Editors' Picks

March 20 this year marks the first official day of Spring. So, how appropriate that Weezer would choose to drop their latest album SZNZ: Spring on the same day. Their seventh studio album is the first in a four-album project and has just landed, with the ever-whimsical quartet informing us the "SZNZ" is pronounced "Seasons." Get it? Good. 

Brace yourselves. After four long years, hip hop legends Cypress Hill are back with a brand new release. Their tenth studio album, Back in Black has just dropped, and feels like a wondrous trip back in time. The band have created a stunning release that clings firmly to their roots, and that peppy, in-your-face, relentless sound that made us all fall in love with them back in 1991.

With a final single releasing alongside her first original LP ‘PREY//IV’, Alice Glass shows us how creepy atmospheres can be as groovy as ever with ‘EVERYBODY ELSE’.

From ‘Descendent’ fame, Dove Cameron released her second solo single, ‘Boyfriend’, that takes inspiration and fuels it up to levels unimagined.

Still fresh off their 2021 release, ‘An Evening With Silk Sonic’, the supergroup ‘Silk Sonic’ show no sign of slowing down with a brand-new single, ‘Love’s Train’, a gorgeous Con Funk Shun cover.

Cory Henry is the king of the modern organ, that much is undisputed. In his newest single, ‘Fighting for Peace’, he puts his talents on the forefront, along with his gorgeous voice and band, to bring a slow-grooving classic R&B jam that’ll surely uplift your soul.

Bow Anderson released the ultimate young-adult anthem, ‘20s’, a song that’ll get you to celebrate and dance through your youth.

Caroline Polachek enters the world with one of the most ambitious singles of the year, ‘Billions’, where the lack of clear foundation, done so in complete confidence, ultimately works beautifully in its favor.

Never has pop music sounded so talented – Boyzlife have created an absolute masterpiece with their newest single, ‘Burn For You’.

Alt-J returns with a new single titled ‘The Actor’ to show the world that having ambiguous inspirations and an ambitious take on composition, production, and execution can result in some of the most interestingly unique music, even in 2022.

Back with a heavy metal banger titled ‘Fear of the Dawn’, Jack White reminds the world of his massive success in revitalizing garage rock back in the early 2000s, along with all the gold he’s produced through his solo material and White Stripes.

Michael Bublé returns to jazz roots for his second single from his upcoming album, Higher, titled ‘My Valentine’, in which he goes beyond the vocal-standard stratosphere into the realm of cinematic soundscapes.

Earlier in 2021, Lilyisthatyou took the world by storm with her first single, a viral Tik Tok hit, titled ‘FMRN’. Two singles later, Lilyisthatyou continues her message of sex positivity in one of the most fun songs of 2022 so far – ‘Purity’.

Virginia To Vegas have released a song that’s sure to find itself on many people’s summer playlist with his light-dance track, ‘Amnesia’, off his newest EP titled ‘it’s a little complicated, but I’m okay’.

In one of the cleanest-sounding metal track that’s been released in a long time, Halestorm releases the anthem of the year with their newest single, ‘The Steeple’.

Jung Kook, most notably known from his role in the worldwide sensation BTS, manages to find his footing in his own solo single, ‘Stay Alive’, with the help of ‘SUGA’ producing the track.

Anomalie, like a true magician, blended all rules of jazz, pop, and dance music to make one of the most intriguing tracks of the year, titled ‘Come Running to Me’.

Mixing modern pop elements with rock songwriting and instrumentation, bülow crafts the perfect brew with her newest single ‘Don’t Break His Heart’.

Last year, in November, John Williams himself held a concert in Berlin, orchestrating the Berliner Philharmoniker, giving a new life to his greatest work. That concert was luckily recorded, giving new life to the songs that we all know and love, such as this newest release, ‘Yoda’s Theme’.

The modern king of traditional pop, the man who’s almost single-handedly kept vocal jazz alive in the last fifteen years, has released a new single, titled ‘I’ll Never Not Love You’, to promote his upcoming album, ‘Higher’ (due this year), and it’s the oh-so-familiar chocolaty-smooth music Michael Bublé is so well known for, with a modern twist.

Bill Charlap will serenade casual listeners all the while blowing the minds of those fascinated by jazz music with the first single from his newest album with his trio, titled ‘The Duke’.

The final season of Attack on Titan is upon us – a world manga fans have delved into for over a decade, and anime fans almost just as long. The last opening of the series is upon us, ‘The Rumbling’ by Japanese metal group SiM, and the song is worthy of praise far beyond being the most intense Attack of Titan opening.

