Emphatic, rapid-fire tough guy street rap covering the essentials: bitches, pimps, forty fives, Glocks, pills, hunnids, etc. Very good samples used for backing tracks. Check out "The fo Five."

Nice retro grooves with high vocals that can strain at times. A bit repetitive.

Mellow pleasant pop grooves with smooth vocals, but songs use the same moves and become repetitive.

Now defunct Scottish band on a reunion tour. Masters of the 3-chord chill indie groove, with lowkey chant-like vocals. Great for a mix. Click here for Apple Music playlist

Romance rap-pop that borrows a lot but is just original enough to not be meh. Check out "Root."

Post-punk band from earlier 2000's touring again a few years after one of the founding members unfortunately passed away. Lead vocals kinda sound like Ian Mckay in a good way. Earnest honest rock. Click here for Apple Music playlist

Traditional Portuguese ballads (fudo) with classical guitar

Lana Del Ray wading through mud. Serious, mostly dark, downtempo indie music not afraid of empty spaces and gothic moods. Click here for Apple Music playlist

Chill, honest melodic acoustic based tunes often with an island and/or 1950's vibe. A song or two would be great in a mix. Click here for Apple Music playlist

Elegant pop stylings. Nice tenor voice. Sorta disposable tho. Like you can throw it in your trunk and forget about it.

Abrasive punk rock with out of tune vocals. But they seem to have a sense of humor so there's that on the plus side. From Toronto.

Riot grrrl punk rock trio. Kind of dischordant. We're not sure what they're angry about, but they're angry.

Sad, heavy rock music with singing and screaming. We're getting very bad vibes.

Veteran band with lots of different sounds over the years, but sadly most of them feel like imitations of others, such as Green Day, Bush and Bauhaus/Peter Murphy. Listen to the real things instead.

Well executed prog speed metal video game music. Fast!

Heavy rock group that also mixes other eclectic styles into their compositions. Glossily produced. Excellent vocals.

Peppy alternative pop with good hooks, good vocals, and surprisingly good lyrics. From Tennessee. Check out "OK OK OK OK" and "Would Ya Could Ya." Click here for Apple Music playlist

Wonderfully infectious indie rock with lots of electronic percussion and effects. Strong vocals. Intereresting lyrics--L.A. is the backdrop for many songs. Cool production with collage-like sound loops and inventive breaks. Click here for Apple Music playlist

Hook-driven distortion rock with almost announcement-style vocals. Catchy grooves for such heavy music. First album came out in 1990, yet they're still rocking. Click here for Apple Music playlist

Very catchy straight-ahead rock, with the unique voice of songwriter Elise Okusami. Lyrics are inconsistent, but when they're good they have a freshness and creativity seldom found. Check out "Part Time" and "Goodbye, Goodnight." Overall great sound. Click here for Apple Music playlist