Exploring the Pounding Sound and Dancefloor Alternative Rock of Ashnymph and This Week's Best Fresh Music

Originating in the UK cities of London and Brighton
Recommended if you like Underworld, MGMT, Animal Collective
Up next An as-yet-untitled EP, to be released in 2026

Both tracks put out to date by the group Ashnymph resist simple labeling: the band's own tag of their work as “subconscioussion” leaves listeners guessing. Debut Saltspreader married a heavy mechanical drumming – guitarist Will Wiffen has sometimes been seen on stage sporting a shirt that bears the logo of industrial metal pioneers Godflesh – with old-school electronic keys and a guitar line that vaguely recalls the enduring garage rock anthem I Wanna Be Your Dog, before transforming into a barrier of unsettling sound. The planned result, the band has indicated, was to suggest road trips, “the grinding circulation of vehicles all day long over great lengths … amber lights after dark”.

The next release, Mr Invisible, sits somewhere between club music and left-field alt-rock. For one thing, the song's beat, layers of hypnotic electronics, and lyrics that appear either trippily blurred or spellbindingly cyclical in a way that recalls the classic Underworld album era all indicate the dance space. Conversely, its forceful live-sounding dynamics, near-anarchic character and fuzz – “making everything sound crunchy is a personal mission,” Wiffen noted – set it apart as very much the work of a band rather than a lone electronic artist. They've performed around the self-made music community of south London for under a year, “any venue that cranks the volume”.

But both are exciting and different enough – from one another and other current music – to make you wonder about the band's future direction. Regardless of the form, on the evidence of Saltspreader and Mr Invisible, it’s probably not dull.

This Week’s Best New Tracks

Hit My Head All Day by Dry Cleaning
“I really require adventures”​, vocalist Florence Shaw states on their enchanting new track, but throughout the song's duration – with exhales setting the pace – 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 the height of trance music – even the words “and I ask the rain” – the track implies dusting off your best Cyberdog wear and making your way to a rave, right away.

Acne Studios mix by Robyn
The music by Robyn for the Swedish designer’s SS26 show hints at her next record, including Soulwax-worthy grinding guitar, Benny Benassi-style thrust and the words “my body’s a spaceship with the ovaries on hyperdrive”.

Jordana's Like That
Listeners adored her soft rock album Lively Premonition last year and the US singer-songwriter further demonstrates her remarkable skill with choruses as she sings about a futile crush.

Molly Nilsson's Get a Life
The one-woman Swedish pop operation released her latest album Amateur this week, and this cut is extraordinary: a synthetic guitar line jerks forward at hardcore punk pace as the singer urges we seize the day.

Artemas – Superstar
Following tales of weary romance on his megahit I Like the Way You Kiss Me and its accompanying release Yustyna, the musician of mixed heritage is wretchedly in thrall to his current partner amid driving coldwave beats.

Jennifer Walton's Miss America
Off an impressive first record, a crushed synth hymnal about Walton learning of her father’s death in an airport hotel, tracing her uncanny surroundings in tender incantations: “Shopping plaza, illegal trade, anxiety episodes.”

Tasha Fields
Tasha Fields

A seasoned IT consultant with over 10 years of experience in digital transformation and cloud computing.