw that window open wide and allow this South London band to breeze their way off the grassy knoll and into your head, where they intend to stay for a while. (Max Pilley)

There’s a somewhat curious contradiction between the line “I mean it’s nice but I’m bored” that provides the main hook of Vienna-based outfit My Ugly Clementine’s latest, and its delivery: over a backing that’s saccharine sweet, its bouncy bassline threatening to fully take the track into twee territory at any given moment, it’s only Sophie Lindinger’s emotionless delivery that keeps the whole thing grounded amongst the chaos of the gathering they depict. (Bella Martin)

In the midpoint where ‘00s garage nostalgia, hyperpop excitability and that indefinable je ne sais quoi that makes Wet Leg’s Rhian Teasdale such a magnetic frontperson meets, lies the latest from Chinese-American Emei. It sounds nothing like Wet Leg, let’s be clear - but you can imagine the duo singing “Left my head back in the diner / Think my keys are right beside it / Let me know if you can find them / Cuz they’re designer” with the same sort of insouciance. It’s a level of cheeky character-building that elevates an already very catchy song into an absolute winner. (Lisa Wright)

Cole Bleu’s latest is a playful pop offering of the sort we’ve come to know and love from her – but this time she’s dialling up the magnitude. With grungy guitar interjections punctuating her deadpan, sugar-sweet lyrics, ‘IS IT COOL 2 B FRIENDS?’ delivers its choruses with an assuredness that yearns to be yelled back at her in 1000-cap rooms. It helps, too, that she taps into that familiar anxiety of not quite knowing how to handle a situationship after the fact in such a dreamy way. (Ims Taylor)

Built around an electric riff and inspired by the pitfalls of long distance relationships, the new track from Towa Bird doesn’t take long to burst into fuzzy, glorious life. “Oh my my my manic, my skipping stone, I’m tryna’ catch,” rings out the infectious chorus of ‘Boomerang’, with more than just a hint of sugary pop-punk bounce; and while its lyrics might be rooted in the never-ending frustration of a life spent going back-and-forth, sonically, it’s almost guaranteed to become one of the summer’s catchiest new tracks. (Sarah Jamieson)

Tags: Cole Bleu, cumgirl8, Tapir!, Towa Bird, Listen, Features, Neu, Neu Bulletin