Artists You Need To Hear About Right Now
Four unmissable artists, all in one place. The team at Slow Motion Panic Masters has more incredible musicians for you all to pay attention to right now, or regret missing out on some of the most exciting music the world has to offer.
But first, make sure to follow our spotify playlist with the link below and tune in to hear a regularly updating stream of sensational underground appreciation:
MAWPIT - CARDIFF, WALES
Avid SMPM-listeners will recognise the snarling confidence of Mawpit from featuring on our monthly playlist back in June 2020, with one of our favourite tracks of the month. Any worries that this Cardiff trio were a one-and-done flash in the pan, however, have surely subsided after the release of their newest single 'Eat A Corpse'. Spoiler: it's great.
Disregarding slightly gauche song titles, Mawpit fucking rock. There's something electrifying in the gritty distortion that propels both 'Eat A Corpse' and 'Nature's Curse' forward as excellent singles from this emerging band. Like a long-lost contributor to the first Guitar Hero, Mawpit batter together face-melting distortion with a colossal sense of scale provided by weighty drum performances and an unmistakably powerful vocal presence. Add to that an impressive ability to tap into social issues and the angst of global catastrophe, this phenomenally female-voiced three-piece declares attention like a fusion of everything good about Bad Religion, Helmet and The Donnas. They are brilliant, so go out of your way to listen to them. In the meantime, I'm going to have to dig through Guitar Hero 1's setlist again. Mawpit have awoken something inside of me.
- BEN WHEADON (@wheadsauce)
p.s. look at how sick their Melon Collie-esque band photoshoot is - big ups
ALL CATS ARE BEAUTIFUL - LONDON, ENGLAND
Kyle (they/them) and Elena (she/them) make up the experimental queer pop duo of my dreams. all cats are beautiful are an East London-based collective of female and non-binary identifying musicians, sound engineers, and producers who work to create the lovely sounds that make up projects like their 2019 EP e/p/3 and their latest single ‘wishin i cld fit in ur bckpck’, with both a new album and an EP planned for release in late 2020 and early 2021 respectively.
While their soft guitars and enchanting vocals may sound harmless enough, don’t be fooled. Kyle and Elena don’t mess around. Heavy themes like the pain of losing a loved one, as well as the grief that follows from such experiences are at the core of their creative work: ‘i’m not a psychic, obvs’ deals with the experience of seeing the ghosts of those you lost everywhere you go; ‘seems like every1 some kinda expert now’ beautifully captures the feeling of being judged by those around you when you are only trying to get better and ‘fifteen yellow flowers on ur parents front lawn’ is so brutally honest I would go as far as to call it inspiring.
(ed: also, their song titles are phenomenal)
What makes these songs truly magical, however, is that they are as heartbreaking as they are comforting. Like a good hug, all cats are beautiful have the power to envelop you in their intimate soundscapes and make your loneliest moments feel seen and heard, a warmth topped only by the palpable affection that defines their lockdown-inspired ‘wishin i cld fit in ur bckpck’. If you are in the mood for some low-fi tunes and well-written songs, there are few up and coming bands I could recommend as highly as all cats are beautiful.
- AINHOA SANTOS GOICOECHEA (@ainhoa.jpeg)
MULTIPLES - LONDON, ENGLAND
Multiples: Spotify / Instagram / Facebook
When London based quartet Multiples released their debut single 'Tall Trees' earlier this year, I don't think I could've been any more positive with my praise:
There are things that should be expected from self-released material in indie rock, and there are things that should not. The debut single from Multiples is a phenomenal example of exceeding any expectations for an underground release in 2020 and a single that announces the group as an excellent emerging talent from the UK scene.
Three months on, if anything I feel stronger about 'Tall Trees.' It is without a doubt among my favourite songs of 2020, and I'm still astonished that something so polished has surfaced fully-formed from the UK underground. So, I guess you could say my expectations were high for Multiples moving forward.
How did they follow it up? With another wonderful song! Trading the ultra-processed indie rock precision of their first single, Multiples amped up their soulful sensibilities with a laid back bossa nova groove that suits the four piece perfectly. At this point, I'm desperate for more music from this band, and I think everyone else should be too. Get on board.
- BEN WHEADON (@wheadsauce)
YELLOW LINES - CARDIFF, WALES
For an underground band, I can't imagine there are many groups out there that have amassed as impressive an early discography as Cardiff's Yellow Lines. Through the perennial global catastrophe that 2020 has come to represent, instead of giving in and giving up, Yellow Lines dedicated themselves to an incredibly productive year.
The Welsh three piece have an album, an EP and two singles to show for their year's hard work. Self recording in a secret shed somewhere unknown, Yellow Lines inhabit their influences in this little nostalgic bubble of a stylistic signature. Rotating between bombastic blues rock and 'Don't Let Me Down' reminiscent Beatles discipleship, the haze of this group's (particularly remarkable) amateur production only adds to the sense that this group is one that was almost lost to time.
But that's not to say that this is just a group capitalising on nostalgia, or endlessly recycling the sounds and aesthetics that have and still appeal. Instead, there is something really admirable about the lyrical creativities of this band. Yellow Lines are a group with something to say, and it sounds really great all the time. You need to be listening to Yellow Lines.
- BEN WHEADON (@wheadsauce)
Thanks for reading! Slow Motion Panic Masters is a music, arts and culture blog created and edited by Ben Wheadon, a literature student and musician based at the University of Oxford. He is also a Fleet Foxes shill.
Ainhoa Santos Goikoetxea (pronounced "I-know-ah") is a culturally confused graduate English student from the Basque Country, Spain. She is passionate about film, music and politics, and she should probably know more than she does about all three.
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