In last month's edition of Now Playing, we urged you to resist the temptations of the encroaching better weather and stay inside. There's nothing out there for you, we implored, advising instead that you stay in and tinker with your hi-fi system instead.
For UK readers at least, you might not need so much encouragement this time around. The weather's taken a bit of a dip, temperatures have dropped, and there's really no reason at all (apart from your mental wellbeing) to go outside.
Plus, this month's edition is a corker, offering up heartbreak, greed, political intrigue and turmoil in one neat rundown. It's like a Graham Greene novel, except… it's a playlist.
Listen to our Now Playing playlist on Tidal
Nude Photo by Rythim Is Rythim
It felt like far too long since I had bought some vinyl – it probably wasn’t but it felt like it – so I’m happy to report I got back on the wagon this month.
I’m not always one for re-releases (old is often gold, after all) but I couldn’t resist this Network Records 20th anniversary pressing of Innovator: Soundtrack For The Tenth Planet, which celebrates a classic Derrick May EP and adds a previously unreleased track for good measure.
If you’ve ever shown even a passing interest in house or techno music, then tracks such as Strings of Life and The Dance will be instantly recognisable.
Cut across two records instead of one and released on 180g vinyl (though the jury will always be out on the importance of that), the records certainly sound superb, while the music itself is as fresh and exciting as ever.
Nude Photo is the track I have played again and again. Solid kick drums and ravey acid bass notes appear alongside squelchy synths, providing a great test of your system’s ability to deliver rhythm, clarity and control.
If your head isn’t nodding by the end, there’s something wrong with your system (or your ears).
Words by Joe Cox
Look Out for Me by Turnstile
Turnstile’s rise from hardcore-punk darlings to one of the most exciting and forward-thinking alternative rock bands on the planet has been nothing short of meteoric.
Their fourth album, Never Enough, is due on 6th June, and the four tracks released from it so far suggest that the Baltimore five-piece’s exploration of what it means to be a punk band has only just started.
Look Out for Me is the perfect example of that – an almost seven-minute track that perhaps epitomises the musical journey that Turnstile are on. Chiming chords and an urgent drumbeat make way for one of the band’s trademark skyscraper-sized riffs, with a simple shout-along chorus designed to be bellowed back from a writhing mosh pit, and then at the end it all goes a bit Dario G (via a dialogue sample from a heart-wrenching moment in season four of The Wire).
Hardcore punk’s DIY nature means it’s often not the best material for a test track, but Turnstile’s knack for combining the genre’s ferocious energy with more textured soundscapes well and truly bucks that trend.
Words by Tom Wiggins
Sober by Elbow
Sober is the latest track from English rock band Elbow. Released at the start of May 2025, the song is set to feature on the band’s new Audio Vertigo Echo elbow EP 5, which goes on sale on the 6th June. It’s also the band’s first recorded work with drummer Al Reeves.
The wonderfully genre-blending track is a fantastic showcase of Elbow's talents, and is completely different in tone to the band’s last Black Sabbath-inspired single, Adriana Again, a groovy number which takes inspiration from everything from disco and 60s pop to gospel.
With a thumping rhythm section combining a grooving bass section and distinctly 60s / 70s percussion part – which half made us expect to hear Isaac Hayes start singing any second when we first heard it – the song will get even the most stoic of hi-fi fans' feet tapping within seconds.
The ensemble then adds wonderfully unpredictable guitar parts and, with frontman Guy Garvey’s distinct vocals, the track develops into a chaotic, beautiful cacophony, complete with laser noises, resulting in something that's a joy to listen to from start to finish.
Whether you’re an existing fan or new to Elbow, I'd strongly recommend listening to their new single. It's a belter.
Words by Alastair Stevenson
Churchyard by Aurora
If you’re a regular visitor to our Now Playing column, you'll have noticed that this is the second Aurora to make an appearance. It’s not without good reason, though, as the Norwegian singer has blessed us with song after song of soaring vocals and ethereal instrumentals.
