s your playlist in need of some refreshment? We have some suggestions.
Laura Veirs – Found Light
The breakup album is commonplace in music – just ask Adele – but albums about what happens after the initial trauma are less of a thing. Laura Veirs made her last LP, My Echo, while her marriage to producer Tucker Martine was disintegrating, a situation made more complex by the fact that the songs were recorded by him in the studio that they co-owned. This time she worked elsewhere, but even so, the music is far from a glorious whoop of freedom.
The 1975 – Part of the Band
Matty Healy and the gang have announced a new album, Being Funny In A Foreign Language. There’s no release date yet, but we do have this new single. The band cycled through all sorts of styles on their last LP, and this time, they deal in stripped-back orchestral strings and gentle acoustic guitars.
Sudan Archives – NPBQ (Topless)
Both of the singles released for Natural Brown Prom Queen — the new album from LA-based Sudan Archives, set to drop on September 9 — have been excellent, but this new one might be the best of the lot. It’s fiercely rhythmic and thrillingly restless, switching up between head-spinning verses, ethereal interludes and a brooding outro.
Alvvays – Pharmacist
Canadian five-piece Alvvays carved themself a fanbase through their first two albums, dishing out catchy, instantly enjoyable indie rock. Now they’re delivering a third full-length effort called Blue Rev, out on October 7. This lead single is cocooned in layers of woozy shoegaze production.
Tendai – Pressure
A recent signing to 0207 Def Jam, a London-based offshoot from the legendary American record label, east Londoner Tendai is certainly one to watch. With gently manipulated vocals and a glossy, slowly strolling beat, this latest single is making us very excited for a new album, whenever that might arrive.
Gwenno – Tresor
If BTS can get stadiums full of British fans singing along in Korean, it shouldn’t seem that odd that Gwenno Saunders is releasing her second Cornish-language album. She isn’t trying to limit her audience by communicating in a secret code, but the experience of listening in isolation does create an otherworldly, mysterious feel.
Paolo Nutini – Last Night in the Bittersweet
It’s over eight years since Paolo Nutini last released an album. The 35-year-old hasn’t given any interviews to promote this long-awaited follow-up so far, and even his surprise appearance at Glastonbury took place in a tent so tiny that it felt as if he didn’t want anyone to see him. Judging by the songs here, though, refusing to play by the rules is working brilliantly.
Rina Sawayama – Catch Me in the Air
Fresh from living out her American country-pop fantasy on previous single This Hell, Rina Sawayama is turning her attention to this side of the Atlantic with the follow-up track. “I wanted the whole song to sound like it was on an Irish coastline, like a Corrs video,” she explained, and you can certainly imagine ocean gusts ruffling your hairdo when the soaring chorus arrives.
Hudson Mohawke – Cry Sugar (Megamix)/Bicstan
Glaswegian producer Hudson Mohawke has announced a new album (Cry Sugar, August 12) and hit us with this head-spinning duo of tracks to get things going. Veering wildly from sweet vocal samples one second to amped-up hyperpop and pounding donks of gabber the next, both tracks set up what looks set to be an playfully eclectic collection.
Sampa The Great – Never Forget ft. Chef 187, Tio Nason, Mwanjé
This latest release from Zambian-born artist Sampa The Great is a celebration of family and heritage. Taking inspiration from Zamrock, the African country’s popular fusion genre, and featuring vocals from Sampa’s own sister, Mwanjé, it’s a powerfully crafted ode — as well as a look to the future, with booming bass lines giving it a modern intensity.
Valerie June – Godspeed feat. Treya Lam
Memphis singer-songwriter Valerie June, whose 2021 album we named as one of the best of the year, is going into covers mode. Due for release on August 26, Under Cover will bring together eight reimagined songs, from John Legend’s Imagine to Fade Into You by Mazzy Star, as well as this lovely, piano-led rendition of Frank Ocean’s Godspeed.
Regina Spektor – Home, Before and After
New York pianist Regina Spektor started out in the early 2000s writing solo piano songs. Two decades on, her eighth album features significantly more in the way of instrumentation. But we can be grateful that, even as her budget has increased, her imagination hasn’t been diluted for the mainstream at all.
Jack Johnson – Meet the Moonlight
Jack Johnson’s eighth album arrives in an unhurried style that suits the Hawaiian singer-songwriter’s music. Outside the studio, he’s an energetic campaigner, but any fire or anger is invisible on this smooth 10-song collection. He can continue to save the radical behaviour for his political work as long as he keeps coming up with music as simply affecting as this.
