Khruangbin
A trio from Texas who turned dusty soul, Thai funk, dub, and surf guitar into a wordless, hypnotic sound that feels like the soundtrack to a movie only they can see.
Read the guide →
Phish
Four musicians from Vermont who built the most devoted following in the jam world by turning every show into a one-of-a-kind, deeply improvised adventure.
Read the guide →
Billy Strings
The kid from small-town Michigan who ran Doc Watson and Bill Monroe through heavy metal and the Grateful Dead, and became the biggest thing to happen to bluegrass in a generation.
Read the guide →
Tame Impala
Kevin Parker alone in a studio, building shimmering psychedelic pop one overdub at a time, and quietly reshaping the sound of modern music.
Read the guide →
Big Thief
Adrianne Lenker’s plainspoken, devastating songwriting wrapped in a band that can whisper or roar, often inside the same song.
Read the guide →
Tyler Childers
Eastern Kentucky country that refuses to be tamed, an Appalachian songwriter turning coal-country life into modern folk canon.
Read the guide →
Goose
Five friends from Connecticut who became the most talked-about jam band of their generation, blending indie songcraft with long, exploratory improvisation.
Read the guide →
Greensky Bluegrass
A five-piece string band from Michigan that plugged bluegrass instruments into the rock and roll ethos and turned acoustic music into a festival-filling force.
Read the guide →
Railroad Earth
Six New Jersey players who took a Kerouac poem and a bluegrass string band, plugged them into the endless jam, and built two decades of Red Rocks-sized improvisation.
Read the guide →
Dave Matthews Band
A jazz-schooled rhythm section, a violin standing in for lead guitar, and a live-tape culture that turned every show into its own record.
Read the guide →
Iron & Wine
Sam Beam's hushed, four-track folk that grew from bedroom whispers into lush, gospel-touched arrangements without ever losing its intimacy.
Read the guide →
Dope Lemon
Angus Stone slipped out the side door of Australia's biggest folk duo, grew a moustache of guitar fuzz, and built a smoke-filled universe of cats, honey, and pink Cadillacs.
Read the guide →
Built to Spill
Doug Martsch's Built to Spill turned interlocking, sky-reaching guitars into a template for modern indie rock. A patient, rewarding listen that shaped a whole generation of bands.
Read the guide →
Kendrick Lamar
The most ambitious rapper of his generation, building dense, jazz-soaked concept albums about Compton, Blackness, and his own mind. The first rapper to win a Pulitzer.
Read the guide →
J. Cole
A patient, self-producing craftsman who built a devoted following on introspection, plainspoken bars, and a refusal to chase trends.
Read the guide →
Tyler, the Creator
The Odd Future ringleader who grew from shock-rap provocateur into a lush, self-producing auteur, remaking his sound with every record.
Read the guide →
Travis Scott
A Houston maximalist who turns rap into immersive, psychedelic atmosphere, all haze and autotune and festival-sized adrenaline.
Read the guide →
Earl Sweatshirt
A prodigy who traded early virtuosity for something murkier and deeper, crafting dense, abstract, lo-fi records about grief and interior life.
Read the guide →
Mitski
The American singer-songwriter who built her career in New York and rose through the 2010s indie scene, from self-released records to acclaimed albums like Be the Cowboy and The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We.
Read the guide →
Phoebe Bridgers
A Los Angeles songwriter who rose in the late 2010s with Stranger in the Alps and Punisher, a member of the trio boygenius, half of Better Oblivion Community Center, and founder of the Saddest Factory label.
Read the guide →
Lucy Dacus
The Richmond, Virginia songwriter who built four albums of narrative indie rock and is one third of the acclaimed trio boygenius with Julien Baker and Phoebe Bridgers.
Read the guide →
Drive-By Truckers
The Athens, Georgia band led by songwriters Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley, built on a dense three-guitar attack. A leading voice in modern Southern rock and Americana since 1996.
Read the guide →
Julien Baker
A Memphis singer-songwriter known for sparse, guitar-and-voice indie recordings across three solo albums, and one third of the acclaimed trio boygenius with Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus.
Read the guide →
Mac DeMarco
A Canadian indie-rock songwriter based in Los Angeles who self-records most of his music at home. His warped, laid-back guitar tone and lo-fi production made him a defining voice of 2010s indie.
Read the guide →
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard
A famously prolific Melbourne band that hops between garage psych, microtonal experiments, acoustic folk, and thrash metal across more than two dozen albums, known for a relentless release pace and long, high-energy live sets.