Churchyard starts soft and subtle, keeping things simple with only backing vocals accompanying Aurora’s echoing voice.
It slowly builds to incorporate fast-paced bass and overlapping vocals that challenges every sound setup to handle all the contrasting frequencies evenly without losing focus.
The line “he told me I belong in a churchyard / He told me I could walk away but I wouldn't get far” is repeated throughout the song, starting as a quiet muttering, it turns into a defiant statement against those who abuse positions of power.
I was fortunate enough to see the track performed live during a gig at OVO Arena Wembley, and a top-notch sound setup transports me right back to that moment.
Words by Robyn Quick
Martha by Tom Waits
Did you ever see that scene in the long-running US sitcom It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia wherein Danny DeVito’s character Frank goes to therapy, and despite his protestations that his skull is akin to Fort Knox, he’s a blubbering wreck within five minutes of opening up to the counsellor? “Ah, you unzipped me!” he cries. “It’s all coming back, I hate you! I don’t like it. I don’t like to think about it!”
That’s how I feel about Tom Waits’ Martha. Some songs are ethereally beautiful, like sculptures you admire from afar, yet they don’t always hit with real emotional resonance. Others, like Martha, absolutely whallop you in the guts, so much so that listening to them can be an almost uncomfortably… real experience.
It’s Waits at his most unbearably soulful and melancholic, his naively reedy vocals pushing out the words like an 80-year-old looking back at a life full of love and regret (he was in his early twenties when he recorded it).
That performance, replete with heartrending lyrics accompanied by a piano that sounds as though it came from the corner of a pub, is the key, and when the right system comes along, it will take an emotional toll on the most iron-hearted of listeners.
Just try not to have a DeVito-esque meltdown as you listen.
Words by Harry McKerrell
Talkin to the Trees by Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts
We’ve all heard the homespun wisdom that “age is just a number”, and veteran rocker Neil Young went a long way to prove that fact in May of this year when he released some of the first music we’ve heard from him and his new backing band, The Chromehearts.
Specifically, we were treated to the title track of the band’s first album, Talkin to the Trees. Though the song is immediately identifiable as being by Young, who has one of the most distinctive voices in rock, it marks a significant departure from his other modern work.
And I do mean significant, so if you were hoping to hear fury akin to his classic anthem Rockin' in the Free World, you will be disappointed. Instead, it’s a softer return to his folk roots, with the gentle, slightly muddy song telling the story of Young’s experience living in the modern world.
Intentionally recorded to sound as though it was being played live, rather than in the studio, it’s a fantastic track that showcases Young's gentler side.
It is also just a really nice piece of music that expertly intertwines harmonica and organ parts with Young’s vocals, creating something wonderfully nostalgic that still somehow feels fresh and relevant.
Words by Alastair Stevenson
Succession Main Title Theme by Nicholas Britell
Wow, now this is how you do a TV title theme. Packed with intrigue, greed and scandal, not to mention a tangible feeling of old-money grandeur, it's the perfect accompaniment to Jesse Armstrong's smash-hit drama Succession.
It's the off-kilter, slightly unbalanced nature of Britell's ensemble that grabs the attention. Kicking in with pulsing bass notes which immediately trampoline over to soaring highs, the composition makes canny use of descending piano runs and violin passages, hinting at the instability and possible decline of the titular Roy family and their teetering empire. Stark orchestral punches further accent the tune's unstable overtures, like crashing waves striking a boat already caught in unfriendly seas.
The theme's density, rhythmic complexity and richly rewarding orchestration make for an ideal test track, one that we have been enjoying in our test rooms as a challenge for anything from floorstanding speakers to palm-sized Bluetooth speakers.
The best TV theme since Game of Thrones? If nothing else, it is, if you'll excuse the pun, a worthy successor.
Words by Harry McKerrell
MORE:
Read last month's edition: 8 tracks we've been using to test in the What Hi-Fi? listening rooms this month
These are the best audiophile headphones for getting the most out of your music
Check out our ultimate test tracks collection