Gorillaz – Cracker Island feat. Thundercat
Murdoc, Noodle, Russel and 2D are back — which is to say, Damon Albarn is back in his animated guise as Gorillaz with this fizzy new-age funk track. The lightning-fingered bassist Thundercat adds spidery layers and his distinctive, smoothly textured backing vocals, with further input from super producer Greg Kurstin.
Jamie T – St George Wharf Tower
It’s hard to make the exhaust-choked interchange of Vauxhall seem romantic, but Jamie T has done just that. This track, named after the huge cylindrical tower block that looms over the area, is sensitively sung over guitars and little else, with some marvellous lines: “Vauxhall high-rise life/Are you living in the clouds or on the A3205?”
Makaya McCraven – Seventh String
Chicago jazz supremo Makaya McCraven, one of the genre’s leading modern forces on that side of the Atlantic, is coming back with a new album, In These Times, due out on September 3. This is the first cut from the LP, with McCraven’s subtle, speedy drums shuffling beneath floating waves of instrumentation.
I. Jordan – First Time Back/Always Been
I. Jordan, the producer and DJ formerly known as India Jordan, returns with a duo of high-energy dance tracks. First Time Back cranks up the beats-per-minute and weaves in some old-school rave energy, while Always Been doesn’t sound a million miles away from Japanese synth legends Yellow Magic Orchestra.
Foals – Life Is Yours
Foals last two albums, the sprawling, intense Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost, seems to have seen them reach a peak in terms of ambition. That sets them free to try a new approach on this seventh album: the Coldplay method. Why bludgeon those arena crowds to death with glowering art rock when you can turn up the fun quotient?
Jessie Buckley and Bernard Butler – For All Our Days That Tear The Heart
Investing in an actor’s album is always a risky business. But just as Jessie Buckley has consistently chosen interesting acting roles, so her music is far more nuanced and sophisticated than something dashed off between takes in a trailer. Alongside Bernard Butler, this project could well find Buckley adding a Mercury Prize nomination to her varied list of accolades.
Unknown T – Who Said Drill’s Dead?
London rapper Unknown T — whose breakout track Homerton B became the first ever UK drill song to crack the UK charts back in 2018 — is back with this fiery new freestyle. Be sure to check out the Top Boy-themed video too, which features actor Ashley Walters reprising his Dushane character, and is set in a cafe featured in the Netflix show.
Nova Twins – Supernova
Nova Twins have been breaking ground with their speaker-busting, ferocious clash of nu-metal, UK rap and electronics, and now the London duo are back with their second album, released today. It’s a smart, snarling collection of new music; the sound of a rule-breaking band in full flow.
Beabadoobee – 10:36
Combining a love of the fuzzy, alt-rock sound of America in the Nineties with an unfailing ability to write a catchy pop chorus, Beabadoobee’s style of songwriting is a potent one. This is the fourth single off the 22-year-old’s upcoming second album, Beatopia, due out on July 15 — catch her on that same day supporting Sam Fender in Finsbury Park.
Biig Piig – Fun
Doing fresh things with the old-school dance music styles is something being explored by quite a few artists at the moment — the likes of Nia Archives, PinkPantheress and Yuné Pinku — and here’s a fine example from shape-shifting Irish artist Biig Piig. Soft, almost timid vocals are shaken up by a lively jungle beat.
Beth Orton – Weather Alive
Beth Orton will return on September 23 with Weather Alive, her first new album in six years. Wholly self-produced for the first time in her career, and recorded with the help of “a beaten up old piano I bought in Camden Market”, this seven-minute single is the first taste of what’s to come: unrushed, meditative and resonant.
Jungle – Good Times / Problemz
Dance duo Jungle — otherwise known as London producers Josh Lloyd-Watson and Tom McFarland — are working on a new release after cracking the UK top five with their 2021 album Loving In Stereo. They’ve given us a teaser in the form of these two tracks, harnessing an old-school funk energy and enlivening soul vocals.
Liam Gallagher – C’mon You Know
Liam Gallagher is returning to the site of two legendary Oasis gigs next month for a pair of massive shows at Knebworth. So the hard work is done, and it hardly matters what this third solo album sounds like as long as Wonderwall gets another airing in Hertfordshire. That means Gallagher Jr sounds relaxed, comfortable in his almost-50-year-old skin, and happy to be a bit weird.
Alfie Templeman – Mellow Moon
If the kids are supposed to be so easily upset by everything these days, how come their music is so happy? The debut album from Bedfordshire teenager Alfie Templeman isn’t exhaustingly upbeat but even the slower ones are perfectly danceable, including the head-nodding disco funk of You’re a Liar and the rubbery groove of Galaxy. It’s the kind of upbeat pop music that makes a sunny day feel significantly sunnier.
