It’s an absolutely stuffed edition of our monthly playlist – spring has truly spring and brought with it a raft of amazing new music in all genres. We’ve picked out some of the many highlights for you below.
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 March below.
Below is the track list and some notes from our team about why they’ve selected them for this month’s playlist.
Abbie Ozard – “Backbone”
The first release following her 2024 debut album everything still worries me, Manchester’s Abbie Ozard returns with the fuzzy and summery “Backbone”. Channeling “the self destruction that comes from avoiding conflict at all costs, where keeping peace and saying sorry too much can cost you your voice”, “Backbone” comes complete with an blossoming chorus that veers on being positively anthemic for an up and coming artist. It’ll sit nicely in any 2026 playlists for basking in the good weather, conjuring images sun rays breaking through venetian blinds and sitting horizontal on the grass looking up in the clouds. – Ray Finlayson
Anyma – “Bad Angel” (feat. Lisa)
If you don’t like this kind of thing, you’re almost surely never gonna, but the only defense I feel I need mount is that its hook was immediately living in my head, rent free, for at least a week. LISA’s eye-catching appearance during Anyma’s Coachella set notwithstanding, it’s simply a (simple) jam. You’d think he could have cooked up a musical backdrop a bit less “Fisher Price: My 1st Club Adjacent Beat set” for his highest profile collaboration to date (is this really all it takes to score songs with 1/4 of BLACKPINK, Sevdaliza, 070 Shake, and more? Where do I sign up?), but LISA’s charming, forceful turn makes it work. If you’re not at least kinda rooting for the most globally visible Thai pop star, well, why aren’t ya? – Chase McMullen
Charley Crockett – “Country Music”
With the help of those like Colter Wall, Zach Top, Sierra Ferrell, and Charley Crockett, country music is having a traditional resurgence. Even tracks topping the charts are sounding a lot more orthodox than they used to compared to say a decade ago (e.g. Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” sounds a lot like a long lost Jean Shepard reissue in my opinion). With his surprise new release in late April titled Clovis, Crockett continues his time-honored ambition to reimagine the west. Lots of tracks stand out, but on “Country Music” Crockett looks to his past and confesses the way he came to the genre of empty vistas, saloons, and spit tobacco. “Days marked by madness, beauty and sadness / Letting go of all the things you know that you left unsaid”, he preaches. “Country Music”, and Clovis as a whole, is a reminder that sometimes looking to the past is the best way to move towards the future, yet it still remains un-anachronistic, like a tumbleweed rolling towards the big city. – Nathan Skinner
Curren$y, Wiz Khalifa & Harry Fraud – “z28”
What’s more surprising than Wiz Khalifa and Curren$y dropping two projects in April is that neither of them were released on 4/20. That said, the first two installments of Roofless Records for Droptops both contain highlights, but Disc 2 shows a closer level of collaboration between the two veteran rappers. Produced entirely by Harry Fraud, Disc 2 hits a high point on “z28”. Curren$y slides over slick piano chords before Wiz gets off a quick verse. It’s simple, but the formula is tried-and-true. – Ethan Reis
Dude Central – “A HAND STRETCHED OUT TO GOD!” (feat. Ghais Guevara)
A collaboration between a presumably reclusive singer/songwriter and an equally outspoken rapper, “A Hand Stretched Out To God!” leans decidedly in the direction of the former. Initially, you could mistake the piano motif for a sample or loop, replayed with an authentic reverb but maddeningly repetitive; Ghais Guevara turns inward and challenges himself not to unclench his fists. But unexpectedly, Dude Central’s octave patterns followed by a deceptively inaudacious flourish keeps the duo in this rut. The chords change with reference to Ben Folds’ “Brick” or Badly Drawn Boy’s “Silent Sigh”, and the just-above-a-mumble second act guides the song away from the door and back to bed. – Steve Forstneger
Kehlani – “Cruise Control”
On “Cruise Control”, Kehlani eases off the emotional turbulence that runs through much of her self-titled album and settles into something softer, more deliberate. Positioned near the record’s close, it sounds like a quiet exhale — a moment where the urgency of love gives way to patience. The production leans into warm, mid-tempo R&B, with a gentle bounce that recalls late-2000s radio without sounding stuck in it, while her layered vocals glide with a kind of unforced clarity. Lyrically, it circles a familiar tension: wanting something real, but refusing to rush into it. There’s a subtle push-and-pull in her delivery, as if she’s negotiating with both herself and her partner in real time. Critics have pointed to it as a standout in the album’s second half, partly because of how effortlessly it restores momentum without raising its voice. More than anything, “Cruise Control” works because it trusts restraint. It doesn’t try to resolve everything, it just coasts, and lets that be enough. – Mary Chiney
Kelela – “idea 1”
We had to wait six years between Kelela’s first and second studio albums, but it seems like we’re gonna get another one in half that time. Now that the queen of R&B is back in the groove, she’s trusting herself and “idea 1” is the perfect proof that she’s at peak confidence. A seemingly unsuspecting oozes of a track that finds her emoting over ripely produced guitar suddenly turns into a scorching shoegaze-adjacent come-on that fixes you in its laser, stunning you in its tantalising heat. If this is “idea 1”, I can’t wait to hear ideas 2 to 100. – Rob Hakimian
Kevin Morby – “Badlands”