MESSAGE FROM THE CLERGY – A new Papa has arisen amongst the ranks, and with it not only are the fans of Swedish rockers Ghost expecting a new album, but the band released a single to build hype, and give the world a preview of what’s ahead for the group, titled ‘Call Me Little Sunshine’.

The heavily-teased single (seriously, it was previewed over a year ago…) ‘Light Switch’ by Charlie Puth has finally been released. So, the question that everyone who both waited in anticipation for all that time and those who stumbled upon the song; does the song meet its expectations?

Raveena blesses our ears once again with her newest single, ‘Rush’, truly embracing Indian percussion in a soothing R&B anthem.

It’s the year for Lizzy McAlpine – with a new album underway and an upcoming performance on the Ellen DeGeneres show. On top of all that, the artist released a brand-new single in anticipation for the aforementioned album, ‘Five Seconds Flat’, titled ‘All My Ghosts’.

Is there such a thing as ethereal folk? If there isn’t, then AURORA can be given all the credit for creating the genre, especially with her newest single ‘A Dangerous Thing’.

There’s both a thousand ways to describe ‘Sent From Above’, Rivi Tiber’s newest single, and no way; it’s a true work of art that takes many liberties with very few components while also being packed with some of the most exciting song writing written in a long time, akin to legends such as Cody Fry, Jacob Collier, and Daniel Ceaesar.

Continuing with the momentum the band built up from their latest 80’s pop inspired 2018’s ‘Simulation Theory’, Muse takes a look back and dials the volume to eleven with possibly one of their heaviest singles in the band’s career, ‘Won’t Stand Down’.

Electronic musician, producer and DJ Simon Green has been creating music under his ‘Bonobo’ moniker for more than two decades now, and in that time has built up a cult following, swapping his native Brighton for LA along the way. Fragments is his seventh studio album in that time and follows on from his last effort Migration, and as is explained on his official website, it is an album “born first out of fragments of ideas and experimentation”. 

Since indie rockers The Maccabees disbanded five or so years ago, former frontman Orlando Weeks has been through some big life changes, and not just of the lockdown variety. In 2018, Weeks and his partner welcomed their first child, a landmark event for anyone. Weeks, though, took this colossal life event one step further, infusing his debut solo album The Quickening with his thoughts, feelings and anxieties about impending fatherhood.

“I belong with you / you belong with me / you’re my sweetheart” went ‘Ho Hey’ by indie folk duo The Lumineers in what was one of the most infectious pop songs of the last decade. The only possible reason for having not heard it would be that you’ve been living in a cave in some remote mountain range since 2012, completely cut off from civilization. But even then, I’d have my doubts. 

Very few artists specialise in the cover version as emphatically as Chan Marshall, otherwise known as Cat Power, the soulful singer songwriter whose first covers record, released in 2000, was about as perfect as a covers collection can be. That record included interpretations of tracks by artists including The Rolling Stones, The Velvet Underground, Moby Grape and Bob Dylan, among others. It was an almost uniquely rich dive into the meaning these songs carry, and a quite stunning set of sparse musical arrangements that linger long in the memory.

Liverpool trio The Wombats are a staggeringly impressive success story. From their founding in the early noughties after meeting while studying at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts to the Spotify-conquering, hard-touring outfit that has shifted more than one million albums worldwide, their journey has been an incredible if curiously unrecognised one, thanks in part to their curious status as somehow the ‘uncool’ indie kids on the block.

“Just got to keep your head up / And the lights on / That’s all you can do”, coos Twin Atlantic’s lead singer, guitarist and songwriter Sam McTrusty on ‘Keep Your Head Up’, the opening track to the Scottish indie rock duo’s fifth album Transparency. It feels like the mantra we’ve all lived by over the last couple of years, and for an album that had its own troubled genesis, it’s also perhaps been something of a rallying cry for McTrusty and bassist Ross McNae, the only remaining members of the band after the departure of drummer Craig Kneale last year.

In the career of Green Day, there are many defining moments, a roll call of defining tracks, events and breakthroughs that propelled them on their way to becoming the stadium-conquering global behemoth they are today. If you were forced to narrow this list down to just a singular point though, to settle on ‘the’ Big Bang moment that transformed them forever and irreversibly from California punk upstarts to A-list stars, it would have to be the release of American Idiot in 2004. Nimrod nearly did it, Warning couldn’t, but American Idiot nailed it.

FKA twigs is back from her opus ‘Magdalene’ with the powerhouse that is ‘The Weeknd’, fresh from his own opus ‘After Hours’, with the trap banger ‘Tears in the Club’.

