Diving into this Pounding Sound and Clubby Alt-Rock of Ashnymph and This Week's Top New Tracks
Originating in London and Brighton
Recommended if you like Underworld, MGMT, Animal Collective
Coming soon A new EP planned for 2026, currently without a title
Both tracks released so far by Ashnymph defy easy classification: their own description of their music as “subconscioussion” leaves listeners guessing. Their initial track Saltspreader married a pounding industrial rhythm – guitarist Will Wiffen has at times appeared on stage sporting a shirt that features the symbol of the trailblazing band Godflesh – with vintage-sounding synthesisers and a guitar riff that partly brings to mind the enduring garage rock anthem I Wanna Be Your Dog, before melting into a mass of eerie audio. The desired impact, the group has mentioned, was to suggest road trips, “the endless movement of vehicles around the clock over great lengths … nighttime orange glows”.
The next release, the song Mr Invisible, falls between club music and unconventional alternative rock. Firstly, the song's beat, layers of hypnotic electronics, and vocals that arrive either hallucinogenically distorted or spellbindingly cyclical in a way that recalls the classic Underworld album era all point towards the dance space. Alternatively, its powerful concert-like energy, edge-of-chaos quality and distortion – “achieving a crunchy texture is a lifelong ambition,” the musician stated – set it apart as very much the work of a band rather than a solitary home producer. They've gigged around the independent music circuit in south London for under a year, “anywhere that will turn the PA up loud”.
But both are exciting and different enough – from each other and other current music – to make you wonder about the band's future direction. Whatever it is, on the strength of these tracks, it’s unlikely to be boring.
Top New Music This Week
Dry Cleaning's Hit My Head All Day
“I simply must have experiences”, singer Florence Shaw declares on the group's captivating comeback, but over six minutes – with breath sounds keeping rhythm – you get the sense that she's unsure of the reason.
Azimuth by Danny L Harle with Caroline Polachek
Combining Evanescence's dark flair to peak 90s trance – right down to the lyric “and I ask the rain” – Azimuth hints at reviving your rave outfits and making your way to a rave, stat.
Acne Studios mix by Robyn
Robyn's composition for the the fashion brand's latest show previews her TBA ninth album, including driving guitar parts à la Soulwax, Benny Benassi-style thrust and the verse “my body’s a spaceship with the ovaries on hyperdrive”.
Like That by Jordana
Listeners adored her album Lively Premonition last year and the US singer-songwriter continues to show off her remarkable skill with choruses as she laments her latest hopeless infatuation.
Molly Nilsson – Get a Life
The independent Swedish artist put out her new album Amateur this week, and this track from it is incredible: a synth-guitar melody jerks forward at hardcore punk pace as the singer urges we seize the day.
Artemas' Superstar
After documenting jaded love and sex on his smash I Like the Way You Kiss Me and its accompanying release Yustyna, the UK-Cypriot artist is completely captivated by his latest lover amid driving coldwave beats.
Jennifer Walton's Miss America
From one of the year’s standout debuts, a delicate electronic ballad about the artist hearing of her father's passing in an transit lodge, describing her eerie environment in softly sung lines: “Strip mall, drug deal, panic attacks.”