This Week’s Best New Music: ONEFOUR, Elsy Wameyo, Keli Holiday & More

It’s been a HUGE week for new indie, hip-hop and EDM releases – not only did we get fresh new tunes from some of Australia’s finest up-and-comers, like ONEFOUR (who just dropped NATURAL HABITAT), Elsy Wameyo (who blessed us with Umva) and Keli Holiday (whose new cut lowdown is destined to be a hit), but the international heavyweights were out in full force: bbno$ came in hot with his wicked new banger it boy, for example, while PinkPantheress delivered another instant classic in Turn it up, and BLXST got his fans going absolutely mental with the Offset-assisted Risk Taker.

With all of that in mind, now seems like as good a time as any to remind you – or clue you in, if you didn’t know already – that we have our very own playlist dedicated to bringing you the best new music from the underground and beyond, fittingly named Purple Sneakers’ Best New Music. We update it every Friday with more than a dozen of the brand new tracks we simply can’t get enough of, giving you the ultimate soundtrack to power your weekend.

You can listen to Purple Sneakers’ Best New Music on Spotify (here) and Apple Music (here) – and make sure to hit us up on Instagram or Facebook to let us know what songs you’ve been loving!

Here are just a few of our personal favourites from this week’s update to the playlist...

ONEFOUR – NATURAL HABITAT

WHAT THEY SAY: “This is a song that our fans have been wanting us to drop for a while now, so we’re excited to finally release it. Natural Habitat is vintage ONEFOUR energy, that’s all we really have to say about it, the music can do the talking on this one. It’s going to go hard at our upcoming live shows so we’re looking forward to performing it for our fans”

Elsy Wameyo – Umva

WHAT SHE SAYS: “Umva was a part where I could flex, but still speak my truth. I remember immediately feeling like this was what sounded more like [2022 EP] Nilotic, in terms of sound and sonics; it was where I comfortably sat, where I was during the production of that record. It was coming from a place where, internally, I was feeling this album. Internally, I knew I was having this battle between saint and sinner, I just didn’t understand it. I didn’t know what it was. I wrote this verse with Motez before that London trip... I had to say certain things and this was one of those verses, where it was my body – whether I liked it or not – saying, ‘We have to get this out, because it’s the only way we’re going to heal.’

‘Umva’ means ‘listen’. My photographer at the time, at the camp, he’s from Burundi. When [producer Wuod Omollo] had done the track, we were jumping around and listening to it and he said the word ‘umva’. I thought it was really cool, and he told me it means ‘listen’. I ran with that so hard. It was perfect. It was exactly the energy I wanted: when I speak, you’d better sit down and listen. When I enter a room, you stand up and you must salute. Respect.”

Keli Holiday – lowdown

WHAT HE SAYS: “lowdown talks about the push and pull of a toxic relationship that unfortunately a lot of us know all too well. You know it's bad but you can't stop. You're just as bad as one another and love it. This song was born in the Beachwood Canyon bungalow with Twin Shadow and BLACKPAW. We started with the bass and I riffed some spoken word. We then thought it would be  a fun time trying to juxtapose the minor sections with a bright chorus that feels like sunshine through the palm trees on a pill of ecstasy. It feels like two songs in a way and I love that.”

Also featured in this week’s update to Purple Sneakers’ Best New Music:

• CLOE TERARE & YesYou – Alignment

• B Wise – HONEYCOMB

• KLP – Vitamin

• RAAVE TAPES – Braces

• Hey! Astro – Bleed

• Ukiyo – Do Your Worst

• BIRDEE 王煒 – Used To

• BLXST – Risk Taker (ft. Offset)

• PinkPantheress – Turn it up

• bbno$ – it boy

• Skrillex, Hamdi, TAICHU, Contra & OFFAIAH – Push

• YG – Weird

• Marshmello & INFEKT – LOADED

• CLYPSO – POLAROIDS

• 0800 – WHO RUN IT

• Mild Minds & LUV HRTS – U REALLY HURT ME

Listen to the full playlist on Spotify below – or head here to save/follow on Spotify, and here to save/follow on Apple Music.