“The band is called Guitar – that’s the pitch. Why are you still standing here?”: August 2025 Guitar World Editors’ Picks

(Image credit: Scott Legato/Getty Images)

Hello there, and welcome to Guitar World editors’ picks – our monthly guide to the guitar tracks that have captured the attentions of our editors over the past four weeks or so.

With the aid of our Spotify playlist below, we’ve rounded up all our favorite new releases from the month of August, and put them under the microscope to wax lyrical on the playing, tones, and songwriting that have set our six-string senses a-tingling.

With killer cuts from Deftones, Lorna Shore, Big Thief, Young Dervish, Paco Peña, and many more, there was plenty to pick from this month.

Michael Astley-Brown – Editor-in-Chief

deftones – infinite source – YouTube

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OK, can we talk about the new Deftones for a second? In this obsessive fan’s humble opinion, it’s their best since 2012’s Koi No Yokan – and infinite source is the standout, a double-picking jam that bounces and caresses.

It’s been a bumper month for fans of all things ‘alt’, actually. Paramore leader Hayley Williams has indulged her love of woozy ’90s indie on new solo record Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party, on which she plays a fair chunk of guitar.

Post-hardcore darlings turned progressive songsmiths Thrice have lent into their bluesier single-coil side with spectacular success on the anthemic Albatross. There’s a fuzz-rich single from Kansas City juggernauts Shiner that boasts a croon so menacing it could give Josh Homme a run for his money (Asleep in the Trunk).

Underrated Midwest emo outfit Algernon Cadwallader – cited by Yvette Young as one of the 10+ guitarists who shaped her sound – have made their first album in 14 years, and Hawk stands up there with anything the band has produced. All twinkly cleans and shimmering arpeggios, it’s a reminder that it wasn’t just American Football who pioneered the genre.

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Algernon Cadwallader – Hawk [Official Video] – YouTube

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August also marked the month we heard Polyphia’s latest collab with Babymetal – which hints towards the heavier direction Tim Henson has pointed towards for the band’s own material. And boy, did Tim and Scott break out all the guitars on this one. Sunset Kiss is nylon-string in the verses, eight-string for the riffs, and signature models for the shred. It’s catchy AF and will not leave my head.

Lastly, Tom Morello has hailed grandson (aka singer-songwriter-rapper Jordan Edward Benjamin) as one of the successors to Rage Against the Machine’s riff-rock crown – and I had to double-check the credits to make sure he wasn’t involved on GOD IS AN ANIMAL, which elicited the kind of headbangs that make me worry for the structural integrity of my standing desk.

It makes pentatonic riffs exciting again. We may be coming to the end of festival season, but I hope to see next year’s crowds leaping like impalas to that chorus hook.

Matt Parker – Deputy EditorMason Lindahl is an acoustic guitarist who takes the warmth of nylon-strung tone into strange and experimental new climes. His new double album, Joshua / Same Day Walking, absolutely delivers on that front, packaging two records made in very different locales (namely, Iceland and California) together as a contrasting pairing.

Opener Joshua Under Water seems initially to plod through the desert, shimmering and catching your ear with a tonal and dynamic range that is truly astonishing. There are sparse supporting instruments in there, but it’s an objectively epic composition that is almost entirely guitar-driven – and when the tension finally breaks at 5:30, the result is dizzying.

The partner track, Little Sister, from Same Day Walking, is its own adventure. Full of thumping, distorted thumb-picking, quiet pauses, and cycling runs laid around haunting synth beds.

Elsewhere, this month I’ve spent a bit of time with Hand Habits’ Bluebird of Happiness (the album Blue Reminder dropped last week). I love the way that simple, central stabbing rhythm part just builds in the mix, before it suddenly gives way to the solo/middle eight.

Hand Habits – Bluebird of Happiness (Official Audio) – YouTube

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I have also awarded 15 scene points to the band Guitar for existing in the face of all SEO logic and releasing a song called Pizza For Everyone. Yeah, you heard me. The band is called Guitar – that’s the pitch. Why are you still standing here?

