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King Purple

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Jun 25th]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. Harry Pane ‘Another Page‘The Brackley singer-songwriter is a chill playlist creator’s wet dream. His charming brand of indie folk has wide-ranging appeal, and he’s a firm festival favourite even in these pre-debut-album days. His second single of 2021 again is a collaboration with Maia Frankowski, their voices melting together like butter and sugar in some delicious recipe. ghostofblu ‘Divine Disintegration’A techno punk sound this time out, a collaboration with HySeak. I absolutely love this one, even if some people might think its a bit more “commercial”...

Maddox Jones

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Jun 11th]

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Maddox Jones by Tom Stilgoe New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. Maddox Jones ‘Can’t Wait For The Summer [Bombs Away remix]The wait is over in a few days! We might not get “freedom day” come June 21st, but we do get the start of the summer that the former Departure/Born Stranger singer Maddox Jones has been thinking about since this very testing Winter we just endured. He’s once again hooked up with the platinum-selling Australian EDM production duo to give the song a club makeover, which it achieves with no little finesse....

Bad Money

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Jun 4th]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. Pa Salieu feat. slowthai ‘Glidin”East meets West – Midlands that is. Warner Music signee, Coventry lad Pa Salieu raps over a sweet Afroswing beat with plenty of his Gambian heritage worn on his sleeve – and Ty matches him by leaning on his own Bayan family background with his delivery. “Just look to the sky and say/Nah, I’m blessed”, one of slowthai’s lines, sums up the ‘chase the good life’ vibe on this raw, refreshing – and frankly breathless – collaboration. Bermal ‘Affiliation’Teenager bassline producer from...

Ainso

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [May 28th]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. Mark Ski feat. Lulla HF ‘Gone Shopping [remix]’Northampton hip-hop producer mainstay Ski released a glorious slab of vinyl in 2020 called Catch-REC, full of old-skool flavours and new skool vocal guests. Mark Ski has followed it up with a short seven-song remix EP of some of those same tracks. This track he’s actually redone himself; with a phatter, undeniable beat in no time at all you’ll be slinking down the high street with your head rolling off its axis. Buy Mark Ski vinyl here. Ainso ‘Pedal...

Don Broco

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [May 21st] | Alfie Cridland, Don Broco etc.

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. Alfie Cridland, Don Broco, props, and more feature. Alfie Cridland x Cally Rhodes ‘Comfort Zone’12 months on from his debut and the Desborough man is firmly established as EDM royalty, his first two singles having racked up a staggering 10 million plus plays on Spotify alone. “Feels like I’m always waiting for tomorrow” sings vocalist Cally on this new one, another commercial house banger. Clubbers certainly are; it’s been a while now since we could throw shapes. Almost there… Don Broco ‘Manchester Super Reds No.1 Fan’Nu-metal!...

The Moons

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [May 14th]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. Billy Lockett ‘Don’t Mean A Thing [acoustic]’His recent ‘Reflections’ EP was a generally intimate affair, sonically. But now he’s stripped the collection right back to voice and keys for a forthcoming sister EP, much like how his upcoming “gigs are back” tour will present the songs [including a Northampton date at The Black Prince on May 30th]. This ‘acoustic’ version is not a million miles away from the studio version; the most interesting thing being the different vocal emphasis, which here elevates the killer melody even...

Sean Grant & The Wolfgang

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [May 7th]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. Alfie Templeman ‘One More Day’Today sees the release of ‘Forever isn’t Long Enough’, the debut [mini] album from the 18 year-old Bedford bedroom-popper. This relaxed groove is a slightly different vibe from the Day-Glo funk-pop of recent times, and reveals he’s no one-trick pony. The main vocal here is courtesy of Irish guest April, who puts in a turn and a half here. A US tour just announced too! Alfie Templeman will own the world in about twelve months at this rate. Self Esteem ‘I Do...

Krankhead

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Apr 30th]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. Kinetik ‘Don’t Act Like’Northants DJ and DnB producer has been building up his arsenal behind the scene, now dropping sizzler number three. It take no prisoners as it sits up in your ears from second one, this collaboration with Dispute is as fierce as they come, mixing in grime elements to the old skool DnB flavours. His delivery is faster than a coyote, and he’s shaping a bright post-lockdown future right here. Krankhead ‘Cut Throat’Steelpans dominate this short cut; two minutes of low-riding hip-hop courtesy of...

