Bored of all your usual music? Well have a gander at what the Room Thirteen team are listening to at the moment and get some fresh ideas. Here are our choices to help you pick up your ears this June.

Listen along with our Spotify playlist


Andrew Latham

Max Raptor- Portraits
Just a great album full of great tunes that makes you want you do stuff.

Eureka Machines- Champion The Underdog
Yes it sounds familiar but it's just brilliant! Great melodies, big hooks, you want it? They got it.

Die So Fluid- The World Is Too Big For One Lifetime
Big choruses, interesting riffs, a touch of the gothic and a really solid live act. Top band, nice people, what's not to like?


Paul Chesworth

Rush- Moving Pictures Deluxe Edition
The biggest cult band in the World! 30 years after the original release comes this, their best album ever. Who cares if their best effort was 30 yrs ago, not me, or any of the 100,000 plus people who have just witnessed them slay the UK yet again. Tom Sawyer, Limelight, YYZ, all classic tracks and bring out the air bassist, guitarist and drummer in all of us. The DTS or 5.1 sound takes this album up to a different level - 11 !

Rainbow- Rising Deluxe Edition
The first album I ever bought and all other albums since have failed to match this one. Blackmore and Dio NEVER sounded better than this. Stargazer is undoubtedly one of the best metal tracks ever! Don't believe me, then you're a big Jessie.


Omar Soliman

Miles Kane- Colour of The Trap
After his stints in The Little Flames, The Rascals and The Last Shadow Puppets he's finally opted to go alone. Whilst he may look like a youthful Paul McCartney, the album leans more towards Lennon's solo efforts with a healthy smattering of 60s psych-rock.

Friendly Fires album- Pala
Is also getting played to death. Since it should be summer, the long player has all the sounds of a sun drenched carnival; of beaches, coconuts and 80s pop with a soulful pulse.

Submarine OST
In heady anticipation of the imminent Arctic Monkeys album and in tribute to the film, I'm also listening to the Submarine OST. For those who haven't seen the Richard Ayoade directed masterpiece, please do, if only for Alex Turner's wistful, acoustic take on the joy and pain of teenage love.


Will Cross

Funeral For A Friend-Welcome Home Armageddon
After an uneasy period that led to both bassist Gareth Davies and guitarist Darren Smith leaving the band at separate points, Funeral have gone back to their roots and it's the best state that the band have been in for years. 'Welcome Home Armageddon' is a brilliant album that brings back the balance between heavy and melodic that originally made the band's name such a force to be reckoned with and has already won back hordes of fans that may have been lost along the way. An absolutely unbeatable return to form.

Taking Back Sunday-Where You Want To Be
Having seen the 'Tell All Your Friends' reunited line-up's unforgettable first ever show at London's Roundhouse last Friday, it's no surprise that I've been caining the band's first three albums in anticipation of their new self-titled record due in June. Their debut and 2006's 'Louder Now' may be seen as the classics but this, their second album, for me is just as good and a genuinely underrated classic. Check it out if you haven't already done so. Such a brutally emotional album.

Skindred-Union Black
Britain's greatest live band have returned with their strongest album yet. 'Union Black' is a collection of socially-conscious, honest and undeniably uplifting songs that break more boundaries than a crazed tiger while sounding seamless and innovative. From the grime MC stylings on 'Living A Lie', through the pure dub of 'Guntalk', to the motivational summer anthemery of 'Make Your Mark'. One of the best bands this country's currently got to offer, catch them at Download in June, you'd be crazy not to!


Hash Piperdy

Audioslave- Audioslave
The three members of RATM that aren't Zac De La Rocha almost became the backing band for Macy Gray after their first split. With Chris Cornell the most focused he'd ever been, their first album remains their best. Standard formula of verse, chorus, verse, chorus, guitar bit, chorus, key change, chorus but it works. A rare album where you can pres play and leave the skip button well alone.

Hoodie Allen- Pep Rally
Not his real name (sadly), but New Yorker Hoodie takes some great British indie (Two Door Cinema Club, Marina etc.) and creates a cogent rap over the top, name checking everyone from Sam Raimi to Kate Moss. What's more, it's also available as a free download.

