Wunderhorse
Teal
Here’s the elevator pitch: a spiky Gen Z-er has been knocked over the head by a ring light and somehow woken up in 1992. Britpop is soon to boom. Dizzy and disorientated, our intrepid youth spots the doors of the Dublin Castle in Camden and staggers in. A scruffy blond man is on stage, his name is Wunderhorse and he’s playing Teal. It is ragged and twangy and furious and our Gen-Z character falls madly in love. Well, we’d watch it.
Josie Man
Stormy Skies (Diamonds)
If Ellie Goulding were locked in a padded room and not allowed to leave until she’d written the perfect song for when a beloved but ultimately unfanciable member of the Love Island cast gets voted out of the villa, the moody yet euphoric Stormy Skies (Diamonds) is what she’d hand in.
Adia Victoria
Magnolia Blues
This August we dare you to find a better couplet than “I’m gonna let that dirt / Do its work”. On the creeping Magnolia Blues, Nashville-based and South Carolina-raised Adia Victoria comes on like To Bring You My Love-era PJ Harvey, but transplanted to the slick and febrile Tennessee heat rather than stomping through the Yeovil sludge in a red slip dress and wellies.
Broadside Hacks
Willie of Winsbury
Broadside Hacks aren’t your typical folk collective. With former members of Goat Girl and Palma Violets offshoot Gently Tender among their ranks, it’s Bristol singer-songwriter Katy J Pearson who takes the floor for this souped-up trad classic, weaving fresh magic out of the winsome ballad.
Digga D
Wasted
He might have been but a twinkle in his mother’s eye when UK garage was at its peak – like Big Brother and, er, the first Linkin Park album, Digga D was born in 2000 – but this drill major player celebrates the endless joys of UKG on this absolutely massive summer single. Opening with a knowing smirk to geezers and cans of Stella, Wasted will have you heading directly to the King’s Cross regeneration area to lay flowers at the cobbles where iconic garage nightclub Bagley’s used to be.