Oliver Sim – Hideous
Oliver Sim, bassist for the xx, opened up this week about how he’s lived with HIV since he was 17 — and how his new record (Hideous Bastard, out September 19) wasn’t written “to dwell, but rather to free myself of some of the shame and fear that I’ve felt for a long time”. It’s all there in this candid, cathartic single.
Lil Silva – Another Sketch
Bedford artist Lil Silva’s been around for some time — experimenting in the UK funky scene in the late Noughties, then helping to produce Adele’s 25 among others, all while releasing EPs and singles — and now, he’s delivering a debut album, Yesterday Is Heavy, out July 15. This beautiful single makes that a very exciting prospect.
Katy J Pearson – Alligator
Bristolian up-and-comer Katy J Pearson wrote this track in the midst of “the worst morning ever” — the stress of a hefty electricity bill led to her bursting into tears in the studio. “And from that feeling,” she says, “the song just surfaced from all my anxieties”. The restless bassline and big, emotional release of a chorus sound pretty fitting.
Mr Jukes and Barney Artist – 93
1993 was a stellar year for hip hop (Wu-Tang Clan, Snoop Dogg and A Tribe Called Quest all delivered classic albums) and that golden-era is the inspiration for this new single from Barney Artist and Mr Jukes AKA Bombay Bicycle Club’s Jack Steadman. It’s a major throwback, all boom-bap drums and record scratches, and it’s great.
Harry Styles – Harry’s House
And this, the 28-year-old’s third studio album, is the most unconventional collection of music he’s released so far. Relatively speaking, at least — he hasn’t totally abandoned the chart-topping ship and gone full Throbbing Gristle — but from the opening track, Music for A Sushi Restaurant, it’s clear that Styles isn’t one to spend all his time chasing pop trends. The album is, in the most part, a compelling release from Styles, even if you feel he still has room to grow into something else.
Everything Everything – Raw Data Feel
Everything Everything employed an AI lyricist to help write this latest album, but the Manchester art rockers still manage to find a very human quality to the joy in the music they’ve crafted. Frontman Jonathan Higgs’ falsetto still resembles Thom Yorke’s, though less haunting, more hysterical, but if you’ve found the band irritating in the past, you may yet be reeled in by the smooth New Order groove of Jennifer or the calmer, beautiful Born Under a Meteor. Even with a little robotic help, they deserve all the credit for producing their best collection in years.
BackRoad Gee – Under Attack
BackRoad Gee is going from strength to strength — stealing the show on Pa Salieu’s My Family back in 2020, collaborating with none other than Jay-Z in 2021, and releasing his debut mixtape later that year — and now he’s back with this fresh track. It’s as vigorously entertaining as we’ve come to expect from the London-based rapper.
Watch the Ride and Nia Archives – Mash Up The Dance
Bradford-born Nia Archives has been setting the jungle scene alight with her fresh, multi-stranded take on the genre in recent times — and the hot streak continues with this new collaboration. Sharing production duties with Watch the Ride (AKA DJ Die, Randall, and Dismantle), it’s an absolute dead cert for the dance floors this summer.
Angel Olsen – Through The Fires
Angel Olsen has delivered what she’s described as “the centrepiece statement” of her upcoming album, Big Time, out June 3. Sung in an almost-whisper with soft strings and gentle drums, before building to a cinematic crescendo, it’s the latest in a stunning string of singles from the US artist.
Connie Constance – Miss Power
“A classic Connie Constance indie banger, if I do say so myself,” says none other than Watford-born artist Connie Constance of her propulsive new track. It’s the first release on her new label, Play It Again Sam, which suggests a new album could be in the works. A follow-up run of gigs to her last, sold-out tour will be announced soon, too.
Kendrick Lamar – Mr Morale & The Big Steppers
Kendrick Lamar’s first album in five years didn’t need hyping, and he avoids the pressure of worldwide expectation by turning his focus deep, deep inwards. The subjects he tackles, from child abuse to transgender acceptance, are light years away from the usual concerns of the hip hop world, and once again, Lamar is that far ahead of everyone else in the game.
Florence + The Machine – Dance Fever
There are a few songs on Florence Welch’s latest album that seem designed to offer renewed joy when she finally returns to the stage, such as My Love and Dream Girl Evil. However, the overall feel here is one of hesitant uncertainty. She’s far from the banshee of old, but this latest development is always absorbing.
