Hello there, and a very warm welcome to Guitar World editors’ picks – our new-and-improved, comprehensive 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. Well, everyone apart from Features Editor Matt Parker, who is off this week. Typical!
So, without further ado, let’s hand things over to our EIC MAB to kick things off…
Michael Astley-Brown – Editor-in-Chief, GuitarWorld.com
It’s been a good month to be an instrumental guitar fan. For starters, Wolfgang Van Halen’s favorite guitar player – who recently went out on tour with Mammoth WVH – Intervals, aka Aaron Marshall, dropped his latest full-length, memory palace. It’s an album of daring shred guitar and progressive metal lines fused with an irrepressible pop-punk energy. It’s bouncy, upbeat and memorable.
You could say the same of Northern Irish post/math/prog heavyweights And So I Watch You From Afar, who have heralded their return with Do Mór – a song that runs the gamut of untamed fuzz leads, Bond-esque chromaticism and stratospheric reverb.
On a very different tip, acoustic wizard Mike Dawes has dropped another taste of his long-awaited new album, Galactic Acid (the best recording of his guitar playing in existence, apparently).
In this case, he’s dropped a bells and whistles take on All Along the Watchtower – an arrangement he first debuted with Rick Beato back in 2021. It’s a masterclass in inventive percussive acoustic guitar, with atmospheric effects swells and a contemporary flair that demonstrates why Dawes is in a class of his own.
Plugging the mic back in I have to shout out hotly tipped Aussies, Reliqa. We’ve previously ruminated on why Australia is turning out some of the most amazing prog metal guitarists on the planet, and Brandon Lloyd has the kind of guttural riff and catchy lead chops to elevate his cohort to Spiritbox status. Watch this space.
Meanwhile, another lineup switch-up has done nothing to slow the pace of math-hardcore mainstays Dance Gavin Dance, who dropped two new singles this month – their first since the departure of vocalist Tilian Pearson.
Speed Demon more than delivers on the promise of its title, with a balletic main riff from Will Swan and a dangerously funky auto-wah line showing their sense of fun is still very much intact despite any internal drama.
Lastly, I want to take a moment to shout out Finneas’ fine guitar work on the new Billie Eilish record. LUNCH in particular showcases his versatility, as he flits between surfy whammy dives, indie-funk comps and Duane Eddy twangs. And when you’re getting that kind of variety on one of the biggest tracks of the year, the guitar’s ongoing pop renaissance simply cannot be denied.
Jackson Maxwell – Associate Editor
Unfortunately, my guitar highlight of May is a rather bittersweet one. Earlier this year, I was incredibly excited to learn that Shellac – the venerable alt-rock trio featuring Steve Albini on guitar – would be returning in May with To All Trains, their first album of new material in a decade. Tragically though, just over a week before the scheduled release of To All Trains, Albini died of a heart attack at the age of 61.
Hearing Albini’s guitar work on Big Black’s ferocious post-punk classic, Kerosene, changed my view of what was possible with six strings. Opening the song with razor-wire harmonics before segueing into homicidal-sounding power chords, he made the guitar sound as terrifying as the song’s violent narrator. For my money, it’s one of the 20th century’s greatest, and most under-appreciated, riffs.
Fittingly, the first sound you hear on To All Trains is a limber, trilling Albini figure. It makes the album’s opener, WSOD, almost, dare I say, catchy. But before you get too comfy, Albini kicks the doors down with a diabolically overdriven outburst of riffing. There can be no more fitting sendoff to an uncompromising sonic innovator who always stayed true to his artistic vision and beliefs.
Speaking of underrated, my lifelong love of Tom Petty led me to Dare to Dream, the new single from Petty’s six-string brother-in-arms, Mike Campbell, and his band, the Dirty Knobs. One spin of the song’s soaring chorus will show just how much of Petty’s magic rubbed off on his longest-serving bandmate. Campbell’s lyrical eight-bar break halfway through the tune is a tasty sampler of his evocative melodic touch.