Naked Next Door

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Apr 23rd]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. Working Men’s Club ‘X’Scuttle back to February 2020 and when this Yorkshire quartet rolled into Northampton’s The Black Prince to wow everyone little did we know what would occur six weeks later. That people are still talking about this gig so fondly in 2021 isn’t just because we miss great visceral live music, but because WMC have been lapping at the Great Music elixir. ‘X’ has that sonic edge; post-punk meets electronica. One foot in the past with one arm flailing at some future sky. Turn...

J Kaz

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Apr 16th]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. J Kaz ‘Panicking’Teaming up with K More on this clubland targeted tune, turning down the afro-pop vibes a little as he fires on the middle verses. With that catchy chorus its another winner to add to the Northamptonian’s burgeoning arsenal. Sharmaine ‘Stuck In My Head’The polar opposite of last single, the ballad ‘Excuses’, we’re more in clubland territory here, with skittering beats that bob up and down like joyful waves. Is there nothing this young artist cannot do, and with aplomb? And yes, it will get...

Nailbreaker

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Apr 9th] feat. Jay Faded, Sarpa Salpa, Nailbreaker, etc.

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. Jay Faded ‘Lights Out’Ten millions streams and counting for the bassline boss of NN. This latest single keeps the levels up high, slamming sounds against melody and rhythm to keep your dulled sinuses from collapsing in on themselves. Clubs are back this summer, and Jay will lead you on your merry dance like a smiling pied piper. Sarpa Salpa ‘As Good As It Gets’The synth-funk-pop gang have thrown out a second EP, ‘A Feeling You Can’t Replace’. Containing the already-released bang tidy songs ‘Forward Backwards’, ‘Stick...

Harry Pane

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Apr 2nd]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. Harry Pane ‘Dream Of You’Brackley’s finest Harry Pane teams up here with Maia Frankowski on a haunting folk duet. Written on a ukulele when they first started collaborating, there’s some sumptuous string work by in praise of folly too that lifts the track another notch come the denouement. Your Sunday chill playlist has another track for inclusion right here courtesy of Harry Pane. Press To MECO ‘Smouldering Sticks’Another preview track for forthcoming album Transmute, this one is all about the groove. Great fuzz bass courtesy of...

FFSYTHO

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Mar 26th]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. FFSYTHO ‘Ask About Me [Jabro Remix]’“Of course I’m a force to be reckoned with”. 2020 announced the incredible Northampton rap talent FFSYTHO, keen on putting you in your place in the most witty and smart ways possible. Whilst she works on new material to follow-up those mad-good early singles she has got the remixers in. This one is actually a new/unreleased tune, given a soul-jazz workover from Jabru. This will knock your socks off, both musically and lyrically. The world really is her oyster if she...

Tom Grennan

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Mar 19th]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. Tom Grennan ‘Never be A Right Time’The Bedford bard of doomed romance is back with sophomore album Evering Road; named after the Hackney road he’s lived on recently and wrote most of the album. As his relationship crumbles he pleads, in his idiosyncratic gospel-pop way, “I need to grow into my own skin, that’s all I’m asking for”. Superb, stirring work, a highlight from an album that is every bit as good as his debut work Lighting Matches. Izzie Gibbs ‘Stand’A rare display of vulnerability from...

E Double U

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Mar 12th]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. E Double U ‘Cost Of A Boss’A song about the pursuit of money, and the cost of money. Another KP Beatz tune, hot on the heels of a second mixtape of 2021 [Road To Ascension], Eddie and KP are clearly on fire in the studio and need to keep the stream flowing whilst its plentiful. If E Double U is not a name on everyone’s lips by the end of the year I’ll eat my hat. Rawza ‘Vibes’Young Chencs on production duties again, working those synths...

Low Girl

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Mar 5th]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. Jay Faded featuring Debe ‘Savage’The club king of NN is back, with comrade Debe in tow, playing something of a hype man [“do this shit for fun!”] for all the wobbly bass and hard-hitting beats. It’s party time when this comes on. “Let’s go! Techno!” There’s a whole EP of this stuff to fill your boots with. Jay Faded is ON FIRE. L30 Robinson ‘Space’Always one of the best lyricists in the NN game, another corker in a ’90s trippy hip-hop stylee. Bouncy liked a seriously...

