New Music Team Picks #4

Welcome to the fourth edition of New Music Team Picks, a fortnightly feature that sees recommendations for the best new bands from the 405 New Music Team. This edition features Vacation, Deer Leap, Lazy Hurricane, Syntaks and Rokhsan.

Design by Jack Pearson

• Name - Rokhsan - 'Soldier'
• Location - London, UK
• Website - Official Website

There are no shortage of female singer-songwriters at present. However, every now and then one pops up who causes quite a stir. Could Rokhsan Heydari be the one? Maybe. Her varied yet unmistakeably poppy sounds dip into Jazz, Folk, Club and Acoustic. Rokhsan recently featured on Roots Manuva's new track, 'Get The Get' and is set to release her own sounds in the not to distant future.

• Name - Deer Leap - 'We Are Not Who We Are'
• Location - New Hampshire, USA
• Website - Tumblr

From the quiet town of Windham, New Hampshire comes the not-so-quiet new experimental four piece Deer Leap. A few lo-fi demos surfaced back in August of this year, and were soon followed up by the decidedly more polished split with post-rock buddies The World Is A Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid To Die. The split includes four new tracks (or three, if you’re being particular), all of which are leaps and bounds above my expectations. This is me begging for a full length.

• Name Syntaks - 'Shiftandshade Ahead'
• Location - Denmark
• Website - Myspace

I'm not sure whether the band name Syntaks is a Danish word, or simply an example of one of those kooky, faux-street abbreviations that old people use to make bad things seem palatable like 'skool'; what I do know however is that the Danish two-piece create a fantastic brand of ambient electronica. who effortlessly reference all the great electro-shoegaze whilst creating a unique sound.

• Name - Vacation - 'Neutral Acid King'
• Location - New York, USA
• Website - Bandcamp

Wayne Memmer and Rachel Asher are a New York duo who've been making quirky folk pop music under the name Vacation over the past year. Wayne's trembly falsetto brings a sense of desperation to the mix. Almost an urgency to say the things he finds hardest to say. The result is some very heartfelt sounding songs that are also hell of catchy. You can find their music, free to download, on their bandcamp page.

• Name - Lazy Hurricane - 'No Fair Isle'
• Location - Virgin Islands, USA
• Website - Bandcamp

Apparently hailing from a Caribbean island, Lazy Hurricane offers up a blend of big beat noise-pop almost akin to animal collective. With tracks that are at times more like audible assaults then pop songs; seamlessly blending angular guitars and vocals with an array of synthesized sounds, like some kind of beach cocktail. Lazy Hurricane have even featured on the brilliant Tough Love Records’ free sampler, although sadly they seem to have fallen off the map in the last few months.