Lights has returned with her newest single, Real Thing, which is a fun play on slow R&B jams with a mix of 80s instrumentation.

Sometimes, a cup of coffee just isn’t enough. You need that boost of energy that caffeine just can’t achieve, which is where Bloc Party comes into play. ‘Traps’, the band’s newest single, is all the energy you need for that picker-upper.

Babe Rainbow, through the newest single, ‘Smash the Machine’, reminded the world once again of an era of music long lost but never forgotten.

Embracing R&B and Jazz roots, Areej delivers a beautiful slow-jam ‘Bloodshed’ filled with ambitious instrumentation and raw delivery.

There’s nothing quite as warm as hanging around a group of talented musicians jamming together, playing in blissful harmony. Benee encapsulates that feeling beautifully with her newest single, ‘Doesn’t Matter’.

Enveloping the listener in an esoteric aura of calm in an almost chaotic way, the seven-piece group consisting of Greg Spero, Joel Ross, Marquis Hill, Makaya McCraven, Irvin Pierce, Jeff Parker and Darryl Jones show an underappreciated portion of jazz done in a both traditional and modern style in their new single, ‘Cloud Jam’.

It’s that time of the year again, and everyone is feeling jolly. What better way to help those who need a hand in joining the others in this festive mood than with a slow Christmas song, such as ‘It’s Christmas’, by ‘Katie Garibaldi and Joseph Metcalfe.

Protest songs aren’t uncommon by any means, but a protest song against music is, well, quite daring. That’s what One Cure for Man, a musical project made by James Parkinson, very successfully did with his newest single ‘Too Many Songs’.

The vibes are always immaculate whenever a Moonchild song comes on, and such as is the case, with the help of Alex Isley, with their newest single ‘You Got One’.

For a while there, it seemed like Kentucky rockers My Morning Jacket might well have called it quits, so focused were all their respective components on their own side projects and other pursuits. Even when new My Morning Jacket material appeared, as with last year’s The Waterfall II (the followup to 2015’s The Waterfall), it was composed of recordings from sessions made in 2013 that also yielded its predecessor. 

It’s hard to convincingly blend styles together in music without sounding either tacky or forced, but Kali Uchis and Ozuna do a wonderful job in their newest single ‘Another Day in America’ doing just that.

In an interesting play on musical contrasts, Alice Glass’ newest single, ‘FAIR GAME’, finds a way to both soothe and hype the listener all at the same time.

Milan Ring is one of those musicians and songwriters that it’s really hard to pin down to any particular genre. On her debut album ‘I’m Feeling Hopeful’, released the other week, the Sydney-based artist moves through R&B, soul and hip hop influences to weave tracks that are sultry, smooth and modern all at once.

In a very vulnerable and raw performance, Alicia Keys spills her heart with nothing but her voice and a piano in her newest single, ‘Like Water’.

The king of modern easy-listening, vocal jazz, and traditional pop is back with a new gripping preview, released as a single, titled ‘First Listen’, that will certainly catch you off-guard on a “first listen”.

Following traditional power-ballad tropes mixed in with modern ideas, Ariana Grande and Kid Cudi team up to provide a long-awaited return to form for the former in one of the most inspiring tracks of 2021.

LA-based trio Kills Birds got the kind of boost most new bands can only dream of when none other than rock and roll royalty in the form of Dave Grohl started championing their cause.

Bury’s finest four-piece are the latest outfit to drop the lockdown album; a record constructed remotely over the course of the pandemic, backdropped by the sizable tilt of unreality it brought with it. It’s no surprise then that, straight away, what hits you about ‘Flying Dream 1’ is its haunting quality, a gentle otherworldliness that is rich and compelling.

Step forward Fred Durst, the now 51-year-old(!) who as the frontman of Limp Bizkit spearheaded the nu metal charge of the late 1990s, and receive your award for most on -brand lyric of the year. Because, on the perfectly named Dad Vibes, Durst raps that “Hot dad ridin' in on a rhino / Got the roll-under-rap with the dad vibes / Now everybody bounce with the franchise, come on”. Limp Bizkit are back. Close your eyes, turn your baseball cap around, and it’s like we’ve gone back in time twenty years. And my word, it’s fun.

Nineties BritPop troubadour Richard Ashcroft has been in the news of late for his stance on Covid-19, pulling out of the Tramlines festival in Sheffield back in the summer after announcing on a now-deleted Instagram post: “Apologies to my fans for any disappointment but the festival was informed over 10 days ago that I wouldn’t be playing once it had become part of a government testing programme.”