Press To MECO

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Feb 26th]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. Billy Lockett ‘Talk’The third single from next month’s ‘Reflections’ EP is this duet with Violet Skies. A tune that skirts around the thorny issue of communication, there’s some tear-jerker lines in there, like “It kills me ‘cos you’re not yourself anymore”. By the time of the climax, when the backing kicks in, you’ll fully be rooting for love to win out. Fab performances from both, their voices working beautifully together. Debe ‘Drama’The third single from the brand new ‘The Last Breath’ mixtape, the lyrics on this...

Vibe Chemistry

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Feb 19th]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. Izzie Gibbs ‘WASS’A third single in as many weeks, all in-your-face grime assaults on the senses. This is my favourite, a granite groove quietly slinking away underneath his bars. Said it before, will say it again; don’t understand how Izzie Gibbs is not all-over-everything famous. Maybe 2021 is the right time… Vibe Chemistry ‘Fall In Love’Down in Deanshanger, on the NN/MK border, is producer Alex Morisco-Tarr aka the Vibester. Brewing up D&B that’s won him plaudits across the globe, this fully-loaded club anthem is a collab...

L30 Robinson

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Feb 12th]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. L30 Robinson ‘Sopranos’This is another highlight in a career of supreme singles in the last couple of years from Leo. L30 Robinson has seen enough of people and the scene to have perspective – “My one love is karma/You’ll meet her somewhere after” nailing his worldview perfectly. The bass on this production by ZEL is fierce, and full of the snappy drama the lyrics refer to. Buy it, stream it, support the Menace Media crew. Aside From That ‘The Heart Of Dreams’“Wave goodbye to what you...

Carly Wilford

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Feb 5th]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. Carly Wilford ‘Generation X’The popular RinseFM presenter gets around to learning her craft in the recording studio, and here is her debut single. Carly Wilford has made her name in the London underground house scene, but actually grew up in Northants. This is proper four-to-the-floor club material, with guest Mr. V vibing about EDM culture. Glow sticks are mandatory for waving to this one. props ‘Domino’The super-rich buy bunkers whilst there’s food shortages, and climate change threatens us all. Our man in Wellingborough response is to...

Dxnte

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Jan 29th]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. Dxnte ‘Dead Stars’Taken from the ‘Dx Tapes’ EP/mixtape, the East Londoner with NN roots rolls with a deep cut of mature, ’90s-flavoured R&B that itself carries a soulful 70s vibe within it. His words are all his own: a conscious, slow rap style, reflecting on his aspirational future journey as his past still haunts him. It’s another example of one hell of a talent to be very excited about. Josh Jones ‘Free Fallin’‘The 20 year-old Northamptonian emerged last year with a series of jams: some guitar-based,...

Tragic

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Jan 22nd]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks of recent weeks. Tragic ‘Dishonoured Gentlemen’“They’re just tears/But I’m holding them back in fear/That someone’s gonna judge me”. Some raw honestly right there from teenage Cameron Godfrey, whose sharp punk trio [alongside drummer Lewis and new bassist Bryan] possess the playing nous that makes all their Nirvana/Idles/Slaves-style outbursts so familiarly excellent. How it sounds so fresh is a mystery; just run with it. Northampton won’t get to hold them at their walls by the end of the year, so enjoy being ahead of the curve for as long...

Manners

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Jan 15th]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks of recent weeks. slowthai ‘Mazza’ [feat. A$AP Rocky]Starting 2021 as he means to own it, this is the third track from sophomore album Tyron to escape. And yes his life is clearly as crazy as ever, as he’s now teaming up with another US rap superstar. More intriguing instrumentation like ‘nhs’ and ‘feel away’ before it, ‘Mazza’ is based around a cheap sounding organ, leaving the focus to them two sharing their tales of excess. It’s not ‘Doorman’, there won’t be mosh pits losing their mind, but like...

