Essential Listening: The best new music releases in February 2024 (week 4)
Discover the best new music of February 2024 covering DnB, indie, house, techno, hip-hop, and more.
Date published: 26th Feb 2024
Hello, and welcome back to Essential Listening, the feature that helps you discover the best new music of February 2024 (and every month after, of course)!
This week we’ve got new tracks from Kasabian, Rudimental with Skepsis, Charlotte Plank, and Riko Dan, The Blessed Madonna and Clementine Douglas, Free Nationals with A$AP Rocky and Anderson .Paak, MGMT ft. Christine and the Queens, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Fatima Yamaha, Moby and Anfisa Letyago, BIIA, Franky Rizardo, and loads more. It’s been a good week for tunes.
Check out the best new music releases in February 2024, follow the playlists to stay up-to-date with the best new tunes, and secure tickets to see the featured artists live below.
Essential Listening: House and Techno
Euphoria - CARV
Taken off his new four-track EP Sounds of Euphoria, released with Teletech, ‘Euphoria’, in true CARV style, is a hard and heavy-hitting techno banger with a driving kick drum and moments of distorted snares lifted from harder styles.
A stunning track, this one wears its influences from multiple genres on its sleeve, injecting dubstep/DnB-influenced drum beats around the 3:20 mark. Never stagnant, the track constantly evolves and offers something fresh every minute or so.
Another highlight on the EP is most definitely ‘Sounds of Gaya’. If you love those harder techno sounds with hard style influences, this is the EP for you. Give it a spin!
Get tickets to see CARV live here:
PRTY Presents Carv & Alex Farell | Friday 24th May 2024 | SWG3 in Glasgow
Teletech Festival | Saturday 3rd - Sunday 4th August 2024 | BEC Arena in Manchester
Essential Listening: Indie and Alternative
The Invisible Man - Maruja
Manchester band Maruja is back with a belter of an art piece. A foggy, tired track ‘The Invisible Man’ is a story with “lyrics shaped by personal experiences of dealing with loved ones struggling” in the mental health epidemic.
Spacey but somehow gritty and plenty jazzy, the band has crafted an atmospheric soundscape that, despite its darkness, is irresistibly alluring. Building up, spiralling as it does before coming to a crescendo, then falling tired again, we’ve got more of a journey than a song here.
A relatively new band, we reckon it’s only a matter of time before they’re propelled into the spotlight alongside their contemporaries like Squid and Black Country, New Road.
Get tickets to see Maruja live here:
Maruja | Wednesday 17th April 2024 | Hare And Hounds Kings Heath in Birmingham
Maruja | Thursday 18th April 2024 | The Shipping Forecast in Liverpool
Essential Listening: Drum & Bass and Jungle
Kites - Hybrid Minds & Grace Grundy
Liquid drum and bass heroes Hybrid Minds just never stop, do they? Teaming up with Grace Grundy for this one, ‘Kites’ leans in a pop direction, boasting catchy pop melodies and a glowing atmosphere.
Once it kicks in, it’s as if the clouds have parted, and the sun illuminates your path. Previous collaborator Grace Grundy provides vocals in this one, bringing a sweet and playful vibe into the sound.
Creating a very free and relaxed sound, it’s clear how hard this one will go at some outdoor festivals this summer.
Get tickets to see Hybrid Minds live here:
Bedlam ft Hybrid Minds, K Motionz + more | Friday 8th March 2024 | Y Plas in Cardiff
Hybrid Minds 'Tides' Album Launch | Wednesday 27th March 2024 | Jacaranda Baltic in Liverpool
Essential Listening: Hip-Hop and Jazz
Here I Am - Jehst
One of the most influential names in UK hip-hop, Jehst is back with another banger ahead of his UK tour, with tickets for the shows in London, Brighton, Liverpool, and Manchester’s best intimate venues currently on sale on Skiddle.
Produced by Apollo, this one sees the rapper lazily glide over a broken instrumental with a tripped-out guitar and occasional scratching. The delivery is perfect for the instrumental, which is a touch sombre but also poetic and definitely psychedelic.
A living legend of hip-hop, if you love the genre or are new to it and are keen to see what it’s all about, secure your tickets to see Jehst in Manchester, Liverpool, London, or Brighton now.
Get tickets to see Jehst live here:
Jehst @ The Jazz Cafe | Wednesday 28th February 2024 | The Jazz Cafe in London
Jehst live in Brighton | Thursday 29th February 2024 | Patterns in Brighton
Follow Skiddle's Essential Listening playlists featured above to discover the best new tracks released each week, as curated by the Skiddle team.
Check out our What's On Guide to discover more rowdy raves and sweaty gigs taking place over the coming weeks and months. For festivals, lifestyle events and more, head on over to our Things To Do page or be inspired by the event selections on our Inspire Me page.
Header image credit: Gerd Janson / Facebook.com