Read the guide →
Soccer Mommy
The recording name of Nashville songwriter Sophie Allison, who began by self-releasing on Bandcamp before becoming a leading indie rock voice of the late 2010s and 2020s, moving from lo-fi home recordings to fuller guitar-driven studio production.
Read the guide →
Japanese Breakfast
The solo project of Philadelphia songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Michelle Zauner. Across four Dead Oceans albums it grew from lo-fi bedroom pop into lush, widescreen indie pop and art rock.
Read the guide →
Tedeschi Trucks Band
A twelve-piece American ensemble led by slide guitarist Derek Trucks and singer-guitarist Susan Tedeschi. Formed in 2010, the band blends blues, soul, gospel, and rock, and won a Grammy for its 2011 debut Revelator.
Read the guide →
My Morning Jacket
My Morning Jacket is an American rock band formed in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1998 and led by Jim James. Known for reverb-heavy vocals and expansive live shows, they became a defining 2000s indie and jam-scene act.
Read the guide →
Lukas Nelson
Singer, guitarist, and songwriter Lukas Nelson leads the country and roots-rock band Promise of the Real, which also spent years backing Neil Young. His catalog runs from classic country ballads to warm California roots rock.
Read the guide →
Larkin Poe
Larkin Poe is an Atlanta blues-rock band led by sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell, known for lap steel slide guitar and close sibling harmony across six studio albums.
Read the guide →
Chuck Prophet
Chuck Prophet is a San Francisco guitarist and songwriter who came up in the 1980s Paisley Underground band Green on Red before a long solo career, a witty, hook-driven roots-rock craftsman across albums like The Age of Miracles and Temple Beautiful.
Read the guide →
Tyler Ramsey
Tyler Ramsey is an Asheville fingerstyle guitarist and songwriter who spent a decade as lead guitarist of Band of Horses. His solo catalog runs from the 2007 debut A Long Dream About Swimming Across the Sea to 2024's New Lost Ages.
Read the guide →
Waxahatchee
Katie Crutchfield turned Alabama roots and lo-fi punk into some of the clearest American songwriting of her generation. Start with Saint Cloud and Tigers Blood.
Read the guide →
Zach Bryan
An Oklahoma-raised Navy sailor who went from phone-recorded songs online to selling out stadiums, writing plainspoken, big-hearted anthems that never lost their homemade grit.
Read the guide →
boygenius
Three of indie's finest songwriters, Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker, joined as one band and turned friendship into some of the most affecting rock of the decade.
Read the guide →
Sierra Ferrell
A train-hopping West Virginia busker who turned old-time music, country swing, and gypsy-jazz phrasing into a sound all her own, from the road to the Opry and a sweep of Grammys.
Read the guide →
Molly Tuttle
A California flatpicking prodigy turned Grammy-winning bandleader, Molly Tuttle makes bluegrass feel wide open and new. Start with Crooked Tree and follow the picking.
Read the guide →
Fontaines D.C.
Five friends who met over poetry in Dublin and turned literary swagger into one of the most vital, fast-evolving rock bands of their generation. Four albums in five years, no two alike.
Read the guide →
Charley Crockett
A street-corner busker from the Texas borderlands turned honky-tonk, blues, and vintage soul into one of the most prolific catalogs in modern American music. Start with The Man from Waco.
Read the guide →
Faye Webster
An Atlanta songwriter who braids bedroom indie, weeping country pedal steel, and slow-burn R&B into quietly distinctive pop. Deadpan, warm, and unhurried.
Read the guide →
Wet Leg
How two friends from the Isle of Wight turned dry wit and fuzzed-out guitars into one of the decade's most acclaimed debuts, a viral single, and two Grammy wins.
Read the guide →
Thee Sacred Souls
The San Diego trio who revived sweet soul for Daptone's Penrose label, cutting tender lowrider ballads that sound beamed in straight from 1972.
Read the guide →
The Black Keys
The Akron duo of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney turned raw, fuzzed-out basement blues into Grammy-winning arena rock. Start with El Camino and Brothers.
Read the guide →
Billie Eilish
The Los Angeles singer-songwriter who, with her brother and producer FINNEAS, recorded her early music at home and became one of the defining pop artists of her generation. A multiple Grammy winner, including Album of the Year, and a two-time Academy Award winner for Best Original Song.
Read the guide →
Erykah Badu
The Dallas singer and songwriter whose 1997 debut Baduizm helped launch neo-soul. A founding Soulquarian, she fused classic soul and jazz phrasing with hip-hop production across five landmark albums.
Read the guide →