Hello there, and a very warm welcome to Guitar World editors’ picks – our 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.
Over to our EIC MAB to kick things off…
Michael Astley-Brown – Editor-in-Chief, GuitarWorld.com
It was a true joy to see Dave Navarro – one of the truly great guitar heroes of the late-’80s/early-’90s alt-rock explosion – return to the stage this year. Benched from touring with Jane’s Addiction by long Covid while grieving the loss of his friend and bandmate Taylor Hawkins, Navarro barely picked up his trademark PRS electrics for over a year.
But you’d hardly know that from listening to Imminent Redemption – the first original song from the band’s original lineup in 34 years. Eric Avery’s gritty bassline stalks the rhythm frequencies, giving Navarro room to weave his new wave sonics on top, landing a sucker punch of wild bends and soaring melodies in the chorus.
It’s been a great month for fans of grunge-adjacent rock across the board. Jerry Cantrell announced his fourth solo record, I Want Blood, and with it a single that deploys both wah and talkbox. Jerry, you spoil us! In contrast to his last full-length, the acoustic-driven Brighten, Vilified’s time signature-shifting distorted assault hints towards a far heavier record – complete with guest spots from Duff McKagan, Robert Trujillo and Mike Bordin.
If you’ll allow me to cross the streams and indulge in some gear chat for a moment, my favorite guitar launch of the month was Jakub Żytecki’s gaw-jus Mayones Jassper Nidra – an offset kitted out with the uber-clean onboard preamp the Polish virtuoso uses to jaw-dropping effect for his exquisite tapping and fingerpicking passages.
In short, it’s as versatile as the artist who wields it, and you can hear that mercurial style in full effect on new standalone single Bound by Better: an eight-string chug-a-thon topped by ambient synths, gossamer arpeggiated passages and the kind of breathless bluesy pentatonic runs that would make Eric Johnson blush.
I was determined to end this entry without hailing Jakub Żytecki as the future of shred, but I simply cannot do it. Believe the hype.
Jackson Maxwell – Associate Editor
Earlier this month, I happened to be on hand when acoustic wizard Marcin Patrzalek stopped by the Guitar World video studio in New York City. It’s one thing to watch the man’s YouTube or TikTok videos, but to see what he does in person, from 10 or so feet away, was nothing short of astonishing.
Though that experience was one of those ‘perks of the job’ things (sorry), his new single, Allergies, is a healthy sampling of the Polish guitarist’s magic. Punctuated by crystalline harmonics, the figures he weaves are perfect counterparts to Delaney Bailey's stirring vocals.
Marcin can dazzle with speed and sheer technical brilliance whenever he wants, but he knows exactly how and when to deploy those skills. That restraint, and focus on drawing people in with his songwriting first and foremost, makes the couple of occasions where he does shift things up into a higher gear all the more impressive.
While I’m on an acoustic train of thought, I also wanted to shout out Jontavious Willis and his new single, Ghost Woman. I must confess that my patience for the cliches you sometimes (some would argue often) hear in blues as it’s practiced in the 21st century can be quite thin, but Ghost Woman – while still built on the genre’s foundations and tradition – has its own voice entirely.
The low-end of Willis’s acoustic fingerpicking strolls along effortlessly, while his supple melodic work on the higher strings paints a vivid picture. This tune’s the real deal if you want 21st century acoustic blues.
On a completely different note, I’ve also been spinning Love Insurrection, the hypnotic new single from Primal Scream, who – given the band’s durability over the decades – would probably continue to make dancefloor-ready, groove-heavy jams in the aftermath of an apocalyptic meteor strike. Love Insurrection is pure funk, with Andrew Innes putting on a rhythm guitar clinic, with a delectable, Hendrix-informed wah workout on the side.
Also worth a listen is jasmine.4.t’s terrific new track, Skin on Skin. Produced by all three members of boygenius, the song features – in addition to jasmine.4.t’s own immersive playing – yet more stellar lead work from Julien Baker. We can’t wait to hear more of this…
Matt Parker – Features Editor
I long ago gave up trying to keep track of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s magnificent oeuvre, but their latest opus reportedly sees them swerving towards blues and classic rock territory, citing influences like The Band and Steve Miller Band, and presumably other names ending in ‘band’. The frantic shuffling riff at the center of Hog Calling Contest does a fine job of infusing that well-worn classic style with a little bit of weirdness and vitality.
