With 2026 off to a flyer (musically at least), tQ’s staffers select the albums and tracks that stood out in January

There was a time when compiling a best-of list for January felt like scraping the barrel, artists and labels holding fire on their best music until the blossoming of snowdrops and the renewal of post-festive energy. Not so in 2026, as already we’ve been treated to several records that will be best of the year contenders come next winter, as you can find below.

Everything you’ll find below, as well as all the other excellent music we’ve covered at tQ this month, will be compiled into an hours-long playlist exclusive to our subscribers. In addition, subscribers can enjoy exclusive music from…

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Even within a genre increasingly filled with aberrations, Qasu’s debut represents an odd yet scintillating proposition

Photo: Mark Vella

A Bleak King Cometh is like a molotov cocktail casually tossed into the stave church of black metal orthodoxy. There might be tremolo-picked riffs, gnashed teeth and blastbeats aplenty, but the trio explode, expand and fragment their grainy, frost-patterned palette in order to incorporate a delirious mix of noise, electronica, ambient and industrial influences.

The band self-describe as “ancient future black metal” which is as helpful as it is not. It certainly gives a surface-level sense of how they blend gnarled primitivism with programmed electronics, synths and beats, but, as with Agriculture’s “ecstatic black metal” or Cryptic Shift’s “phenomenal technological astrodeath” it also pre-loads…

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The Soft Pink Truth

Can Such Delightful Times Go On Forever?

Matmos’s Drew Daniel takes its furthest step yet from its roots in the club; still sounds absolutely joyous

Can Such Delightful Times Go On Forever? by The Soft Pink Truth

A common theme through The Soft Pink Truth’s records of the 2020s is music’s ability to build sanctuaries. As the world’s got harsher, SPT’s albums have got lusher. 2020’s Shall We Go On Sinning So That Grace May Increase?, recorded during the first Trump presidency, saw the project, led by Matmos’s Drew Daniel, blur propulsive deep house into velvety minimal composition. 2022’s Is It Going To Get Any Deeper Than This?, made during pandemic lockdown, is a glimmering electro-orchestral record played by a…

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Prostitute, Milkweed and more will play the Birmingham event this April

Photo by Robert Barrett

Supersonic has shared details of its stripped-back 2026 edition.

The Digbeth, Birmingham festival will take place earlier in the year, moving away from its usual late August date to two days in late April. Among the first acts confirmed to play are Prostitute, Milweed and Microplastics, a new live band comprised of aya, Jennifer Walton and 96 Back.

The festival will also welcome ØXN, Bong II, DJ Haram, Ameretat, GREET, MMM and Traidora. Further artists will be announced in the coming weeks, alongside a full programme of workshops, talks and guest DJ sets.

In a statement, Supersonic co-founder Lisa Meyer said: “When we first began, Digbeth was our wild frontier,…

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The record features A$AP Rocky, Tame Impala and more

Screenshot

Thundercat has shared details of his first album in six years, titled Distracted.

The US artist’s fifth studio LP comprises 15 tracks and includes contributions from A$AP Rocky, Tame Impala, Mac Miller, Willow, Channel Tres and Lil Yachty. Flying Lotus, Kenny Beats and The Lemon Twigs also provide additional production touches across the record.

Speaking about what he wanted listeners to take from Distracted, Thundercat said in a statement: “Just enjoy it and have fun and just know that the struggle is real and changes shape, but just to keep pushing forward.”

To mark the announcement of the album, he’s shared lead track ‘I Did This To Myself’, which features Lil Yachty and co-production from Flying Lotus….

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Nick Hudson reports from Georgia with his guide to the gripping, eclectic and unpredictable music currently being produced in the Tbilisi underground, and how the city’s musical communities are stepping up in the face of significant repression

Protests in Georgia, photo by Jack Hubbell Rosene

It’s 5 May 2023 and Georgian anarcho-industrial collective Quemmekh are playing the Holoseum in Tbilisi’s old town. They’re flanked by wall-to-wall screens depicting burning cop cars and riot footage as a tall, imperious, rainbow-ribboned shaman – performed by queer Tbilisi icon Andro Dadiani, who has since found political asylum in Brussels – stands in the audience with a live sheep on a leash. It’s a gripping, emotionally violent and unforgettable show.  

Flash forward to spring 2024 and the…

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Erik Hall

Solo Three

Minimalist music by Laurie Spiegel, Glenn Branca, Steve Reich and Charlemagne Palestine reconfigured as nimble-fingered solo works

Solo Three by Erik Hall

Minimalist music takes on many forms. It encompasses works made of short phrases that interlock and repeat, getting more complex with each reintroduction; compositions that observe sound’s gradual transformation; pieces that leave space for chance, interpretation, and the unexpected. But most minimalist music shares one guiding force: a search for presence. Michigan-based composer and multi-instrumentalist Erik Hall has the chance to join that continuous expedition on Solo Three, his latest album that revisits and retools minimalist classics into solo works. But his arrangements, however technically impressive, often fall short of realising the flow state that defines the genre.

Solo…

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The drone metal band’s Instagram page said the venue “put politics above music and have cancelled the show tonight”

Earth’s show at Bologna venue TPO last night (January 27) didn’t go ahead because Dylan Carlson, the band’s frontman and sole permanent member, reportedly objected to the display of a Palestinian flag at the side of the stage.

As Stereogum reports, the venue reportedly refused to remove the flag, which had been on display since a two-day event, O Re o Libertà, this past weekend, which brought together different activist groups to hold panel discussions – TPO hosts cultural events, as well as music gigs.

Posting a photo from last night’s show, Instagram user @zang_tumb_tuumb wrote in Italian: “Dylan Carlson, upon seeing the flag,…

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“It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbours, and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renée Good,” the US artist said in a statement

Bruce Springsteen has released a new protest song which takes aim at Donald Trump and United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Unveiling the track, titled ‘Streets Of Minneapolis’, the US artist said in a statement: “I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday, and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbours, and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renée Good.”

The song makes specific references to ICE’s recent killings of protestors Pretti…

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The Sheffield group will play six shows across the US and Canada this May

Cabaret Voltaire have shared details of their last-ever North America tour.

The Sheffield group will play six shows across the US and Canada in May, kicking off at Seattle’s Moore Theater on May 4. Gigs in Vancouver, Portland, Denver, Los Angeles and San Francisco will follow through the remainder of the month. Tickets for the tour run are on sale now.

The shows will come ahead of a final tour of the UK and Europe later this year. Coming more than 50 years on from the formation of the band, the 11-date run across the UK will see Stephen Mallinder and Chris Watson, who co-founded the project with the…

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