Olivia Rodrigo has entered a new chapter, and she’s kicking the door off its hinges. Today, the GRAMMY‑winning, multi‑platinum phenomenon releases her third studio album, you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love, a record that finds her leaning deeper into vulnerability, chaos, humour and heartbreak than ever before. It’s out now via Geffen Records, accompanied by a wave of limited‑edition merch, vinyl variants and curated collectibles that are already flying off shelves.

The Black Country duo, vocalist Joe Hicklin and drummer Callum Moloney, have spent the last few years tearing through the UK’s underground with a sound that fuses working‑class fury, bleak humour and bruised tenderness. Now they return with a full UK winter headline tour and a brand‑new EP, O’JOY!, out now via SO Recordings.

Kodaline have never been a band to shy away from emotion, but their newly announced fifth, and final studio album We Were Only Young feels like something deeper. Out October 2nd via Concord, the record marks the end of a journey that began over a decade ago with In a Perfect World, taking the Irish quartet from intimate acoustic beginnings to global stages and platinum‑selling success. This time, though, they’re signing off with a collection shaped by reflection, closure and the kind of life changes that force you to take stock of everything you’ve built.

The Jacksons’ 2026 UK tour lands at the perfect cultural moment. With the recent Jackson 5 biopic pulling audiences back into the raw, relentless, and often heartbreaking rise of the world’s most famous musical family, this tour arrives like a living epilogue. A chance to see the legacy not as a museum piece, but as something still breathing, still moving, still dancing. This November, Manchester, Cardiff, Wolverhampton and London will feel that legacy up close.

Motörhead never did nostalgia, but when the past hits this hard, you make an exception. The band have just unleashed ‘Be My Baby (Live at Lowlands Festival 2007)’, the second track lifted from the upcoming 20th anniversary edition of Kiss of Death, landing 3rd July on expanded double LP and 2CD.

With just three months to go until Mucky Weekender throws open the gates at Vicarage Farm, the beloved independent festival has dropped another heavyweight announcement, and it’s a big one. DJ Yoda and X‑Press2 are officially joining the party, bolstering an already stacked 2026 bill.

Devon’s enigmatic alt‑rock collective Gravity Machine have never been a band to colour inside the lines. Hailing from the wilds of Dartmoor and the creative sprawl of Totnes, they’ve built a reputation as the best cult band you’ve never heard of, a group whose music blends alt‑folk, electronica, hard rock, metal and widescreen cinematic textures into something unmistakably their own.

Rodrigo y Gabriela have never been afraid of ripping up their own rulebook, but their newly announced album OurHome, arriving 18 September via ATO Records, might be their boldest pivot yet. Written and recorded in Japan, shaped by grief, rebirth, and a deep creative reset, and launched with a music video drawn by manga titan Naoki Urasawa, this is the duo stepping into an entirely new dimension - and honestly, it suits them.

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NORMANS aren’t a band that arrived fully formed — they emerged, almost accidentally, from late‑night conversations on a battered boat in Marina del Rey, from exotica deep dives, from chaos, discipline, and the urge to turn everything up just a little louder. What began as a quarantine distraction quickly revealed its own gravity, pulling Matthew Reid, Michael Perry Rudes and Kyle Souza into a project that feels physical, intentional and defiantly alive. Their new album Faust Demonica pushes that intensity into sharper focus: a record shaped by self‑remembering, subconscious expression and the strange, shifting landscape of Southern California’s underground. In conversation, they’re wry, reflective and occasionally philosophical, the kind of band who’ll cite Gurdjieff, complain about TikTok venues, and casually reveal aristocratic lineage in the same breath.

Chasing Abbey are opening a new chapter in Irish music. With Seachain out now and their new album Cyber Celt landing on 18 September, the Tullamore trio are stepping into 2026 with the confidence of a band who know exactly what they want to say, how they want to say it, and why it matters.

Fresh from a rapturously received world tour and the acclaim surrounding MAD! and MADDER!, Ron and Russell Mael have announced additional UK, Netherlands and Belgium shows after overwhelming fan demand. And for UK fans, there’s a delicious slice of history baked into the announcement: Sparks are returning to York and Southend-on-Sea for the first time since 1974 - That’s right, 51 years since they last played those cities!

Pigeon are busy building a universe. The Margate-rooted psychedelic five‑piece have spent the past year quietly (and sometimes not so quietly) becoming one of the most talked‑about new live acts in the UK. Now, fresh off the release of their acclaimed debut album OUTTANATIONAL, the band are levelling up again with a run of January 2027 UK headline shows, a brilliantly unhinged new video for “Future Country”, a Later… with Jools Holland debut, and a full arena tour supporting Duran Duran.

Rosa Walton, best known as one half of the visionary duo Let’s Eat Grandma, releases her debut solo album Tell Me It’s A Dream today via Transgressive, marking a defining moment in her evolution as an artist. It’s a record that critics are already embracing with open arms: Dork hails it as “a debut by an artist who has decided that her solo work is worth doing on its own terms”, while MOJO, The Line Of Best Fit, Uncut and The Morning Star all praise its shimmering emotional depth and Walton’s instinctive grasp of mood, melody and vulnerability.

DMA’S are back in full flight with ‘Hurracane’, a soaring, emotionally charged new single that lands as the latest preview of their forthcoming self‑titled album, now available to pre‑order. It’s the band at their most widescreen: guitar‑led, anthemic, and built around a chorus that sticks from the first hit.

Kanya King CBE, the unstoppable force who founded the MOBO Awards and changed the course of British music, has passed away at the age of 59 after a courageous battle with colon cancer. She died peacefully on 3 June 2026, surrounded by family and love.

Die Twice don’t release singles so much as they open portals, and with ‘Jalapeño’, the lead track from their new EP Accept Me Like A Lie, the Brighton‑based four‑piece pull you straight into the delirium. It’s a song that smoulders, snaps and finally erupts, and its accompanying video only deepens the spell.

Wychwood Festival has always traded on its charm, that gentle blend of family‑friendly ease and quietly impressive bookings, but 2026 felt different the moment you stepped onto Cheltenham Racecourse. With the horses long gone and the May sun bouncing off a sea of tents and fluttering flags, the place had transformed into a self‑contained world of colour, noise and good‑natured chaos. You could feel it in the air: this was going to be a big one.

Behold, a new-minted summer jam – tart like a spritz, fresh as strawberries.

Famous Strangers are a band built on instinct, chemistry, and the kind of shared musical obsession that starts in childhood bedrooms and jam rooms and never really lets go. Formed by four musicians who once felt like “famous strangers” to one another, the Edmonton heavy‑rock outfit have quickly carved out a sound that’s raw, dynamic, and emotionally charged — a blend shaped by lived experience, classic influences, and a creative process that hits like a sudden wave. With their latest release LSC pushing them into sharper, heavier, and more ambitious territory, the band step into 2025 with momentum, purpose, and a fire that shows no signs of slowing.