Discovering this Pounding Noise and Dancefloor Alternative Rock of the Band Ashnymph and the Week's Best Fresh Music

Originating in the UK cities of London and Brighton
If you enjoy Underworld, MGMT, Animal Collective
On the horizon An as-yet-untitled EP, to be released in 2026

The two singles released so far by Ashnymph are hard to categorise: their personal label of their work as “subconscioussion” provides few hints. Their initial track Saltspreader blended a heavy mechanical drumming – guitarist Will Wiffen has occasionally been spotted on stage wearing a T-shirt that features the symbol of Godflesh, icons of industrial metal – with retro-style synths and a guitar riff that vaguely recalls the Stooges’ garage rock perennial I Wanna Be Your Dog, before melting into a wall of disquieting noise. Its intended effect, the band has indicated, was to suggest road trips, “the grinding circulation of vehicles around the clock over vast spans … orange lights at night”.

The next release, Mr Invisible, sits somewhere between nightclub tunes and experimental rock. On one hand, the track’s rhythm, layers of hypnotic electronics, and singing that comes either psychedelically smeared or spellbindingly cyclical in a way that brings back the classic Underworld album era all indicate the club floor. On the other, its powerful concert-like energy, brink-of-disorder feel and fuzz – “achieving a crunchy texture is a personal mission,” Wiffen noted – mark it out as very much the work of a band rather than a solitary home producer. They've performed around the self-made music community of south London for under a year, “anywhere that will turn the PA up loud”.

But each is thrilling and unique – from one another and other current music – to prompt questions about the band's future direction. Whatever it is, on the evidence of Saltspreader and Mr Invisible, it’s sure to be engaging.

Top New Music This Week

Hit My Head All Day by Dry Cleaning
“I simply must have experiences”​, singer Florence Shaw declares on her band’s beguiling return, but over six minutes – with breath sounds keeping rhythm – you feel that the motive eludes her.

Danny L Harle – Azimuth (ft Caroline Polachek)
Combining Evanescence's dark flair to the height of trance music – including the line “and I ask the rain” – the track implies dusting off your best Cyberdog wear and heading south west to rave, immediately.

Acne Studios mix by Robyn
The music by Robyn for the Swedish designer’s SS26 show previews her TBA ninth album, including driving guitar parts à la Soulwax, pulsating rhythms in the Benassi vein and the words “my body’s a spaceship with the ovaries on hyperdrive”.

Jordana's Like That
Listeners adored her album Lively Premonition last year and the Stateside musician keeps displaying her stunning facility for chorus writing as she laments her latest hopeless infatuation.

Molly Nilsson – Get a Life
The one-woman Swedish pop operation released her latest album Amateur this week, and this track from it is remarkable: a electronic guitar part thrusts forward rapidly as Nilsson insists we seize the day.

Artemas' Superstar
After documenting jaded love and sex on his hit single I Like the Way You Kiss Me and its accompanying release Yustyna, the British-Cypriot star is hopelessly devoted to his new flame amid driving coldwave beats.

Jennifer Walton's Miss America
Off an impressive first record, a delicate electronic ballad about Walton learning of her father’s death in an airport hotel, tracing her uncanny surroundings in gentle refrains: “Retail area, shady transaction, nervous fits.”

Mr. Shaun Macias
Mr. Shaun Macias

Tech enthusiast and software developer with a passion for AI and digital transformation, sharing insights from the UK tech scene.