featuring @ahadadreamx @hernameisriver @cikho._ @worldofratbag @toughcookie @molly.burman @taylorbleu_ @gerd_music @willparker_music @sydneyrosemusic_ @dandelionhi @waltdisco
DJ and producer Ahadadream releases his debut album, P ★ K I(pronounced Pee-Star-Kay-Eye) as well as a brand new single Koi Si (with Ance) via Island Records/Dialled In Records. Listen here.
For Pakistan-born, London artist Ahadadream, P ★ K I marks his biggest move yet: his first full-length album. It is a powerful and deeply personal artistic statement that is unapologetic, both in its dancefloor-focused tracks and in its messaging. For Ahad, calling his album P ★ K I is a statement of pride and confidence, using his debut album as an opportunity to be unapologetic about the parts of himself he felt he had to shrink, moving to the UK from Pakistan at the age of 12. It is about finding belonging in club culture, a place where he can ‘exist completely authentically’, he explains.
“This is a word which I grew up in Pakistan knowing to be nothing but positive, but was confronted with the harmful context it holds when I moved to the UK. I’ve chosen to reframe it within a positive body of work that is all about joy, celebration, pride and self-love, keeping my younger self in conversation with the artist I am in the present day”
Blending the sounds that have defined his career across UK bass, grime, UK funky and global club music, the album is both an exhilarating dancefloor record and a deeply personal reflection on identity and belonging. That connection came full circle last weekend, as Ahadadream returned to Pakistan to celebrate the album, collaborating with local cultural collective, Dosti to throw a party in Lahore. In a city where electronic music and club culture continue to face significant social and cultural barriers, the event represented more than an album celebration.
Earlier this year Ahadadream released ‘Bass Dhol’ featuring Skrillex and Raf-Saperra, continuing a run of standout collaborations. Ahead of the album’s release, he has since offered a first glimpse into P ★ K I through a series of singles including ‘Put That Banger On Next’ with Capo Lee, ‘Make Space’, and ‘Left / Right’ with Dismantle and Jamakabi. Across the record, Ahadadream brings together a significant range of collaborators, connecting the legacy of the legendary Pakistani artist, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan on Tere Bin alongside musicians from the global underground such as INVT & Lamsi as well as UK mainstays like Eliza Rose and Jolie P. The album’s focus track, Koi Si featuring Ance, is another powerful celebration of culture, while remaining a huge dancefloor banger.Together, these collaborations showcase the breadth of the record, from heavyweight soundsystem cuts to high-energy UK club anthems, while hinting at the deeply personal story that unfolds across the full album.
It was UK club music that gave Ahad a sense of identity and belonging. Discovering jungle through tracks like Original Nuttah, before later immersing himself in London’s bass scene at formative nights such as Butterz, shaped both his musical outlook and the producer he would become. Those influences would eventually crystallise in More Time, the label he co-founded with Sam Interface in 2017. Since then, More Time has become one of the UK’s most respected club music imprints, described by DJ Mag as “the foremost champions for UK club music” with a global outlook, releasing artists from Ghana, Trinidad, Taiwan and beyond.
Swedish multidisciplinary alt-pop visual artist RIVER unveils her atmospheric new single ‘Change’, offering the latest glimpse into her highly anticipated debut album ‘A dying source’, on the Bushido label, a division of Pub Crawl Recordings, scheduled for release on November 13th, 2026.
RIVER is carving out a musical landscape of her own, blending alternative pop with cinematic textures and haunting melodies. On ‘Change’ she explores feelings of control and confinement, following on from her previous single ‘City of thirst’. Where her previous single balanced vulnerability and power, reflecting on the intoxicating push and pull of temptation and desire, ‘Change’ continues the narrative, exploring the aftermath that follows when we surrender to things we instinctively know will be negatively all-consuming. RIVER explains, “The song is about a dog trying to adapt to life on a leash, unable to stop defying its owner’s strict rules. The feeling of confinement and frustration is also deeply human.”
The accompanying music video once again visualises the single’s strong cinematic themes, continuing to paint a picture of a fleeting and doomed love affair through kitsch-inspired aesthetics, blending dreamlike visual landscapes with hyper-surreality. Describing the inspiration behind the video, RIVER explains, “Change” takes place within the same 24 hours as “City of thirst” and captures the crash right after the high. We wanted to evoke the claustrophobia of me being trapped with myself as ecstasy turns into paranoia, with a subtle hint that something went too far.”
RIVER continues to establish herself as one of alternative pop’s most compelling new voices. As she continues to push creative boundaries through her music and visuals, she is rapidly cementing her status as an artist to watch.
