With a sense of hard, fast, and easy we were gifted lo-fi, hard rock roots/throwbacks this year; unnerving undertones, drawn out bass and all, and it was so, so good.
Tim Muddiman and The Strange stayed at the forefront with each song darker than the last, in just the best way possible. It's authentic and pure and too good to pass over before it's forgotten in the wave of new music 2016 will bring. Listen to "Wildwood Stone" and don't forget to check out "Your Drugs" and "Rolling Stones".
Midnight Barbers' "Damascus" was nothing short of hypnotic with running, old school riffs, harsh beats, and this echoing, uncontrolled brilliant reverb that demanded your full attention. It'll take a second listen before you can even begin to focus on lyrics and another just to watch a video as wonderfully twisted as the track itself.
Guaranteed to make you smile with its off-the-beat, drunken sounding lyrics and fun, fun riffs, The Savage Nomads "Rosy Tan" is like the just having come of age drunken love song you never knew you kind of really needed. Chill and unrestricted, it just gets better with each listen.
Electro rock deserves a shout out if only for its intrinsically 'hot mess' promised sound. The Singularity's "Wetter" is like a shot of 80's pop falling in with catchy hooks and hard beats and lyrics that just don't give a fuck in the absolute best way possible. Everything about the track, video, and drawn out guitar solo of a bridge screams throwback, and we're pretty glad this exists.
We're not going to say we love this solely because they're one of few all female bands delving into this lo-fi, dark and dreamy category, but we're super into this and it is so very cool to be able to feature some women in a genre that's largely dominated by men. Dreamy and unwinding in a drugged haze, Dolores Haze's "Touch Me" are all the hypnotic riffs you'll need to have you begging for more.
Rah Rah's "Be Your Man" is like a spacey, folk version of lo-fi grit, with its perked up chorus and pretty instrumentation, but put together in such a laissez-faire way that it hangs off the fringes of dreamy post-punk, rock on the upswing, alternatively imperfect and that's okay vocals, with some unforgiving lyrics for show. Really, be sure to check this one.
Car Seat Headrest's gasping, desperate lo-fi sound culminates nicely on irrepressible single "Something Soon". Mental illness, loneliness, teenage boredom, cathartic releases, and a video featuring the 'death' of the lead singer; it's got all the makings of a good grunge/rock/underground comeback, but with something wholly new and twisted you should already be on-board with.