Top 10 Alternative bands and/or albums to come out this decade

[x Tame Impala]

I'm in my mid-30's now which means I'm begrudgingly entering that phase where everything new is ass, nothing is how it used to be, and my music I grew up with is unquestionably the best.

Help me assuage this ailment. What're you guys listening too lately, what's the new good shit? I'm basically listening to Spotify 10 hours a day now so I'm down to give anything a shot. Thanks in advance!

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[Mescaleroman]

I enjoy some Idles and Sleaford Mods but holy crap , they've even been at it for 15 and 17 years respectively .

 

[the valiant effort]

The wife is adamant that Seattle’s KEXP is still an arbiter of what’s good out there.

 

[phrenssoa]

I tend to listen to individual songs more so than albums or artists (or genres for that matter). A sign of the times I suppose.

Some great songs from 2024:

Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars - Die With a Smile
Rau_Ze - L’habitude
Doc Robinson - Shake My Shadow
The Cat Empire - Blood on the Stage
Been Stellar - Sweet
Willow - Symptom of Life
Royal Tusk - Something Like the Truth
The Strumbellas - Steal My Soul
Waxahatchee - Right Back to It
Dvne - Plērōma

 

[Shareefruck]

Random pet peeve: People always throw around that "every generation complains about the next generation's music being worse" sentiment, but there's really no reason that can't actually be the case sometimes, from what I can see. Why couldn't it just be a down decade compared to others?

In a weird way, it's kind of taking great music for granted, isn't it? Just a forgone conclusion that it will always be guaranteed to be great/healthy every single decade? Regardless of cultural shifts for the better or worse?

Personally, I've noticed gradual declines, even from decades before my time to the decades where I was at my most impressionable. And I'd expect some spikes back up as well.

 

[phrenssoa]

Random pet peeve: People always throw around that "every generation complains about the next generation's music being worse" sentiment, but there's really no reason that can't actually be the case sometimes, from what I can see. Why couldn't it just be a down decade compared to others?

In a weird way, it's kind of taking great music for granted, isn't it? Just a forgone conclusion that it will always be guaranteed to be great/healthy every single decade? Regardless of cultural shifts for the better or worse?

Personally, I've noticed gradual declines, even from decades before my time to the decades where I was at my most impressionable. And I'd expect some spikes back up as well.

I think there is some truth to that sentiment though. The Greatest Generation disliked distorted guitars, the Silent Generation disliked the synthesizer, the Baby Boomers disliked rap, Gen Xers and Millenials complain about « overproduction ». At the end of the day whether a decade of music is viewed positively or negatively is entirely subjective and generally based on what you grew up listening to.

 

[Shareefruck]

I think there is some truth to that sentiment though. The Greatest Generation disliked distorted guitars, the Silent Generation disliked the synthesizer, the Baby Boomers disliked rap, Gen Xers and Millenials complain about « overproduction ». At the end of the day whether a decade of music is viewed positively or negatively is entirely subjective and generally based on what you grew up listening to.

Don't get me wrong, I agree that biases tend to run in that direction, I just don't think the previous generation's biases should necessarily be framed as the one bound to be proven incorrect and the current generation's biases proven correct (which seems to be what the saying implies/assumes). Biases run in both directions and the truth can be anywhere along that spectrum, IMO.

There legitimately are peaks and valleys in the impressiveness of different genres/eras that are easier to see with the benefit of hindsight. Sometimes the current generation overrates the thing that's fresh and it ends up being correctly dismissed by past generations (not every trend has merit, after all), while other times the previous generation are just out of touch and the current gen are the ones that get it. Who can say which phenomenon is actually taking place?

I notice the same phenomenon with how people sometimes respond to new slang being called obnoxious. Some imply that since every generation scoffs at the next generation's slang, then the next generation's slang must not be any worse, but it really doesn't tell you that at all. Even acknowledging that tendency, whether it actually is worse is still pretty 50/50.

It's good to acknowledge that bias is a possible influence on an opinion, but that's also no reason to (a) assume that it's the reason for it, or (b) take possible truth of that opinion off the table, IMO.

 

[ItsFineImFine]

Pretty slim/dry pickings for me I've given up and gone to look for more stuff in the 90s/00s including in other languages since record companies and inflation have killed this genre lately. I can't rank them but I'd say Wolf Alice are the best one by a good margin so far along with maybe Fontaines DC.