Jordan Mackampa

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Dec 18th]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. Jordan Mackampa ‘Peace By Piece’Hot on the heels of the sensational ‘Over & Out’ is this similarly vibing folk-soul tune. “Every scar is a lesson won” is an example lyric of a song championing personal growth, battle by battle. The nice spoken poem sections marks this out from the competition too. University of Northampton graduate Mackampa continues to knock out gem after gem; check out his Foreigner album if you don’t know it. Cody Feechan ‘Kingdom Caller’New Scottish singer-songwriter Feechan has recorded a great alt-rock-meets-Americana winner...

Zefar Napps Dreadz

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Dec 11th]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. bloody/bath ‘Washed Out’“I drink to forget/The sadness never left/Call me washed out”. Capping off a tricky year with none-too-shabby fifth single, Kailan Price has stayed strong to his aesthetic of enveloping introspection via reverb-drenched bedroom post-punk. This broken-hearted number, however, gives the spindly guitar centre-stage; synths are [unusually] wholly absent. It is still, of course, gorgeously gothic low fidelity sounds for the down at heart. Kid Distance ‘Needing You’Relaxed piano house with a haunting bluesy male vocal sample, Maisie E Beckwith drums up more dance magic...

ghostofblu

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Dec 4th]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. Do Nothing ‘Glueland’Nottingham post-punks continue to be one of the most interesting bands of the past year. With their scratchy guitar, rumbling synths and mumbling vocals they aren’t looking to reinvent the wheel, more just enliven your day with the spirit of British weirdness. Keep them coming, guys. Maja Lena ‘Avalanche’Absolute ethereal beauty from former Low Chimes singer Marianne Parrish. The West Country-dwelling Swedish songwriter hits the ground running on this one; her pastoral Kate Bush atmospherics a telling mix of her past and present narratives....

Mr. Milise

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Nov 27th]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. Nia Wyn ‘Muzzle’Neo-soul Welsh singer Wyn is a real talent. Teaming up with fellow London resident R.A.E. [herself delivering a fresh middle-section flow], ‘Muzzle’ is upfront R&B 90s beats underneath a dirty bassline that doesn’t just walk, it positively stalks. She should be a star by now, and given the quality she’s currently knocking them out at she’s no longer but the future but the now. You can catch her on tour supporting Paul Weller in March [or whenever that tour eventually happens]. Izzie Gibbs ‘Stack’“They...

The Wytches

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Nov 20th]

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The Wytches by Wolfgang Dubieniec New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. slowthai ‘nhs’“All the best shit’s got scratches on the surface”. Announcement time: new single, from sophomore album Tyron [Feb 5, loads of bundles to choose from]. Still working tightly with Kwes Darko, this one involves SAMO, Kiko and Kelvin Krash as well. A sister tune to ‘Feel Away’, a laid-back groove that ruminates on the weird human trait of never being happy with what you got. It’s very far from the agit-eski-punk tunes of Nothing Great About Britain and ‘Deal Wiv...

Billy Lockett

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Nov 13th]

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Billy Lockett photo by Kirsten Goljar New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. Billy Lockett ‘Wasting Time’“I’ll be anything you want me to be”. We’ve all been there, that moment where love is slipping away and you just want it to be like it used to be. Taken from upcoming 2021 EP ‘Reflections’, ‘Wasting Time’ is ‘classic-sound’ Lockett, after the classical and dance-pop diversions of recent times. It is beautiful and heartfelt, and will ripen even the blackest of hearts. The second half of the track brings in some lovely keyboard washes and...

The Keepers

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Nov 6th]

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The Keepers photo by Ola Hać New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. The Staves ‘Good Woman’The title track of the Londoner’s upcoming fourth album [Feb 5th] is a bespoke beaut. The retro three-part harmonies are as gorgeous as ever, and layers of synth washes and reverberating guitars help solidify them the UK’s answer to Bon Iver/Fleet Foxes. Luxurious and comforting, safe music in scary times will always out. Black Honey ‘I Like The Way You Die’Six years into releasing music, and Brighton’s widescreen fuzz-rock quartet are as interesting as ever. Building on...

