20 Great New British Artists to Watch

Location: London
For Fans of: Oneohtrix Point Never, Tangerine Dream, the Drive soundtrack
Lacing the gauzy genre of vaporwave with a special strain of yearning for the club, the sound of 2814 is ambient and amenable but with an intense dreaminess that can roil and leave listeners feeling woozy in all the best ways. Beatless tracks on the duo's 2015 album 新しい日の誕生 warble and warp so hard that they could be charted out in terms of rhythm. Whatever the two Londoners – HKE and Telepath – had in mind while making them comes across via deep-space transmissions that are easy to tune into and hard to shake. Other offerings since deliver on the same promise, including a track, "Impact," on a compilation with a title that signals its sound well: Hardvapour.

Location: London
For Fans of: Arca, Flying Lotus, Autechre
A longtime fixture in the Iranian underground rock scene, Ashkan Kooshanejad fled Tehran for London after playing a role in director Bahman Ghobadi's No One Knows About Persian Cats, fearing for his safety once the authorities began arresting and beating participants in the 2009 Cannes-lauded film. After winning asylum in the U.K., Kooshanejad, who had already been recording film soundtracks, began work on the intriguingly unpredictable electronic compositions that he would release as Ash Koosha. A well-received debut, GUUD, attracted the attention of the electronic label Ninja Tune, which released an even more daring follow-up, I AKA I, in April. Befitting the futuristic bent of Ash Koosha's sound, a virtual reality companion to the new album will be displayed on Oculus Rift headsets this year.

Location: London
For Fans of: FIDLAR, the Black Lips, Deerhunter
Fat White Family's sneering psychedelic punk is the sonic equivalent of society coming unhinged. "There's so much landfill indie and crap industry fodder at the moment," vocalist Lias Saoudi said earlier this year. "All these horrible bands like Slaves and Peace and Wolf Alice. All this absolute drivel for angry nine-year-olds." At the root of his criticism is the missed opportunities other bands have when it comes to making political statements in their art. No shortage here. Amid vulgar yet catchy creations like "Tinfoil Deathstar" and "Bomb Disneyland," the five-piece have proven serious about injecting commentary into 2013's Champagne Holocaust and this year's Songs for Our Mothers, both released via Fat Possum. The world might never grasp Fat White Family's importance in these turbulent times, but it's been a hot, sweaty blast for everyone already at the party.

Location: Brighton
For Fans of: Aurora, FKA Twigs, the Cranberries
Upon release of their acclaimed debut, Loom, Brighton's Fear of Men was nearly pigeonholed to death by fuzz-pop comparisons from C86-reverent critics. Yet their latest release, Fall Forever, recoils from the guitar-driven, dream pop structure and drifts into a more contemporary, electronic wilderness. The final result is a gorgeously spun tapestry of prudently spaced, percussive textures that aerate the tiniest, most intimate moments into a sprawling vastness. At the center of it all, vocalist Jessica Weiss issues bold declarations of independence (then concessions) to a lover, portraying the push-and-pull of a troubled young romance that's karmically cycled through centuries. The starkness of songs like "Trauma" and "Island" is appropriately matched with striking visuals by multimedia artist Eleanor Hardwick. After supporting similar acts such as the Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Lower Dens, Fear of Men will finally embark on their first US headliner this summer.

Location: Manchester
For Fans of: Tortoise, the Bad Plus, Radiohead
GoGo Penguin are an instrumental trio boasting a DJ crew name while thriving in an avant-jazz universe. Over three albums, they've often sketched electronic ideas on programs like Logic and Ableton and transferred them to acoustic instruments. The results test tempos, textures and attention spans, nodding to production styles ranging from DJ Mustard to Diplo to Oneohtrix Point Never. On their Mercury Prize-nominated sophomore album v2.0, "Garden Dog Barbecue" simulates the builds and releases of EDM, while the chilled-out DNA of "Hopopono" is closer to trip-hop. Audiences at this year's New York's Winter Jazzfest and Cali megafest Coachella were worlds apart, but both could hear the guys showcase the syncopated discoveries of 2016's Man Made Object.

