Editors' Picks

It takes a lot of guts to blend the old and the new when it comes to producing a song – on one end, you’re limited by used ideas, and on the other you’re seeking innovation. But every now and then, you have artists like Chet Faker that come around with a song such as Get High, that perfectly blends the two ideologies together in one sweet musical smoothie.

Demi Lovato and Sam Fischer’s latest collaboration ‘What Other People Say’ treads through familiar territory in classic pop fashion. Lovato has built a reputation of powering each and every song with her dramatic, euphoric, and oft over-the-top vocals, and she does so again to great effect.

Raveena is the perfect mix of pop, jazz, and hip hop, and always has been. Tweety, her newest single, is a wonderful continuation of that sound, heading in all those directions more so than ever before. The song opens in a beautiful major-sounding progression, filled with other jazz treasures and classic chord progressions, all finished with the lustrous sounds of a Fender Rhodes.

There’s no disputing that Foo Fighters are one of, if not, the biggest bands in the world these days. From their beginnings as a side project of the former Nirvana drummer, Dave Grohl has steered the good ship Foo Fighters into the rich and deep waters of astounding commercial success. And their new offering – Medicine At Midnight – is certainly an economical record, coming in at a very streamlined nine tracks.

Norii’s single ‘Exocoetidae’ is a dreamy, starry-eyed adventure through time and space that fully captures the wonder of a curious artist. The San Diego-based singer and songwriter thoughtfully leans into her mythical interests and has crafted an intricate and impassioned melody, complete with electrifying production and stellar vocal work. At first listen, Norii’s soft, stirring vocal stylings would immediately draw comparisons to Ariana Grande, but upon further exploration, you’d realize that Norii has carved out her own spectacular niche with her fairytale-woven themes, a far cry from the hits populating the top 40 in contemporary music. 

Tones and I’s collaboration with Jonas Blue on a remix of ‘Fly Away’ is an infectious, impassioned track headed straight for the dance floor. The Australian singer-songwriter has been flying high for the past two years or so since her international hit ‘Dance For Me.’ She’s been following up on her breakout success by delving inwards and crafting pieces that represent the full range of vocal and songwriting talents. ‘Fly Away’ was one such ballad that touched upon the electronic dance pulse but also incorporated some lovely gospel magic. 

We’ve been big fans of Arlo Parks and her delicate, soft-pop sound for some time now, and we’re not alone: the Londoner has already appeared on the front cover of NME and been named BBC Introducing Artist Of The Year. Oh, and did we mention Michelle Obama is a fan? Not bad support for a singer and songwriter who, until last week, was yet to drop her first album.

Canadian folk outfit The Weather Station have evolved over the years from the solo recordings of frontwoman Tamara Lindeman to the full band outfit they are today, a lineup that now includes two drummers and a saxophonist, as well a string section, synths and clarinet. However, one constant since their debut album The Line was released back in 2009 has been the quality of Lindeman’s songwriting, and on Ignorance, their fifth full-length studio offering, it’s that that remains central to all they do well.

London post-punk four-piece Goat Girl were regulars at Brixton’s The Windmill in their early days, gigging alongside acts like Fat White Family and Shame and carving out a name for themselves as proponents of edgy, enticing and dangerous music that didn’t pull any punches. Two days after the UK’s Brexit referendum, they signed a deal with Rough Trade, unleashed a flurry of singles, and the hype began to grow.

Let me set a scene for you: it’s a lazy, rainy Sunday afternoon, and you’re on your fourth coffee of the day, yet you just can’t feel energized.

Rising UK R&B star James Vickery has turned his attention to a deeply relatable subject with his new single Somewhere, Out There. Vickery, who is set to release his debut album later this year, has just dropped his new track, and it’s a sweet and tender take on the pain lockdown has caused, particularly for lovers forced to seperate.

