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 June, and noted our personal highlights – the playing, tones, and songwriting that most set our six-string senses a-tingling.
Said highlights include a slice of Sexy Djent from UK metallers Loathe, Dance Djent from Polyphia, a gorgeous display of musical companionship from Hermanos Gutiérrez, a thrilling new collaborative rocker from Weezer, and a cinematic guitar landscape from Rodrigo y Gabriela.
All of that and much more can be heard in our playlist below.
Michael Astley-Brown – Editor-in-Chief
Track of the month: Loathe – Fangs
Ladies and gentlemen, we are in the era of Sexy Djent, and UK metallers Loathe just oiled up and laid down one of the slinkiest, nastiest riffs of the Sleep Token-led movement. Every time that gut-busting hook rears its head, it has a gnarlier fuzz tone, which is exactly the kind of attention to detail that makes me want to buy more pedals. Fangs a lot, gents.
Also playing:
- Mastodon – Your Ghost Again
- Jack White – Dollar Bill
- Every Hell – Bane of The Bear
Matt Parker – Deputy Editor
Track of the month: Hermanos Gutiérrez – Canto Andino
Not to make this a guitarist’s lonely hearts ad, but in 25 years of playing, I’ve never experienced a playing relationship anywhere near the instinctive harmony and musical companionship of Ecuadorian-Swiss siblings Hermanos Gutiérrez.
Canto Andino (literally: ‘Andes song’) is strung throughout with nylon acoustics, subtle wah lines, and the dynamic rise and fall of the landscape that inspired it. We have to wait until September for the full album, but in the meantime… if you’re a guitarist who enjoys looking melancholy against a mountainous backdrop, gurning at tape recordings, and long walks in the Andes, call me.
Also playing:
- Paerish – Wait For Dark
- Emma Ruth Rundle – Powerless
- Chelsea Wolfe – Death Is Not The End
Jackson Maxwell – Operations Editor
This might be a hot take, but I’ve been quite frustrated with Weezer for a number of years. I’ve felt that over and over again they’ve gone for shtick and irony in lieu of making something more focused; something great. Not that shtick and irony haven’t always been a huge part of their whole thing, but their recent material has gone a bit too far in that direction for my taste.
Perhaps the presence of Karly Hartzman, the singer, songwriter, and leader of Wednesday, one of the most vital alt-rock bands around, is what gave them the kick to produce something as ripping as We Might As Well Be Strangers. The lead single of the band’s latest self-titled ‘color’ album (it’s gold, fittingly), it finds Rivers Cuomo in brilliant form. His riff is mega, his little solo is crooked-letter-font perfection, and god, that chorus – a master at work.
Also playing:
- Blondshell – Violins
- Ibibio Sound Machine – Concept of Love
- Radiator Hospital – Wall Between Us
Matt Owen – News Editor
Track of the month: Polyphia – Can You Feel It
I’ve been impatiently waiting for Polyphia 5 for quite some time now, and though I don’t play any sort of progressive metal personally, I am incredibly fond of Tim Henson, Scott LePage, and how they keep finding new ways to elevate guitar playing.
And, with all the talk of ultra-heavy riffs and eight-string prototypes, there was reason to be extra excited about Polyphia’s next album. And if CAN YOU FEEL IT is anything to go by, Henson and co are about to make good on all their promises of it being perhaps their heaviest record to date. Dance djent is now a thing. I am obsessed with rave riffs. Bring on Polyphia 5.
Also playing:
- Phoebe Bridgers – Lost Boys
- Keith Urban – Guitar Man (ft. John Mayer)
- Slow Pulp – Better Man
Janelle Borg – Staff Writer
Track of the month: Rodrigo y Gabriela – Monster
Rodrigo y Gabriela’s flowers are long overdue. With their upcoming album, OurHome, the virtuosic duo continues to expand their palette, this time incorporating subtle (and not-so-subtle) Japanese influences both musically and visually – as evidenced by their latest single, Monster, and its accompanying animated music video, crafted by legendary manga artist Naoki Urasawa. Oh, and the duo even recorded (and self-produced) the album in Tokyo.
Monster takes listeners on a veritable journey, with contrasting guitar parts conjuring a narrative-driven tension that feels cinematic in scope. Across its 6-minute, 2-second runtime, melancholy and, dare I say, apprehension – driven by the interplay of two acoustic guitars – gradually give way to an overdriven, rock-infused climax, where Sánchez’s Rolodex of Strats battles it out with Quintero’s custom Yamaha nylon-string acoustic (based on the brand’s NTX series), leaving you breathless in the best possible way.
BRB, adding it to my running playlist.
Also playing:
- Arab Strap – Fighting for You
- Rossann – Isa Binti
- Boards of Canada – Prophecy at 1420 MHz
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