Kevin Morby has become one of the leading chroniclers of modern life in Middle America, but always with a benevolent eye. Even in the so-called “Badlands”, the sky is ever-expanding and “Heaven is a place on Earth”. There’s a weariness to Morby’s proclamations here, but his loping guitar melodies and naturally friendly voice ensure that his heart is never obscured. He might be wary of “the big disaster we call home”, but it’s still home. – Rob Hakimian
Massive Attack x Tom Waits – “Boots On The Ground”
What seems like an unexpected collaboration on first glance soon makes sense when you hear the end result. Massive Attack and Tom Waits are both concerned with texture, mood, and atmosphere, and “Boots on the Ground” – a unabashedly clear protest song against the decaying soul of the United States of America that is the first Massive Attack music distributed under a Spotify exemption policy and comes with an accompanying film created by Massive Attack working with enigmatic photo artist thefinaleye – is full of evocative time and place. The percussion rattles and a raspy Waits croons in the way only he can; you can smell the tear gas in the air. It’s not a rallying call but instead a portrait of reflection to deepen the spirit of resistance. – Ray Finlayson
mildred – “Fenceline”
Oakland foursome mildred burst into the scene with their slouch-rock infused debut Fenceline. It’s a collection of laidback melodies, provocative lyrics, and California-laced fantasies, emulating the likes of David Berman, Pavement, and Smog. The titular track perfectly encapsulates the album’s quiet magnitude. Its lyrics long for connection and acceptance: “I’m adopting a highway / just to try things my way / I’m gonna paint the median blue / plant all your favorite flowers too”. Singing and telling stories about loneliness, love, and the future, mildred already sound wonderfully coherent and blissfully content. – Nathan Skinner
Nine Inch Nails x Boys Noize – “Copy of a”
Nine Inch Nails got rave reviews from all comers for their latest tour, in which German DJ and producer Boys Noize played a critical role. For those of us who stupidly didn’t bother to go along, they’ve captured a pulverising snapshot of their collaboration in the album Nine Inch Noize. The revamped version of “Copy of a” is just one highlight from the record, but probably my favourite for the way it doesn’t go straight for the jugular but builds in anticipatory synths and haywire drum machines. Then comes the Berlin bass that will have the masses juddering as one, mindlessly moving to this anthem of lost identity. – Rob Hakimian
Otoboke Beaver – “I Don’t Need To Be In Your Strike Zone”
Japanese band Otoboke Beaver returned in April with their first new music in four years, showing once again that brevity is not just the soul of wit but also of punk too. “I Don’t Need To Be In Your Strike Zone” is 68 seconds of anti-manosphere whiplash, fiery metal-esque guitar riffs packed in alongside more tempo and rhythm changes most bands would struggle to execute over their entire career. Apart from the in-your-face lurch at the end when they insist “I am not interested”, I can’t pretend to understand the rest of the lyrics, but doesn’t matter because the message is there in the music. – Ray Finlayson
Presley Jean Cross – “Begin Again”
When Presley Jean Cross started her now almost mythical online diary, she was just a dreamer that had come to Los Angeles, chasing phantasms of the great American myth. Soon, dozens of seekers joined her exclusive portal – a whispered secret that slowly spread through back channels. Over the following months, her online presence became an intimate document of confessional storytelling – a companion for a generation that was slowly understanding the dissolution of societal safety nets. As Cross slowly shifted her focus from narrating everyday life to composing music – posting demo recordings and giving direct access to every stage of her writing process – the potential and excitement practically oozed out of the phone screen. The muse had become creator!
There’s a universality to “Begin Again” that reconnects with its composer. You could have met Presley in 1920 at a séance, in 1968 at Woodstock, in 1995 at a Smashing Pumpkins show – her aura transcends generational classification, as she embodies an archetype of feminine spiritual curiosity. A seeker that could as well be a time traveler, she’s allowing the rare occasion to watch a pop star make her very first steps. “Begin Again” embodies this movement: in its mixture of lyrical mantra and its gentle arrangement of Y2k beats and 60s mellotron, it presents a kaleidoscopic journey that is as much echoing Sylvia Plath as it is evoking 90s MTV. A mercurial libra, Presley finds the balance of emotional gravitas and Alternative nostalgia. She’s on to great things! Don’t blink – she might just leave you behind. – John Wohlmacher
Pretty Baby – “8:25pm Greenwich Fucking Mean”
The towering centre of Pretty Baby’s recent debut album, Layaway Plot, “8:25 Greenwich Fucking Mean” is simply masterful; crushingly emotionally raw, punctured by tortured screams and a stunningly organic progression that somehow takes in gorgeous synth accents, pg.99 handclaps, and a beautiful post-rock interlude before building to a devastating climax. This is grief-informed post-hardcore that overwhelms and uplifts. – Andy Johnston
Shakira & Beéle – ”Algo Tú (Shimza Remix)”
In a World Cup year that’s bound to overburden us with the competing might of the American and Mexican music industries – all apologies to Canada – this Afro-Colombian track is a welcome respite. Its distinction from the other “Algo Tú” remixes (the title roughly translates to “something about you”) comes from Shimza’s references to amapiano. He plays it so subtly as to be unnoticeable, and that’s its subversive magic. Shakira’s reputedly honest hips have to obey a couple of masters, a.k.a. the original’s more salacious moments and Shimza’s nonchalance. Luis Díaz for the win. – Steve Forstneger
Listen to our BPM Curates: April 2026 playlist here.