There are very few voices in folk and jazz that sound quite as soulful as MARO’s. Her breathy tone will smooth the roughest stones, and calm the anxious with a simple melody. When her voice introduced itself amidst a low four-count bass drum coupled with small, low-maintenance guitar strums, my lips curled gently in a smile. The band and MARO make beautiful harmonies, even when those are just an octave apart. Every moment of this song feels right.

Born in Hampshire, but now based in London, twenty-two-year-old singer-songwriter Delilah Montagu dazzled with her In Gold EP in 2019, earning a multitude of rave reviews and mountains of online streams. A collaboration with David Guetta and Black Coffee (Drive) only added to her momentum, and she’s been roundly tipped for breakthrough success in 2021 by the likes of The Line of Best Fit, Notion and Clash.

Funk is a genre that’s never truly died, though definitely not as prominent in the mainstream as it used to be. Rather, its manifested itself in various shapes, either through disco, or the rise of dance-pop in the mid 2010’s, but regardless its essence has remained in music since its inception in the early 60’s.

You don’t sell over 35 million records worldwide across an almost thirty-year career without occasionally re-inventing yourself, and Weezer – the pop rockers led by the enigmatic figure of Rivers Cuomo – are no exception.

Trends in music are inevitable; musical fashion makes its rounds all year long, and artists all across the globe are going to try to capitalize on what’s trending. In the last few years, there’s been a sudden uproar in jazz, mostly found in lo-fi hip-hop and neo-soul. The latter has especially found a home in popular R&B, but has slowly died down in the last months. So, when I heard the beautiful extended chords played by a luscious Stratocaster that opens up Bring Me Back My Smile, I couldn’t help but to feel hopeful in neo-soul’s life in pop music.

When it comes to EDM, there are very few artists that can come to the kind of standard Alan Walker has established for himself. He always manages to find ways to both keep him within the confines of the genres, but also imploding within it and breaking boundaries left and right. With his newest song, Sorry, featuring the talents of ISAK on vocals, the producer not only meets the expectations one might have from an Alan Walker track, but propels those further on to the stratosphere.

Ben Howard has always been an absolute legend in the folk sound. His arrangements, intertwined with his eloquent guitar playing and soulful singing, have always been a source of warmth in cold fields.

British singer-songwriter and former BBC Sound of 2016 nominee Billie Marten has revealed details of her upcoming third studio album, Flora Fauna, and dropped the release’s lead single, Garden Of Eden, this week.

Musician, filmmaker, and master of the macabre, Rob Zombie, has gifted us all with another taste of his forthcoming studio album, “The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy.” The second single to drop, “The Eternal Struggles of the Howling Man,” has everything we have come to know and love from Zombie and more. That dark, groovy vibe that seems to pervade all his music is keenly felt here, with lyrics that wow and give you that real horror movie feel.

Rhye aren’t a band with a straightforward origin story. Their debut 2013 album Woman was years in the making and was released with the identities of its creators unknown. Only later were they revealed to be Canadian singer and performer Mike Milosh and Dutch multi-instrumentalist Robin Hannibal. From these secretive beginnings, the band have evolved into a freeform musical collective revolving around Milosh following the departure of Hannibal in 2017.

American singer-songwriter Maggie Lindemann specialises in skillfully riding the fine line between pop and rock, bringing the best of both worlds into an engaging, entertaining and highly marketable mix of music and performance. Having released a string of singles since her breakthrough effort Knocking On Your Heart in 2015, including the UK top ten hit Pretty Girl in 2016, Lindemann is now back with her first-ever EP, titled Paranoia.

Jordan Mackampa released his debut album Foreigner last year to critical acclaim. The singer-songwriter, who was raised Coventry, is based in London, and draws on his Congolese roots to create his deeply poetic songs delivered in his distinctive rich vocals, delivered a deeply personal affair with his debut full-length offering, with songs covering topics such as his childhood, his journey into adulthood, and falling in and out of love.

