Editors' Picks

Brighton outfit Black Honey’s self-titled debut album was a glorious mixture of attitude and swagger, a indie punk whirlwind that evoked the likes of Elastica and Garbage and crashed into the top 40 UK albums chart. It teed them up for a frenzy of tour dates, an NME front cover appearance, and festival slots right the way across Europe. The departure of founding band member and drummer Tom Dewhurst at the end of 2019 might have derailed lesser bands, but Black Honey focused on completing their new record, Written & Directed, which landed this week.

Ringo Starr needs no preamble. As one quarter of the biggest band of all time, the man has seen it all and done it all and has nothing left to prove. Nor would he even want to – part of Starr’s enduring charm has always been his everydayness, content with his reputation as the definitive nice man of music. Now at the ripe old age of eighty and with the country still in lockdown, you’d imagine Starr was happy just to put his feet up. Not a bit of it. 

Amy Shark’s new single is a blend of what makes both alternative and indie so great in one fine package that drives a beat forward from the moment it starts to when it ends.

In a very odd blend of folk and EDM, Lost Frequencies have managed to make an unusual gem that will both make you raise your brow, and nod your head all the same.

Welsh-born multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer and author Catherine Anne Davies – otherwise known as the Anchoress – isn’t your normal pop star. A published writer with a PhD in literature and queer theory from University College London, she creates terrifyingly intense songs that often document heartbreaking pain. Tragically, much of this pain is told from personal experience, the last few years having brought the death of her father, a cancer diagnosis and treatment, and the loss of several pregnancies.

The multi-talented Jacob Banks moved to the UK from his native Nigeria when he was just thirteen years old, and with a creative streak that took in singing and playing guitar, he started writing songs of his own at the age of twenty. He plied his trade on the open mic night circuit around his hometown of Birmingham, where he quickly attracted attention for his powerful vocals and intimate songwriting, which fuses elements of soul, African music and synths to create a rich and unique sound.

Arguably one of the greatest album openers, and in consequence one of the greatest singles of all time, has been remixed in 2021 mixed in with whole new elements, as well as speeches from the civil rights icon MLK in what makes one of the most electrifying remixes of all time.

In one of the uncanniest collaborations of ideas and artists, Sting has returned with a new single, My Funny Valentine, embracing music of old along with one of the greatest forces in jazz and music as a whole.

Nearly forty-three years after the original release of the disco single I’m Every Woman, Chaka Khan, the original signer for the track, alongside Idina Menzel got together to re-record the classic hit, bringing modern life into one of the greatest tracks of the seventies.

Bedford-born singer-songwriter Tom Grennan took the name of his second album Evering Road from a street he used to live on with his ex-girlfriend. And his origin story is an interesting one too – Grennan trained to become a professional footballer but was released, finding work instead at a Costa Coffee. At the age of 18, he was attacked in the street leaving him with metal plates and screws in his jaw. He got into music, apparently, after friends were impressed by his impromptu singing at a party, and pushed him into pursuing it further.

When it comes to feel-good music, there is very few songs that come quite as good as Japanese Breakfast’s newest single, Be Sweet. 

Nick Jonas found fame as one third of the Jonas Brothers, the American pop rockers who emerged from their Disney Channel beginnings into one of the biggest boy bands of the late 2000s. Unlike many of his contemporaries though, Jonas managed to carve out a successful solo career once his group had split, with the singles Chains, Jealous, Close and Bacon in particular showing that he was capable of varied, contemporary pop classics with his distinctive high-pitched vocals.

BRIT-award-winning singer and songwriter Tom Odell’s new single Monster v.1 drops this week, complete with a video directed by George Somverville and Odell himself. The track is taken from Odell’s upcoming new album Monsters, his fourth studio LP which is due for release this summer. 

The dynamic duo is out and about again, just a week after their debut single, with another offering. This time, weirdly enough, they decided to release what is most likely the intro to their upcoming album, and despite only being a minute in length, there’s still plenty to unpack in this tune.

When lockdown first started a year or so ago, many of us made our peace with it by turning to that lengthy to-do list. ‘What a great opportunity to catch up on some jobs’, we thought. ‘Or perhaps I’ll learn a new skill’, we kidded ourselves. ‘I know, I’ll learn Japanese, and the piano’, we outright lied, as we locked the front door, kicked back on the sofa, and lined up yet another box set marathon. 

It's been sixteen years since Glasgow duo Arab Strap last released an album, and with it announced their split after a decade of subverting the airwaves with their gritty and sometimes absurd tales. In many ways, they paved the way for acts like Sleaford Mods to take their work to the mainstream, and in this post-truth, pandemic-ridden time, it feels like a new Arab Strap album would land perfectly.

Irish singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Imelda May has teamed up with none other than Ronnie Wood for her new track Made To Love, a joyous song about love in all its guises taken from her upcoming new album 11 Past The Hour, which is due for release via Decca Records on 16 April, a week earlier than originally scheduled. 

Guillemots frontman Fyfe Dangerfield released his first (and so far, only) solo album Fly Yellow Moon back in 2010, while his band were still in their heyday. It’s easy to forget how big Guillemots were for a while, their debut album Through The Windowpane was nominated for the 2006 Mercury Music Prize (though it was beaten by the Arctic Monkeys’ Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not), and their dreamy hits like Get Over It and Made-Up Love Song #43 resonated within the indie scene at the time.