All of these have released at least two albums and had their debut since 2014 and it's all guitar rock at the least:

Wolf Alice (2015 debut, UK)
Radio Supernova (2019 Debut, Finland)
DMA'S (2016 debut, Australia)
Fontaines DC (2019 debut, Ireland)
Nothing (2014 debut, USA)
Desperate Journalist (2015 debut, UK)
Vennart (2015 debut, UK)
Alvvays (2014 debut, Canada)
The Beths (2018 debut, New Zealand)
Sorry (2020 debut, UK)
Porridge Radio (2016 debut, UK)
Yard Act (2022 debut, UK)
Hatchie (2019 debut, Australia)
Happyness (2014 debut, UK)
Dry Cleaning (2021 debut, UK)
The Murder Capital (2019 debut, Ireland)
Ducks Ltd (2021 debut, Canada)

Also I'm excited about this English band since they're an actual 90s sounding alt rock band not jangle pop or shoegaze or post-punk or some other sub-genre and their debut album was pretty good but they haven't released a second yet. Hopefully they aren't a one-album wonder like Royal Blood were.

 

[flyersnorth]

Don't get me wrong, I agree that biases tend to run in that direction, I just don't think the previous generation's biases should necessarily be framed as the one bound to be proven incorrect and the current generation's biases proven correct (which seems to be what the saying implies/assumes). Biases run in both directions and the truth can be anywhere along that spectrum, IMO.

There legitimately are peaks and valleys in the impressiveness of different genres/eras that are easier to see with the benefit of hindsight. Sometimes the current generation overrates the thing that's fresh and it ends up being correctly dismissed by past generations (not every trend has merit, after all), while other times the previous generation are just out of touch and the current gen are the ones that get it. Who can say which phenomenon is actually taking place?

I notice the same phenomenon with how people sometimes respond to new slang being called obnoxious. Some imply that since every generation scoffs at the next generation's slang, then the next generation's slang must not be any worse, but it really doesn't tell you that at all. Even acknowledging that tendency, whether it actually is worse is still pretty 50/50.

It's good to acknowledge that bias is a possible influence on an opinion, but that's also no reason to (a) assume that it's the reason for it, or (b) take possible truth of that opinion off the table, IMO.

I'm not sure there is a "correct" assessment or something that is "correctly" dismissed.

Art is subjective. You can believe something is "better" or "worse" and that's fine, but that's really just your own evaluation of it.

Even if you use an objective measure, such as sales or billboard charts, does it really mean something is "better" or is it just an objective reflection of the subjective zeitgeist?

 

[ItsFineImFine]

Congrats.....dude asked for alt band recommendations from the last 10 years and you guys managed to derail it completely by building towards a discourse of what is alt rock

 

[Xelebes]

Maybe because Alt Rock was never a genre and more of a radio format. It's like asking where did all the Quiet Storm went to.

 

[Shareefruck]

I'm not sure there is a "correct" assessment or something that is "correctly" dismissed.

Art is subjective. You can believe something is "better" or "worse" and that's fine, but that's really just your own evaluation of it.

Even if you use an objective measure, such as sales or billboard charts, does it really mean something is "better" or is it just an objective reflection of the subjective zeitgeist?

My sentiment wasn't really intending to have anything to do with actual objectivity. If it helps, you can replace all instances of that with "future more valid and clear-headed subjective opinions, less influenced by generational biases" or if you think that's impossible for the specific person in question, then whatever general uncontroversial views that future generations are able to see about that very thing (say if in 50 years, people might look back and agree that finding the 2020s an abysmal decade in music either is or isn't all that unfounded or outlandish of an opinion-- In the same way that, today, with the benefit of hindsight, we can look back at the preceding generation who dismissed 60s music as looking awfully silly).

Whether that's actually the defacto objective right answer doesn't really matter, just as long as it's an opinion that can reasonably escape being dismissed, tossed aside or eye-rolled away for the other suspected reasons/influences that it is.

 

[flyersnorth]

Congrats.....dude asked for alt band recommendations from the last 10 years and you guys managed to derail it completely by building towards a discourse of what is alt rock

Fair enough lol.

I don't know what "alt rock" really is, but I come from a background of metal/prog metal/punk/glam rock/jazz/trip hop, and here's my faves over the past decade or so

Leprous - The Congregation
Leprous - Melodies of Atonement
Dream Theater - A View From The Top of The World
Michael Romeo - War of the Worlds, Part 1 and Part 2
Evergrey - The Atlantic
Sleep Token - Take Me Back To Eden
Caligula's Horse - Charcoal Grace
Curtis Harding - Face Your Fear

 

[ItsFineImFine]

You guys are honestly gaslighting at this point claiming things like alt rock is not a genre then have people recommending Lady Gaga in the same thread lol.

OP is looking for guitar rock which isn't metal or prog or folk or pop or some other particular sub-genre from what I assume.

