Add to playlist: Punchbag’s sweaty, unpolished electro music and the best new tracks of the week | music

from South London
Recommended if you like Charlie xcx, confidence man, klaxons
the next The tour begins in the UK on April 21

If this had been April 2008, Punchbag brothers Clara and Anders Bach, aka South Londoners, would have been headlining the NME Tour alongside Alphabeat and Frankmusik, while the Popjustice forum would have been hailing them as the new face of “wonky pop”. The sonic calling cards of this tiny genre of the waning iPod era — off-kilter, unpolished electro-pop piled high with a myriad of other genres — were littered on Punchbag’s first single, “Fuck It.” A sweaty riot of ’90s rave, extreme bass and Clara’s spit-laced vocals, it felt tailor-made for an awkward soundtrack on Skins. Last May, he was joined by three more frenetic bands on the duo’s debut EP, I’m Not Your Punchbag, and the standout, You Used to Be So Sexy, sounds like the GarageBand-produced Veronicas had they grown up in east London instead of Brisbane.

This month’s follow-up EP, I Am Obsessed, takes that neon palette and adds some darker colors to the mix. Lyrically, the duo said they were keen to highlight the scabby surface of our current reality, with the dry ice lyric of ‘Playing God’ ironically dedicated to men in power. It’s a sonic palette cleanser that also serves as an example of the duo’s musical evolution, with its penchant for rich melody leaning toward arenas rather than headache-inducing squats. However, if you’re like me, and nothing but glorious noise will suffice, ‘I Love This!’, which channels both Sucker and Brat-era Charli xcx, is the perfect antidote to mainstream beige, while the confused sugar rush of ‘What’s in My Bag’ (“Underwear in case I survive”) continues the Lord’s masterful music but spices it up with something spicier. Michael Cragg

The best new songs of the week

Tara Clerkin Trio – Silently
Mysterious synths, low beats and Spanish guitar conjure a dark, winding coastline in this utterly relaxing song that never fades into the wallpaper: the curious vocals and piano interludes are too beguiling for that. L.S

Baby Father – Slumpz
With EsDeeKid favorite producer Wraith9 on the corroded symphonic beat, Dean Blunt’s steady, slightly funky flow is always welcome, as his rap project with James Massiah returns with the excellent EP Icl. BPT

Thistle. – The edifice
Catching a giant wave of pool water waves, the Mank trio ride this oscillating mass of noise through two and a half minutes of grungy grunge before it suddenly disappears. BPT

Katsi – pinky up
To avoid the controversy surrounding Manon Bannerman’s hiatus, the girl group leans into naughty pop party anthems: anthemic chorus, upbeat percussion, hyperactive production, and an unexpected singing hat tip of Socrates. Sa

Massive Attack – Boots on the Ground (with Tom Waits)
Whooshing breaths, mournful piano, sparse drums, and haunting wails: the long-awaited massive attack returns. Waits’ part might have sounded like a lost blues record — if he hadn’t been playing a brash, unrepentant warmonger. (Not on Spotify – buy it from Bandcamp.) L.S

Disgusting Sisters – Freak Magnets
A solo band and a perfectly named band: the real-life sisters split the difference between Pratt-era Summers and Charli and 1st-era Billie Eilish, with succubus-style vocals swirling around a playfully creepy bassline. L.S

Public-Private Partnership – Wesco
DJs Piezo, Plead and Python combine for a syncopated track that evokes the harder ending to DJ Koze’s latest album, and makes summer seem tantalizingly close. L.S

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