Ms Ray will soothe your heartache with her gentle synthpop track, Miss You

There’s loads of music out there, and sometimes it’s hard to keep up.

Rather than letting the algorithm dictate your music taste, you can listen to Rated by THE FACE – a playlist that’s lovingly curated and updated by our (human) editorial team every week.

Charli xcx – My Reminder

Charli xcx is a massive Velvet Underground fan, And so it made perfect sense for her to enlist John Cale for House, the macabre lead single from her Wuthering Heights soundtrack album. Now we’ve heard the full record, it’s clear how important that acknowledgement of Cale’s genius really was, because his signature screechy viola sound is mimicked on a number of tracks. On My Reminder, the art house strings maintain the gothic theme in the background while Charli sings of eternal love over a driving synthpop beat. I haven’t seen the film yet, but I do know that My Reminder would tug on the heartstrings if it plays while the credits roll and the audience leave their cinema seats. DR

Ms Ray – Miss You ft. Nourished By Time

On her first release since 2024, elusive London musician Ms Ray delivers a song that has a soothing, almost hypnotic quality to it, with synthesised wind chimes chugging along in the background. Lyrically, Miss You does what it says on the tin, as she pines after someone she wishes she could be close to again; there’s no one better than Scenic Route alum Nourished by Time to join Ms Ray on the track, as her vocals wind themselves around his unmistakable Baltimore warble. ​“Everybody misses somebody,” she says in the press notes. ​“Writing and singing this track was really cathartic. An antidote to the pain that accompanies loss.” Keep an eye out for her upcoming EP, Melt, out 13^th March. JW

Baba Stiltz & Okay Kaya – Scandinavia

I loved Blurb, Okay Kaya and Baba Stiltz’s 2025 collaborative project, so when I heard that they were reuniting for Blurb 2 this year, I was all ears. First single Scandinavia speaks to the wider themes of Blurb 2 – namely, cultural heritage and belonging, with both artists sharing Scandi-US backgrounds. Written in the suburbs of Oslo at Kaya’s home, the track opens with a prolonged plucky, acoustic intro before melding into the shoegaze‑y guitars as these two third-culture kids harmonise about the complicated feelings going home can bring: ​“Scandinavia, overboiled, undercooked…my utopia, my dystopia/​Scandinavia, all that is in me/​all that is here”. TL

Ledbyher – Middle of the Elephant

You can get lost inside Ledbyher’s new mixtape, The Elephant. Across the tape, the Norwich-raised rapper-producer’s punchy drums hammer on the dreamy synths, as if to stop the songs from drifting away. On Middle of the Elephant – a melancholic track which, yep, is positioned halfway through the project – there’s a swelling metallic sound which brings to mind Radiohead’s indietronica classic Idioteque. Go and take a walk in the woods with this one in your headphones. DR

Central Cee – Slaughter ft. J Hus

A lot of people are saying that the UK’s oddball underground rappers are the new kids on the block, which – if you accept this theory – makes Cench seem like a seasoned pro and J Hus seem like an OG, despite the fact they’re both still under 30. On Slaughter, their first ever collab, the duo lean into a steely-eyed street theme reflected by music video’s traphouse aesthetic, with Cench reeling off dark double entendres and Hus effortlessly executing a verse that’s simultaneously soulful and menacing. Their era isn’t over just yet. DR