Hello there, and welcome to Guitar World editors’ picks – our 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 from the month of June, and put them under the microscope to wax lyrical on the playing, tones, and songwriting that have set our six-string senses a-tingling.
This month, there's plenty to pick from, with new cuts courtesy of Muse, Rafiq Bhatia, Eric Gales & Buddy Guy, Wunderhorse, Haim, and many, many more.
Michael Astley-Brown, Editor-in-Chief
“Hello? Is this thing on?” You haven’t seen/read my musings lately (lucky you) as I’ve been off for two months raising my firstborn child. So I’m playing catchup somewhat. In fact, I’ve been mostly spinning the latest offerings from the Callous Daoboys and Maya Delilah, which are already riding high in my personal albums of the year list. But I’ve been digging into some hotter-off-the-press stuff, too.
First, there’s no way I’m going to write about new tracks and not mention Matt Bellamy donning an eight-string.
His experiments in the extended range have often yielded some of the strongest Muse material (Citizen Erased, Kill or Be Killed), and Unraveling is no exception. It definitely leans into the kind of djent-EDM bombast that Sleep Token have wielded so effectively, but there’s something endlessly gratifying about a relatively old rock dog learning new tricks – and convincingly pulling it off.
Donning my shark fin-toothed shred hat for a moment, I would like to call your attention to this month’s big-name collab between electric virtuoso Bernth, acoustic master Mike Dawes, and bass whiz Charles Berthoud.
A YouTube-friendly one minute and 50 seconds, the track finds all three delving into their respective trick bags. R.S.I. is an appropriate name for the single – presumably named after the injuries Bernth surely experienced after sweeping harder than the janitor at a tumbleweed and industrial cooling fan convention.
Also surely on the way to his physician is Marcos Mena, who has been deploying the kind of break-wrist thumping that should by all rights warp his band standards – which features ex-Covet drummer Forrest Rice – to the world’s biggest progressive stages. Buster is a more aggressive affair than the group’s typically fruit-obsessed output yet it’s more refreshing than a pineapple cooler on a hot Long Beach afternoon.
Speaking of Covet, Yvette Young has dropped her latest solo oeuvre, outta sight, outta mind, which takes her warbly guitar leanings into chill indie-rock territory. Think Bon Iver with a pedalboard full of Walrus Audio, and you’ve got a pretty good idea. But the other side of her algebraic guitar brain crops up in a collaboration with returning cult Irish math-rockers Adebisi Shank, who were early pioneers on the British instrumental scene that Young holds so dear. Pitch-shifters set to stun, it’s a riotous stomp through the most electronic of electric guitar tones.
Lastly, I’d like to take a second to acknowledge the brilliance of Wet Leg’s new single davina mccall. Named after the UK TV presenting institution, it's a masterclass in making the most out of the smallest number of notes.
The main hook is simply bending one fret over a wistful chord progression. But my god, Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers have an uncanny ability to turn the humblest of ideas into a heart-wrenching ballad that’s as addictive as it is melancholy.
Matt Parker, Deputy Editor
We’ve had a few months of covering for our fearless leader, Mike, who’s been off on paternity leave, learning to like dad rock. As a result, we’ve all been pedaling harder and I’ve been after listening that places me in a zen garden – and insulates me from the raging trashfire of my own creation that’s been burning around me.
The return of Rafiq Bhatia has been a lovely bonus on that front, then. A singular guitarist, I’ve been keeping tabs on Bhatia since he joined forces with the mighty Son Lux (experimental composer Ryan Lott).
The first track of his new solo record Environments (due September) is dubbed Aviary I | Sunrise and offers a sort of musical mise-en-scene packed with all sorts of (positively) bird-brained soundscapery, with Bhatia’s playing taking a swelling backseat. You can practically feel the sun – and the feathers – on your face.
From one fantasy to another, I’ve also been lured into the considerably more Dungeons and Dragons – but, I suppose, no more ludicrous – realm of Brooklyn’s Castle Rat.
Perhaps it’s the upcoming Sabbath farewell, but I’m finding WIZARD an irresistible blend of stoner-y riffs, galloping drums, and harmony guitar lines. It’s like the band that should have existed somewhere in middle of the triumvirate of Tony Iommi, Iron Maiden, and Spinal Tap’s Stonehenge, and exactly as enjoyable as that sounds.
Jackson Maxwell – Associate Editor
Earlier this month, I finally got around to seeing the Ryan Coogler horror blockbuster, Sinners. Set in the Mississippi Delta in the early '30s, it features cameos from two of the guitarists I'll be talking about here. Oh, and it absolutely rocks – go see it, even if horror's not normally your bag.
On the most consistent rotation for me this month was What You Want is Gone, the gargantuan new single from NYC indie perennials We Are Scientists.
The duo made their name with twisty, nervy, snarky, and hooky rock of a strain that fit in perfectly with the era (mid-2000s) and wormed their way into my own head with After Hours, a twinkling, cinematic guitar-pop gem that filled 13-year-old me with idyllic visions of the magic of the city.
What You Want is Gone is neither of those things. Ok, there’s a bit of the twinkly DNA – but wait for the chorus. Guitarist/vocalist Keith Murray’s tone is huge, and later on he rips a solo that rounds itself out with some guitar face-inducing bends.