Exciting new artist Cikho has released his new single ‘Blue’ today via 0207 Def Jam. Listen to the track here.
A beautifully warm and infectious track, ‘Blue’ transports you into the world of a retro teen romance, capturing the rush and innocence of having a crush on someone. Over a funky, guitar-led groove, Cikho wears his heart on his sleeve, singing “Oh your so beautiful girl, I just wanna say when you wear the colour blue, it looks so good on you” before asking, “My heart belongs to you, even if tried it runs to you, can I be your Romeo?” It’s playful, romantic and catchy, the kind of track that makes you hit repeat.
Working with producer Luis Knowles, Cikho’s new single ‘Blue’ inhabits the same vivid, carefree sonic world as previous releases ‘Fell Again’ and ‘Crush On You’, but feels more richly blended and fully realised than ever. With guitar front and centre, solid melodies weave through deftly executed vocal harmonies and starkly direct lyrics, capturing an artist levelling up in real time.
Cikho comments: “Blue is basically me realising, okay, I actually really like this person that I shouldn’t be liking. I tried to fight the feeling for a while, but I just couldn’t. Blue is also one of my favourite colours, and I love how it looks on her, so the song is really me connecting that colour to her and accepting how I feel.”
breakthrough alternative star ratbag returns with her new single ‘never put a ring on a lady’, a bruised and biting queer heartbreak anthem that ushers fans into the next chapter of her fantastical universe.
Written in the throes of ratbag’s first queer situationship, ‘never put a ring on a lady’ captures the kind of heartbreak that leaves you wanting to warn everyone off love. Raw, wounded and characteristically sharp, the track sees ratbag turn romantic devastation into something both darkly funny and painfully sincere.
Speaking on the new single, ratbag shares: “‘never put a ring on a lady’ poured out of me in a single day during my first experience in a queer situationship. It’s about getting so badly hurt by love that you guide everyone, and yourself, far away from it… I love women but my god, they sure know how to break a heart.”
Having spent much of 2026 based in London, ratbag continues to build genuine momentum — delivering a standout set at The Great Escape earlier this year before playing her first London headline show at The George Tavern, all while her surreal performance art across the city has brought the ratbag universe vividly into the real world.
ratbag will also be joining London fans on release day at a pop-up event at Dream Bags Jaguar Shoes in Shoreditch. There she will be hanging out with fans as she draws them, celebrating the latest single and her time in London.
art-grunge band Tough Cookie announce Devotion, their new EP out 23rd October via Gravity Records, alongside releasing their new single ‘Let Me Die (Curled In Your Arms)’ – listen here.
Though technically Tough Cookie’s second project following 2025’s acclaimed The Countryside Is Good For You, Devotion feels like their true debut. After years of writing together in different forms, this is the moment everything clicked into place, an exercise in trusting instinct and embracing the freedom to create without compromise.
The EP takes its name and emotional thread from Patti Smith’s book Devotion, which frontperson and lyricist August was reading while writing the record on the road, stealing moments of time between load-ins and late-night drives. After committing to therapy, August found a new level of emotional honesty in their writing, with the book helping crystallise the themes running throughout the project: devotion to their art, to healing, and to continuing through uncertainty.
Today’s single ‘Let Me Die (Curled In Your Arms)’ captures the EP’s emotional core. August shared it’s “about getting close to someone or something because of how good it makes you feel, even when there’s something slightly unhealthy about the attachment”. The track follows on from their recent single ‘Mercy!’.
The full EP traces the aftermath of emotional wreckage, the helplessness of watching someone you love disappear into their own abyss, and the painful choices that sometimes come with self-preservation. At its heart is the close creative relationship between August and Dan, whose long conversations became central to the songwriting process, translating emotion into harmony, texture and arrangement. Guided by a shared love of artists who convey feeling as much through sound as words, Devotion draws on the yearning of Jeff Buckley, the raw intensity of Smashing Pumpkins and the intricate songwriting of Elliott Smith.
London’s straight talking rising artist Molly And The Dolly Shop has unveiled her brand new EP ‘Something About Hands’, out today.
Molly And The Dolly Shop is the creative world of singer, songwriter and artist Molly Burman. The Dolly Shop is an open invitation into the communities Molly has built around her music – from her bandmates and fans to her online audience and the queer community she is part of. At the heart of Molly’s songwriting is radical honesty and her music embraces the full spectrum of human emotion, creating space for vulnerability and connection. Through deeply relatable storytelling, she invites listeners to find comfort in knowing they’re not alone.
