Music news: Ones to Watch – Five alternative acts who could have a breakthrough year

With last year being a year dominated by bands such as Turnstile, Fontaines D.C and Geese, which bands could spring forward and break through this year? 

Music News Blitz writer Freddie Thomas-Neher gives the first five of his 10 acts to watch in part one of a two-part series. 

Geese/Cameron Winter  

It does feel almost gimmick-y at this point to keep mentioning Geese as a band who could ‘break through’. 

Realistically, they already have, and they did a very good job of it last year too.

But with overwhelming demand for just about anything fans can get their hands on, the Brooklyn-born five-piece could be in pole position to have a mind-blowing year. 

With the release of their third (or fourth, depending on who you ask) album, Getting Killed, in September, the back end of the year was dominated by claims that frontman Cameron Winter is the “next big thing” out of New York. 

Comparisons to Julian Casablancas have refused to subside with Winter’s sold-out, rave-reviewed solo performance at Carnegie Hall in December being documented by Paul Thomas Anderson and Benny Safdie. 

That is the weirdest part about this endlessly busy band: the overwhelming success of Winter’s 2024 album Heavy Metal has created a market for him as a solo artist without diminishing the traditional rock frontman narrative with Geese. 

The band plan to embark on a world tour in 2025 with shows in the UK, including Bristol, Leeds, London, Manchester and Glasgow, all of which have been sold out and some venues upgraded to cope with demand. 

But again, a world tour will not be the end of it for Winter; his teasing of new music at his shows could lead to an end-of-year album release that would, surely, cement Geese and Winter as the next band up. 

Mac DeMarco  

It’s an odd feeling having to write about how Mac could ‘break through’ given that, once upon a time, the self-proclaimed ‘jizz-jazz’ multi-instrumentalist was almost untouchable. 

Six years without a traditional album will do that, though. 

The 35-year-old has, since 2019’s Here Comes the Cowboy, released over nine hours of music with 2023’s One Wayne G and Five Easy Hot Dogs, all of which are primarily instrumental and, in the case of the first, submerged in scratch-track code for names. 

A lukewarm response to his 2025 offering, Guitar, which was described by Paste Magazine as ‘stripped to its barest elements’, has left Mac in an almost unfathomable position a decade prior, being met with mostly indifference from fans. 

However, the Canadian has important plans to return to the UK in the summer after playing a set of shows late last year.

And amidst whispers of him handing out CDs of new material at shows, the stage is set for the indie icon to mark a return to form.

Westside Cowboy  

A four-piece alternative outfit from Manchester, Westside Cowboy burst onto the Glastonbury stage last year by winning the Emerging Talent competition and, with the release of their second EP, So Much Country Till We Get There, the self-proclaimed ‘Britainicana’ band looks set for a big year. 

After already supporting Black Country, New Road amidst their comeback last year, Westside Cowboy have also gained the highly sought-after gig to open for the aforementioned Geese on their UK tour. 

The slot will surely drive more of an audience into their welcoming arms, and the release of a full-length album is still evading them.

Any further releases this year could catapult the young band into the forefront of the UK’s alternative scene. 

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Dove Ellis

Comparisons to the late Jeff Buckley, a growing underground following and another support slot for Geese, Dove Ellis is an undeniably weird anomaly amidst a crowd of up-and-comers. 

To start with, who opens for a massive band in a different continent with barely an EP released? 

The answer in that case is Galway-born indie folk musician Dove Ellis, who, with the release of his album Blizzard in December (yes, after he supported Geese in North America) seems to be doing alright for himself. 

The 22-year-old (or 23-year-old, nobody seems to be very sure of much about this mysterious gentleman) plans to play shows in Dublin, Manchester, LA and New York

And, with the success of his album, more shows seem an inevitability. 

An unexplainable rise is a rare thing in the primarily manufactured music industry that we have nowadays, and Dove Ellis is a baffling, yet welcome addition to the scene who, if his cards are played right, could have a phenomenal year.

Death Grips  

“They’re not gone!” we all chant in unison. 

While there was a very real possibility for a long time that they wouldn’t, Death Grips seem to be planning a major-league comeback in 2026 after last year seemed to potentially spell the end for the experimental hip-hop outfit. 

February of last year saw leaked messages between keyboardist and sampler Andy Morin and an unidentified Instagram user alleging fellow band member, vocalist Stefan Burnett/MC Ride, "didn't want to do it anymore.” 

The band debunked this via an Instagram post, but only two signatures (Burnett and drummer Zach Hill, Morin notably absent) appeared at the bottom, sparking debate. 

An announcement in November made it clear that Death Grips were, in fact, not gone and had new material recorded for release, but again, only Burnett and Hill’s signatures were found at the bottom. 

The (maybe) three-piece have not released an album since 2018’s Year of the Snitch, and with nothing clarified about lineups or scheduling, they remain shrouded in mystery as always. 

However, if they did choose 2026 as the year to bring it all back, their patient fans and new ones will surely find a place for any new offerings, and, with their reputation undeniably preceding them, they could well find themselves in very good standing.

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