Who is popular today?

In a new Guide feature, we hand the mic to musicians and let them pick the new, exciting music you should be listening to – from exuberant alt-pop to a vocoder-helmeted virtuosoThis week something a bit different: the first in what, hopefully, will be a semi-regular music feature that we’re calling Six Degrees of Band Separation. The premise is simple: we ask a group or artist to recommend another group/artist, who recommend another, who recommend another and so on, with the end result hopefully being that we uncover a load of new and exciting music to listen to.First up are Brighton five-piece Squid. You might remember them from their debut album Bright Green Field, a squall of Death From Above-style dance-punk and experimental noise rock that got a lot of love when it was released in 2021. They’re back with a new album, O Monolith, which is a bit of a leap forward – denser and more tuneful, adding pastoral folk and a bit of prog into the mix. (Check out epic new six-minute single The Blades, whose music video features Fresh Meat and Ghosts star Charlotte Ritchie). Continue reading...