2014 IN THIS YEAR…

In one giant leap for robotkind, the ESA land a probe on a moving comet U2’s album Songsof

Innocence is controversially delivered direct to all itunes accounts

Gary Clark Jr. wins his first Grammy award for Please

Comehome GATHERING OF ANCIENT TRIBES

GOAT

The mysterious Swedish group channel Hendrix and world music to create a ritual in the form of a daring psychedelic rock song.

LITTLE KILLER

MERCHANDISE

Channeling New Order and The Cure, Florida’s Merchandise tap into their romantic side for pop hooks and layers of smooth guitar.

RED EYES

THE WAR ON DRUGS

Don’t know the song? Wait until the chorus and you’ll realise it’s been omnipresent since releasing!

FLYING GOLEM

WAND

Prog, psych and garage rock have never sounded more unified thanks to Cory Hanson’s laserfocussed riffs and hypnotic solos.

FIGURE IT OUT

ROYAL BLOOD

Bassist Mike Kerr’s huge tone on Figureitout is the result of splitting his signal into multiple amps and using pitch shifters for octave-up fun. Achieve a similar effect with a standard guitar by using an octave-down setting. Pop a compressor on the octavedown signal to tighten it up.

THE END OF THE AFFAIR

BEN HOWARD

Ben Howard is that rarest of beasts: a virtuoso guitarist with mainstream success. TEOTA is one of his toughest songs to play.

STEEP CLIMB

ERIC GALES

After some truly mouth-watering slow bends from Gales at the beginning, the torch is then handed to Zakk Wylde for a masterclass in pentatonics.

BUDAPEST

GEORGE EZRA

Festival favourite Ezra is unfeasibly popular, but even we’ll admit this number had us tapping our feet.