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="Vindata"/] Although we first saw Vindata appear back in June of 2013 with their debut EP, Paradigms, it wasn't until their latest EP, ...For One To Follow, that we saw Vindata really come into their own, allowing us to see their massive potential. In the world of electronic music, there are varying levels of how good the music really is in comparison to the hype; some of it is OK, some's good, and then there are the efforts that stick out head and shoulders above the rest. And, as personified on the Kenzie May-featured, "All I Really Need" and "Bad Dreams", this duo has hit that next level of music creation, causing us visions of big things for Branden and Jared going forward. - written by Chad Hillard. [do action="big-player-soundcloud" thepostid="46977" artist="Vindata " title="All I Really Need ft. Vindata" id="136926253" link="http://soundcloud.com/vindata/all-i-really-need-featuring"/] [do action="big-player-soundcloud" thepostid="47296" artist="Vindata" title="Bad Dreams" id="137232265" link="http://soundcloud.com/nickraymondg/vindata-bad-dreams"/] [do action="sub-heading" title="Hugo"/] We take pride in our efforts to unearth never-before-heard acts, spending countless hours shuffling through the rubble that is music on the internet. One of those diamond in the rough finds comes from the discovery of the Swiss-born vocalist, Hugo, who may go down as one of the most impressive acts to appear out of obscurity this year. While everyone is quick to point out his uncanny resemblance to Woodkid, we're not letting that factor disrupt our love for "Fall" and "Dark Days", two songs that have endless replay value and showcase Hugo's fantastic vocals. It should be noted that on our original review, we stated Hugo produced as well (in turns out that this is not true). The highlighted EP had production from Swiss producer, Ruedi Tobler, and additional songwriting from Ale. Let's hope the three connect for more new music soon, though, because there's a 100% chance that's its going to be just as great as their debut efforts. - written by Chad Hillard. [do action="big-player-soundcloud" thepostid="48155" artist="Hugo" title="Fall" id="138090888" link="http://soundcloud.com/hugowho/fall"/] [do action="big-player-soundcloud" thepostid="48155" artist="Hugo" title="Dark Days" id="138091722" link="http://soundcloud.com/hugowho/dark-days-1"/] [do action="sub-heading" title="Fortunes"/] Despite the fact that Fortunes have only shown us a sliver of their talents with "Keeper", it's more than enough to allow us to see the massive potential the duo has. By marrying the James Blake-like vocals of Conor McCabe with electronic-infused hip-hop production of Barnaby Matthews, Fortunes is hitting the world right when everyone is ripe for this kind of sound. If they stay on the path that "Keeper" has paved, there's a very good chance the duo could move well past just being featured on blogs. - written by Chad Hillard. [do action="big-player-server" thepostid="50043" artist="Fortunes" title="Keeper" filelink="/hd_uploads/songs/Keeper.mp3"/] [do action="sub-heading" title="Zella Day"/] When Zella Day released her cover of The White Stripe's "Seven Nation Army" in 2011, she captivated everybody with her voice, and the song quickly climbed to the top of the hype machine charts where it caught the eye of music bloggers and fans alike. Then, like it never even happened, she disappeared from the music community's collective conscious, and we all just assumed that Zella was a flash in the pan and the whole thing was a rather happy accident. Fast-forward to right now, though, and it seems like everybody is talking about the two huge tracks that this budding star released in quick succession. The strong showing from both "Sweet Ophelia" and "1965" proves that she's not, in fact, been idle these past couple of years, and that awesome cover of a modern classic was just a harbinger for many more great tracks in the future. - written by Chris Danks [do action="big-player-soundcloud" thepostid="48948" artist="Zella Day" title="1965" id="140040176" link="http://soundcloud.com/zella-day/zelladay-1965"/] [do action="sub-heading" title="Clay"/] This March, we introduced you to Clay, a London-based songstress with the voice of Amy Winehouse and the musical flow of Adele. Her stunning Conversations EP was released under-the-radar about ten months ago, and since then, she hadn’t gained the publicity we believed she deserved, so, we changed that. Many components of her work are absolutely excellent, and while her vocals emerge as the obvious showstopper, her stripped-down instrumentation is also fairly remarkable. She doesn’t need a surplus of noises to amaze, just a harmonic rhythm and her breathtaking vocals. Much of Clay’s talent lies in her ability to guide a song so fluently with her vocals; not a moment sounds forced, but rather natural and full of both power and grace. So, after hearing what Clay could do with a very basic set of instruments, it’s almost scary to think of what she could do on a larger scale. - written by Cole Ryan [do action="big-player-soundcloud" thepostid="50194" artist="Clay" title="Thinking Aloud" id="94628103" link="http://soundcloud.com/claymusic/1-thinking-aloud"/] [do action="big-player-soundcloud" thepostid="50194" artist="Clay" title="Concrete Buildings & Trees" id="94627844" link="http://soundcloud.com/claymusic/1-thinking-aloud"/] [do action="sub-heading" title="Prinze George"/] Prinze George is a four-piece synth-pop band from Brooklyn, New York, but if you've been on Hillydilly in the last week, you probably already knew that. We were a little late to the party on these guys, but when we posted their second single, "Victor", everybody decided to take a second listen, and it seems like everybody all at once decided they were fans (as well they should have, because this band is headed for greatness). The track took off in a big way, and their latest single, "This Time", was the perfect song to keep their hot streak going. Their sound is filled with fun electronic elements, but they don't ever let the music drift too far away from the depth that separates songs like "Victor" from the rest of the overtly shallow Top 40 fluff which lacks any significant substance. Make sure you're keeping tabs on Prinze George in the near future, because with music like this, they'll be pulling in new fans left and right. - written by Chris Danks [do action="big-player-soundcloud" thepostid="48917" artist="Prinze George" title="Victor" id="130008399" link="http://soundcloud.com/prinzegeorge/victor-1"/] [do action="big-player-soundcloud" thepostid="49502" artist="Prinze George" title="This Time" id="140362290" link="http://soundcloud.com/prinzegeorge/this-time-1"/] [do action="sub-heading" title="Talos"/] Everything that Talos has done so far is correct. His music is good (slash that, it's great), his branding is on point, the accompanying visuals to his breakout single, "Tethered Bones", are beautiful, and even the album artwork is striking. At this point, though, we don't know a lot about him. In fact, the only thing he's revealed right now is his real name, Eoin French, which is mildly ironic considering he's Irish. All this isn't super surprising, however, considering the fact that mystery is a huge selling point for artists these days. However, regardless of the circumstances surrounding the song, it's easy to recognize this guy is on the up-and-up, and that we can probably expect a lot more of where "Tethered Bones" came from. Keep your eyes peeled for new Talos here on Hillydilly, because if it sounds even remotely close to his freshman single, you can bet we'll be covering it. - written by Chris Danks [do action="big-player-soundcloud" thepostid="47387" artist="Talos" title="Tethered Bones" id="138132034" link="http://soundcloud.com/talostalostalos/tethered-bones"/]
Best New Artists of the Month