Corinna Jane

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Oct 30th]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. Arlo Parks ‘Green Eyes’“Some of these folks wanna make you cry/But you’ve gotta trust how you feel inside”. An anthem for the LGBT+ community in the making right there, 20 year-old Parks continues to take her heartache and turn it on its head. Another soul-jazz drifter with nifty beats, I cannot wait for the debut album Collapsed In Sunbeams [Jan 29]. Beans On Toast ‘The Village Disco’As Jay McAllister prepares to get Knee Deep In Nostalgia [Dec 1st] with his latest album, produced by Frank Turner,...

Little Barrie

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Oct 23rd]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. Jordan Mackampa ‘Over & Out’Six months on from his excellent debut album Foreigner, the University of Northampton graduate delivers this joyous, turning-the-tide soul pop winner. Always sounding so effortless, Jordan Mackampa brings infectious guitar riffs and a yearning voice that are still in top gear. Long may that reign true. Little Barrie & Malcolm Catto ‘After After’What do you do following the premature passing of your mercurial drummer? For Londoners Barrie and Lewis it was team up with long-time friend Catto from The Heliocentrics, and –...

The Lathums

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Oct 16th]

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The Lathums photo by Sam Crowston New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. The Lathums ‘I See Your Ghost’Taken from new EP ‘Ghosts’ [out Oct 30th], The Lathums are a Wigan quartet fit well into that Scouse lineage of The La’s/The Coral/Red Rum Club. Frothy rhythm section, slightly mad guitar solo, with great harmonies throughout, this one is a belter. Once social distancing is over The Lathums will rule this nation. And I for one welcome our new overlords. J Kaz ‘If’The Northampton/London dancehall/R&B singer is on the way up up up. His...

Goat Girl

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Oct 9th]

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Photo of Goat Girl by Holly Whitaker New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. Lord Apex ft. CJ Fly ‘Belize’Heavy London sounds with producer V Don giving out with lo-res doomy synth soundscapes, and your hero spitting stoned bars on top like its the primetime of the West Coast. The lyrics and outlook are all his though. Check the extensive Lord Apex discography of the last five years, especially new album Supply & Demand. Goat Girl ‘Sad Cowboy’The South London quartet ratchet it up several notches on this first cut from sophomore album...

Phantom Isle

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Oct 2nd]

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Phantom Isle photo by Julia Lucas New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. Alfie Templeman ‘Forever Isn’t Long Enough’The indie boy wonder, the bedroom pop maestro just keeps the hits coming. Part Tame Impala, part Prince, all Bedford-made funky joy. ghostofblu ‘Switch’More incredibly intense industrial digi-punk from the NN/Yorkshire man-of-noise-war. Produced in collaboration with Romanian beatmaker TXC, and with nifty artwork too, the ghostofblu aesthetic is something to behold. Also check out other new song, the explicit ‘Anticloud’. PVA ‘Talks’The first single off debut EP ‘Toner’ [Nov 20th], the London synth-art-rockers are just...

Porridge Radio

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Sep 25th]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. Porridge Radio ‘7 Seconds’Their breakthrough album Every Bad only arrived six months ago, but the Brighton quartet have clearly already moved on. The second new track is this uplifting Cure-does-pop synth-sparkling thing. If you squint your ears it could almost be The Killers in the chorus. But in truth Porridge Radio are way too interesting for that comparison. Tina ‘People’This hotly-tipped south London act is not for everyone. Those Syd-esque uber-fey vocals of Josh Leftin are going to turn off a fair few, for sure. For...

Raging Speedhorn

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Sep 18th]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. slowthai ‘Feel Away’After a furious trio of electric singles earlier in the year, this is Tyron showing off his gentler side, which was first revealed back in 2018 with the gorgeous ‘Ladies‘. A collaboration with electronic duo Mount Kimbie it’s a lovely slow jam about familial love and loss that really hits home with some raw lyrics. It even works in a lyric/melody from Mariah Carey on the outro, and it fits!. The presence of James Blake is meh, though – more T would have been...