Born in Sheffield, figurehead of the 90’s Britpop movement, longtime BBC radio presenter: Jarvis Cocker, were you to not know any more than this about him, wouldn’t seem the most obvious candidate for releasing a covers album of classic French pop songs. But Jarvis Cocker, the sartorially beguiling, Michael Jackson protesting, lyrically inspired flaneur: yes, actually a dozen French songs reworked by that Jarvis Cocker suddenly makes a lot more sense.

Album’s have all sorts of interesting and varied origin stories. From the tumultuous and difficult times that saw Fleetwood Mac crafting Rumours against all the odds, to Justin Vernon holing up in his father’s remote cabin for the winter to come to terms with a breakup and recording For Emma, Forever Ago in the process, the stories of how records come into being are often as rich and engaging as the album’s themselves. 

AYLA’s newest single. ‘Ride Along’, is a force not to be reckoned with – a driving energy that’ll inspire you to conquer your day.

In her own interpretation of the holiday classic, Becky Hill delivers a heart-warming performance in ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’.

Ludovico’s brilliant imagery through the tips of his fingers shine brighter than ever in his newest single, ‘Natural Light’.

Continuing with the orchestral ventures Cody Fry has been delving into lately, Underground is a beautiful reimagining of one of the tunes on the artist’s first album.

The progressive metal gods have returned from the dead, Steven Wilson fresh with a couple new albums down his belt since Porcupine Tree’s last album, with a new single titled ‘Harridan’. The single is over eight minutes in length, with every second filled with bliss and talent.

Silk Sonic have delivered one of the funkiest tracks of the year, as part of their new LP ‘An Evening With Silk Sonic’, titled ‘Fly As Me’, showcasing an array of talents from the two songwriters Anderson .Paak and Bruno Mars.

The third and final single, ‘Smokin Out the Window’ from the upcoming album by supergroup Silk Sonic, composed of Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak, sticks with the same theme as the other two, while showing all sorts of different colours the last two singles hadn’t already painted.

Out of the blue, the progressive rock legends Jethro Tull not only announced a new album, ‘The Zealot Gene’, but also released their first new single in eighteen years, ‘Shoshana Sleeping’, which blends all the elements that make Jethro Tull so, well, legendary. 

Slipknot are back with a brutal, deadly new single titled ‘The Chapeltown Rag’, hinting at their upcoming 7th album.

In an unexpected collaboration, Post Malone and The Weeknd blended their strengths together to compose a 80s pop anthem worthy of praise.

Rapper Matt Watson’s newest single is an accumulation of all of his previous ventures into one, which created his greatest song so far.

The amount of talent found within a collaboration between Cory Henry, Pher and D’Sound are guaranteed to shake the world, which they’ve successfully achieved with their newest single ‘Good Nature’.

Lizzy McAlpine’s returning single, Doomsday, is bluesy, raw, and one of her greatest releases so far.

The second track from Dream Theater’s newest LP ‘A View from the Top of the World’, ‘Answering the Call’, is a true display of melody, rhythm and musicianship.

Irish singer songwriter James Vimcent McMorrow’s indie folk credentials go way back to around 2010 and the release of his debut album Early In The Morning, a record that was a runaway success, earning rave reviews, tour dates and appearances on the likes of Later… with Jools Holland. It was a soulful record that many compared to Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago, and for the indie folk troubadour, there can hardly be higher praise.

Brighton-based foursome Fickle Friends turned heads with their debut full length album You Are Someone Else back in 2018, a record that established their electro-infused alt-pop sound and set the group on their way to amassing nearly half a million monthly listeners on Spotify, led to tour dates to loving crowds up and down the country, and ultimately crashed into the top ten of the UK albums chart.

The first single coming from the Wheel of Time soundtrack, ‘Al’Naito’ is beyond just a wonderful piece of music – it’s a love letter to the world Robert Jordan created through and through.

Continuing from the momentum gained from his Tik Tok-famous songs, such as Photograph, and I Hear a Symphony, Cody Fry releases the most epic cover of Eleanor Rigby to ever exist.

Sometimes simplicity is all it takes to spread your message, and Sam Fischer showcases that wonderfully with his newest single, Hopeless Romantic.

Brakence comes back from an agonizing slumber with arguably his greatest song yet, argyle.

It’s been a decade since Frank Carter left Gallows, but it’s only in the last few years as the firebrand vocalist has established his newest band as one of the most thrilling live acts currently out there, that you sense everything has started to fall into place. Because now, with their fourth album in six years now out there in the wild, and that reputation for showmanship of the highest order firmly established, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes are getting the credit they deserve.