Ezra Furman – Forever in Sunset
Fresh from penning the suitably heart-on-sleeve soundtrack for Netflix’s Sex Education, Ezra Furman is returning with a new album. All Of Us Flames will arrive on August 26, followed up by a show at the Roundhouse on November 17. This latest single, with a bursting chorus and throaty vocals, is an excellent sign of things to come.
Stella Donnelly – Lungs
Aussie musician Stella Donnelly firmly marked herself out as one to watch in the future with her debut album, Beware of the Dogs, back in 2019, and so it’s proved: this shuffly, playful new single is superb. She’ll match Ezra Furman and release her new album, Flood, on August 26 — it’s shaping up to be a good Friday.
Shygirl – Firefly
Boundary-pushing Londoner Shygirl has been doing weird and wonderful things with pop music for years, and now she’s finally coming through with a debut album — Nymph, September 30 — set to feature the likes of Arca and Mura Masa. This glitched-out raver is the first single off the project.
Nova Twins – Puzzles
“Inspired by the many sexy R&B songs we love, we wanted to make a heavy rocked-out version of a song that makes us feel powerful,” say London duo Nova Twins of their unapologetically sex-positive new track Puzzles. As always with this band, it defies genre — but it certainly doesn’t pull any punches.
Arcade Fire – WE
Given the current state of the world, Arcade Fire aren’t short of subject matter for their sixth album. It’s named after the dystopian novel We by Yevgeny Zamyatin, and its first half journeys from what the band calls the current Age of Anxiety to a strangely beautiful future where California is under the sea. Whereas their previous album, Everything Now, could feel too much like a lecture about the internet rotting your brain, here things end up in a more positive place. Open, welcoming, uplifting despite the darkness, there are few better companions for the apocalypse.
Khalid – Skyline
We’re at that time of the year when the summer-ready bangers start to come through thick and fast. Latest to deliver is US star Khalid, whose new single is about as bouncy and easy-going as a flamingo pool inflatable. It’ll feature on his upcoming album, Everything Is Changing, which is still yet to get a nailed-on release date.
Porridge Radio – End of Last Year
“End of Last Year is a love song for my bandmates and for myself,” says lead vocalist Dana Margolin of the Brighton band Porridge Radio’s new song. Rather more languid than their scuzzier output, it still bodes well for the upcoming album, Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky, set to arrive on May 20.
Tove Lo – No One Dies From Love
Tove Lo is back, and she’s brought a new record label with her, Pretty Swede. The Scandinavian artist has christened the venture with her latest single, a thumping piece of synth-pop, accompanied by a video charting a human-robot love story. Catch her live at the Roundhouse on November 5.
George Riley – Jealousy
London artist George Riley caught our ear last year, popping up as a vocalist on the ravey Anz track You Could Be. She dials things down on this new single, produced by the Frank Ocean-approved Vegyn, lowering the tempo and the temperature with some velvety vocals and a glimmering beat.
Blossoms – Ribbon Around the Bomb
From the beginning, the charm of Blossoms has been their willingness to avoid rock star iciness and embrace less hip influences too. The song Care For sweeps along like something that could join in with the ABBA comeback. The title track is the strongest, strutting past on an easygoing bassline with much woo-ing in the backing vocals. They’re growing up on this latest album, but haven’t lost sight of what makes them so appealing.
Ibeyi – Rise Above feat. Berwyn
The very best kinds of covers are the ones in which the new version sounds like a completely fresh interpretation of the original — and that’s exactly the case here. Afro-Cuban-French sisters Ibeyi and east Londoner Berwyn deliver this simmering take on the classic hardcore punk track, Rise Above by Black Flag, swapping flailing fury for calm power.
Sorry – There’s So Many People That Want To Be Loved
Out last week, this new track from London-based indie rockers Sorry has been on repeat for the last few days. Described by the band’s Asha Lorenz “sad-funny love song”, it’s got a trudging beat and some pretty mournful sounding guitars — but the chorus hook is a catchy one. See them at the Jazz Cafe in Camden on June 21.
070 Shake – Skin and Bones
With her debut album Modus Vivendi, American artist 070 Shake AKA Danielle Balbuena found herself towards the top of a fair few album-of-the-year lists in 2020, both in the States and over here. It makes her follow-up project, You Can’t Kill Me, due out this spring, one of 2022’s most anticipated — it’s led by this heartfelt, spacey single.
The Range – Urethane
On his latest production as The Range, American musician James Hinton borrows bars from Ice Rink, a 2014 track by UK grime artist MIK. It dresses the vocal sample up in a whole new skin, teasing out the melancholy that’s hidden by a bruising beat on the original. It’ll feature on Hinton’s first new album in six years, Mercury, which arrives on June 10.
