Lily Allen's Music Tips

Our guest editor picks out five new acts you really should hear

Freddie Dickson

“Am I allowed to pick someone off my own label?” Lily asks when we prod her for a few musical recommendations. To be fair, we don’t mind personal bias when the artist is as decent as Freddie Dickson. Signed to our guest editor’s ITNO stable, self-proclaimed peddler of ‘doom pop’ Dickson has a raw, breathy, gut-punch of a voice that cuts beautifully through his melting synth backdrops.

The Family Rain

Shag-haired band of brothers from Bath with a bombastic roster of self-purported rock ‘classics’. Humble they’re not, but we’d have to agree on their estimation. They’ve got Kasabian quaking in their winkle-pickers.

MNEK

You’ll recognise his hi-top-fade (inset) from Gorgon City’s Ready For Your Love. He might be just 19, but the London boy has already bagged a Grammy nomination for his part on Duke Dumont’s Need U (100%).

Banks

Making the charge on minimalist R&B/electro soul, doe-eyed LA native (Jillian) Banks does an excellent line in sultry robo sex music.

Jungle

Despite being, to quote our guest editor, “a couple of posh kids from west London”, Jungle are also making “really interesting” tunes. Fans of Disclosure will no doubt agree. Plus, the videos for their singles The Heat and Platoon also include the greatest dance routines ever performed by roller-skaters or six-year-old children.