“The sonic equivalent of a fist-fight between James Hetfield and Alex Lifeson”: October 2024 Guitar World editors’ picks
Hello there, and a very warm welcome to Guitar World editors’ picks – our comprehensive monthly guide to the guitar tracks that have captured the attentions of our editors over the past four weeks or so.
With the aid of our Spotify playlist below, we’ve rounded up all our favorite new releases this month, and put them under the microscope to wax lyrical on the playing, tones, and songwriting that have set our six-string senses a-tingling.
Michael Astley-Brown – Editor-in-Chief
October saw the supernova return of Dream Theater, now reunited with founding drummer Mike Portnoy. Night Terror highlights half-beard/half-superhuman shredder John Petrucci’s underrated rhythm chops throughout its 10-minute duration, with doomy arpeggiated lines straight out of the Sabbath playbook, and thrashier slashes that are the sonic equivalent of a fist-fight between James Hetfield and Alex Lifeson.
And, naturally, there’s a helter-skelter of a solo, all whammy bar dives and pick-tapping. It’s bracing stuff for a band this many decades into their career, and it’s a thrill to hear Portnoy’s teeny-tiny toms get a battering once again.
On the other side of the progressive hemisphere, anyone mourning the demise of UK bonks-prog darlings Black Midi would do well to check out guitarist Geordie Greep’s latest solo release, which sounds… well, quite a lot like Black Midi. The guitar work on Blues, however, is perhaps even more frenetic, a cyclone of hammer-ons and pull-offs, fused with the extreme dynamism of Slint and Tortoise.
Spinning the progressive globe just one more time, do check out the latest from Swedish voodoo fusionists Goat, which is built around a riff that sounds like Metallica’s The Four Horsemen… if it were composed in West Africa.
You’re officially safe from a Metallica comparison with the latest effort from Momma, one of the foremost bands of the NWONGP (New Wave of Nineties Grunge Pop), who have dropped another Gen Z anthem ahead of their sold-out European tour in support of fellow NWONGP (yep, gonna make this a thing) artist Beabadoobee. Stop-start power chords, fuzzy chorus guitars, chiming melodic arpeggios: it’s so ’90s we can feel the flannel caressing our skin. And we ain’t complaining.
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Lastly, I’d like to give a shoutout to Angel Vivaldi and Steve Morse for their brilliantly eclectic country-shred mashup, rather unimaginatively named New Country.
Any guitarist worth their salt knows that country music is home to some of the most formidable electric guitar soloists on the planet, but it’s testament to Vivaldi’s quest to broaden his chops that New Country goes quite so hard on the theme, putting fiddles to the fore in its first half, before switching up to a dreamy modal progression underpinned by the ubiquitous train beat. Steve Morse’s singing leads bring the hoedown home. More of this, please!
Matt Owen – Senior Staff Writer
As the days get darker and the weather gets colder, there’s really only one surefire remedy to keep the engine running as we steamroll towards the end of 2024. That, of course, is some soul-soothing guitar music – of which this month I stumbled across plenty.
In an embrace of the Fall season’s ‘I’m living in a music video’ vibe, I had some exceptional acoustic cuts on repeat. MyKey – an indie songwriter and avant-garde-concept-film-composer – hopped on the rubber bridge guitar hype train currently occupied by the likes of Taylor Swift and Phoebe Bridgers with the melancholic Storage Facility. Mayer favorite Lizzy McAlpine, meanwhile, linked up with Madi Diaz for the equally soul-stirring For Months Now (III).
Essential listening for any acoustic music fan, and both exemplary displays on how to do more with less: MyKey’s dynamic finger-picking is a joy for the ears, as are McAlpine and Diaz’s swelling strums – which burst with a cinematic climax littered with soaring electric licks.
For those times when I was looking for songs that, er, do more with more, I certainly wasn’t short of supply. For me, Kid Kapichi and LEAP are up there with Wunderhorse as my favorite new alternative guitar acts. Kid Kapichi’s outrageously untethered tones exploded back onto the radar following the release of new album, There Goes the Neighbourhood.
Newsnight – a social commentary wrapped up in a roll of fuzzy riffs that could probably saw straight through military-grade steel if cranked loud enough – is a particular standout. They’ve well and truly claimed the ‘Royal-Blood-on-steroids sound’ as their own, but, in a testament to their riff writing, it never feels same-y or stagnant. A rare feat, indeed.
LEAP, meanwhile, have followed up a hugely successful 2023 with a chain of singles, culminating in the pummeling I Don’t Believe You. Fans of Nothing But Thieves and the like, take note: LEAP are the real deal.