Her new EP, ‘Something About Hands’, is a collection of songs about people and their hands, physical or metaphorical, and how they can hurt and shape us.
Molly explains: “I was in the studio with Ed Nash, finishing up the last song on the EP, ‘People Pleaser,’ when I started daydreaming. Ed, noticing I wasn’t quite there, asked if I was okay. I told him I’d just realised all the songs on the EP were connected by hands: ‘Chokehold,’ the rough hands. ‘Too Sweet,’ the bloody hands. ‘Zen,’ the meditative hands. ‘Move Inside,’ the unwanted hands. And finally, ‘People Pleaser,’ all about washing your hands of responsibility.” Molly explains. “I later relayed the realisation to my manager and told him I wanted the EP name to be something about hands. He said “Well, that works.” At first I laughed, but after that, I couldn’t really think of a more fitting name.”
The opening track, ‘Chokehold’, immediately sets the tone, confronting the increasingly normalised practice of choking during sex and the complicated conversations around consent, intimacy and sexual expectations. Sonically, the indie-leaning track is threaded with sprinkles of alt-rock and a subtle pop-punk edge. It’s an unflinching introduction to the project, confronting behaviours that are too often minimised, excused or kept behind closed doors. ‘People Pleaser’ explores the complicated reality of someone constantly putting other people’s needs before their own. Opening with a harmony-driven vocal, the track balances an instantly memorable sound with a deeply relatable message. Lyrically, it explores how being a people pleaser can feel like the easier option in the moment, while ultimately coming at the expense of your own wellbeing. Then comes ‘Too Sweet’, built around an irresistibly catchy guitar riff and a vocal performance that is both theatrical and gorgeously candid. The track sees Molly taking back her voice and reclaiming her power, turning frustration into something liberating. Representing a deliberate shedding of the ‘good girl’ image that society so often places on women, the track is an unapologetic feminist anthem at its core. ‘Zen’ offers a reflective yet cleverly humorous moment to the project. Its softer atmosphere creates space to step back and examine the dynamics of a relationship where one person will do almost anything to avoid admitting their own wrongdoing. ‘Move Inside’, is a stand-out, deeply personal song that has demonstrated Molly’s ability to spark conversation and emotional connection. Molly uses this song, as she does with all of her songs, as a diary entry, powerfully and importantly discussing her own experience of sexual assault at the hands of someone she considered a friend. Molly could only write the track after years of processing an intensely traumatic experience. A raw, moving track, it stands as one of her most honest and emotionally powerful pieces of songwriting to date, and has captivated listeners through its honesty, offering comfort and connection to those who see their own experiences reflected in the lyrics.
The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping (The Album) reveals its lead single, “Draw You Out,” from 2x GRAMMY®-nominated, multi-platinum superstar Noah Kahan. “Draw You Out” is set for release on October 2nd and can be pre-saved HERE. The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping (The Album) will arrive on November 13 via MCA. Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping will be released in theaters everywhere on November 20, 2026.
For “Draw You Out,” Kahan reunited with GRAMMY®-winning producer Aaron Dessner, who co-wrote and co-produced the track at New York’s Long Pond Studio and Nashville’s Gold Pacific Studios and East Iris Studios. The track, written specifically for and inspired by the film, joins a soundtrack loaded with previously unreleased music, exclusive to the album and specific to the film.
Taylor Bleu has today released his debut EP, Crayon Scars, which is available now through Polydor Label Group. Featuring brand new track and video ‘Glory’ alongside memorable first single ‘Mad House’ and more, Taylor was also recently chosen by Sam Smith to open for them at their London Coliseum residency, in partnership with BBC Introducing – all with just one, quickly sold out headline show at Lower Third to his name.
Crayon Scars is a remarkable introduction to a standout, new British talent. Chronicling Taylor Bleu’s coming-of-age in cathartic, and deeply considered style, his evocative songwriting and vocal strength carries an elegance and raw edge that – ultimately – uplifts. As interested in the uncomfortable beauty of an operatic legato as he is the restless individuality of Sampha, James Blake or Frank Ocean, Crayon Scars vividly sketches out the past whilst also drawing a clear, positive line to move forward from.
It’s a destination that Taylor Bleu reaches with EP closer – and the EP’s moment of closure – ‘Glory’. Reflecting on what you take with and leave behind as you grow (“wherever you go, I’m home”), its epic, gospel drama is cinematically captured in the accompanying performance video for ‘Glory’, also available today.
