From the pop perfection of King Harold of Styles to the raw chaos of Sports Team, this week hasn’t been shy of great new tracks. In order to help you cut through the noise, we’ve sifted through the pile and plucked out a few of the best. If you want more, scroll to the bottom and you’ll find our weekly New Music Friday edit. Subscribe to the playlist on Spotify, and never miss out again.
So, there we have it, Dear Reader. Harry Styles – the new king of ultra-cool bedroom pop indie. ‘As It Was’ might, in parts, echo back to The Strokes driving cool, but it’s in a way that lines up perfectly with some of the most exciting, vibrant, positive voices in alternative pop right now. From Wallows to Alfie Templeman, the fact that Harry’s latest comeback positions himself firmly amongst their pack only goes to prove each and every one of them have something special going on. Add to that the spinning, swirly, self-referencing cool, and ‘Harry’s House’ already looks like a delightful place to lay our heads.
Attention! Attention please! Sports Team are back-back-BACK, and they’ve lost none of that chaotic brilliance. ‘R Entertainment’ may be the bridge between ‘Deep Down Happy’ and second album ‘Gulp!’, but that crossing is surely constructed of rope and planks, waving wildly in the winds as hundreds of feral devotees charge across it. Poking at pop’s ludicrously proportioned undercarriage, nothing’s ever boring with Sports Team.
When we said ‘Life is Yours’ is Foals’ party album, we weren’t kidding. Third preview ‘Looking High’ is bright, bubbling and brilliant. A strutting, math-rock disco, this is one high horse that’s positively popping off the ceiling. Festival season simply isn’t ready for this.
Price Alf is a talented chap, but ‘Leaving Today’ shows new depths to his abilities. Not content with crooning and swooning through yet another preview of his much-anticipated debut album ‘Mellow Moon’, he’s even offering up some hot cello action. The closer that first full-length gets, the more Alfie seems like the real deal.
All great pop songs need a strong bass line, so it only goes to reason that Blu DeTiger has a birrova advantage. ‘Hot Crush Lover’ is a bubblegum bop – a side shuffling, brightly adorned, sugar-spun treat that’s here for a good time. As she continues to drive towards that debut album, Blu’s not so quietly proving a potential pop megastar. No pressure or anything.
Bleeping and blooping her way into an infectious groove, spill tab continues her flawless ascent with the (occasionally) suitably titled ‘Sunburn’. While the weather might be up and down as we head into spring, her ear for a fresh, vital bop certainly isn’t. Hot stuff.
Lauran Hibberd and Limp Bizkit’s DJ Lethal. Yeah. Obviously. This makes sense. As Hibbo shifts gear for a forthcoming debut album, she’s lost none of her fizzy, ridiculous charms. Brash and dripping with attitude, the queen of slacker pop never fails to raise a smile, even when she’s taking on the daily grind. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, but ‘Still Running (5K)’ more than makes the pace.
All hand claps and sun shards, renforshort feels like she’s an artist on a charge. A vitamin C charged megabop, ‘made for you’ is the kind of song that wishes away the springtime in the hope of bringing the summer heat along that little bit quicker. Scorchio.
Leeds’ Wax Works continues to offer up solid gold alt disco anthems – the kind of stuff that will soon have him joining the ranks of the grand indie princes. ‘Break Up Song’ is part Templeman, part Headon, but all Wax Works. One to watch.
16-year-old prodigy flowerovlove knows how to write a bop, that’s for sure. ‘Will We Ever Get This Right?’ is a dreamy, driven bop heading straight for the head of the pack. Confident, vibrant and capable of cutting through the noise, it’s yet another marker of something really quite remarkable.
A grungy, fuzzy alt-pop bop, 22-year-old Artemas knows how to make an impression. Clocking in at under two minutes, the Two inch Punch produced ‘I’m Sorry’ is all anxiety and FOMO, introspective thought and ego checks. Sunny-side up while staring into the gutter, it suggests much, much more to come.
Just about to hit the road with Charli XCX, ELIO is becoming the kind of future pop prodigy that should have her elders looking over their shoulders. ‘Vitamins’ bubbles with pure potential, hooking onto a passing vibe shift and twisting it to her own ends. Take twice a day with water, and watch it go off.
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