The Big Read
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Ninajirachi: “Magic is around all of us all the time, if we’re open to it”
Natural meets digital on Nina Wilson’s debut mixtape ‘Second Nature’, where boundary-breaking electronic pop is the vehicle for a reverent, cerebral spirituality
MUNA: “We believe in people taking moments of freedom and love where they can find it”
After being dropped by a major, the US trio bounced back by signing with Phoebe Bridgers’ label for their self-titled third record. With support dates with Taylor Swift beckoning, NME heads down to the tour that dreams of a “joyful queer revolution”
Nia Archives: “Jungle music has always been a strong sound of the underground”
Following a breakout year, the Yorkshire-born musician and DJ is now leading the charge for a new generation of ravers. NME pulls up a pew and raises a toast to the rising star in her east London local
Confidence Man: “Our live shows? It’s all the fun without any faff”
Light-up bras, champagne popping and heart-racing dance moves: the Aussie band’s gloriously fun live show makes for an unmissable night out. NME heads backstage on the year’s wildest tour
Japanese Breakfast: “There’s freedom and creative growth in not having anything to prove”
Following the success of third album ‘Jubilee’, as well as her stunning, soon-to-be-adapted memoir Crying in H Mart, Michelle Zauner is currently operating at the peak of her powers
Charli XCX: “I like playing games with pop music. I enjoy poking fun at it”
The pop innovator’s blood-splattered, chart-topping fifth album ‘Crash’ embraced the dark arts of the music industry. Following its immense success and the end of her record label contract, Charli’s destiny is in her hands
King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard: “If something is shit and no one likes it, you just put out another one the next month”
King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard are releasing three albums in one month and playing the biggest shows of their career. NME catches up with them on the road to talk the Coltranian complexity of new album ‘Changes’, prolificacy over perfectionism, and their glorious jam band era
Arctic Monkeys: “We know more tricks now, but we’re still rolling on that same instinct”
After a glorious, but divisive, sonic shift, the Sheffield band double down with their lush new album ‘The Car’, proof that they’re ready to follow wherever the road takes them
The 1975: “I’d rather be a pretend supervillain than some pretend hero”
How does an artist who lived and died by the sword of social media fight back? By having a laugh and with a little sincerity, Matty Healy tells NME
Slipknot: “Nobody created us except us – we have always drawn our own map”
Nearly three decades and seven albums deep, Slipknot have navigated a rocky path of brilliant highs and crushing lows that would put paid to most over bands. But, as their latest record ‘The End, So Far’ attests and frontman Corey Taylor tells NME, the metal icons are far from finished just yet.
Björk: “First you create a universe with sound, then you move into it”
The pandemic and the death of a parent saw the Icelandic icon strengthen her roots with home. In her first NME cover interview in two decades, the polymath talks new album ‘Fossora’, fungus and fighting sexism with Kate Bush
Parkway Drive: “It felt like a sledgehammer had been taken to all of our worlds”
While making their seventh album, ‘Darker Still’, Parkway Drive were pushed to the brink of destruction. They tell NME how group therapy saved them, and what lessons their story holds for men, music and metal in Australia and beyond