We recommend: The best new global music
Editor’s Note: We’ve pulled together the best new tracks and albums—both international and Indian—that dropped in the last four weeks. Tune into January’s playlist on splainer’s Spotify.
‘Room Khali Hai’ by Papon: This new single by the Assamese playback singer features smooth percussive beats and a noodly guitar tone that mirrors some of Peter Gabriel’s recent work. The string samples add a subtle but necessary icing on the sonic cake.
‘Good People’ by Lady Skavya feat. George Hull: This Hyderabadi rapper creates cool cocktails of her musical influences—particularly from the Caribbean. This pensive track is particularly far removed from any potential dancehall or reggae tropes, thanks to the chemistry between her crooning and Hull’s saxophone playing.
‘liquid sunshine’ by Tarang Joseph: It’s ‘80s nostalgia season over here as this Bangalore boy goes full disco, complete with a funky bassline and drum machines galore. His idols may be Michael Jackson and Jamiroquai but the final result sounds closer to Jungle and Bruno Mars.
‘DtMF’ by Bad Bunny: One of the biggest names in Latin trap and reggaeton returns with enough grooves and flow to stay top of the pops. This track has a beautiful melancholic vibe to complement the beat.
‘You Can Skip This Part’ by Ghais Guevara: Politically conscious hip hop is hard-hitting by design and this up-and-coming Philly rapper offers insight in spades. This track introspects the role he plays in an exploitative music industry, far removed from his ideology.
‘Punish’ by Ethel Cain: Time for some dark ambience to transport you to a Southern Gothic world. This track features lo-fi piano and beautifully whispery vocals that build up to a Nine Inch Nails-esque crescendo
‘Buttercup’ by Chris Eckman: Americana can sometimes act like the musical equivalent of comfort food—consistent, reliable and pleasant. This song is a perfect example, thanks to the clean production on show.
‘Midnight Messiah’ by Dream Theater: These prog metal pioneers continue to build the hype towards their first album since reuniting with drummer Mark Portnoy. While the entire band is firing on all cylinders, the intro bass riff here is particularly tasty.
‘Deep State’ by Within Ceres: Marrying distorted guitars with a tight rhythm section, this Goan band uses its influences from metal’s djent and rap subgenres to create an aggressively catchy rallying cry against misinformation in mainstream media.
‘Magnolia’ by Deafheaven: Three years on from experimenting with softer sonic textures, these Bay Area black metallers have brought back their signature harsh vocals in this quickfire single. They haven’t lost a step.
‘Fanzine Made of Flesh’ by Mogwai: These Scottish stalwarts of post-rock continue to release creatively captivating material, marked by impeccable mixing and in this song’s case, a mastering of poppier vocal melodies.
‘Same Old Song’ by The Lumineers: This is the first single from The Lumineers’ newest album which will be out in February. The song gives you the sense of angsty youngsters trying to navigate the absurdities of the modern world.
How We Roll (feat. Jazzie B) by Cymande: Keeping the signature groovy sound, the legendary British funk band talks about issues that affect Black people. That’s just how they roll!
‘Lady Liberty’ by Galactic and Irma Thomas: Another groovy, political number. This one’s a collab between the American funk band from New Orleans Galactic and the "Soul Queen of New Orleans" Irma Thomas.
‘Hot For You Baby’ by Tina Turner: Tina’s team pulled a Taylor Swift and resurrected one of her songs from the vault. Yup, she’s simply the best!
‘Love Hangover’ by JENNIE & Dominic Fike: This pop song expressing the push and pull of a toxic relationship—from the Kpop star Kim Jennie and American rapper Dominic Fike—is a sure shot earworm. The best part: a freaking cool music video!
Who Laughs Last (feat. Kristen Stewart) by Lord Huron: The most unexpected collab of the season is here! Marking her debut in music, the actor opens the song with a spoken word monologue—so not exactly singing—while the folk-rock band does what they do best! We highly recommend you to check out the music video.
January 2025’s best albums
Eusexua by FKA Twigs: This UK vocalist’s 2022 mixtape was a messy pop-rap rollercoaster lacking quality control—most mixtapes are. But this release is every bit as good as her 2019 baroque pop album ‘Magdalena’, despite sounding completely different. Her genre this time is avant-pop, which is just a fancy way of describing hatke hooks that are just as catchy as what’s offered by more mainstream artists. Sit back and enjoy the weird instrumentation on show all the way through—somehow, it just works.
Balloonerism by Mac Miller: It will soon be seven years since this rapper’s untimely passing—he clearly had plenty left to say, and had more than enough material sitting in the vault. This is his second posthumous release after 2020’s excellent ‘Circles’. While that record came out amid the pandemic and revelled in its haunting lyricism, this one is less dark and more chill. The songs were recorded in 2013-14 when Miller took an interest in neo-soul. At this point, we’re lucky to simply have this in professional form.
The End Will Show Us How by Tremonti: He was the thankless voice of reason playing guitar for the volatile Creed in the ‘90s. After they acrimoniously broke up, he co-founded Alter Bridge in 2004 to instant acclaim. In 2022, he even found time to release an album of Sinatra covers for charity. In other words, is there anything Mark Tremonti can’t do? This latest release under his solo moniker is an attempt to move beyond the speed metal bread-and-butter of his back catalogue, in order to chase a busier wall-of-sound feel. Thanks to his continued proficiency as a songwriter, riff machine and vocalist, this is yet another solid addition to a richly varied career.
PS: Standout tracks from each album have been added to splainer’s January 2025 playlist on Spotify!