Deja Vega

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Sep 11th]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. Somebody’s Child ‘TV Screens’Stats ‘Naturalise Me’The Moons ‘Today’Deja Vega ‘Spitting Gas’Basement Strippers ‘Throw Me An Anchor’Potwash ‘Only You…and everyone Else’Alien Feelings ‘Scream’The Straw Horses ‘Lughnasadh’Anieshi Pearl ‘Telescope’Infra Violet ‘Polaroid’

girls in synthesis

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Sep 4th]

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Photo by Bea Dewhurst New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. Oscar Lang ‘Get Out’The 19-year-old Londoner does playful pop in a similar vein to Alfie Templeman, or even Connan Mockasin. Shades of psychedelia, ’90s-style guitars, a crisp modern production sheen…the melting pot is full to the brim. Leftfield ideas aplenty, but with the Dirty Hit machine, radio-friendly team behind him. An album in 2021 will cement his place firmly in the centre of the scene. Temples ‘Paraphernalia’This is a surprisingly fast follow-up to late 2019s underappreciated Hot Motion album. The Sean Lennon-produced...

Arlo Parks

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Aug 28th]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. Arlo Parks ‘Hurt’“Just know it would hurt so/Won’t hurt so much forever”. The softly-sung Londoner has produced another alt-pop triumph, bringing a comforting message to those in need. Gorgeous layered vocals, propulsive groove, and the “born-to-do-this” vibe that will see her own 2021. Caro ‘Cat’s Pyjamas’Leeds trio who trade in arty indie moves, this songs goes through so many movements that you might be left dizzy in love by the end. Spindly guitars, jittery vocals, a break-out of white-boy funk in the choruses. It’s a package...

Glasvegas

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Aug 21st]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. Glasvegas ‘Keep Me A Space’Back. If you’ve never heard them before imagine Jesus and Mary Chain teaming up with Phil Spector. A first release for seven years, and the first taster from fourth album Godspeed. It’s the classic Glasvegas sound – though a more homespun, less widescreen version. Indeed it’s almost nursery rhyme-esque in its simplicity, but suffused with their usual totally-enveloping sadness. And any song about not seeing someone enough resonates – on a whole other scale – in 2020. bloody/bath ‘Nothing’ And if Glasvegas...

Working Men's Club

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Aug 14th]

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Photo by Andy Nicholson New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. Working Men’s Club ‘Valleys’The highlight of Independent Venue Week in Northampton earlier this year was surely this Yorkshire quartet. Taking cues from the synths’n’guitars ’80s pioneers, not to mention small town inertia, ‘Valleys’ smacks you around the head with a confusing euphoria. Socialist drum machines are your future, and you will succumb. The self-titled album arrives Oct 2nd. Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs ‘Hell’s Teeth’Third single and closing track from third album by the Newcastle sludgers, this is another obliterating...

Dylan Cartlidge

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Aug 7th]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. Dylan Cartlidge ‘Cheerleader’Genre-blurring Dylan Cartlidge is my Great Hope for the music industry post-covid. He’s got style and panache from top to bottom. His songs are pretty simple constructions, yet all are life-affirming love letters to the power of a crisp beat and silky Hammond. Shake your ass to this, and forget trying to remember what day of the week it is. Then do it all over again. Cabbage ‘Get Outta My Brain’The Greater Manchester gonzo punks have refined their art to add some baggy-psych accoutrements...

Taylor Swift

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Jul 31]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. Taylor Swift feat. Bon Iver ‘Exile’Usually she goes big on marketing promo, but this album slipped out with a days notice. Morphing into a stateside Laura Marling, Swift goes toe to toe with perennially wounded animal Justin Vernon. Ryan Adams once covered 1989 in its entirety, and this is her glorious revenge. Marilyn Manson ‘We Are Chaos’‘We are chaos/We can’t be cured.’ The title track of forthcoming eleventh studio album, it is, despite the name, quite a slow-burner . Beginning with acoustic guitar classicism, it ends up...

Amaroun

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Jul 24]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. bdrmm ‘A Reason To Celebrate’Hull shoegazers have this month released their very well-received debut album, the self-titled [honestly] Bedroom. This single pulled from it has My Bloody Valentine-style hidden-depth pop hooks behind the wall of white-light guitars. Summer ’tis surely time to luxuriate in all their laid-back splendour. Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard ‘The Non-Stop EP‘The Cardiff rockers have put out a ten-track album, but called it an EP. Fuck the system, etc. The lead track/single is ‘Double Denim Hop’, a trashy glam love letter to a classic...

