Within the endless current of new music, it’s difficult for anyone to keep up with all that’s coming out. To combat this ongoing influx of sound, we publish our “Best New Artists of the Month” articles in the hopes that you never miss out on the outstanding new artists emerging in recent times. [do action="sub-heading" title="ZHU"/] We've already sung ZHU's praises on Hillydilly multiple times since the mysterious release of his Outkast remix a while back, so his spot on our best new artists of the month post probably isn't going to be a shock to many readers. That being said, it is still quite impressive how quickly this shadow-producer has risen to prominence, though, when you listen to his music, you'll realize that it's not all just empty hype that he's been receiving, either. The vocals in all of his tracks are his, and the production work is a nice change of pace no matter what genres you're normally a fan of. In the past month, the foundation has been laid for ZHU's long term success, and it looks like he's only going to be getting bigger from here. - written by Chris Danks [do action="big-player-soundcloud" thepostid="52595" artist="ZHU" title="Cocaine Model" id="145428506" link="http://soundcloud.com/zhu/cocaine-model"/] [do action="big-player-soundcloud" thepostid="52595" artist="ZHU" title="Faded" id="138712428" link="http://soundcloud.com/zhu/cocaine-model"/] [do action="sub-heading" title="TĀLĀ"/] Unbeknownst to us, TĀLĀ actually hit us up back in 2011 submitting a track called "Heartstrings". Unfortunately, it took until last week (after we discovered her again via "Serbia" and "The Dutchess") to recognize how big our blunder really was. Thankfully, we were able to come to our senses this time around with the two tracks in our presence. "The Dutchess" is mainly an instrumental piece with vocal sprinklings, and served moreso as a teaser to what was an absolute triumph of a track in "Serbia", arguably her biggest sound to date. 2014 is still relatively early, but there's no doubt in our minds that "Serbia" is going to be one of our favourite tracks come the year's end, and as far as new artists go, there's no question TĀLĀ is one of the most promising out right now. - written by Chad Hillard [do action="big-player-soundcloud" thepostid="51915" artist="TĀLĀ " title="Serbia" id="144632648" link="http://soundcloud.com/talaofficial/serbia/"/] [do action="big-player-soundcloud" thepostid="51222" artist="TĀLĀ" title="The Dutchess" id="142729644" link="http://soundcloud.com/talaofficial/the-duchess"/] [do action="sub-heading" title="Kidepo"/] It's not too often that we receive an e-mail submission that genuinely amazes us, and it's with even less frequency that we receive a submission from an artist both singing and produceing his own tracks. This was exactly the case with 23-year-old, Kidepo, though, a mysterious artist that hails from London but now lives in New York. “Reds” is basically his debut song, discounting the minute-long, vocal-based prologue that he had quietly uploaded to his SoundCloud. Judging from what we’ve heard, Kidepo's sound is a fusion of smooth, refreshing synths, masterful vocals, electronic bits, and subtle tropical infusions, all of which composite an irresistibly dreamy vibe. And, after hearing only two of his songs, we’re already on the edge of our seats, eager to see what Kidepo's left in store for us. - written by Cole Ryan [do action="big-player-soundcloud" thepostid="51858" artist="Kidepo" title="Reds" id="144260889" link="http://soundcloud.com/kidepomusic/reds-1"/] [do action="sub-heading" title="Highlands"/] Reykjavik-based duo, Logi Pedro Stefansson (production) and Karin Sveinsdottir (vocals), have crashed onto the scene with their N°1 EP, and judging by the quality of their sound, these two are looking to turn some heads. Their music is subtle at times, but there's a hint of something more, and there's no mistaking what they've cooked up for future releases. Naturally, we'll be keeping an eye on them as they release more material (including their inevitable sophomore releases), but until then, enjoy their current collection of songs. - written by Chris Danks [do action="big-player-server" thepostid="50824" artist="Highlands" title="Rolling Stones" filelink="/hd_uploads/songs/Highlands - Rolling Stones.mp3"/] [do action="big-player-server" thepostid="50824" artist="Highlands " title="Sirens" filelink="/hd_uploads/songs/05 Sirens.mp3"/] [do action="sub-heading" title="J M R"/] Joshua Michael Robinson (J M R) is from Central Florida, and he's a