And, finally, I’m going to carpet bomb all this good taste and subtlety with the carnal brutality of Lorna Shore’s Prison of Flesh. The New Jersey deathcore heroes are achieving remarkable things – giving extreme metal a once-unthinkable profile – and rounding off none of their serrated edges to do so.

Leaving aside the subject matter of Prison… (vocalist Will Ramos’ family history of dementia), the sound of this truly feels like hell on earth – and that breakdown at 6:00 is among the most severe metal recordings I have ever heard. It’s torturous. Don’t watch the video if you struggle with horror films, the sight of blood, if you have kids, any next of kin, or a desire to feel happy ever again.

Jackson Maxwell – Associate Editor

Big Thief – Los Angeles (Official Lyric Video) – YouTube

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Though whole new albums can be a bit harder to come by in the dog days of summer, it’s a time where a lot of tantalizing previews of what’s to come in the fall come rolling in – and this year’s been no exception to the rule.

Numero uno on my personal list is Big Thief’s forthcoming Double Infinity, the band’s first new LP since 2022’s all-immersive (though rather clumsily named) double-album masterpiece, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You.

For all the talk of bandleader Adrianne Lenker’s songwriting prowess (and, let’s be clear, she is truly one of the best of her generation in that department), she doesn’t get nearly enough credit as a guitarist. Though recent single Los Angeles lacks the six-string fireworks of, say, the astonishing three-minute spin-out solo she laid down on the band’s 2019 career highlight, Not, the limber, sun-kissed leads that help bow the song out are beautiful, and exactly what the doctor ordered.

Speaking of underrated guitarists in the indie-sphere, those in need of a fix of terse rockabilly riffage can find what they need once again in the work of Spoon’s Britt Daniel, who serves up plenty of the stuff in his ever-tight band’s new tune, Chateau Blues. They have no right to be as consistently good as they have been for the last (checks notes) three decades.

Spoon – “Chateau Blues” (Official Lyric Video) – YouTube

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In the more classic rock-minded sphere, Mirador – the new band led by the dynamo guitar-slinging combo of Greta Van Fleet’s Jake Kiszka and Ida Mae’s Chris Turpin – are fast approaching the release of their self-titled debut LP. Back in May, the duo stopped by Guitar World’s NYC headquarters to discuss their influences and how their six-string chemistry developed, and to play through a selection of their heaviest (and sweetest) tunes.

With their partnership hardly public knowledge at that point, I didn’t quite know what to expect when I joined my GW colleagues in the studio for the session. Seeing them plug in and rip from a few feet away, though, showed clear as day the unique wavelength these two have found. Listen to the thundering Fortune’s Fate – with its whirlwind Kiszka solo – to hear it for yourself.

One last thing, Mike talked about it more elegantly above, but let the record show that I too am absolutely over the moon – as someone who was shaped by late-’00s/early-2010s emo and math-rock – at the Algernon Cadwallader reunion. Their new single, Hawk, is to me like chestnuts roasting over an open fire.

Matt Owen – News EditorIt’s only a matter of time before Young Dervish – the fretless, baritone, slide guitar virtuoso, whose instrument collection resembles something of a mad scientist’s store cupboard – becomes a household name among guitar fans. His playing, vision, and musicality – previously reserved for Instagram, now on display for a fully fledged debut album – is just that good.

It would be a waste of time to try and liken his style to a contemporary. The lo-fi, baritone edge will conjure up whispers of Mk.gee, but this is too lazy and, honestly, a bit of a cop out. Young Dervish has developed a fretboard vocabulary and tone that is entirely his own: gritty, fizzy, drenched in dynamics and vibrato that skirt along a tightrope teetering on the edge of gung-ho guitarisms.

Daddy is but one song (I could have picked any) that demonstrates this. It makes me want to play more slide guitar. It also makes me want to buy a baritone and rip the frets out. Inspiring stuff.