The most exciting news for me this month is the very welcome return of Great Grandpa. Their 2019 album Four of Arrows was my record of the year (though it may have taken me until about February 2020 to realize it).
New standalone single Kid feels like a link to that record, albeit an evolved version – full of monstrous dynamics, rich instrumental arrangement and those distorted electric guitar lines that wash in and give you full-body chills out of nowhere.
Finally, Kim Deal dropped her new solo single, Coast this month. It’s a lilting, addictive number with a brass section that I don’t even hate and woozy clean guitar lines. To be honest, though, I was sold the moment I read that it was inspired by Deal witnessing a band covering calypso king Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville with “revelatory levels of low self-esteem.”
Matt Owen – Senior Staff Writer
The only way to get better at playing the guitar is by pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. And let me tell you, I rarely feel as far out of my comfort zone than when I attempt to tackle Matteo Mancuso lines. It took a while to pluck up the courage to approach learning some tricks from his stellar debut album last year, and now I once again find myself on a Mancuso hype following the release of Paul Position.
An absurdly virtuosic display of Mancuso’s otherworldly talents disguised as a tribute track to Paul Gilbert, Paul Position is a classic Mancuso track, but executed from the fretboard of a Bacci baritone. Hearing Mancuso’s fingerstyle licks transposed to baritone is another listening experience altogether. Perhaps buying a baritone will help me nail those lines…
Mancuso’s phrasing is as elite as it comes, and while on the topic of phrasing, I want to give mention to Natty Reeves. Hailing from a beats background that has given rise to the likes of Tom Misch and Charlie Allen over the past few years, Reeves is part of the next wave of soul/blues/jazz fusion players, whose elite mastery of the fretboard is teased in Why Are You?
Many people can play the right notes, but it takes a special talent to play the right notes in the right order, and to play them in a way that sounds wholly unique. Reeves is such a talent: his groove and feel are really up there with the current crop of top tier emerging guitar talents.
Soloing inspirations aside, I’ve been spinning The Beaches’ new single on repeat this July. Takes One To Know One is the dictionary definition of a ruddy good indie rock guitar track, smashing an irresistible melody and infectious guitar hooks into a sub-three minute rollercoaster. Their 2023 album, Blame My Ex, was one of my favorite records from last year, so I’m chuffed to hear that the group’s pop-leaning tone is continuing to develop in their new material.
Janelle Borg – Staff Writer
Earlier this month, I bought a last-minute ticket to Lianne La Havas' intimate gig in Brighton, and once again, I was blown away by her nuanced and distinct guitar-playing style and her complete mastery of the stage. It definitely felt like watching an icon in action.
A few days later, La Havas released Saudade Dos Aviões da Panair alongside revered bassist Esperanza Spalding, Brazilian singer, songwriter and guitarist Maria Gadú and the Grammy Award-winning Brazilian artist Milton Nascimento. The track is equal parts soothing, mysterious, and transcendental – which, if you're anything like me, is a winning combination.
Orville Peck and Beck join forces for a boisterous new track, Death Valley High, which features Peck's quintessential country-twinged flair married to old-school Beck guitar hooks. The music video is a love letter to Vegas, and between the roulette table scenes and a cameo by Sharon Stone, Beck wields an Epiphone Casino while standing back-to-back with an acoustic guitar-armed Peck.
Toning down the playlist a little is Altin Gün with their new single, Gönül Dağı (Heart of the Mountain). I must say, this Anatolian rock/Turkish psych band is a mainstay on my playlist, so a new song from them is always a treat.
I particularly like how melancholic this track is, which is also reflected in the way they use the guitar and bass. The bass anchors the yearning vocal line, while the reverberant guitar weaves in and out, enhancing the story being narrated before it climaxes into an emotionally driven solo.
My final pick comes from the London post-rock and prog-metal instrumental trio Cabiria. In Beksiń, Kye Philipps (drums), Rory Padfield (guitars), and Stu Harris (bass) create a cinematic piece that would not be out of place in an A24 psychological thriller. The guitar undulates with the bass and drums before it breaks out on its own and introduces the track's final chapter at around the 3:25 mark. Fans of Tool, Russian Circles, and God Is an Astronaut, take note of Cabiria!