supremely talented musician who's devoted his time towards making breathtaking sounds. He's so good at what he does, in fact, that It's almost not fair (to those with aspirations to take on the art). His voice is what you'd expect from an R&B track, and yes, his breakout song, "Pioneer of Your Heart", does have a lot of R&B influence in it, but there is also so much more going on here as well. The string sections and moments of sweeping vocals will raise the hairs on the back of your neck, and when he folds everything back in to the mix to close out the song, it's painfully obvious you're listing to a master at work. - written by Chris Danks [do action="big-player-soundcloud" thepostid="52172" artist="J M R" title="Pioneer Of Your Heart" id="144759838" link="http://soundcloud.com/jmrsongs/pioneer-of-your-heart"/] [do action="sub-heading" title="ERNEST"/] We take pride in our efforts to go beyond SoundCloud and e-mail submissions to find the hidden talents of the world, and while such efforts come up fruitless more often than we'd like, there are always those dusty gems that remind us why we do the digging in the first place. Perhaps one of our best finds of the month goes to the Singapore-based vocalist ERNEST and her debut single, "Entrance". Information regarding the artist is scarce, and since the time of our initial post, we've seen the song rack up 20K plays on SoundCloud alone. For for those of you who've heard the song, though, this news should come as no surprise, and while we have no idea what the future holds for ERNEST, if "Entrance" is any indication of what to expect, we would say we should be in for some absolute greatness. [do action="big-player-soundcloud" thepostid="52582" artist="ERNEST" title="Entrance" id="145382333" link="http://soundcloud.com/hillydilly/ernst-entrance"/] [do action="sub-heading" title="X priest X"/] We’re currently living in a golden age of electro-pop, an age that takes newly innovated sounds with signature pop elements from previous decades and meshes them together, sometimes wonderfully, and sometimes not so much. This past month, we saw the emergence of yet another talent that has mastered the art of electro-pop, and that is X priest X. Pronounced simply “priest” (no need to say the X’s), the Floridian duo appeared rather spontaneously with their stunning debut single, “Isn’t It So”, which was shortly followed by “Sophie K” and the rest of the Samurai EP. Quality is what we honor at Hillydilly, and though we've only received four songs from the duo, we found each song worthy of being posted, which is quite a commendable feat (at least, in comparison to most similar-sounding acts). So, after hearing their flawless EP, we're definitely looking forward to seeing where X priest X’s sound progresses to next. - written by Cole Ryan [do action="big-player-soundcloud" thepostid="49476" artist="X priest X" title="Isn't It So" id="140523962" link="http://soundcloud.com/eeemotion/x-priest-x-isnt-it-so"/] [do action="big-player-soundcloud" thepostid="51503" artist="X priest X" title="Sophie K" id="143852633" link="http://soundcloud.com/eeemotion/x-priest-x-sophie-k"/] [do action="sub-heading" title="Ever In Lo"/] Beat maestros like Ever In Lo and a handful of others are the reason for our continual urge to discover unexposed acts here at HD. Hailing from a neighborhood that generates a copious amount of forward-thinking talent, this Aussie caught our attention for more than just that reason. Upon our initial discovery, we learnt that Ever In Lo's a rather distinct producer, in fact, as he had baffled us with his effort entitled “Deeeeeep” and went on to portray nothing but a high degree of precision in every one of his concoctions afterwards. What startled us even more, though, was the minimal hype surrounding him, so we took matters into our hands to have all of you witness the sheer brilliance in this producer’s technique, portrayed again through his latest piece, “Excuse Me Mr”. Ever In Lo demonstrates some serious raw talent, as his aforementioned electronic efforts indicate, and his genuine intention to create downright artful pieces is what particularly stands out about his promising sound. - written by Nishant Karvinkop [do action="big-player-soundcloud" thepostid="52792" artist="Ever In Lo" title="Deeeeeep" id="138519697" link="http://soundcloud.com/everinlo/deeeeeep"/] [do action="big-player-server" thepostid="52854" artist="Ever In Lo" title="Excuse Me Mr" filelink="/hd_uploads/songs/excuse-me-mr-ever-in-lo-.mp3"/]
Best New Artists of the Month