Speaking of slide guitar, Johan Borgh’s Santa Monica Serenade is essential listening for blues fans. Another popular player with a sizable following on Instagram, Borgh is beginning to roll out more original music, and slide players should take note: there are some exceptional lines in there, with immaculate touch and feel to boot.

Wolf Alice also returned with a new record which, while perhaps comparatively lighter on guitars relative to previous efforts, reserved a few special slots for six-string action, including the cantering riff and crush-y solo of Bread Butter Tea Sugar and Foals-ian layerings of White Horses.

Wolf Alice – White Horses (Official Lyric Video) – YouTube

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Nova Twins, who recently professed their passion for recreating all their studio sounds live with pedals, also dropped their new album, Parasites & Butterflies, and put their acclaimed sound-design approach to six-strings to work on the off-kilter Parallel Universe (as well as every other track).

Oh, and Mac De Marco shared Guitar – a new album filled with plenty of woozy, easy breezy progressions. Helluva title for an album, that. No prizes for guessing what instrument he plays on it.

Janelle Borg – Staff Writer

Eliot Fisk & Paco Peña: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert – YouTube

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This month started out with a masterclass in flamenco guitar – I had the opportunity to watch one of the world’s top flamenco players, Paco Peña, in action at Summer Sounds Music Festival in London, and saying that I was mindblown is definitely not an understatement.

Peña’s virtuosity, as his hands practically flew over the fretboard, was perfectly complemented by his company – complete with two flamenco dancers – which truly transported me from gloomy London to the streets of Córdoba.

Speaking of bridging cultures, São Paulo’s Pelados are a recent (but very welcome) discovery, and their album Contato (and, naturally, my pick, não sei fazer refrão) manages to hark back to the slacker-sleaze-style indie rock of the aughts, but with an unmistakable Brazilian flair. The guitars are a nod to this era, with a Mac DeMarco tinge that feels both nonchalant yet carefully crafted into hooks that weave in and out throughout the track.

You can imagine my surprise when Mk.Gee collaborator Dijon’s Baby (the follow-up to his 2021 debut, Absolutely) dropped in my inbox – mere weeks after Justin Bieber’s SWAG, the (very) high-profile record he was involved in.

HIGHER!, and the title-track Baby!, epitomize the whole album due to their abstract nature, with the guitar and vocals holding the songs together, as soundscape elements and different instruments are brazenly chopped and quasi-loosely fitted together in a way that’s fresher than fresh.

Shifting gears a little bit, Room Service’s Plastic Cosmic Fantastic Hotel has echoes of Steely Dan and the B-52’s (as well as Khruangbin’s Evan Finds the Third Room), and is unequivocally uplifting, partly thanks to the disco-funk guitar part driving the track. And for those wondering about the title, it’s a teaser of an upcoming EP where Room Service are stuck working at a hotel where time stands still, with each song representing a different floor or room within the hotel… intriguing!

Wrapping up this month’s picks is another recent discovery – South African guitarist and vocalist Madala Kunene links up with his protégé, Sibusile Xaba, for an intergenerational, acoustic guitar–anchored piece, Izimpisi, that draws from South Africa’s rich musical legacy. It’s an emotionally moving, immersive, and meditative sonic fabric – meant to be experienced as much as felt.

Mike is Editor-in-Chief of GuitarWorld.com, in addition to being an offset fiend and recovering pedal addict. He has a master’s degree in journalism from Cardiff University, and over a decade’s experience writing and editing for guitar publications including MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitarist, as well as 20 years of recording and live experience in original and function bands. During his career, he has interviewed the likes of John Frusciante, Chris Cornell, Tom Morello, Matt Bellamy, Kirk Hammett, Jerry Cantrell, Joe Satriani, Tom DeLonge, Ed O’Brien, Polyphia, Tosin Abasi, Yvette Young and many more. In his free time, you’ll find him making progressive instrumental rock under the nom de plume Maebe.