Meanwhile, those looking for a fuzz fix need look no further than Can’t Be Still, the none-catchier new single from illuminati hotties. Further tonal fun comes from You’ll Be There For Me, a blast of gothic post-punk from A Place to Bury Strangers, the band fronted by Death by Audio head honcho Oliver Ackermann.
Last, I wanted to shout out My Wonderful Boyfriend – who I happened to catch live earlier this month. Their second single, My Love, My Darling, is a pristine slice of jangle pop punctuated by a brief but soaring, almost Gilmour-like, solo.
Matt Owen – Senior Staff Writer
For me, May was very much a ‘playing’ month rather than a listening one, after the band I play guitar for ended up going on tour. Hyper-fixated on what would be our biggest gigs ever, I went monk mode for about two weeks, and became guilty of only listening to the 30 minute set we’d be taking on the road (that, and the music of the group we were supporting, The Japanese House, who just so happen to be my favorite band of recent years).
So, I’m a bit behind on May’s releases, and as such my horizons remained relatively un-broadened. Fortunately, some of my favorites all released music this month, so I’m not entirely devoid of new material.
Tom Misch, who returned with his first solo single proper since 2018, has dominated my playlist. Insecure has got the kind of sultry guitar-and-bass groove that only Misch could mastermind, and, of course, a Q-Tron-tinged guitar solo for good measure. Here’s hoping a full-length sophomore record – one loaded with similar beats – is on the way. Few people can go toe-to-toe with prime Misch when it comes to feel.
I adored Willow’s 2022 pop-punk album, Coping Mechanism, and admired how she totally reinvented her sound from R&B into guitar-driven chaos. For her newest album, empathogen, Willow has overhauled her sound yet again. With some tracks that sound like a Snarky Puppy cut and others that carry a jazz jam vibe, it’s yet further evidence of Willow’s astonishing musicality, and unwavering commitment to continually push her boundaries.
Off-kilter time signatures and jittery turnarounds aplenty, empathogen is filled with standout moments, but the slinky, Snarky-esque feel of no words 1 & 2 is a particular highlight. Such songs make me get over the fact I would’ve loved Willow to have one more stab at the punk thing, but maybe she’ll revisit that in time.
Naturally, my go-to bedroom pop and indie rock genres remained on my radar in May, so new cuts from Dayglow and Dreamer Boy did not go unmissed. I’m continually amazed at what Dayglow – aka Sloane Struble – can put together, and find his music a source of endless inspiration, in terms of both playing and production.
Janelle Borg – Staff Writer
From a Chris Stapleton kick that came out of left-field to flamenco, my music taste has been all over the place this month.
Mdou Moctar's Funeral For Justice has been on heavy rotation. In my humble opinion, Moctar has solidified himself as one of the most original guitarists out there at the moment, with Funeral for Justice fusing Tuareg music traditions with big, melodic solos that convey his socio-politic sensibilities, despite the language barrier.
Tishoumaren or desert blues pioneers Tinariwen, meanwhile, returned with Azawad, a guitar-driven protest track that serves as a masterclass in fingerstyle playing. The track name pays homage to the Tuareg area in Northern Mali and is a direct response to the ongoing conflict in the region.
Speaking of fingerstyle playing, Paco y Paquito, flamenco virtuoso Paco de Lucía's posthumous album, is another demonstration of a nascent master at work. The album is a collection of recordings from Paco de Lucía and his brother Pepe de Lucía's childhood. Although he was only 11 when these songs were recorded, you can already hear that he was already on his way to becoming a true master of his craft.
Other special mentions for this month include shoegazers DIIV's fourth album Frog in Boiling Water, which takes their sound to the next level through what the band recently revealed to be a pedal-first approach to songwriting.
La Luz, led by guitarist Shana Cleveland, also make a comeback with News of the Universe, which showcases their unique brand of haunted psychedelia, reflected in the guitar tones and effects Cleveland opts for. The pleasantly unsettling aura continues with emerging London-based duo Berne and their track Waves, which employs reverb-tinged guitars as a complement to the ethereal synth soundscapes.
