Happy New Year, everyone! Welcome to the first round of Noteworthy Nods for 2025 — the weekly roundup where we share our top picks from the latest releases we’ve been blasting on the office speakers.
In case you missed it, we wrapped up last year’s Nods season with a Best of 2024 playlist, which you can check out here. Now, even though the year has only just begun, we’ve already discovered some fantastic tracks for today’s soundtrack. Featured are fresh releases, including another epic harbinger of Manic Street Preachers‘ upcoming album ‘Critical Thinking’ (out 31st January), an upbeat new track from The Amazons that proudly channels Rocky III influences, explosive new music from PUP as they kick off an arena tour in support of Sum 41 today, and Bang Bang Bang by Sports Team, which drops today. This single provides a sharp commentary on gun culture, inspired by a recent incident when the band attempted to intervene in the theft of their tour van during their US tour, only to encounter an armed robber. Sports Team’s third studio album, ‘Boys These Days’ will release on 25 February, 2025.
We hope you enjoy this week’s essential playlist as much as we do! And as always, feel free to tweet us and let us (and, most importantly, the artists) know which tracks you’re adding to your repeat rotation.
Aside from the aforementioned track recommendations, our Noteworthy section includes weekly videocast interviews featuring musical talent we hope are either already or, about to become your new favorite artists. You can catch up on all previous interview via the video playlist (here) featuring the likes of Evan Dando, Patrick Duff, Shed Seven, Turin Brakes, Embrace, Red Rum Club, The K’s, The Sherlocks, The Slow Readers Club, Stanleys, The Native, The Clause, and many more.