Artist collaborations tend to be exciting adventures for fans, especially when two different genres collide. So, when legendary metal guitarist Adrian Smith of Iron Maiden paired up with rock guitarist Richie Kotzen, we were in for a treat. Now, for those who are of the belief that metal, and rock are not that far apart, guess again. There is a cornucopia of differences, but the two styles have a way of blending so beautifully together you can be forgiven for thinking they are cut from the same cloth.

Swedish singer and songwriter Anna Leone dropped her debut EP Wandered Away in 2018, a beautiful record that was plugged by the likes of BBC Music and Spotify, and has gone on to clock up over eighteen million streams online. That EP included her breakthrough track My Soul I, which took her music to the next level. Now the Stockholm-born artist has returned with her new single Once, produced by Paul Butler.

It’s not that often a debut album as hyped as Right Now rolls around. But then it’s not often you get an artist like Willie Jones. He is unquestionably one of the rising stars of the current country scene, someone of whom Rolling Stone magazine said he “seems an awful lot like the future of country music.” And with his unique blend of styles that merge hip hop and country, they might just be right.

The future didn’t look particularly bright for Cambridge rockers Lonely The Brave when their frontman and founding member David Jakes left in 2018, citing mental health reasons. For a brief period it appeared the entire future of the band was in doubt, before they dispelled their fans’ fears, recruiting Jack Bennett, who had been recording and performing music under his Grumble Bee moniker, in his place.

In the years since Catatonia stormed the charts, lead singer and frontwoman Cerys Matthews has turned her attention to all sorts of creative endeavours. With the titles of radio DJ, author, TV presented, festival organiser, musician, singer, and not forgetting an MBE, to her name, Matthews clearly has plenty of passions and interests to pursue. But with her latest project – a twelve track album titled We Come From The Sun – Matthews is embracing a medium with which she has long been fascinated: poetry.

Following the release of his acclaimed new album Songs For The Drunk And Broken Hearted, (check out our review here) Passenger – otherwise known as Mike Rosenberg – has now shared Sword From The Stone (Gingerbread Mix), a special single version of the album’s opening track produced by Ed Sheeran and Joe Rubel and mixed by Spike Stent.

Nottingham-born indie starlet Jake Bugg signalled something of a change in direction when he dropped his single All I Need last autumn. Gone was the bluesy, Dylan-inspired indie folk of his early work, replaced instead with a soulful, savvy, and slick feel more reminiscent of some of his contemporaries. Which isn’t in any way to detract from the track, which felt then like the logical progression for Bugg who, at just 26 years of age, is still naturally evolving with his music.

South London punk upstarts Shame can lay claim to one of the best debut albums of the last few years. Songs Of Praise, released in 2018 to almost universal critical acclaim, was a storming, dizzying, and infectious cocktail – a genuinely exciting, sit-up-and-take notice offering from a band brimming with confidence, even if they were still trying to figure things out behind the scenes.

Cousins Jonathan Capeci and Joey Beretta grew up and played in a series of bands together around Philadelphia throughout their teenage years, but it wasn’t until the duo relocated to Nashville to pursue success with their band at the time, Dinner And A Suit, that they began to attract wider attention. Dinner And A Suit ultimately disbanded, but undeterred, Capeci and Beretta formed a new group with friends Stephen Cunsolo and Nicholas Sainato, and signed a deal with Interscope Records in 2016.

Formed in New York City in 2008, hard rockers The Pretty Reckless made a big impression with their debut album, 2010’s Light Me Up. It spawned a series of singles before the band dropped the follow-up Going To Hell in 2014. That album’s third single, Messed Up World, was something of a breakthrough track for the band, charting as it did at number one in Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Songs chart. The group’s third studio album, Who You Selling For, dropped in 2016, and was also a commercial success.

Throughout 2020, as the nation contended with lockdown, Northern Irish singer-songwriter JC Stewart was busy releasing a flurry of storming singles including I Need You To Hate Me, When The Light Hits The Room, and the pulsating Too Many Nights with 220 Kid. All these tracks added to the hype surrounding Stewart, who really started to turn heads with his 2019 ballad Bones.