Best New Artists of the Month (July 2013)

First things first, Rainbow Chan is not technically a new artist—the Sydney-based producer and electronic-dabbling multi-instrumentalist has been grooving and glitching since 2010. But, her recent EP was so flush with feathery vocals and plucked piano notes that more attention had to be brought to it—and she's new to us at least.

Chan draws on a rich array of sounds to create her own palette and works with dissonant eras, layering jazz-era refrains with '80s bleep bloops and heavy, grungey basslines. Then, there's her voice, it feels like a flower she picked fresh and cloned, the sheer multiplicity of her own vocal tracks—whether harmony or simply layered melody lines—form a bouquet of sound that's sweetly natural. Stream her new EP Long Vacation below regardless of your current situation, it works as a complement to work or play.

Ever since I first heard "Dark Soccer" Pony Bwoy's debut self-titled record has been constantly resurfacing in my weekly mix of albums. The Minneapolis duo are signed to a local label called Totally Gross National Product that's co-run by Justin Vernon, but even without that name drop, these guys would've wormed their way to the top of the heap. Undulating, often fragile production that easily flip into swampy gurgles accompanied by the free verse stylings of Jeremy Nutzman—this man can manipulate rhythms in ways that most people lay awake at night dreaming about. Beyond the phrasing, the lyrical content of the album is riddled with Biblical and classical allusions told through a swinging tapestry of beats and strings that producer Hunter Morley creates. Innovative without sounding eager and dark without reaching for the gloom, Pony Bwoy demand your attention.

Ides is London singer/songwriter Alanna McArdle, who is part of various other musical projects, but will steal (and break) your heart with her solo work. Appreciating the simple elegance of just guitar and vocals, and possessing an emotion-filled, fragile voice with which to deliver her brutally honest lyrics, Ides has taken a tried and tested formula and made something beautiful.

In 2013, there is a new wave of R&B flavored electronic music. This means artists of that style are fresh and of-the-moment, but it also makes it hard to stand out. In nine days, Nashville trio Basecamp has racked up over 20,000 plays on "Emmanuel," and with a debut coming next month, they've built up the momentum they deserve for such a strong first single. Where other acts succeed in mimicking a popular style, Basecamp triumphs by also writing a great song—one that would probably work as a piano ballad or upbeat pop cut. With style and great songwriting, we're expecting big things from Basecamp, and judging by that climbing play count, we're not the only ones.

If you've been listening to a lot of bright synthy pop lately, you might need something a little darker. Sundays makes the kind of music you can tap and sing along too, but it's the kind of stuff you could listen to at night with a couple of candles lit—soulful but subdued. We don't know too much about her, but as with so many other great introductions lately, she comes to us as a bit of a mystery. We're looking forward to getting to know this Vancouver artist in the coming months.

Hockeysmith are Georgie and Annie, two sisters who live in a caravan park in Cornwall where they write and record their sweeping, gorgeous, melodic music. They may only have two songs to their name, but one of those songs is the nearly seven minute beauty that is "Let's Bang." It is a sweeping mixture of airy melodies and hazy vocals, demonstrating a promise that, if built on, will hopefully give us much more entrancing music like this.

With a no-frills, throwback style, 20-year-old Dillon Cooper is already getting Joey Bada$$ comparisons, but instead of feeling like a rip-off, Dillion sounds comfortable, confident, and compelling. It takes some artists years before they stumble on a song as immediately gripping as "State of Elevation." The fact that it's the first song we heard from him is a promising sign, and the video only cements his spot as a rapper to watch—he's got the skills, but he's also got the kind of charisma that should bode well in an environment filled with so many voices fighting to be heard.

Download/listen to Dillon's mixtape here.

There have been plenty of new acts reviving the soulful, bluesy styles of past decades, but Eddie Gomez mixes the stomp of dusty blues with a nicely finished, modern take that sounds like something out of Danger Mouse's book. This is just Eddie's debut single so it's hard to say where he'll go from here, but he drops an EP on August 27 so we'll soon find out.

Gallant boasts the kind of sky-high falsetto croon that The Weeknd would be proud of, and matches it with propulsive, guitar-led production that makes his forthcoming Zebra EP something to keep an eye out for. Tracks like "If It Hurts" see layers of sound built on each other with deft precision, as Gallant's vocals impress throughout.

Dex Kwasi is from Oklahoma City/Ghana and based in Los Angeles, and he draws from styles ranging from afro-pop to European house, but "Poke Out" is a pretty straightforward rap song, but one that is so immediately striking that it's already got us digging through Dex's Soundcloud to find more. He's been around and making music for a while, but this is the kind of song that could easily trigger a rapid ascent.

If you need some off-kilter pop excellence to fall well and truly in love with, check out Brooklyn (by way of Bogotá and Vancouver) artist Tei Shi, who has an EP on the way soon. Her Saudade EP will include "M&Ms," and if the rest of her music reaches the same nostalgia-tinged, slow-moving heights as the track below, you can be sure you'll be hearing more from this artist soon.