Now And Next: Stereoboard's Ones To Watch For 2023
Wednesday, 11 January 2023
Written by Maddy Howell and Emma Wilkes
A new year always brings with it the chance to find something fresh that says something about where you are in your life right now, or where you'd like to be a little way down the line. Here are Stereoboard's picks for the most exciting artists to keep an eye on as 2023 rolls on.
// Meet Me @ the Altar //
Formed over the internet with each member living in different states, Meet Me @ the Altar have been at the forefront of the Gen Z-fuelled, TikTok-amplified pop-punk resurgence over the last couple of years. Smashing onto the scene with their 2021 EP ‘Model Citizen’, the trio have already opened for Green Day and torn apart festival stages across the globe, but with a debut album (largely co-written with former One Direction collaborator John Ryan) set for release in 2023 they’re looking to prove they’ve got what it takes to break down barriers and become the world’s biggest rock band. // MH
// Death Pill //
Imagine if the members of Black Flag, Slayer and Bikini Kill ran at each other screaming and collided in a wall of death. Death Pill are set to storm into 2023 in a brightly burning ball of feminist fury. Behind the anger is a poignant story—the band are from Ukraine and are now split across three countries due to the current war with Russia, which broke out just as their new album entered the mixing stage. With that in mind, the rage in their music hits different. // EW
// Narrow Head //
Considered by some as a movement from the past, Narrow Head are demonstrating that the moody, melancholic stylings of grunge still have a lot to offer to a modern music world. Throwing the classic attributes of the genre into a glorious melting pot with delicately constructed guitar hooks, tight pop-leaning melodies, and stadium-sized rock choruses, the Houston natives intertwine cathartic heaviness with deeply human songwriting that reflects the harmonious marriage between brutality and grace. Bowling into 2023 with a new album, they’re set to showcase that there’s more to guitar music than churning riffs and face-melting solos. // MH
// Zulu //
Need more punishing riffs in your life? Zulu have them thanks to their blistering blend of hardcore and powerviolence. But there’s far more to the LA quintet than brutality. It’s not unusual for the heavy to very quickly blend into the soft, their riffs intercut with passages of soul, funk and jazz, while also incorporating samples of music and speech from everyone from Nina Simone to Malcolm X. Their upcoming debut album ‘A New Tomorrow’ is just as much of a love letter to Black music as it is a show of their own sonic strength, proving that there’s more ways than one to put the power into powerviolence. // EW
// Poptropicaslutz! //
Dropping their respective college plans during the pandemic, saying ‘fuck it’, and following their dreams, Christian Cicilia and Nick Crawford form the two halves of NY-based poptropicaslutz!, a genre-surfing hyper-punk duo driven by fearless experimentation. Nestled somewhere between the glitched-out sonic stylings of 2010s SoundCloud rap and the nostalgic auto-tuned melodies of ‘00s emo, their 2022 Epitaph Records debut EP ‘Just in Case the World Ends’ set out to soundtrack the apocalypse, and as the dumpster fire of the last two years tips over into an as-yet-undetermined 2023 they’ll be ready to capture the chaos in anthemic style. // MH
// Fousheé //
Fousheé’s had quite the transformation since her 2020 hit Deep End inspired a TikTok dance routine in the dark days of lockdown. Having started her career making whispery R&B-folk, her debut album ‘softCORE’ introduced undercurrents of heavier guitar music into her palette. At her loudest, her unbridled fury and glitchy instrumentals give a glimpse into what Poppy might sound like if she played with R&B, while her softer moments feel gently reminiscent of Olivia Rodrigo’s ballads. Already, ‘softCORE’ sounds like the beginnings of an artist who can do incredible, boundary-breaking things. // EW
// Nightlife //
In life, things often function best when they stick to a formula. But there are times, especially in music, when swerving off the beaten path can lead to magical discoveries. Take Baltimore’s Nightlife for example, a band centred on innovation, formed at an intersection between classic R&B, soul, post-hardcore, and countless other genres. Smashing together influences to establish their signature brand of ‘soulpunk’—inspired by the musical stylings of post-hardcore heroes Letlive.—their electrifying 2022 EP ‘Fallback’ intertwined groovy melodies with velvet-smooth vocals and masterful technical flourishes, serving as a slick, synth-heavy promise of huge things to come.// MH
// Alice Longyu Gao //
Alice Longyu Gao’s music is as maximalist and nonconformist as could be—it’s loud as hell, weird as hell, and consistently eludes definition. Her everything-and-the-kitchen-sink approach combines the sounds of hyperpop, trap, J-pop and metal into what effectively sounds like pandemonium. Each track is its own head-scratching rollercoaster that Gao chatters, raps and often screams her way through (one song, for example, features a refrain of “AAAAAH! CLIMATE CHANGE! AAAAAAH! WORLD WAR THREE!”). Bring Me The Horizon’s Oli Sykes is a fan, having jumped on board the song Believe The Hype. This is as unique as music gets. // EW
// The Aces //
Inspired to pursue music after seeing an 18-year-old Lorde win her first Grammy, The Aces are crafting fluorescent indie-pop anthems to celebrate the wonder of girls. Growing up queer in a religious Utah town, the four-piece focus their songwriting on universally shared experiences, from friendship and sisterhood to what it means to be a queer woman, dipping into the same genre-melding waters as artists like The 1975 and MUNA. With album three scheduled for release in 2023, if their latest single Girls Make Me Wanna Die is any indication of what to prepare for a masterclass in pop brilliance. // MH
// Grove //
Coming out of Bristol with an ice-cool blend of jungle, dancehall, grime and UK garage, Grove’s music is made to be turned up loud, conjuring images of sweaty basements and flashing lights. They are an artist proud in their defiance and their political beliefs, with the songs in their arsenal so far spanning topics from the reclamation of Black power in a white supremacist world to the exploitative practices of landlords. Throw in an ingenious cover of Girls Aloud’s Sound Of The Underground, and the picture that emerges is one of an endlessly charismatic artist who more than deserves their flowers in 2023. // EW
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