I’d be kicking myself if I didn’t also give honorable mention to James Bay, whose long-awaited album dropped just a few weeks ago. The Trucks-ian slides of Easy Distraction are a really nice touch, and… Heck, just listen to the whole album. You can thank me later.
Janelle Borg – Staff Writer
While this month was mainly spent watching post-punk auteurs DEADLETTER bring their excellent debut album, Hysterical Strength, to stages across Europe (my band supported them on various dates), I found time to rediscover familiar acts and delve into Pandora’s Box (aka my inbox, Spotify, and independent radio stations like KEXP) to unearth some hidden (and not-so-hidden) gems.
First up is the live version of Squad Vowels by the self-described “four arms, four legs, two heads, wood, metal, and plastic” visceral duo, JOHN. Guitarist Johnny Healey’s immediately captivating, wailing guitar line perfectly syncs up with the vitriol expressed in John Newton’s every drum hit – making it the perfect introduction to the band, who have supported IDLES, METZ, and Mclusky. If you haven’t yet had the pleasure of discovering their world, this track is a fantastic start.
I realize I’m doing a complete 180 with this next track, but it’s one I couldn’t resist including, as, like the best earworms, it’s been stuck in my noggin since the first time I heard it: APT by Rosé and Bruno Mars.
As someone who has closely followed K-Pop star Rosé’s work over the past couple of years, I’m thrilled to see her experiment with a sound reminiscent of The Ting Tings and Olivia Rodrigo, with a distinctly Gwen Stefani-esque flair. And, as a Fender Mustang owner, my personal highlight was the moment in the music video where she and Mars wield matching Candy Apple Red Fender Mustangs – a true visual delight.
Other standouts this month include live powerhouse DITZ’s return with Space/Smile – featuring gritty (and even grittier) guitars and bass. I particularly enjoyed how the “string” trio, composed of guitarists Jack Looker and Anton Mocock and bassist Caleb Remnant, managed to conjure a sense of urgency and tension, with a quasi-contained-but-still-over-spilling drama mirrored in the vocals.
Finally, the Los Angeles-based Australian bassist Anna Butterss has been this month’s top discovery. Her album Mighty Vertebrae is a true kaleidoscope of genres. Dance Steve, featuring experimental and free jazz guitarist Jeff Parker, creates a soundscape that’s sure to go down well with disciples of the Khruangbin and Glass Beams school of neo-psych. Tracks like Pokemans firmly spotlight Butterss’ dynamic and smooth-as-butter (excuse the pun) approach to bass composition and technical prowess.
Jackson Maxwell – Associate Editor
As I’ve only been plugged in for half of October – happily unplugged and on vacation for the other half – my list of highlights is a bit slighter than usual, but still filled with sterling, innovative guitar work.
Around this time two years ago, I got the chance to see The Smile – the trio featuring Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, and jazz drummer Tom Skinner – perform in Brooklyn. I knew their sole album at the time, A Light for Attracting Attention, quite well, and was thrilled to hear the album’s serrated jams and stunning ballads beautifully expand and explode onstage. What stuck with me the most, though, were two songs that at the time hadn’t been released.
One of these was the astonishing eight-minute opus Bending Hectic, which found its way onto the trio’s first 2024 album, Wall of Eyes, earlier this year. The other was a twister of a song called Eyes & Mouth.
Finally captured on record on their second album of the year, Cutouts, the all-timer of a riff that drives Eyes & Mouth is classic Jonny Greenwood – using technology, in this case dotted-eighth repeats, to make something truly otherworldly with simple ingredients.
Right, now that my fanboying is over, I can move on to Gemini, the absolute stunner of a new single from singer-songwriter Haley Heynderickx. Heynderickx’s brilliant debut LP, I Need to Start a Garden, has deservedly gathered a ton of steam in the six years since its release, and Gemini demonstrates why. The song’s folky riff is simple, but hooks you in within seconds. Once you’re in, it’s easy, and a joy, to get lost in Heynderickx’s 12-string work, and its interplay with the song’s cinematic string arrangement.
Need a grunge-y alt-rock fix? Look no further than A Good Time Pushed, the new tune from Pixies alum Kim Deal. Want something darker? Another gothic epic from the Cure, A Fragile Thing, will more than do the trick.
Finally, I want to shout out Brooklyn-based guitarist Mei Semones, whose jazz-by-way-of-bossa-nova playing is truly something else. Her latest single, Dangomushi, is an absolute treat, and moves both of the aforementioned genres boldly into the 2020s.
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