It came out but three days ago, but I’ve also been enamored with Somebody, which sees two blues guitar legends – Eric Gales and Buddy Guy – join forces. The proceedings are joyful, but also poignant – it’s the first single from A Tribute to LJK, Gales' forthcoming, full-length tribute to his late brother, blues guitarist Little Jimmy King.
Gales is just on another planet – there’s no need to describe it any other way. His climactic solo evokes Hendrix at his finest – a total mastery of blues forms with flash, originality, and pure fire.
Oh, and while we’re on the subject of the best blues guitarists in the whole wide world – Christone 'Kingfish' Ingram has also made a welcome return. Pick your highlight on his fierce solo on Voodoo Charm, there’s the lyricism, the jaw-loosening vibrato, or the wah-colored flourishes – it’s all a spectacular show.
Also worth a shout this month is the Dropkick Murphys' terrific punk scorcher, Who'll Stand With Us? Unabashedly political, it, with bulls-eye skill, tackles trickle-down economics and authoritarianism. Otherwise, on the most different of notes but equally worth a highlight, is What Are You So Afraid Of?, a sublime acoustic fingerpicking showcase from singer/songwriter Kaleah Lee.
Matt Owen – News Editor
A day will come when I stop writing about Wunderhorse (it will probably come after I’ve been forcibly dragged kicking and screaming from my laptop) but today is most definitely not that day – and, after the band proved once again that they’re one the finest live acts in action today with a sensational set at Glastonbury 2025, my affection (read: obsession) for Wunderhorse has hit new heights.
Thankfully, The Rope lends me the perfect opportunity to sing their praises once again. For those listeners like me who preferred Wunderhorse’s second album to their debut, The Rope is good news, with a Midas swagger that leans into what makes the band so god damn infectious: raw, untethered energy that threatens to spill over into all-out mayhem, reigned in only by the commanding rhythm work and lead lines executed by Jacob Slater and Harry Fowler.
Away from Glastonbury, John Mayer’s mystery rock guitar rig – which, when teased earlier this year, was believed to be a hint towards a heavier new album – was explained after Ed Sheeran announced he’d tapped Mayer and Dave Grohl for Drive.
Featuring on the new F1 film starring Brad Pitt, it’s a riff-y belter that required the construction of a custom PRS baritone guitar. Alas, there is no solo – from Sheeran or Mayer, for that matter.
![Ed Sheeran - Drive (From F1® The Movie) [Official Music Video] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Cf1hKtrA9lg/maxresdefault.jpg)
Speaking of Mayer, one of his new favorite players, Justus West, took time out from his busy session schedule recording and performing for other acts to release a solo single of his own.
While it doesn’t flex the jazz fusion chops he’s most well-known for, it does showcase his robust grasp of expansive sound design, which, as expected, carries the guitar at its heart. That’s now three singles in the space of six months – surely an album is next?
Honorable June mentions must also go to Mac DeMarco, whose distinct brand of warbly and whimsical guitar musings returned with Home, and Jack Gardiner, who’s leaving the Giacomo Turra saga in the past with Shibuya Meltdown – another virtuosic instrumental track that sees Gradiner rip through more notes in the opening five seconds than I could probably play in about five minutes.
For a reference piece on how to combine expansive technique with elite phrasing that makes every note count, look no further.
Janelle Borg – Staff Writer
Surviving a heatwave is easier when you've got a barrage of great tracks gracing your ears – and while I've been soundtracking my days with Ernest Ranglin, Joe Arroyo, and, to mix things up a little bit, math-rock legends toe, here are some sizzling (pun intended) new tracks that have compelled me enough to share with you.
Following their 2024 debut, Night-bound Eyes Are Blind to the Day, Whitelands deliver shoegaze perfection with Heat of the Summer.
Reverb-soaked guitar riffs (just how we like them) accompany the lyrics, which, despite the melody’s unmistakable dream-pop sheen, have a political edge that, according to guitarist and singer Etienne Quartey-Papafio, details “a community of people coming together to overthrow a tyrant.”
Summer melancholy comes courtesy of Cyprus-based Della, who delivers pure emotion on her EP, 13, which feels wise beyond her years. Della's jazz-blues-meets-dark-pop-tinged vocals are accompanied by Wicked Game–esque guitars that perfectly capture a sense of impending doom.
Speaking of jazz, the next one comes by way of producer to the stars Mark Ronson and the vocal (and songwriting) powerhouse that is Raye.
Many may compare it to Ronson's timeless collaboration with the late Amy Winehouse – we’re referring to Valerie, of course – but Suzanne is its own beast. Part nostalgia and part contemporary, it's two artists doing what they do best – and the result has me hoping (praying, begging) for a full album from these two.
Rounding out this month's picks is Haim's Gone. I've been an unapologetic fan of “rock's most affable sisters” since their initial releases, and their latest album, I Quit, shows them going from strength to strength.
Gone – which is also the first track on their record – is not only a great entrée to the musical feast that is I Quit, but sets the tone of pure liberation through guitars galore – and, perhaps surprisingly, a cheeky sample of George Michael's Freedom! ’90... now that's a way to start a post-breakup album.
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