Voices From The Fuselage

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Jul 17]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. Doves ‘Prisoners’Back with The Universal Want in September, their first album in eleven years. The Chester indie veterans keep it close to their usual widescreen yearning; this is a song about hoping for a better tomorrow. The Lathums ‘All My Life’The Wigan band have come from nowhere to dominate the conversation of who will break through next. A mix of The La’s and Arctic Monkeys, their devotion to romantic indie-rock melodic classicism [as shown here] means winning fans over won’t be hard. Voices From The Fuselage...

This Is The Kit

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Jul 10]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. This Is The Kit ‘This Is What You Did’Kate Stables and her merry band of collaborators [including New Boots favourite Rozi Plain] preview sixth album with this banjo-and-sax-led alt-pop ditty. Full of energised dread or [dready energy, perhaps] it’s full of multiple ideas and emotional turmoil, and is utterly essential. Kid Distance ‘Stay’With all the boundless energy only someone who is 17 years-old can muster, NNer Maisie E. Beckwith has put out NINE singles of 90s-style house bangers so far in 2020. From her bedroom and...

Jay Faded

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Jul 3]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. Alfie Templeman ‘Obvious Guy’Another top drawer funk-pop number from the Bedford teenager. It’s sickening how he makes it all sound so effortless. He’ll be headlining Brixton Academy before 2021 is out. Look Mum No Computer ‘Stand And Deliver’“It’s getting hot in here/So take off your career”. Something of anti-industry banger from Sam Battle. The London/Peterborough mad/genius innovator with the banks of modular synths and the BIG YouTube following keeps knocking out these witty, pithy vignettes that go big on basslines and warbling synths. The videos are...

L30 Robinson

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Jun 26]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. TTRRUUCES ‘I’m Alive’The London psychedelic pop duo to start us off this week, and considering the weather this week the “little drive up to the beach” lyrics seems appropriate [and, given the worry over covid-19, a tiny bit illicit]. Sad Girl a nd Lost Boy follow their translucent dreams via all manner of kitchen-sink Beach Boys/MGMT carefree sonic moves. Red Rum Club ‘Eleanor’First 2020 release from the Liverpool sextet, and it’s another anthem for the indie disco dancefloor. This one has a nice programmed drum pattern...

Spoort press photo

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Jun 12]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new music tracks this week. Niko B ‘Who’s That What’s That’The story of Tom Austin is so good it sounds made up. The 19-year-old put his first single ‘Mary Berry’ out last year, whoring the likes of TikTok to boost its appeal, and everyone unexpectedly went crazy for it. His music name is thieved from Grand Theft Auto. He’s from Newport. Fucking. Pagnell. This is not the done thing; it’s almost an episode of Dave. But his new one has enough of his faux-naive charm and small town slowthai/Mike Skinner...

Celeste

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Jun 19]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new tracks this week. Celeste ‘I Can See The Change’Hotly-tipped, Brighton-raised singer with the jazz-soul voice to die for. Her ninth single now, and her most timeless. Believe the hype. Fur ‘Grow Up’Another Brighton act, their first single of the year is this smooth indie slow-burner [a la Arctic Monkeys or The Magic Gang]. The croon from William Murray on this one will get you every time. A radio-friendly unit shifter, but there’s more of an Weezer-esque edge to them on the earlier tracks. Izzie Gibbs ‘Dogs’ “I don’t care...

Slang

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Jun 5]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new music tracks this week. SLANG ‘Sunshine’Dan Dare mixes up his music like you make fruit smoothies. This is Jamie T karaoke singing a Paul Simon song circa Graceland with a phat clubland chassis keeping the whole thing ticking along. Sounds horrible, but it will undoubtedly make you grin from ear to ear throughout these grim times. More infectious it could not be; it’s a bit of a shame its over so quickly in 140 seconds. The man’s a talent in every field of music, as his recent collaborations prove....

The Mysterines

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [May 29]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new music tracks this week. Billy Lockett ‘One World’Northampton lynchpin Lockett is your perfect isolation artist: much of his recordings feature just him and his trusty grand piano, so musical life hasn’t changed that drastically for him. But this is something of a left-turn – an instrumental ‘classical’ piece. Before you panic, its actually excellent: his dexterous fingers taking the listener on a moving journey into the recesses of the mind. Or, if you will, the soundtrack to exploring a deserted house filled with half-remembered memories. An album of this...