In 2026, Taylor Bleu’s mission is to give voice to those unheard. The project’s first single, ‘Mad House’, paired alt-R&B realism with an angry defence of mental health, in a 999-call which captures the complex struggles – but also the endurance of spirit – for those society leaves behind. Other highlights on Crayon Scars include soulful new cuts like ‘Bleu Lights’, and songs with the immediate feel of the timeless: ‘This Staircase’, for instance, is a classic love song, just not as you know it (the track is in fact devoted to the location where Taylor would spend much of his childhood singing and self-soothing). Having been discovered via his freestyles over Instagram, the South London powerhouse has spent the last few years setting his journey thus far to music, with the inner-city, scrapbook aesthetic of the project warping memory, nostalgia and storytelling. Crayon Scars is not a signature of survival so much as it is a story of hope – because it has arrived, and without doubt so has Taylor Bleu.
Swedish rising indie pop star GERD returns with her sophomore album More Water Than Anything, a poignant project reflecting on loneliness, closeness and the very human need to be held.
Following the release of her single ‘Lonely Phone People’, an intimate ballad about craving real connection in a world full of distractions, the release gave a taste for GERD’s powerful voice and melodramatic songwriting at the forefront, capturing the tension between wanting to retreat into silence and desperately needing someone close.
On More Water Than Anything, the music’s drive and forward motion embody the way creative energy can overcome doubt. “It’s the most personal thing I’ve made. I haven’t really dared to open that door before, and of course it’s scary, but it’s exciting too. It has also given the lyrics a different depth” says GERD.
Breakout 22-year-old singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Magnus Ferrell releases his new EP, Groove Therapy, out now via Island EMI Label Group. The funky, groovy, and soulful, seven-track project includes his viral fan-favourite single “Asleep Talking” and new collaboration “She’s Gonna Break My Heart” featuring Jenevieve. The EP arrives as Magnus hits the road supporting Jonas Brothers on select dates of their tour this fall, kicking off tonight at TD Garden in Boston, MA. Listen HERE.
Magnus commented, “Groove Therapy is my favourite collection of songs I’ve ever made. I had so much fun making it, and I hope people have just as much fun listening to it.”
On the EP, he moves through the rush, uncertainty, desire, and vulnerability of falling for someone, wrapping each feeling in warm instrumentation, undeniable hooks, and the musicianship that has defined his viral rise. Drawing on his roots as a jazz pianist alongside his love of funk, R&B, soul, and pop, Magnus brings the idea of “groove therapy” to life, music meant to make you feel just as much as it makes you move.
The EP opens with “She’s Gonna Break My Heart” featuring Jenevieve, an irresistible back-and-forth about willingly walking headfirst into heartbreak. Magnus admits, “She’s gonna break my heart / And I’m gonna let her, let her do it,” before Jenevieve flips the perspective with a playful response of her own.
rising singer-songwriter Will Parker releases new single ‘Bury The Hatchet’. A big-hearted anthem about forgiveness, the track puts Parker’s raw and soulful voice front and centre, building from understated guitar into a soaring, cinematic arrangement of brass. Watch the video here.
On the single, Will says: “Bury the hatchet is a song about coming to terms with an addiction and the moment you get to when you realise it needs to stop. Whether it’s relationships with people or substances, these addictions can become so hard to break. Growing up where I did, these experiences can be all too common”.
‘Bury The Hatchet’ follows Parker’s debut EP Same Old Paradise, out now via Capitol Records UK. The project has picked up support across BBC Radio 1 and BBC Introducing and has now surpassed 300,000 total streams, introducing Parker as one of the UK’s most exciting new voices. 21 year-old Will was handpicked by Sam Smith to support them in Manchester earlier this month, as part of a BBC Introducing initiative designed to spotlight emerging talent from across the UK. Speaking about the experience, he said; “The opportunity to open for Sam Smith was one of the most surreal experiences. Getting to debut ‘Bury The Hatchet’ in such a special venue and for it to be received so well by the audience was genuinely crazy, a moment that will stay with me forever.”
The show marked a major milestone for an artist who, not long ago, was singing between shifts on a building site working as a bricklayer with his dad. It was there that his voice first reached a much wider audience; his dad posted a TikTok of Parker singing while working, captioned “POV: your apprentice can sing”, with Will perched on a ladder, power drill in hand, belting out a cover of Teddy Swims’ ‘Lose Control’. The clip went on to rack up almost three million views. For Parker, though, singing on site was nothing unusual; “I’m used to, like, old boy John on-site and he’s singing a bit of Shania Twain.”
