| As we look ahead to the new year, here are a few artists we are particularly looking forward to hearing more from. | 
Graphic: Hazel Blacher | Words: Hazel Blacher, Elvis Thirlwell, Lloyd Bolton |
| | A fresh chapter in music stands before us, all its gleaming potential veiled with tantalising unknowns, and we at HoH are braced for action and enthusiastic to get stuck into the year ahead. Taking a deep dive into some of the artists we are most excited about heading into 2026 feels like a great way to kick start January and distract ourselves from the seemingly relentless winter gloom. From the pummelling electro-noise of Leeds' Bathing Suits to the hopecore-imbued electronic experimentalism of Another Country $$$$, here we break down 10 up-and-coming acts that we simply can't get enough of, set to shape the musical landscape of 2026. | | Under the bright, auspicious glow of English Teacher's post-Mercury Prize lustre, the city of Leeds has emerged as a new music epicentre over the last year. Driven by the community spirit of grassroots labels like Private Regcords and the same awestruck peer-to-peer creative elevation that spawned Brighton's similar explosion of new bands a few years ago, the city is now commanding the attention of tastemakers, with Bathing Suits leading the charge as a thrilling, formidable new force to be reckoned with. Fusing bludgeoning techno hedonism with a razor-sharp post-punk destruction akin to bands like Mandy, Indiana or Gilla Band, the four-piece have carved out a chunk of fresh, reckless electro-noise urgency in the current landscape of noughties revival. Wholeheartedly abiding by their self-penned mantra "Always dancey. Always loud. Always sexy"– which one could argue is the Holy Trinity of putting on a fucking great show – Bathing Suits are a tenaciously strong live prospect, destined to grace the likes of much bigger stages later down the line if they continue at their current trajectory. (Hazel Blacher) | | When Worldpeace DMT & Rowan Please dropped their joint debut album 'The Velvet Underground & Rowan' back in July last year, the record existed in relatively obscurity for its first few months of life – an untapped wellspring of sun-soaked, off-kilter indie pop earworms recalling a slew of influences from Animal Collective to the Elephant 6 collective. The London-based project, led by multimedia artist Leo Fincham, has been gradually amassing a cult following over the last 6 months, accelerated by a cross-country US tour with Bassvictim that has led to tastemaker support from key figures & publications (including a lofty Pitchfork review that was only published retrospectively in January this year). Crafting a sound that applies a twee, unpolished maximalism to a motley of genre-spanning references, Worldpeace DMT's sound is a markedly singular one in the spaces they are growing traction, and 2026 could be a big year for them. (Hazel Blacher) | | Manchester-based duo SILVERWINGKILLER are quickly developing a reputation for their intense live shows backed by indelible recordings. The band are intent on incorporating the visceral energy of punk into the relatively controlled domain of electronica. This makes for high energy shapeshifters of songs, full of unpredictable but cathartic jump cuts like those heard on recent single 'ROOF ON FIRE (X OVER9000)'. Added to this are intense trilingual vocals and a catalogue of simply enormous sounds (the engine revving 'S.W.K.' is enough to set the stage). Having let loose their debut EP 'TRIAD FUNDED' in November, the band are setting up to take their monstrous sound to bigger stages, a tour supporting Adult DVD next month kicking off their year. (Lloyd Bolton) | | A rousing creative union between three flourishing solo artists in their own right – Max Winter, Will Lister and Imogen Williams (of Imogen & The Knife) – thredd are arguably one of the most exciting supergroups to emerge from London over the last year. Their succinct, stunning debut album 'It's Lovely, Come On In' arrived in 2025 via label-of-the-minute Scenic Route (also responsible for releases from Acopia, Nourished By Time and BLACK FONDU), combining a delicate singer songwriter intimacy with an icy minimalist alt-pop aloofness. thredd's output spans from 2010s glitch-pop nostalgia through to steady paced trip hop, shrouded under velvety, low-lit production that in turn makes for a captivating live show – as we discovered when we caught their intimate headline show at Spanners late last year. (Hazel Blacher) | | Ninush caught our attention last year with the incredible debut single 'Stardoll'. A tour last year with former Guildhall classmates Black Country, New Road announced Ninush on her own terms as a striking new voice