Hello there, and welcome to Guitar World editors’ picks – our monthly guide to the guitar tracks that have captured the attentions of our editors over the past four weeks or so.
With the aid of our Spotify playlist below, we’ve rounded up all our favorite new releases from the month of May, and put them under the microscope to wax lyrical on the playing, tones, and songwriting that have set our six-string senses a-tingling.
This month, there’s plenty to pick from, with new cuts courtesy of Isaiah Stone, Suede, Matt Schofield, Wolf Alice, Calva Louise, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, and many more…
Jackson Maxwell – Associate Editor
Cherry-picking just a few highlights of my enormous “favorite tracks of the month” playlist is always a challenge, and this month was no different. These tunes are all over the map, and you won’t find them burning up the charts, admittedly; but one thing they all have in common is that the guitar-work featured within is brilliantly song-serving.
“Genre-blending” is a term that gets thrown around a lot. Indeed, do we live in a post-genre world? However you feel about that question, newcomer guitarist Isaiah Stone is creating music that puts a buffet of disparate influences together in a way that I genuinely haven’t come across before.
Vocally, he delivers his new song, Soul Exchangewith an infectious, Michael Jackson-esque confidence and tuneful sensibility. Equally confident is its earworm riff, which engages in a hook-filled call-and-response with Stone’s vocals, and its big-time solo, which bridges blues, funk, and Eddie Van Halen with showful flair. Keep an eye on him…
On a very different note, I’ve followed U.S. Girls – the project of singer/songwriter Meghan Remy – since her stellar 2018 album, In a Poem Unlimited. What’s her music like? Well… It’s one of those “easier to just listen to than describe” deals. Earlier this month, Remy truly outdid herself with the release of Bookendsan astonishing 12-minute opus that truly defies categorization.
The first half of the song’s easy gait is soulful and eerie at the same time, with multiple harmonica solos bringing some lonesome, desert-swept country into the picture. But we’re not here to talk about harmonica solos, are we?
Just shy of eight minutes in, the epic suddenly kicks into gear on the back of a slinky guitar solo and the funkiest rhythm work this side of Nile Rodgers. Do those few sentences make sense when put together? No? Just give it a spin. Trust me, it’s a hell of a trip.
Also on rotation for me was Disintegratea swaggering rocker from Suede – the long-running glam specialists who, 35 years into their career, continue to produce incredibly strong records that brilliantly balance the maturity that comes with all those years and the rebellious vigor that made them icons three decades ago. Any fan of Geordie Walker or Billy Duffy will find themselves won over in seconds by the imperious, gothic riff that kicks the song off with authority.
Additional plaudits must be given to Hayden Pedigo’s brilliant fingerpicking on the sublime I’ll Be Waving as You Drive AwayWinter’s summer-ready shoegaze gem, Just Like a Flowerand the World is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die’s monumental political scorcher, Beware the Centrist.
Matt Owen – News Editor
Did I ever imagine I’d be writing about a Robbie Williams single for one of Guitar World’s monthly editors’ picks round-ups? No, no I did not – yet here we are. Funny old world, isn’t it?
To not include the new single from Williams – who, for US audiences, is probably most known as ‘the guy whose biopic starred a CGI monkey’ – would be something of an oversight, owing to the fact it features none other than Tony Iommi on guitar. It’s perhaps the most surprising guest spot the Black Sabbath legend has ever turned up for, but we can’t help but love it.
Williams’ rock-tinged turn is carried by Iommi, whose hell-for-leather riffage in Rocket seems to be in immensely fine form. Good news for that long overdue solo album that’s been in the works for the past few years, it seems…
For a slightly less surprising inclusion, Matt Schofield – a player who was so informative and influential for this writer growing up as a blues fanatic – finally returned with a new record, 16 whole years after his last one.
Fortunately, Many Moons looks to be the first chapter in a new era for the revered British bluesman (it’s been dubbed a “Vol. 1 effort”), who, quite simply, possesses some of the finest, most tasteful and sophisticated chops of any blues player currently active.
Schofield truly has a definitive sound that stands out on its own – see new tracks Do Me Right and Measure Of A Man for example – and the 16-year studio hiatus has done nothing to dampen his skills. In fact, he seems to be playing better than ever (and that’s no surprise, considering he’s also been one of the hardest-gigging guitar players of the past decade).
For something a little less blues-y, The Beaches – a band whose 2024 LP I nominated to be last year’s record of the year – are venturing into “a new era” of their own (their own words), and have continued the lead-up to their new album with yet another chorus-drenched indie rock romp, Did I Say Too Much.
My month’s playlist has also been populated by Wolf Alice, who also made a comeback with Bloom Baby Bloom; Tom Misch, whose new album can’t arrive soon enough following the release of Red Moon; and Sleep Token – the hottest name in metal right now, who dropped their highly anticipated record, Even In Arcadia. Don’t ask me to pick out a highlight, there’s no point in trying. Just absorb the whole thing, and thank me later.
Janelle Borg – Staff Writer
I must admit, I’ve been on a Steely Dan kick this month thanks to an eight-hour-plus road trip… but I did find time to unearth some new gems.
My first pick comes by way of Australian psych-rockers (no prizes for guessing correctly) Psychedelic Porn Crumpets. It’s from the excellent Carpe Diem, Moonman – an explosion of experimentation, chaos, and intergalactic sounds. Qwik Maff is a masterclass in guitar work – kicking off with (as the name suggests) a very quick guitar part that immediately draws you in, with strokes of math rock that make for a truly enthralling listen.
Rounding out this month’s picks is the ever-imaginative Calva Louise with Impeccable. The track is anything but boring – flitting between English and Spanish lyrics and blending a multitude of genres, with some “impeccable” guitar work by way of Jess Allanic, all in 4:42.
And oh, it also follows the story of a young man called Jonnie, who’s been fatally poisoned and has to act “impeccably” to survive – and that’s not all. He has to follow his double into another world (the Fractalworld), or death will strike him. The sci-fi theme extends to the music video – which continues building on the fantastical world the trio have successfully managed to conjure.
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