Fontaines D.C. – Skinty Fia
It seems ridiculous to call the unruly sound of Dogrel, te three-year-old first album from Fontaines D.C., the band’s early days, but the music has developed to such an extent that if it weren’t for Chatten’s boggy accent, this could be a different band. The Dubliners explore a new style here, and it’s proof that they’ve already matured into one of the very best.
Spiritualized – Everything Was Beautiful
Spiritualized main man Jason Pierce could have faded into cult obscurity by now, age 56, and especially deserved a long lie down after nearly dying from double pneumonia in 2005, but instead he’s as meticulous as ever and showing extraordinary ambition on his latest album. In fact, Everything Was Beautiful feels like a greatest hits round-up of Pierce’s most appealing talents.
Soccer Mommy – Unholy Affliction
It sounds like Soccer Mommy, AKA Nashville artist Sophie Allison, is limbering up to take a big leap forward on her upcoming album, Sometimes, Forever, due out on June 24. This latest single, on which the ever-inventive Oneohtrix Point Never is producer, is a dark, thrilling distortion of Allison’s indie rock roots.
Hot Chip – Down
Now well into their third decade as a band, Hot Chip are entering their latest phase with the release of their eighth album, Freakout/Release, out August 19. Their stompy comeback single is fuelled by a Universal Togetherness Band sample and will no doubt get the crowd moving when they return to London for a four-show run at Brixton Academy in September.
Yaya Bey – Alright
Here’s another track that’s making us mightily excited to hear what Yaya Bey’s been working on with her upcoming album, Remember Your North Star, set to arrive on June 17. The groove-switching beat is sumptuous, and Bey’s voice glides through the rhythms with slinky ease.
Robocobra Quartet – Wellness
A newspaper article about wellness influencers isn’t an obvious source of lyrical inspiration, but Robocobra Quartet’s drummer-vocalist Chris W Ryan has lifted some of the whackier lines (“Being barefoot grounds me, and I receive electrons from the earth”) verbatim for this new track. It’s a perfectly strange match for the Belfast group’s riveting jazzy, post-punk squalls.
Jockstrap – Concrete Over Water
Georgia Ellery’s other band, Black Country, New Road, might get more attention, but Jockstrap — her musical duo alongside Taylor Skye — make some fascinating music too. This is their latest creation, a dramatic mash-up of ballad-ish organs and fizzing electronics, explored across six minutes. A debut album is in the works, we’re assured.
Jessie Buckley and Bernard Butler – The Eagle and the Dove
As anyone who’s been lucky enough to catch a performance of the West End revival of Cabaret will tell you, Jessie Buckley can’t half sing. The Irish actor gives a stirring vocal performance on this swirling track, created alongside BRIT Award-winning producer Bernard Butler, which precedes a full album from the duo, For All Our Days That Tear The Heart, out June 10.
Jamie xx – Let’s Do It Again
Is there any surer sign that festival season is on the horizon than a new Jamie xx track? The doyen of summer bangers returns with more hot weather fodder here, with a housey, sample-heavy tune that feels more than ready to vibrate some festival stages over the coming months.
Billy Nomates – Blue Bones
Here’s a punchy, pained song from Billy Nomates, described by the Leicestershire musician as “a candid conversation with my own depression. A part of me I have to talk to.” The lyrics are as soul-baring as you’d imagine, and it’s all carried by a slyly accessible post-punk instrumental.
Wet Leg – Wet Leg
Wet Leg’s success has come quickly – they only released their first single back in June – but the triumph of this debut album rests on the fact that the pair did have some time to prepare. It was mostly recorded in April last year, before they’d even played a gig. There’s no feeling of pressure to rise to expectations. It’s the sound of two cool friends having fun.
Anna Calvi – Ain’t No Grave
Anna Calvi has, by the sounds of it, gone pretty far down the Peaky Blinders rabbit hole. “I’ve been living in the character of Tommy Shelby for years now,” she said of her time spent scoring seasons five and six of the BBC show. “I’ve dreamed about him every night for months.” Her new EP, out May 6, is even called Tommy. This first track is fittingly menacing.
Joyce Manor – Gotta Let It Go
California band Joyce Manor will deliver their first new album since 2018 when they drop 40 oz. to Fresno on June 10. This thumping lead single clocks in at just under two minutes, and the nine-track album won’t even crack the 17-minute mark — perfect for anyone with a short attention span but a big appetite for catchy pop-punk.
