Drop everything — Noteworthy Nods is back! Your weekly fix of the freshest tracks making waves in our office – and hopefully beyond.
Last week brought standout releases from James, Gurriers, The Wombats, Kasabian, The Rafters, and more. This week’s playlist is just as loaded, packed with some of our current favourites spinning on repeat, including:
Kid Kapichi – ‘Shoe Size’
The refrain, “I’ve been shuffling, looking for the right song,” Jack Wilson drawls on Shoe Size, feels like a mission accomplished — a stripped-back, sinister mantra of devilish minimalism. It’s a slower burn than usual, but no less compelling. Moody and packed with dark swagger, with vocals that drip menace, leaving us eager to hear Kid Kapichi’s next LP Fearless Nature — dropping January 16, 2026 (available for pre-order HERE now) — which is shaping up to be something very special.
Pop Will Eat Itself – ‘Never Mind The Botox’
Taken from The Poppies’ pogo-stomp-fuelled new LP (our review HERE), ‘Never Mind The Botox’ explodes with a blistering, brilliantly titled blast of east-meets-Stourbridge psyched-out punk. It’s a sharp sermon on the planet’s spiritual decay — a fiery call to arms for anyone still clinging to authenticity while the rest queue up for filters and fillers..
STONE – ‘MONKEY SEE MONKEY DO’
Clocking in at just under two minutes, ‘Monkey See Monkey Do’ doesn’t mess about—detonating on impact and cramming a full set’s worth of nervy energy into a scuzzy, sweat-drenched blitz that demands to be played again, louder. Fuzzy guitars snarl and crash, while barked vocals swagger somewhere between The Hives’ garage-punk bravado and The Vines’ unhinged chaos, shot through with a heavy jolt of Brit grit. It’s raw, raucous, and unreasonably catchy.
The Subways – ‘Passenger’s Side’
On Passenger’s Side, Billy Lunn (CinemaChords interview HERE) dials down the snarl and leans into a cleaner vocal mode that flirts with something closer to The Wombats or The Vaccines — even slipping into falsetto for a sugar-coated chorus engineered to live rent-free in your head. Partly sparked by their role-reversal with Ash, which saw them cover the band’s similarly titled “Oh Yeah”, it’s an unexpected turn — and proof The Subways are still flipping expectations two decades in without losing their bite.
Factory Set – ‘Days Are Gone’
‘Days Are Gone’ strikes with a tense post-punk drive, anchored by a gutsy bassline that pulses through the track’s shadowy atmosphere. Raw, snarling vocals cut like a blade, weaving between the brooding depths of The Smiths and Joy Division while nodding to the restless spirit of early Strangelove and Chapman Family. Raw, relentless, and ferociously infectious.
And that’s just a taste of this week’s highlights. Whether you’re winding down or gearing up, we think the Noteworthy Nods playlist might just have your weekend soundtrack sorted.
Alongside our weekly track picks, Noteworthy serves up regular videocast interviews with emerging and established artists we think you should be watching. Catch every episode on the playlist (here), featuring names like The Subways, The Slow Readers Club, The Lottery Winners, The Lilacs, Starsailor, Kyle Falconer, Cast, Shed Seven, Turin Brakes, Embrace, and many more.