within that extended universe. Her formally experimental songs bring together orchestrally lush arrangements with vulnerable pop songwriting, thriving in that disjuncture. Intricate strings are her particular hallmark, whether dancing across a song like 'I Don't Mind' or gently burning away as they do on 'Stardoll'. Indeed, outside of her solo work, she has arranged for artists including Holly Humberstone, JADE and Little Simz. Now at last developing her solo catalogue, we can't wait to hear the rest of Ninush's debut EP, 'The Flowers I See You In', this February. (Lloyd Bolton) | | One of the most talked about bands among audiences and industry folk alike at Rotterdam's Left of the Dial festival last year, Vancouver natives PISS are ushering in a new era of gritty punk performance art, deeply affecting near enough every audience member that they manage to get in front of with their uncompromising gut-punch of a live show. In stark contrast to the humorous frivolity of their namesake, the Canadian quartet – fronted by lead singer Taylor (Tay) Zantingh – confront distressing themes of sexual violence that strike the nerve directly, leading them to issue a content warning before each performance as standard practice. Channelling Zantingh's visceral fury and distress into a screeching, dissonant eruption of hardcore, noise and punk, PISS are a one in a million live act and a vital pressure valve of activism against one of the most insidious, pervasive crimes of our world. Go and see this band – I repeat, go and see this band. (Hazel Blacher) | | Ahead of her debut album releasing next month, Alice Costelloe is becoming an early 2026 favourite of ours. As on her previous EP 'When It's the Time', she has teamed up with Mike Lindsay (of Tunng and LUMP fame), the new singles taking her sound in a direction of disturbed dreaminess. Pert mellotron flutes bring a kind of bedroom majesty to so much of the new record and draw out the Cate le Bon undertones of Costelloe's cadence. Meanwhile, her live shows, which are more immersed in the music's underlying textures, feel closer to Julia Holter. Poignant slow-burner 'Anywhere Else' and the catchy, countrified 'Damned If You Do' are early highlights among the singles. The album, 'Move On With The Year', is shaping up to be an absorbing, idiosyncratic gem. (Lloyd Bolton) | | Staking a claim as one most compelling new rock bands in the country, Formal Sppeedwear's set at Manchester Psych Fest last September might have been one of the best we saw across the whole of 2025. Perhaps the finest thing to come out of Stoke-On-Trent since steel, this three piece are firing out sparks at industrial scales. Absurd, nonsense lyricism barked over endless, snaking bass? Check. Frippian guitar flourishes flashing like memories of a retro-future? Check. Drum beats that could excavate whole hill sides? Check. Single-handedly trailblazing a 70s glam Bowie/Roxy Music/Eno/Talking Heads revival with an army of one, the band closed off last year with a brace of excellent singles, and who knows, maybe an album is soon to follow on the similarly excellent Melodic Records. (Elvis Thirlwell) | | Emerging from the prolific Manchester underground scene, Another Country $$$$'s experimental, electronic, dance-fused instrumentals are complicated and beguiling like no other. Like exploring the surface of an undiscovered planet, plunging through the iridescent overgrowth, living a stone and seeing all the grime and damp and beautiful undiscovered life pour out, Another Country $$$$ captures the gorgeous with the grotty, mixing diamonds into the dirt. Tapping into a mangled, psycho-futuristic aesthetic inspired by Japanese horror (in particular by 2001's pulse), the band are fresh from Pitchfork Festival's London edition and racking up billings on various tastemaker hitlists across the UK. Starting the new year strong too. their debut EP Cursed Frame, due 29th of January via Spinny Nights, ties up their recording output to date with headlines to follow in February. (Elvis Thirlwell) | | A matter of months since their live debut last July, Little Grandad already have countless Windmill shows under their belt, support tours coming up with Man/Woman/Chainsaw, Thistle and Ain't, and a Steve Lamacq session booked for next Monday. Without any music released, it is their remarkably tight live sound that has inspired this quickly growing buzz. Complex vocal harmonies trade off against big slacker guitar riffs in a charming juxtaposition, framing catchy melodies and snatches of brilliant lyricism. Such tightly conceived tunes are rare from bands this fresh – Little Grandad are on to something special. (Lloyd Bolton) | | | | |
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