Moonchild Sanelly – April Fool’s Day (Makahambe)
Another new album coming out on June 10 — it’s shaping up to be a good day — is Moonchild Sanelly’s second album, Phases. The South African artist, who came to global attention when she featured on Beyoncé’s Lion King album back in 2019, has given us the latest teaser of things to come with this frosty rap track.
Hercules & Love Affair – Poisonous Storytelling feat. ANOHNI
It’s been more than 14 years since Hercules & Love Affair, AKA Andrew Butler, teamed up with ANOHNI, and this is the first time they’ve collaborated since then. Back in 2008, the result was the disco hit Blind, but you’re rather more unlikely to hear this one on the dancefloor, with its industrial thwacks and ghostly vocals.
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Unlimited Love
So it turns out the special sauce in the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ success is not the half-rapped vocals of frontman Anthony Kiedis, or Flea’s taut basslines, but the more free-flowing guitar work of John Frusciante. Back with the old gang for his first RHCP album since 2006, producer Rick Rubin has also rejoined the party. There probably isn’t a song on this new album that will impact on the masses with the force of earlier hits such as Under the Bridge and By the Way. Even so, those who have grown up with this band will have few reservations about welcoming its return in its strongest line-up.
Harry Styles – As It Was
Grab your nicest blouse from the wardrobe: Hazza is back. With a long-awaited stadium tour coming up this summer (two Wembley dates in June) and a newly announced album (Harry’s House, May 20), the grown-up Directioner has dropped his latest single. It’s a big old piece of indie-pop, with some subtly sad lyrics swept up in crashing waves of drums, bells and guitars.
Kae Tempest – I Saw Light feat. Grian Chatten
Kae Tempest tees up their upcoming fourth album (The Line Is A Curve, April 8) with this new track, enlisting the help of Fontaines D.C. frontman Grian Chatten. Over an ebbing electronic throb, the duo share the verses and each offer some moving lines of poetry; Chatten sounds rather more gentle here than he does with his ear-rattling band.
Bruce Hornsby – Sidelines feat. Blake Mills and Ezra Koenig
Best known for his Eighties soft rock hits, American musician Bruce Hornsby is one of those artists who seems intent on getting experimental into their later career, rather than relying on old glories. He’ll deliver his 22nd album ‘Flicted on May 27, and has announced it with this beautiful, shimmery track with contributions from Blake Mills and Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig.
Spill Tab – Sunburn
French-Korean-American riser Spill Tab had a breakout 2021 — she’s pushing three quarters of a million monthly Spotify listeners these days — and looks set to build on that for the rest of this year. Her new track is a scratchy piece of moody alt-pop, and will surely be a highlight when she headlines The Grace in Islington on May 9.
Koffee – Gifted
The overall tone on Koffee’s new album feels infectiously positive. Both Where I’m From and West Indies pay tribute to her homeland. She sounds like she’s happiest in a fast car, filling up her Mercedes in a verse in West Indies, and graduating to a Ferrari, an Audi and a Lexus on the rubbery Afrobeats song, Pull Up. That one is the best example of her exuberant, sunny style, and though she clearly knows her reggae history, it sounds perfect for a 2022 summer.
King Princess – For My Friends
Brooklyn artist King Princess kicks off her new album campaign with a single dedicated to her two best friends from school. “The more time I spend with them as an adult, the more I’m reminded that they are my home,” she says. The sweet, nostalgic track is the first taste of her upcoming record, Hold On Baby, due later this year.
Working Men’s Club – Widow
This propulsive piece of noir synth-rock comes from Yorkshire up-and-comers Working Men’s Club. Dark and dancey, it sounds like the kind of thing that will fill any room it’s played in, sweaty basement, huge theatre or otherwise. They’re one of the must-see acts at Wide Awake festival in Brockwell Park this May.
Kadhja Bonet – Dear Gina
Here’s a lovely, jazzy track from Kadhja Bonet, the Los Angeles multi-instrumentalist who’s collaborated with the likes of Childish Gambino and Anderson .Paak in the past. Shuffling along with a slightly off-kilter beat, but managing to sound smoothly assured nonetheless, it’s a brilliant follow-up to her 2021 single, For You (also worth seeking out).
Zola Jesus – Lost
Nika Roza Danilova is gearing up to release her first new album as Zola Jesus since 2017. Arkhon (that’s Greek for “ruler”) will arrive on May 20, and this is the lead single. Built on ominous samples of a Slovenian folk choir, some doomy bass and ghostly vocals, it’s quite the return.
