mvm.

jan-jun 2023

Lewis’s Sophomore: The Scottish-born lovechild of the industry is back with his follow-up, Broken By Desire to Be Heavenly Sent in May next year. A title just as an equally confusing myriad as the last, it features more swooning heartaches of his sombre pop adored by millions. Both Pointless and Forget Me have already shattered high expectations of a big return with a global tour to follow.

Gorillaz’s Gorilla Work: This February marks a stalwart return for the virtual virtuosos – and a highly anticipated embarking from their lockdown projects ofSong Machine in late 2020. The pre-singles themselves have gone down a right treat with their colourful quips of style and gravitas. Hitching along with Tame Impala, New Gold and self-titled Cracker Island, featuring Thundercat, have been hugely successful hits already in their own right. I have a feeling it will be quite a year for the planet’s Most Successful Virtual Act…

Måneskin’s Reboot on Rock ‘n’ Roll: This Italian distorted rock 4-piece are certainly not to be trifled with. Met with raucous energy, high-octane thrills and contemporary classics, they have blown a new fuse since their victory at Eurovision in 2021. While LA FINE is not met with the same hair-rising antics as Nirvina-inspired SUPERMODEL, here’s hoping it will be an electric fit to their ever-growing collection. Rush! will be expected to drop on the 20th January.

Nashville Pure Pop Punk Returns – ’13 Paramore are back! Rightfully cemented in the core of pop-punk, Paramore have been grafting in the scene since the mid-2000s. Since a brief stint from 2017’s off-kilter After Laughter, Paramore return with a more rehearsed sound ripened with their Grow Up morality from 2013’s self-titled. Laced with hard funk, sharp emo rock and everything in-between, This is Why will set them back on the right path as volcanic singer-songwriters. Their sixth studio album,This is Why is set to be released on February 10, 2023 via Atlantic Records.

You Me At Six’s Eighth: True reformers of the game, You Me At Six have been producing an infancy of projectile missile rock upwards of 12 years now and have no plans of stopping down or slowing up, for that matter. From girl-boy smatterings of rock pop powdering to darkening measures of emo hard-rock, they have well and truly grown up… especially with their smouldering and scruffy beards. Deep Cuts and Mixed Emotions have been well received among the rock lists and so they expect their eighth to be in equal measure when it drops late January. The guys are also expected to hit the road early on with their like-minded pals Waterparks and The Maine.

A new precedent for post-punk has been set with the likes of shame. An outlandish landscape of the surreal, shame are an intense conversation of power punk-spunk and alternative squashings that are for the intrigued and equally enraged. Embracing frailty with a rough-edged texture, it will be set to smoke Drunk Tank Pink out of the water – which has arguably been their best magic since. Alas, if Fingers of Steel is anything to go by, Food For Worms is going to be a masterful work. Get this on your radar when it drops on the 24th of February, via Dead Oceans.

SG Lewis: A heavyweight contender drawn up late for me after only having discovered him nearing the back end of this year, Samuel George Lewis is a hotly contested producer and songwriter, who is best known for his collaborative support with some of the hottest acts traversing the pop-dance planet right now. His sophomore album comes sooner than expected on the 27th of January next year and follows his 2021 debut of times. AudioLust & HigherLove is a mega mash-up of 8-bit electronica, 80s synth-dance that has the likes of Ty Dolla and The Weekend all over it.

Check out our other lists for 2022 as we wave goodbye to the year: