And just like that, the first month of 2026 was gone. Thankfully, it had the good grace to drop off some great new tunes – and promises of exciting new albums in the coming months – while it zipped past.
We’ve picked out a few of the ones that have most excited us during this dark and dreary month. Enjoy our BPM Curates playlist for January below.
Below is the track list and some notes from our team about why they’ve selected them for this month’s playlist.
A$AP Rocky – “No Trespassing”
The cheat code of a new Jessica Pratt song (rightfully also represented here) aside, this has to be Don’t Be Dumb‘s best moment. With respect to the relative greatness of LIVE.LOVE.A$AP, Rocky has never been the best rapper: you don’t come to his projects for bars, but for how they come together, how they sound. This shit? It sounds damn good. – Chase McMullen
A$AP Rocky – “The End” (feat. willi.i.am & Jessica Pratt)
After an album that skims through braggadocios bars, consumerist ideals and dreamy shoegaze asides, A$AP Rocky’s blockbuster Don’t Be Dumb ends on its most sober note. In his bars, Rocky addresses modern society and its blasé attitude, but he saves his ultimate punch for the grand finale – where instead of driving to the basket he passes the rock to Jessica Pratt. What we then have is essentially a stealth new Pratt song tacked onto the end that – somehow – works. She takes the more serious atmosphere and unspools it into a wistful and contemplative drift that could easily fit onto any of her own records. Bliss – with an undercurrent of trouble. – Rob Hakimian
Brigitte Calls Me Baby – “Slumber Party”
The “Morrissey meets The Strokes” taglines aren’t vanquished by “Slumber Party” but neither is the Chicago band’s energy. Actually, if there’s a 2000s indie track that’s a reference point it’s The Walkmen’s frantic “The Rat”. You can feel the guitarists’ wrists atrophying from the constant downstrokes, given respite only when the bassline mirrors the guitar melody at each break in the chorus. The song – about how loners end up trapped indoors – has an surplus of violence where Brigitte Calls Me Baby usually chooses swagger or style. – Steve Forstneger
Jenny On Holiday – “Appetite”
“I’m chewing you up, chewing you up
And I’m moving on, I’m moving on
I’m chewing you up, chewing you up
You know you were wrong, know you were wrong”
– Chase McMullen
Jill Scott – “Pressha”
Ten years is a long time to be away, but when you’re as poised as the legendary Jill Scott, fan anticipation is just another pesky fly to swat away. “Pressha”, the second single shared from her upcoming record, is an impossibly cool lounge-funk track where she gets to show off her brassy pipes and inimitable presence. She sings of “so much pressure to appear just like them”, but what’s eminently evident is that she can only be herself – and that’s much more than we could ever desire. – Rob Hakimian
Joshua Idehen – “This Is The Place”
As far as album titles go, I Know You’re Hurting, Everyone Is Hurting, Everyone Is Trying, You Have Got To Try is pretty perfect, especially for this moment. And Joshua Idehen is all about the moment – especially on “This Is The Place”. His musical partner Ludvig Parment sets out a classic house backing and Idehen does what he does: preaches in his own idiosyncratic British-Nigerian style about people coming together, and does it in such a way that will encourage people to come together. – Rob Hakimian
Kim Gordon – “NOT TODAY”
Sounding more Sonic Youth than at any other time in the recent past, Kim Gordon’s new single in the lead-up to PLAY ME is also emotionally direct. While that in and of itself is not unusual, often it comes from a place of moral outrage or suffering from an indignity. “There’s a hole in my heart”, she sings, “There’s a hole, there’s a hole”. Its motorik beat will reportedly be a recurrent theme on the record, and the eighth-note bassline says she still finds time to daydream. – Steve Forstneger
Large – “Manta Ray”
If you think “Manta Ray” will be fitting soundtrack to the image of the titular create gently gliding through the water, then you may be disappointed. Canadian-born songwriter and guitarist Jamie Hilsden (aka Large) instead conjures up a vivacious and exciting three minutes of instrumental indie guitar pop. The riffs are tricky but welcoming, conjuring images of sunny ocean views, jet streams, and maybe a beach volleyball montage. All a little too fast for your average manta ray, but this track’s for you and not the fishes. – Ray Finlayson
The Paper Kites – “Stormwall”
Seven albums in, The Paper Kites are at a point where they have the skills to make what they do look incredibly easy. Their new album If You Go There, I Hope You Find It may have had the band reconnecting with ideas of rediscovering imperfection, but hardly a note or a guitar strum seems misplaced across it. “Stormwall” is a fine example and highlight from the record, a gentle and soothing slice of folksy Americana that would sit comfortably into any lazy Sunday playlist. When the chorus hits softly and the vocal harmonies and violin seeps in, it’s kind of sublime in its own way. It’s music to sink into, untroubled and untroubling – and we all have a space for music like that. – Ray Finlayson
Tove Styrke – “Prayer”
Tove Styrke’s next album, The Afterparty, won’t be out until the fall and that provides an opening to release its supposedly least-characteristic track as a single. The song and album will be sample-free and as analogue as possible, a doctrine that suits lyrics and a melody filled with affirmations and mantras. Recalling 12-inch remixes of classic New Order with hints of Passion Pit, the hi-hat and bass circle around a thumping beat until an extended breakdown gathers forces and the song exits on a gentle gallop. – Steve Forstneger
Listen to our BPM Curates: January 2026 playlist here.