Rosalía – Motomami
Motomami, the latest album from the Spanish star, can be an exhausting journey, full of unexpected twists. She sounds restless and impatient, ready to turn a song inside out just as it’s getting going. But you’re never that far away from the unadorned beauty of an extraordinary voice. Sakura in particular is a bravura performance, a live recording that closes the album with a richly deserved round of applause.
Arcade Fire – The Lightning I, II
Arcade Fire made their return to the stage for the first time as a complete band in more than two years earlier this week, with a surprise gig in New Orleans. The show was to raise funds in aid of the humanitarian effort in Ukraine, but also to debut some eagerly anticipated new music, among which was this boisterously brilliant track. Their sixth studio album, WE, arrives on May 6.
MUNA – Anything But Me
Silk Chiffon was one of our favourite songs of 2021 — along with a lot of other people, if the regularity with which it popped up on TikTok is anything to go by. The LA trio behind it, MUNA, have since confirmed a new self-titled album, out June 24, and delivered this single, with chunky synths, airy guitars and some great lines about different sized horses (it makes sense, trust us).
Poppy Ajudha – PLAYGOD
Inspired by the anger felt “when a group of men tried to pass an anti-abortion bill in the state of Alabama”, this single from south London artist Poppy Ajudha sparks with a righteous fury. With a cascade of overdriven guitars that wouldn’t sound out of place on a My Bloody Valentine album, and audio recordings of women speaking out against the bill, it’s a powerful listen.
Thom Yorke – 5.17
Here’s a new solo track from the Radiohead frontman, which comes via the soundtrack for the final series of Peaky Blinders, currently airing on the BBC. It’s a haunting piece of music — ideal for some Tommy Shelby-adjacent drama, then — and is actually the first of two new songs Yorke has written for the programme, with the second arriving on April 2.
Rex Orange County – Who Cares?
Rex Orange County AKA 23-year-old Alex O’Connor from Hampshire has never had a single climb higher than 68 in the UK charts, and one of his three previous albums spent a solitary week in the top 10 in 2019. By these older measures of pop success he’s middling at best, yet in August he’ll perform to a 20,000-strong crowd in Gunnersbury Park. “I’ll stick around/We’ll do it somehow,” he proposes on the dramatic Shoot Me Down. “No one can stop me now.” On the evidence of these bright songs and the summer he has in store, that sounds about right.
Floating Points – Vocoder
After delivering a spellbinding album with Pharaoh Sanders and the London Symphony Orchestra, flowing between classical, ambient and jazz, Sam Shepherd AKA Floating Points is back to prove he can still conjure up the club-ready bangers. Sprawling out beyond the seven-minute mark, shape-shifting as it goes, you can expect to hear it on the dancefloor soon.
Aldous Harding – Fever
Never one to stick to a single way of performing music, New Zealand artist Aldous Harding returns with this new track, on which her pleasant drawl sounds entirely different to the almost childlike vocals on the preceding single, Lawn. Both will feature on her upcoming album, Warm Chris, which arrives on March 25.
Tomberlin – Tap
Kentucky-based indie-folk artist Tomberlin delivers this soft, tangly new single, which ties together wandering pianos, echoey guitar arpeggios and undulating vocals, while pondering worries big and small in the lyrics: “Always wondering about my health / Always wondering if I’ll go to hell.”
GAIKA – Gladius
Brixton’s GAIKA is thrillingly adventurous — this new track is part of a wider project that brings together an upcoming album, a film and an installation at the ICA. On the song, icy, industrial soundscapes are paired with vocals both softly sung and passionately rapped. Keep an eye on where he goes next.
Stromae – Multitude
Marriage and fatherhood are two reasons for Stromae’s long absence from music. This is his first album in nine years, a disappearing act that’s surprising considering that when he left the stage he was one of Europe’s biggest stars. And though fame remained elusive this side of the Channel, there’s enough breadth across the 12 songs to appeal everywhere – maybe, this time, even here.
Dolly Parton – Run Rose Run
Run Rose Run, the companion album to the book Parton has co-authored with James Patterson, sounds formulaic, undemanding, like she’s written similar things many times before, but it’ll take a lot more than that to start a backlash against a woman who not long ago was in the news for donating $1 million to coronavirus vaccine research. The songs are still good enough to deserve more than status as footnotes to a book.
Dave – Starlight
It’s been quite the fortnight for Dave. Storm Eunice ripping the roof off the O2 meant he had to push back his headline shows by a week, but it was worth the wait, eventually coming through with two triumphant concerts. And now, he’s capped it off with this new single, delivering characteristically tricky wordplay over a sweet, self-produced beat.
