We all know music is cyclical – trends come and go, then come back again – but the beauty of today’s landscape is that several changes can happen all at once. Yes, there’s an Irish folk revival, but there’s also a brewing rock renaissance of ambitious young bands vying to be our next stadium act. Twenty-five years since The Strokes released their earth-quaking debut, Is This It, everyone’s buzzing about their fellow New Yorkers, Geese. Meanwhile, after something of a lull in the UK rap scene, things exploded last year, in such a way that it caused ripples on the other side of the Atlantic.
The other great thing about music today? Very few people are content to restrict themselves by listening to just one or two genres. Here at The Independent we’ll listen to anything as long as it’s good, and there’s plenty to get excited about this year: from spaced-out alt-pop to a Kentucky take on riot grrrl rock.