If you were to pick four or so genres of music and jumble all of them in some musical blender and pour yourself a song from the blend, you’d come close to something akin to Serotonin by Girl in Red, and you bet that you’ll do your best remembering that recipe.

As part of their newest EP release, Evanescence is back with one of their heaviest singles, Better Without You.

The unexpected supergroup delivered the first single on Friday March 5th, and to say they blew us all away is a massive understatement.

When the Followills (brother Caleb, Nathan, and Jared and their cousin Matthew) burst onto the scene in the early 2000s, few could have predicted that two decades on they’d become the sort of global super band that sell out arenas in minutes and can stake a legitimate claim to the title of biggest act in the world. But here we are in 2021, and Kings Of Leon are basically there.

Australian singer, songwriter, actor and author Dan Sultan dropped his debut solo album Homemade Biscuits in 2006 at the age of twenty-two, the album which introduced the world to his rich voice, story-filled lyrics and ear for a hook. His second album, Get Out While You Can followed in 2009, and saw him win Best Male Artist and Best Blues And Roots Album at the 2010 ARIA Music Awards. In 2014, he followed that success by claiming Best Rock Album for his third studio album Blackbird, while his 2017 album Killer was nominated for three ARIA awards: Best Male Artist, Best Rock Album, and Best Independent Release. 

Little Oblivions is the third album from indie folk rock singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Julien Baker, and it’s a record that continues her journey, building on the simple, heartfelt majesty of her debut, Sprained Ankle, which laid bare stories of self destruction and drug abuse over sparse acoustic guitar and piano, and its follow up Turn Out The Lights, which expanded on its predecessor, sonically and emotionally.

When it comes to old-timey, nostalgic songs, there are very few that can match CMAT’s level of quality. Her soulful voice, all coupled with beautifully intricate production, make songs like her newest single, I Don’t Really Care for You, all the more special.

Amsterdam native singer and songwriter Celine Cairo made her debut with 2013’s self-released Follow EP, produced by Ninja Tune’s Fink. It led to support slots in her homeland with artists including Asgeir, Dodie and Haevn, and to her first international tour in 2014.

When it comes to soul, the genre has been shaped into its modern form by artists such as Sam Smith and Daniel Caesar. However, it’s grown incredibly distant from its roots to an almost indistinguishable degree, but that doesn’t mean that old soul like our grandparents used to enjoy is dead and gone. In fact, Leon Bridges might be the largest force in keeping that energy alive to this day, and he does a better job than ever in his newest single with Keite Young, Like a Ship.

The Melvins played a big part in the development of grunge and sludge metal in the 1980s and early 1990s, and now in their fifth decade together, the veteran rockers are still going strong. Working With God is their 24th album (not including split records) and, though they’ve been through all sorts of personnel changes over the years, this new release finds them back in their original 1983 lineup of Buzz Osborne (vocals / guitars), Dale Crover (bass), and Mike Dillard (drums).

Zara Larsson is emphatically fierce in her latest single, ‘Look What You’ve Done.’ The infectious melody will immediately grasp you and immerse you within its celebratory but slightly wistful atmosphere. Zara has had a lot of success in embedding eighties-themed disco-pop sounds into her tracks, where she usually pairs a modern verve with an intoxicating, devil-may-care attitude.

Geordie rockers Maximo Park threw caution to the wind with their last album Risk To Exist, an angry, acerbic record that took aim at Brexit and Trumpism and marked a significant lyrical shift from frontman Paul Smith. The album was accompanied by a zine that included a contribution from political commentator Owen Jones, and essays from Smith. For fans and critics alike, it was a dramatic transformation from the band that burst onto the scene in the mid-2000s with the swaggering, indie dance pomp of Graffiti and their debut album A Certain Trigger.

American singer and songwriter Madison Beer got her break aged just thirteen when Justin Bieber tweeted a link to Beer’s YouTube cover of Etta James’s At Last, then signed her to Island Records. Her first single Melodies was then released in 2013 (the video featured a cameo from Bieber himself), and Beer began work on her debut album, reported at the time to have pop and R&B influences.

Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III – known by his stage name Aloe Blacc – is a man of many talents. As a musician, singer, songwriter and record producer, he’s worked on a wide variety of projects. He topped the UK charts with his singles I Need A Dollar and The Man, and wrote and performed vocals on Avicii’s Wake Me Up, which topped the charts in 22 countries, and has amassed almost 1,250,000,000 streams on Spotify. Alongside fellow US record producer Exile, Blacc also forms the hip hop duo Emanon.

Fans of NOFX might be a little bit confused by the opening notes of their fourteenth studio record Single Album. Not only did the edgy, palm muted guitar that opens the album take five years to arrive (for such a prolific band, the long wait since their last album First Ditch Effort dropped in 2016 seems cavernous) but yes, no matter how many times you listen to it, there’s no escaping the fact that that’s the riff from Bryan Adams’ Summer Of 69…

Davy has always found ways to push the envelope when it comes to musical innovations. He has always refused to stick to one genre, or rather to let himself be boxed in to labels. With each new track, it seems to get harder and harder to describe his music other than to simply say “It’s Davy”. It’ll be Okay, his newest single, is by far the most ambitious of his recent releases.

The Hold Steady are one of those bands that seem to have been around forever, a bonafide part of the fabric of American music. But despite their reliable, dependable name, and penchant for telling Springsteen-esque tales of life in the USA, they’re also not afraid of mixing things up. From the concept album debut of Almost Killed Me right up to their latest and eighth studio album Open Door Policy, which they’re sprinkled with a healthy dose of brass.