There’s still great stuff out there. It’s just not mainstream, so it’s not gonna fall into our laps - we have to do the legwork and shuffle through the muck if we want more.
Personally, I made the conscious choice to do so last year and it’s been pretty rewarding.
My favs from last year include:
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Cheap Grills by Sincere Engineer (a great energetic, alt rock garage band vibe)
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The Garden Dream by gglum (a moody alt rock album that would’ve fit perfectly on the Juno soundtrack)
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Spiritual Cramps by Spiritual Cramps (a sound that feels simultaneously The Cure-ish, The Clash-ish, and The Ramones-ish)
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Unicorn by Gunship (not an “unknown” band, but this album slaps if you enjoy synthwave at all)
The mainstream is so small and the ocean of music so wide that “not mainstream” is not *barely a meaningful term.