(We Are) Performance- Red Brick Heart
With a published novelist on vocals, you'd expect lyrics to be the strong point. But the Manchester-based trio also boast a brilliant line in synth-based melodies which stay with you and almost guarantee repeat listening. An uplifting band that you want to claim as your own before your mates do.


Lucy Sanderson

Beat Connection- Silver Screen
I actually find myself getting little cravings for this track. These chaps are keeping the good name of Moshi Moshi as shiny as always with their superb brand of electro-pop. I find myself feeling as content as a cat napping in a patch of sunshine when I hear the opening beat kicking in and it's proven to be a ticket to a perfect little sonic haven in times of disgruntlement, stress or bad hair. I've managed to miss these chaps play live three times now but by God, I will get there eventually.

Frank Turner- I Am Disappeared
Being a complete Turnerphile I have been getting kicky feet in anticipation of 'England Keep My Bones' coming out. This track made me add squeaking and hand clapping to my expressions of joy and excitement of said new material. It's utterly irresistible. In a controversial comparison I would say to imagine the emotional turbopower coupled with simplicity that you used to see in Dashboard Confessional... but sans whine and dressed up in the folk-punk fashion Frank is never seen without.

The Doobie Brothers- What A Fool Believes
I have a slight obsession with something known as 'Yacht Rock'. A notion- ney, lifestyle- spawned by a series on Youtube. It's all about smooth music you could envisage listening to aboard a boat... as well as wearing white slacks, nautical accessories and drinking Malibu from a pineapple. This song epitomises all that Yacht Rock stands for and it is necessary for anyone's summertime playlist. It's the king of mine.


Ross Pike

A Perfect Circle- Thirteenth Step
Someone much wiser than I described nostalgia as the 'hypochondria of the heart' but I remember not liking this album very much on its release. Despite that initial disappointment I've been coming back to it every year since 2003. If it's not atmospheric and doesn't have something to say it doesn't belong on this record.

In Solitude- The World; The Flesh, The Devil
Scary looking lads from Sweden invoke the spirit of Mercyful Fate and Venom on new full-length effort. 'Serpents Are Rising' is particularly effective.

Robin Trower- Caravan to Midnight
Wonderful guitar playing on this 1978 release from the former Procol Harum man. It's the perfect combination of blues, funk and soul for a Sunday afternoon.


James Stant

Here Come the Mummies- Single Entendre
An absolutely incredible album from Tennessee funk band Here Come the Mummies, who boast not only a wicked sense of humour, but an oustandindly tight sound. It seems wrong to single out individual songs on an album with consistent strength, but 'Pants', 'Bump' and 'Libido Knieval' particularly shine and would act as a wonderful introduction to anyone who has, understandably, not yet discovered this superbly talented ensemble.

Bowling For Soup- Fishin' For Woos
Not only are the Texan punk rockers now celebrating seventeen years together, but the fun-loving Grammy-nominated band continue to share their comical music through the release of Fishin' For Woos. Whilst the likes of 'S-S-S-Saturday Night' and 'Girls in America' are sculpted straight from the pop-punk mould that we have grown to expect from the quartet, 'Turbulence' is a touchingly mature power-ballad that proves the band are not just a one trick pony. If you are heading to Download Festival this year, make sure you don't miss them!

The Dollyrots- Because I'm Awesome
A fantastically colourful release from bubblegum-punk trio, 'Because I'm Awesome' would make a brilliant addition to any punk rock collection; the cover of 1970s hit 'Brand New Key' fits in effortlessly amongst the original material and whilst they may not yet have conquered British shores just yet, the American band definitely have the potential to make a substantial impact.


Jenni Wallace

The Jude- Ha Ha Goodbye
Up beat, dancey "vicious skiffle". Its blend of fast beats and smooth melodies are set to lead the charge of a new wave of Brit Indie/Rock

Lickspittle- Steve McQueen
It evokes laid-back coolness... from the funky bass beats to the punchy guitars and flowing layered vocals it's a fresh sound that gets your feet tapping and your head nodding

Day Of The Sirens- Dark Days, Pt 1 & 2
Taken from their EP 'A Kiss From Nyx' and split into two tracks that work together Pt. 1 soaring melodic emo-rock and Pt. 2 pure melodic post-hardcore. A perfect blend of harsh and smooth and all polished to perfection.