Gold-certified singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Sydney Rose shares an incisively nostalgic and intensely honest new single and accompanying official music video entitled ‘My First Time’ out now via Mercury Records/Island EMI Label Group. Alongside the release, Sydney announces the release of her anxiously awaited forthcoming EP, It Was My First Time, out October 16 via Mercury Records/Island EMI Label Group. Listen to “My First Time” HERE and watch the music video HERE. Pre-order/Pre-save It Was My First Time EPHERE.
No stranger to sharing her story without filter, Sydney’s undeniable and unapologetic honesty underscores ‘My First Time’. Her vocals tremble as she recalls a high school-era betrayal when she fell in love with a close friend only to be led on and left heartbroken. Soft acoustic guitar chords shudder beneath the weight of her truth, and she laments, “You were my friend and you hurt me.” Facing a formative, yet painful realization, she asks point blank, “How could you not know what you were doing?” Strings accentuate the tears, and piano heightens the emotion. It culminates on a relatable crescendo bound to resonate.
The accompanying visual brings the narrative to life on screen in heartbreakingly vivid fashion. It provides an apropos prelude for It Was My First Time. Across its five tracks, the EP finds the songstress at her most vulnerable, yet also palpably vibrant and vital. Check out the full tracklisting below.
She quietly set the stage for the project with this summer’s ‘Track Team’. It has already made waves on DSPs, surpassing 1 million total streams and counting. Beyond looks from RockShot Magazine, Out Now Magazine, and more,That Eric Alper praised, “‘Track Team’ is another beautiful reminder of why Sydney Rose has become one of the most captivating new singer-songwriters of her generation.”
In other news, she’s currently on the road across the US supporting Mon Rovîa. The tour canvases the Midwest and West Coast, coming to a close on October 13 at Showbox Sodo in Seattle, WA. See the full routing below and purchase tickets HERE.
Earlier this year, Sydney celebrated the first anniversary of her viral hit ‘We Hug Now’ with a release of a live performance of the track. Listen to the two-pack bundle HERE. Watch the live performance video HERE.
Stockholm artist and songwriter Dandelion continues to carve out her distinctive world of cinematic alternative pop with new single ‘Scissors’, arriving today via EMI Sweden / Universal Music Nordics.
The second single from her forthcoming debut album My Sadness Needs Your Full Attention, it precedes Part I, due 30 October, with Part II following in spring 2027.
Where previous single ‘ONONON’ explored the emotional limbo of trying to let go,‘Scissors’ turns inward. Written from the perspective of wanting to enter a relationship without carrying the damage of the past into it, the song confronts the frustrating reality that healing cannot be achieved by simply cutting away the parts of yourself you would rather forget. Against Dandelion’s stark, emotionally exposed writing, images of sleeplessness, shadows, addiction and repetition give ‘Scissors’ its uneasy sense of circularity. “Same crowd, different makeup” and “same tears, different breakup” capture a central tension within the song: circumstances can change while old wounds continue to follow.
Dandelion explains:
“There was something beautiful about meeting each other when neither of us was particularly whole. We connected through having both been broken in different ways, and somehow created a space where we were allowed to still be broken, without that making what we had together any less whole.”
walt disco’s self-titled third album is out today via EMI North, with focus single ‘My Body Knows When To Run’ also arriving alongside a special live version of the track featuring Glasgow’s thriving creative community (including Jacob Alon, Curiosity Shop, and Tiger of Divorce). walt disco are currently on an intimate run of in-store dates around the UK, with additional festivals like Iceland Airwaves still to come this year ahead of the band’s headline UK tour in early 2027.
walt disco is a fearlessly ambitious alt-rock album that could come from no other band. With a palette ranging from Smashing Pumpkins and Yeah Yeah Yeahs to Cocteau Twins, the album sees walt disco turn years’ worth of graft to their artistic advantage; songs grapple with the disorientation of growing up (amidst gender dysphoria, changing relationships, a volatile industry) but eventually land in a place of gratitude and acceptance. No mere rebirth, walt disco is something harder won: theirs is a continuation, which turns doubt, evolving personal identities and the turmoil of your twenties into art worth living. The irony of ending up with a self-titled album – a band name they almost walked away from entirely – is lost on none of them.
Speaking about the release of the album, frontwoman Jocelyn shares: “My overwhelming feeling is that I’m just as in love with these songs as I ever was. A lot of these songs came from feeling incredibly low, but I’m always struck by the kindness I was able to show myself in the lyrics even when I couldn’t be kind to myself like that outside of writing. I hope this helps some people.”
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