Music in 2026: The year ahead in reading, raving and post-rocking

I must admit, these days I tend to size up the new year with some trepidation; nothing feels comfortably predictable, even the seasons don’t really land when they’re supposed to any more. My best solution, as always, is to plot a path through 2026 based on what I’m most looking forward to reading, listening to and looking at.  

Get the latest news and insight into how the Big Issue magazine is made by signing up for the Inside Big Issue newsletter

Wordplay Magazine returning to print, for example, is a welcome course correction. Wordplay has always been good at holding jazz, rap and soul in the same conversation without smoothing off any edges. After four years as a purely online enterprise they relaunched at the end of November 2025 with Lord Apex and Emma Jean Thackray on the covers, and will be rolling forward into 2026 as an object that lives on coffee tables, filling homes with that inimitable freshly printed magazine smell.  

I’m also looking forward to holding Madra Salach’s debut EP It’s a Hell of an Age (out 23 January) in my hands. A buzz has been gathering around the Dublin six-piece owing to their brilliant live shows and singles blending post-rock and traditional Irish references, particularly the lyrics and delivery of frontman Paul Banks, with a voice reminiscent of Luke Kelly’s forceful tenor. Their debut single “Blue & Gold” attracted much enthusiasm both on air and in print, and the band will be touring the UK in March.  

Read more:

• From Oasis to… who? Why we need help nurturing our next generation of northern music stars 
• Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker: ‘We only have a finite amount of time to do the things we do’
• Hip-hop pioneers Kneecap on peace, Super Noodles and bringing Irish into the modern day

Belgian electronic duo Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul are rumoured to be releasing a new album, finally following up 2022’s Topical Dancer, a record hailed around the world for its lush, dynamic production and satirical lyrics covering everything from cultural appropriation to sexual awakenings. The record still sounds like nothing else and has had many of us on tenterhooks, nearly four years later, anticipating whatever they’re planning next.  

This year also presents a long-awaited opportunity to read Flyboy in the Buttermilk, Greg Tate’s dispatches from the edge of US culture, featuring notes on jazz, hip-hop, politics, fashion, art and African American identity, as it comes back into print in early February. Originally published in 1992, this new edition will feature an introduction by Hanif Abdurraqib and a foreword by Questlove. Tate, who passed away in 2021, wrote extensively for theVillage Voice, Vibe andSpin during the ’80s and ’90s and was known for his humour as much as for his candour. He was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 2024.  

More reading material arrives in May as Daniel Dylan Wray’s history of independent music in Sheffield, Groovy, Laidback and Nasty, is published by White Rabbit. It promises a sweep of nearly seven decades, more than 150 interviews with some of the architects of the city’s world-renowned music scene, from Cabaret Voltaire and The Human League through Pulp and Arctic Monkeys, Self Esteem and Richard Hawley. I am curious to hear the consensus on what makes the city such fertile ground for such a broad range of sounds.  

When I’m finished hibernating, I have a few festivals in my sights, although one of them I am loath to mention as its low key intimacy is a large part of its appeal. Krankenhaus, a festival curated by Sea Power in the stunning grounds of Muncaster Castle on the west edge of the Lake District, was set to take a break this year but the team have fortunately been forced by popular demand into returning at the end of August. I do mean intimate; the tickets are limited to around 2,000 people and the whole event takes place between one small barn, one smaller outdoor stage and various atmospheric, high ceilinged, slightly spooky rooms within the castle itself.

Sea Power will play, although no one else has been confirmed for the line-up yet. Last year featured Stewart Lee, Arab Strap, Throwing Muses and Jane Weaver along with the annual dog show, curated walks and falconry. It was the highlight of my summer.  

This year I’m also determined to finally attend We Out Here festival in Dorset, Gilles Peterson’s four-day gathering celebrating jazz, soul, hip-hop, house and all the liminal spaces in between. Stereolab, Yazmin Lacey, Mulatu Astatke and Arthur Verocai are already confirmed for 2026, but the music is almost beside the point; everyone I know who has attended mentions the energy as being unlike any other festival, a sort of lucid dream where you discover your new favourite band while also making new friends for life. I’m hoping it meets my expectations. Regardless, it’s something else to look forward to.  

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. 

Change a vendor’s life this winter.

Buy from your local Big Issue vendor every week – and always take the magazine. It’s how vendors earn with dignity and how we fund our work to end poverty.

You can also support online with a vendor support kit or a magazine subscription. Thank you for standing with Big Issue vendors.