Haim – Lost Track
Fresh from casting the entire Haim trio in his Oscar-nominated film Licorice Pizza, Paul Thomas Anderson is back working with the LA sisters on the video for this stripped-back new single. Described by the band as an “off the cuff” composition built around a lyric they wrote a year ago, it’s making us even more excited for the band’s huge O2 gig this summer.
Bartees Strange – Heavy Heart
Bartees Strange has had quite the life so far — born in Ipswich, raised across the pond in Oklahoma, playing in hardcore bands and even working for Barack Obama — and now he’s signed for the excellent 4AD label. This crashing new track, with lyrics that set about detangling various forms of guilt, precedes his first ever UK tour, playing London’s Powerhaus on July 21.
Pongo – Doudou
Angolan-Portuguese artist Pongo has been gathering attention in the past few years for her fiercely modern take on kuduro, the upbeat brand of dance music originating in the coastal African country. Her latest effort is a rather more soothing affair, though, with drifting guitars and a wound-down beat. Check out the new album, SAKIDILA, when it drops on April 1.
Central Cee – 23
Central Cee, often known as Cench, rarely as Oakley Neil Caesar-Su from Shepherd’s Bush, is undisputedly London’s rapper of the moment, and the the 15 tracks on his new album roughly follow his journey so far. Suffice to say, he’s come a long way, and the powerful songs here will cement his place in the mainstream.
Florence + The Machine – King
If you’re on Twitter, you probably saw the hysteria whipped up by Florence Welch’s announcement on Tuesday that “something’s coming”. That something turned out to be this marvellous new track, a defiant take-down of gender expectations with an accompanying video directed by Emma. filmmaker Autumn de Wilde.
The Queen’s Head – The Queen’s Head
New London post-punk bands aren’t at all like buses — you wait no time at all and then about 17 come along at once. But even if this new breed of guitar-led groups do seem to proliferate alarmingly quickly, it’s worth paying attention to the ones that stand out from the rabble. Keep an eye on The Queen’s Head, whose latest track — a piece of growling doom-funk — is well worth hearing.
Mdou Moctar – Afrique Victime (Deluxe Edition)
Tuareg musician Mdou Moctar and his band are back with an expanded, deluxe version of their superb 2021 album, Afrique Victime. With nine fresh tracks of demos and live versions, there’s also a new single, Nakanegh Dich — apparently, it’s the first time Moctar ever used a wah-wah pedal, resulting in a spangly burst of tangled rock.
Mura Masa – bbycakes feat. Lil Uzi Vert, PinkPantheress and Shygirl
Mura Masa tried to co-opt retro styles for a new-age sound on his last album, RYC. It didn’t quite hit the mark, but he does a much better job with this hugely fun new creation. Borrowing a chorus from Noughties one-hit-wonders 3 of a Kind, it’s a forward-facing medley of drill, hyperpop, UK garage.
Hurray for the Riff Raff – Life on Earth
Alynda Segarra has come a long way. Literally, as a teenage runaway who escaped New York to hop freight trains and ended up settling in New Orleans; and musically, on a journey from recording country folk covers of Billie Holiday and Lead Belly towards this eighth album, which finds them with a new record label and in their strongest position yet for crossover pop rock success.
Sea Power – Everything Was Forever
Liking Sea Power’s music has often felt being a member of a lovely, bizarre cult. They have played gigs in a Cornish slate mine, London’s Czech Embassy, picturesque pubs and village halls, often with a giant dancing polar bear in tow. At this stage in their career, Everything Was Forever seems likely to keep them at cult status, but those in the know will recognise one of their best works.
Vince Staples – Magic feat. DJ Mustard
As excellent as California rapper Vince Staples’ career has been so far, he hasn’t always seemed primed for radio, exploring the darker end of the hip-hop spectrum instead. This new track, though, with its instantly catchy chorus and strutting bassline, seems made to be blasted out of car speakers. His new album, Ramona Park Broke My Heart, is due this spring.
Fatima & Joe Armon-Jones – #1
This new single from Ezra Collective’s Joe Armon-Jones and Stockholm-born vocalist Fatima is the first installment of a collaborative EP, Tinted Shades, set to arrive on March 4. It’s as seductively jazzy as you’d expect from Armon-Jones, and features Black Midi’s Morgan Simpson on the drums.
Nilüfer Yanya – anotherlife
We’ve long been a fan of Nilüfer Yanya’s style — fusing those voguish lo-fi guitars with all sorts of different genres — and this is a wonderful example of that. Taken from her upcoming second album, Painless, due March 4, it’s a serene track “about being OK with things and accepting that this is where you are at”, but with an undertone of unease.