Best New Artists of the Month

Finding new artists is easier than ever, but this creates a problem: it's harder than ever to filter through it all and keep tabs on what's really good.

With so many artists popping up every day, it's impossible not to miss out on some fresh faces and new sounds. With that in mind, we'll be highlighting our favorite new acts each month. Here are the best new artists of October.

The future is bright for 17-year-old Yellow Days. He's freshly signed to London's prestigious Good Years label, and has a debut EP in the works. For now, however, we can luxuriate in "Your Hand Holding Mine," a lumbering beauty of a song. Yellow Days has a huge, unique voice that he honed listening to blues legends like Howlin' Wolf and Ray Charles—but he's doing something else entirely with his own music, even if it's coming from a similarly profound place.

"Yellow Days itself is like a way of looking at things when everything is odd or confusing and emotionally potent," the young artist told us. "I found music as a way of dealing with things that have happened to me, whether they're good or bad I saw writing as a cathartic thing to do." 

Tepu is a musician for the 21st century, one who works from the confines of his bedroom to create sounds that don't exist in the "real" world. But he's making some of the most affecting, emotional music we've heard in recent memory—heartfelt lyrics tell a story of spurned love and introversion, but the glittering synths and kinetic, playful drum lines say otherwise.

The L.A.-based artist has found a way to pull great music from dark times, and it makes for some seriously forward-thinking production.

After two years working at Universal, Bishat left to focus on her own music. It was the right move—"Told Me" is a perfect slice of pop songwriting, complete with a carefree message that shows the Swedish singer isn't concerned about doing this for anyone else. Her voice soars above bouncy, synth-driven percussion, and chopped vocal samples provide a gleeful counter-melody.

"We live in extremely throwaway times," she told us. "We don't put a lot of actual time, work and effort into our interactions, or even what we truly want to do with our lives. We're always distracted, always wanting to be everywhere and do everything, and then we are surprised when things don't work out."​

If "Told Me" is up your alley, make sure to check out Bishat's previous single "Mine."

Elevator Jay comes to us from North Carolina, where he's built a diverse roster of influences and collaborations—he cites Devin The Dude, Uncle Luke, and The Dungeon Family as inspirations, and spins off some incredible flows on "Pimps and Players."

He's at the center of a movement that's uniting the Carolinas, too. "Permanent Vacation Deep Fried Family is a squad full of creative individuals that I joined back in 2010," he told us. "Since then, we've thrown multiple parties with the goal of introducing new artists to the people. Teaming up with homies Rapper Shane and DJ Ahuf, we created a brand called Player Made. This brand not only focuses on Southern rap culture, but we also throw parties to break new music and help local/regional artists make a name for themselves."

Dance rap from Ireland? Why not! Hare Squead is making it happen—the Irish trio have a hit on their hands with "Long Way To Go," a unique combination of big dance beats, sung vocals, and nimble raps. 

Their name is "Square Head" reversed—all three members had flat tops when they met​. But the Hare Squead sound is anything but homogenous. They're bringing a bouncy, elastic sound to the table that injects an irresitible energy into any room. "The hip-hop scene in Ireland is blossoming as we speak," Hare Squead's Jessy Rose said. "We don't really feel like we need to leave Dublin, but at the same time we don't just want to be a local act. We want to be international as fuck."​

Dutch band Avi On Fire debuted with "Pearls," a big, bold hit of indie pop excellence. With a catchy chorus that you can imagine crowds around the world screaming back to the band and a backbone of jaunty keys, the song sounds like a hit (or the soundtrack to a commercial that you won't be able to get out of your head).

There seems to be less of this type of indie pop around these days, so if you're missing the heyday of bands like Grizzly Bear and Passion Pit, check out Avi On Fire.

Rico Nasty has been bubbling in the DMV—and wth cosigns from Lil Yachty and Jay IDK, the movement's starting to spread. She calls her sound sugar trap, a saccharine combination of big bass and sing-song melodies. Like sugar, it's pretty addictive—"Hey Arnold" is the type of track to turn up any function, and Rico shows she can rap as well as she sings on "Dennis Rodman." 

Her Sugar Trap mixtape dropped back in August—listen to it here.

Fortunes aren't new—they independently released EPs in 2015 and 2016—but they're new to us, and they're newly signed to Future Classic. The first track to be released on their new label is "501's," a warm, funky, straight up fun track which, the duo explains, “is about when the weather is hot and you see a hot guy and he looks real good in his jeans."

Conor and Barnaby from Fortunes first met at high school in New Zealand, but it wasn't until they moved to Melbourne, Australia that they connected on a musical level. After a house party at which Conor ended up singing D'Angelo's "Devil's Pie" a capella, Barnaby invited him to go and record, and that was the beginning of the band.

Here's to much more music from them in the near future.

"Creeping" is a song that gets under your skin. It's not just Obongjayar's growling, intimate bellow, or the stylish, voyeuristic video that addresses the viewer directly—those are part and parcel to the package, but this Nigerian-born, London-based has created something more with his debut single. He's King Krule-approved, able to pack honeyed, bittersweet melodies and heavy lyrical content into one song. It may be the only original content we've heard thus far, but "Creeping" is proof enough that Obongjayar is a star on the rise. 

Bruno Mali Kidd has been blazing his own path. He's in Miami at the moment, but was born in the Bahamas before moving to Little Haiti. It was a tough childhood for Bruno, who lost a brother to violence at a young age and spent time away from home.

But music was a constant throughout, and he's been making it for a minute. Are we late to the Bruno Mali Kidd wave? Better late than never—"HA" is too good of a track not to highlight. His early stuff bangs too, though—check out his numerous technical skills on tracks like "Flyy." 

"TBC" stands for "To Be Confirmed," a fittingly opaque title for Ama Lou's debut single. The North London singer has a voice that cuts right through Exmoor Emperor's dark, skittering production—as if it's looking for answers, determined and grasping all at once.

It's a huge debut for the 18-year-old. "TBC" is the kind of song that reveals more layers the closer you listen, a fact Ama Lou volunteered the following during our interview: "'Should it be I’ve lost my way,' is a kind of mockery of the media’s perpetuated projected propaganda that labels activism crazy," she said, "Because they have lost their way and place in society, they need to make noise and be heard."​