Location: London
For Fans of: The xx, Phantogram, Portishead
The first song Lotti Benardout, Arthur Delaney and Dom Goldsmith wrote together as Hælos was the irresistible goth-ified pop morsel "Dust." After it blew up on SoundCloud, several more eerie, synth-pop torch songs eventually filled out this year's full-length debut, Full Circle. Even when the trio echo moody electro forebears like Depeche Mode and OMD here and there, their dark synths and sinewy beats aren't holding onto the past. Their approach – frequently syncing up Benardout and Goldsmith's whispered disappointments – has communicated emoji-era pathos to festival audiences at Lollapalooza, Outside Lands and Coachella.

Location: Brighton
For Fans of: Zomby, Kode9, Kuedo
Ital Tek – a.k.a. producer Alan Myson – came up making concussive, stroboscopic bass music for the hallowed but still hip label Planet Mu before turning, on his recent album Hollowed, to an unlikely influence: the late 20th-century Polish classical composer Henryk Górecki. His eminence has been offered as a stated influence for an album that brings to beats and bass a sense of contemplation and space inspired by Gorecki's vaunted Symphony No. 3 (which you might have heard in movies even if unaware). No one will mistake a ripping, ruptured track like "Reflection Through Destruction" – with seething synth noise more prominent than beats that arise only at the end – as a candidate for classical repertory, but sophistication comes in many forms.

Location: Norwich
For Fans of: Cocteau Twins, Lana Del Rey, Kate Nash
Deeply weird and weirdly deep, the teen duo of Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth craft songs that are sprawling and exploratory. Their debut I, Gemini peppers sprawling, playful electropop with unexpected left turns – recorder solos, rap breaks, toy piano interludes – and otherworldly vocals. Their sense of childlike wonder buoys their music, giving off a sense that they're figuring things out as they go along; but as the band's name (taken from an old lesson about how to use commas) implies, sinister elements lurk underneath.

Location: Birmingham
For Fans of: Skepta, Krept & Konan, Nicki Minaj
After Lady Leshurr broke out in 2011 with her mindblowing freestyle over Chris Brown's "Look at Me Now," Atlantic offered the Birmingham rapper a deal, suggesting that she release a Nicki Minaj diss track. The artist born Melesha O'Garro said no, and took the long road to success on her own terms. Although Leshurr refused to criticize another artist, she's elevated insults to a comic artform on her "Queens Speech" series, where she deals in sharp pop culture putdowns: "I'll be Beyoncé to these girls and I'll Michelle them," she deadpans on "Queens Speech 3." Last October, she released "1 Million Views" after the brilliant one-shot "QS4" video hit seven figures in a week. It's now at 29 million views and Leshurr just signed a publishing deal with BMG.

Location: Liverpool
For Fans of: Lorde, Adele, Lykke Li
On her debut album Long Way Home, this young singer-songwriter crafts minimalist synth-pop that's given extra emotional grounding by her rich, lugubrious alto. She started posting music on SoundCloud and soon garnered the attention of XL Records, which counts similarly soulful singers like Adele and Holly Miranda among its alumnae. She's been championed by in-the-know DJs like Zane Lowe (whose new home, Beats 1, played the simmering "Falling Short" during its inaugural day) and Annie Mac (who named some of her tracks her "Hottest Record in the World"). Låpsley's about to entrance listeners Stateside with sets at Lollapalooza and Outside Lands.

Location: North London
For Fans of: Tink, Dizzee Rascal, Stormzy
Standing at 5'9" – with a personality ten times that size – Little Simz is simply not to be messed with. First featured in English TV series such as Spirit Warriors and Youngers, the actress-turned-rapper premiered her 2013 mixtape, Blank Canvas, on Jay Z's Life + Times blog; then made a formidable showing in the battle cry that was her 2015 full-length, A Curious Tale of Trials + Persons. She was nominated for Best International Act (UK) at the 2015 BET Awards and was most recently lauded by the Telegraph and BBC as one of the most "exciting" and "energizing" acts at the 2016 Glastonbury Festival.