 

[Ceremony]

No idea what qualifies as 'alternative' and really don't care to find out so here's my favourite ten albums of the past ten years:

First Two Pages of Frankenstein/Laugh Track - The National
Lobes - We Are Scientists
Blue Rev - Alvvays
Pressure Machine - The Killers
Your Church On My Bonfire - Paws
Art of Doubt - Metric
A Black Mile to the Surface - Manchester Orchestra
Painting of a Panic Attack - Frightened Rabbit
The Great Detachment - Wintersleep
Nobody Wants to Be Here and Nobody Wants to Leave - The Twilight Sad

If anything is disqualified retroactively I can provide replacements.

The only album I've listened to from this year is Dark Matter by Pearl Jam so I'm also not necessarily very up to date either.

 

[phrenssoa]

You guys are honestly gaslighting at this point claiming things like alt rock is not a genre then have people recommending Lady Gaga in the same thread lol.

OP is looking for guitar rock which isn't metal or prog or folk or pop or some other particular sub-genre from what I assume.

My apologies. To be honest I’m not really sure what alternative music is. I’m familiar with the vast majority of the bands you mentioned, and I quite like a couple of them, but I would classify them as indie rock for the most part. I would think that some of the songs I mentioned qualify?

I am far from a Lady Gaga fan but Die With a Smile is a great tune!

 

[Nemesis Prime]

Pep by Lights is a great album.

 

[The Marquis]

Just new bands from the last few years... you can look up new albums by old bands you like and give them a try. Most of the best bands in the genre are female fronted these days.

I'll give another recommendation for:

Wolf Alice
Alvvays.

To me, they are the clear front runners of new Alt-rock bands. Both of their newest releases are going to be on decade lists, near the top.

Otherwise check out some of these (not in any order):

Sylvan Esso - One of the more unique of the alternative music of the present day. Very original sound that sort of fits its own description.
Slow Pulp - A bit shoegaze, a bit dream pop.
Soccer Mommy - A weird female alt-rock artist who has a sound I'd describe a bit as shoegaze meets Dinosaur Jr without the wall of distortion.
Iceage - Male fronted heavier alt-rock band with a slight post-punk edge.
Ethel Cain - One of the more eclectic artists of the present. Hard to describe. Alt-Rock meets slowcore meets americana meets goth meets indie rock meets ambient. Songs run very long
Juniore - A really fun french language alternative band with an ever so tiny tiny tiny rockabilly sound.
La Femme - Another french language alternative band more in the vein of Mid-era Radiohead (Kid A, Amnesiac), and I'm not exactly sure how to describe them. Unique. Some of their covers are VERY NSFW, so look them up with caution.
The Dø - Sort of unusual indie alt band from France (sings in english).
Blushing - Pretty much straight shoegaze
The Beths - About as straight forward an alternative rock band as it gets in the 2020's.
Wet Leg - Yet another girl band... this one has some very good songs that really don't sound like anything else, but generally speaking fit nicely in that "alt-rock" sound.
Beabadoobee - Has a very 90's alternative female fronted alt-rock band sound, very accessible and poppy at times, but if you like bands like The Breeders, you might enjoy this.
Dum Dum Girls - Has a post-punk/goth/new wave sound, but also very poppy elements
Frankie Rose - Alt-pop with a slight influence from new wave
Hippo Campus - Another rare male fronted band, you seem to like Tame Impala... you should at least check this band out. Feels a bit Tame Impala meets Portugal. The Man meets R&B. Definitely different.
Hinds - Spanish all-female garage rock band. If they weren't from Spain, they'd probably be a big deal. I believe most of their singing is done in English.
Indigo de Souza - Alt-rock... unsurprisingly female. haha. Really great songwriting
Je T'aime - If you're into The Cure's darker music, you will almost certainly enjoy this band. From France with mostly English lyrics. Some covers are NSFW so beware.
Alkaloids - An Ecuadorian alt-rock band with a garage/post-punk sound. Really damn good.
Metz - Heavy as hell, post-hardcore. If you like the heaviest, but more punkish side of alternative music, this is a great band.
Snail Mail - Has a very 90's/early 00's sort of sound. Lazy vocals, straight forward instruments, not a heavy, but just straight forward alt-rock.
St. Vincent - Might be too old... but St. Vincent is one of the more unique offerings around these days.

 

[The Marquis]

It doesn’t appear I included them the first time, but there’s a new band called The Rocky Valentines that has a great old school alt rock sound with some shoegaze leanings. Actually really quite good. The song “Stick It Out” is a nice jumping off point to understand their sound.

 

[x Tame Impala]

Thanks for the suggestions so far!