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.

Falease is one of the most exciting new acts in recent memory. He's from Ohio, and his icy, confident "Come Up in a Minute" is in steady rotation. He's created a balanced blend of tongue-twisting verses and lush, moody production that sounds almost alien in its modernity. 

Describing his sound as "sonically melodic but dense and conscious driven," Falease is a complex young artist, shifting between genres with ease. "Those different elements were incorporated deliberately so that it can allow a larger mass of people to be receptive to it," Falease told us. "I decided to do both because I feel that it is important to seek out different kinds of effective ways to reach someone and successfully get the same message across."

Nate Husser is a poet plucked from the crossroads of Montreal and the Grenadines. The latter is his family's home country, but he's writing and recording in Montreal. But these are hardly Québécois folk tunes—Husser's music is raw, angry, and distorted, a dystopian vision of cops, drugs, and competition. 

Geto Rock For The Youth dropped earlier this month, and while "Catherine" is the single of choice, we'd recommend "KillaKop" and "Paid To Party" to experience Husser's full range. He's cooking up something between Schoolboy Q and Rage Against the Machine, and it's sounds near-perfect on this EP.

Netherlands-based Bülow is graduating from high school in 2018 and planning to move to Canada, and she's already well on her way to major success with concise, accessible pop songs and a modern sensibility. "Not A Love Song" just passed a million streams on Spotify alone, and her songwriting chops and production choices are already on par with some of the best in popular music. With the Damaged Vol. 1 EP as her only official release, she's only got three songs out, but the hit-making potential is already obvious. We can't wait to hear what's next, but we'll let her go ahead and finish high school first.

Creek Boyz have been around for some time now but the recent release of the music video for their hit song "With My Team" has taken the Baltimore rap collective to new heights. With a positive message and an undeniable hook, the track feels like the next local rap hit that could blow up on a national scale.

Speaking on behalf of his teammates, Turk says,"What we’re doing right now is setting a positive example, there’s a lot of tension going on in our city. The power that we have is the power to change these kids’ perceptions on life. Instead of being a drug dealer you can be a doctor, a nurse, a ball player, or a rapper!" Capitalizing on the viral hit, the Creek Boyz are sure to keep the fire going.

Colorado-based Ashley Koett has been refining her music for a while now, quietly releasing charming tracks via SoundCloud that showcase her songwriting talents. But with her latest, “Call Me,” she’s really found her groove.

The jazz-inflected track is a gorgeous indication of a bright future, leaving us wanting just a little more from its brief runtime. Inspired by laughing when faced with misery, she told us, "If you’re laughing about something sad, that instantly makes it not as shitty." If that isn’t the best way to live in 2017, then we don’t know what is.

Seattle rapper Ghoulavelii grew up on everything from Dipset, Clipse, and DMX to Marilyn Manson and punk/metal groups like Millions of Dead Cops, Mayhem, and Type O Negative. Listening to his music, there's a dark edge to it, but it's mostly held down by an effortless charisma without much polish, something other newcomers like Playboi Carti and Uno The Activist have mastered.

But Ghoulavelii's biggest influence, he explains, is Anton LaVey, founder of the Church of Satan and the religion of LaVeyan Satanism. "At the end of the day, it's 2017," he says. "The only people bothered by shit like that is old n****s, let's be real. Kids gravitate toward anything that is against the norm, whether they truly believe in whatever it is or not. Our generation is open-minded as hell on top of that, and we bringing controversy back in a whole new way. People who think they've seen it all, just wait."

With an origin story that almost sounds too serendipitous, the creative duo behind Thunder Jackson have a potential hit on their hands with “Guilty Party.” After a chance meeting in the back of a taxi two years ago, the pair decided before the ride was over that they just had to come together to create something. Now, after a year of recording in L.A., they’ve made a bold debut with “Guilty Party.”

With a sound that’s delightfully old-school without coming across as gimmicky, the mysterious duo’s first track is one of the catchiest songs we’ve heard all month. The pair promises they’ve got an album worth of material already completed, so thankfully we shouldn’t have to wait to hear more from them. 

Maesu is only 25 years old, but he's been recording music for over a decade and making ends meet by taking on almost 20 different jobs, ranging from photo booth operator to jingle writer. The Alabama artist recently relocated to Los Angeles, and after all this time making music, he finally put out his debut project in 2017. The deSerVe EP consists of seven songs that show Maesu's range and potential, mixing hip-hop and downtempo electronic with slightly off-kilter songwriting and sharp lyricism. "OG" is especially captivating—a moody, tipsy song that is immediate enough to love on first listen and unorthodox enough to remain interesting after 20 plays.

Listen to the entire EP here and read our interview with Maesu here.