IDLES

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [May 22]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new music tracks this week. Arlo Parks ‘Black Dog’“It’s so cruel/What your mind can do for no reason”. A timely sentiment, as its Mental Health Awareness Week. The young west Londoner continues to make incredible, tender songs in the short time she’s been releasing music. This wise-beyond-her-years trippy, cinematic indie-folk will appeal to fans of Laura Marling, Beth Gibbons, and Bon Iver. She is tipped for big things, and its not hard to understand why. IDLES ‘Mr. Motivator’One for the moshers, the first single from the upcoming third album by...

sarpa salpa

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [May 15]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new music tracks this week. slowthai ‘ENEMY’“Have ups and downs like an elevator”. After a rather public down last February there were plenty of people writing off the Northampton rapper. And to some degree he addresses that on this track, as the simple title pun on NME makes clear. After threatening to kill kids [ironically, calm down] he gives his real message – “I need the revenge, so I made a plan/To kill you with kindness”. It’s not exactly a response song, but there’s enough intrigue there, and it shows...

fontaines dc

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [May 8]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new music tracks this week. Fontaines D.C. ‘A Hero’s Death’“Life ain’t always empty”. They’re back so quick we’ve had little time to miss them, with the title track from the Dublin fivesome’s second album [due July 31]. Musically it’s a continuation of the themes of before. Vaguely threatening, scratchy, arty rock – with an intense guitars-battle-with-swoony-“bab-ba-ba”s crescendo come the denouement. Grian Chatten gives it some proper sermonising too. Elemental magic. The Blinders ‘Lunatic [With A Loaded Gun]’Another guitar band previewing their sophomore LP, the Manchester trio continue their socio-political cause...

Self Esteem, best new music

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [May 1]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through the best new music tracks this week. The Rolling Stones ‘Living In A Ghost Town’Their first original music in eight years, so this is something of an ‘event’. “Life was so beautiful/Then we all got locked down” – you can see why they released it now. Some people don’t like it when the Stones throw their reggae bit into their songs, but you know: it’s fine. This song is presumably a knowing sonic/lyrical nod to the Specials. It’s not them at their freewheeling best [what is?], but it does lock into a...

izzie gibbs

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Apr 17]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you through ten of the best new music tracks this week. Izzie Gibbs ‘Snakey’If UK grime has one rapper a hairs’ breath away from blowing up right now, it’s probably ShoeTown’s Izzie, who stands loud and proud on new single ‘Snakey’. He had a 2019 full of bangers, but not the press/live presence to truly capitalise on the tunes [understandable, considering his near-death experience of late 2018]. This feisty tirade against the conspirators surrounding him [“Why you so snakey?”] is wildly good, his assassins delivery perfectly matched to K1’s heavy beats. “I’m still in...

alfie templeman

Step On: the week’s best new music tracks [Apr 24]

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New Boots editor Phil Moore takes you weekly through ten of the best new music tracks. Alfie Templeman ‘Happiness In Liquid Form’From rural Bedfordshire comes the 17 year-old bedroom-pop sensation. He clearly lives in a technicolour bubble; at least that’s the impression this song gives you. And right now that sounds like the best place to be. This puts those “lo-fi indie” tags to bed, as this widescreen, play-on-daytime radio wonky guitar-funk workout is going to produce some serious body-popping across the nation. Your at-home festival has itself a breakout star. Happyness ‘Ouch [yup]’The London duo are on the comeback...

Step On: the week’s best new tracks [Apr 10]

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New regular feature! Editor Phil Moore takes you through ten new releases worthy of your time. There’s a Spotify playlist below too; enjoy it and don’t forget to ‘follow’ it! Jarvis Cocker ‘House Music All Night Long’ The return of Jarvis [or should that be ‘Jarv Is…’, his new moniker], this is the second single to be taken from his new, long-awaited album, Beyond the Pale [Sept 4]. It’s actually great; it still has all the breathy and nocturnal vibes of vintage Jarvis, but injected with a new nervous energy which his hot-shot band bring to the table. Led by...

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