Welcome to AP&R, where we highlight rising artists who are on their way to becoming your new favorite. Below, we’ve rounded up a handful of names from around the world who either just dropped music or have new music on the way very soon. These are the May up-and-comers, artists picked for their standout sound, from apocalyptic punk to campy emo to quirky psych-pop.
Read more: 24 of the most exciting rising artists to watch in 2024
Roon
“It feels like rediscovering yourself after a relationship and is only lonely if you allow it to be,” says former THICK drummer Shari Page, who, under the moniker Roon, is setting out on a thrilling solo venture. Playing every instrument on the project — all from the “studio” that was really her living room floor — Roon has released two singles out thus far, “Next Best Thing” and “Sometimes,” each of which showcases that this is certainly a new chapter for Page sonically. While THICK’s sound leans gleeful garage-rock, with Roon, she wanted to make music that followed a more personal story — one that began in the early aughts, with a Good Charlotte patch proudly stitched to her backpack and a prized pair of sneakers signed by the Early November. Now, Roon is showing us that checkered Vans never go out of style. The project, in many ways, pays due diligence to Page’s teenage self. It serves as an homage to the pop-punk landscape that raised her, as well as a statement of self-assurance, and an introduction, to herself as a solo artist. Roon’s tracks translate the cheeky power chords and snarky riffs of MTV days into something sleeker and simpler — and far more intimate. The debut EP is due later this year. —Anna Zanes
youbet
youbet, the Brooklyn-based indie project led by Nick Llobet (they/them), released their second album, Way To Be, earlier this month via Sub Pop offshoot Hardly Art, and “Peel” has been on repeat since. It begins with a consuming groove as the flamenco guitar takes the lead, buoyed by Llobet’s calm, raspy lines about taking the dream too far. It’s a testament to the band’s tenacious drive — and the painstaking process of their new record as a whole. Self-produced by Lobet, who spent a year-and-a-half refining the album into what it is today, Way To Be glows with quirky psych-pop, vivid imagery, and intense unpredictability that keeps the whole project intriguing from start to finish.—Neville Hardman
Angélica Garcia
Angélica Garcia’s experimental pop sounds totally uninhibited. “Gemini,” the latest single from her upcoming debut album, Gemelo, represents how skillfully she blends electronic textures with a searing, blinding vibrancy that feels like staring straight up at the sun. Produced by Chicano Batman’s Carlos Arévalo, Gemelo (which means “twin” and arrives June 7 via Partisan) offers a moving, hallucinogenic introduction that’s sung primarily in Spanish, pulling you in through the sheer magnetism of her voice. Garcia is also gearing up for a busy summer, which includes dates with IDLES and a co-headline La Doña show in Brooklyn, plus supporting Nilüfer Yanya on tour in the fall. —Neville Hardman
Lip Critic
Though they threaten to return any room to dust that their sound occupies, Lip Critic’s fusion of heavy music and technical DJing also has a disclaimer: Don’t take things too seriously. This is evidenced in the theatricality of Lip Critic sets, spectacles in themselves which are full of unanticipated noises, movement, and punchy, egg-punk lyricism — which they’re taking to another level with Hex Dealer. Their new album is replete with their trademark manic energy and irreverent ethos. It delivers a dizzying rush that rides on snarky punk spirit, and takes us through 12 dopamine-inducing tracks. There’s an apocalyptic side of Hex Dealer, which dives in and out of darkness, questioning spirituality and death. However, sonically, I’d compare it not to the actual end of the world, per se, but rather the chaos that might ensue just before the meteor, when we’re all scrambling for the last of the canned food and building makeshift bunkers. In those moments, this would be a perfect soundtrack. —Anna Zanes
So Totally
Philly’s underdog ethos runs through So Totally, who’ve been knocking around the city since 2016. The band’s bio, penned by Soul Glo frontman Pierce Jordan, describes them as “a portrait of utmost devotion” — and it’s hard to disagree upon hearing their second album, Double Your Relaxation. While you could write it off as headshop jargon, its loud hypnotics will make you commit the phrase — and the band at large — to memory the deeper you dig in. “Welcome Back,” for one, starts the album on a high note, featuring the kind of trancey blasts that define the whole project. It’s dusky and daydreamy, a blend of drone and urgency intermingling across eight tracks that reference ’90s alt-rock and shoegaze but move a step beyond. —Neville Hardman
Suzy Clue
Albanian-born, NYC-raised artist Suzy Clue makes hard emo music. She’s a bit of an enigma, in the best of ways — is she more of an XTINA, or is she a Chino Moreno? It’s never clear, and that’s good — because that’s the point. Clue leans into the aura of the self-described “hot emo girl,” channeling the chaos of feminine energy and grungey sex appeal, which is relayed in her electric performances, laden with camp. Her sound, however, is where the chaos is heard. Sonically, Suzy Clue’s songs spin the listener around, only to spit them out in the middle of a raucous fever dream, in which you’ll never know who you’ll find. Is it a shimmery, shoegaze track, with rough, ringing guitars, or a twisted pop-rock party anthem that’s woven through with dark, murky vocals — or a disorienting melody on top of which we’ll be surprised with a Courtney Love-style moan? Suzy Clue’s latest track, “Holy Touch,” is yet another triumph for the emerging star. Seductively murky, and excitingly challenging, it sees her sliding into more of a rock space, though said space is decorated by Suzy Clue. And with it, she’s showing us yet again just how many sides she has. —Anna Zanes
