The Playlist

The Playlist is an eclectic collection of bands we've covered on Liquid [Hip]. The collection represents a wildly diverse range of genres, with a few bands reviewed more than once as the work merits it.

Although our picks are diverse, we recommend giving all of these artists a listen for one reason or another. Every band included is better than average (our scale starts where others would consider average). The best of the best is an asterisk, having scored an 8 or higher on at least one of their reviewed songs.

Since there are no duds, keep in mind in the scale doesn't always represent our personal favorites. There could be any number of reasons for it. If the genre listing doesn't work for you, check out our alpha listing on the music map.

Cool Alternative

Some of the best work cutting across alternative music.

AM Taxi (alt), Abel (alt), Arc & Stones (alt), Basement (grunge), Bettie Serveert* (alt), Frank Black* (alt), Bleached (alt), Bleeding Knees Club (lo-fi), Blood Red Shoes* (alt), Broken Hands* (alt rock), Cage The Elephant (alt), The Cave Singers (alt), The Decemberists (alt), Deer Tick** (alt), Dinosaur Jr.* (alt.), Divine Fits (alt), The Duke Spirit (alt), Dum Dum Girls (alt), Sully Erna (alt), Father John Misty (alt), Follow That Bird (alt), Gospel Music (alt), Kristin Hersh* (alt), Heavy Cream (alt), Jaill (alt), Janus (alt), Jenny And Johnny (alt), The Joy Formidable** (alt), Jounce (alt), Just Visiting (alt), Mark Lanegan* (alt), The Lemonheads (alt),  Lovedrug (alt), Lykke Li (alt), Shane MacGowen* (alt), Lykke Li (alt), The Mansions (alt), Michael McGinnis (alt), Middle Brother (alt), Mona (alt), Monks of Mellonwah* (alt), Moonlight Bride* (alt), The Mountain Goats (alt), My Gold Mask (alt), Liz Phair (alt), PINS (alt), Obits* (alt), Mikhael Paskalev* (alt. rock), The Phantom Band (alt), P.S. I Love You (alt), Replacements (alt), Dax Riggs (alt), Rival Schools (alt), Screaming Trees (alt), Sebadoh (alt), Ty Segall* (indie music), Serj Tankian (alt), Silversun Pickups* (alt), Solex (alt), Sonic Youth* (alt), Terry Malts (alt), Frank Turner (alt), Twilight Singers (alt), Two Wounded Birds* (rock/pop), Vaselines (alt), The Veda Rays** (alt), Tom Vek (alt), Kurt Vile (alt), The Walkmen* (alt), Wavves (alt), Western Hymn (alt), We Are Augustines* (alt), Jack White (alt), Widowspeak* (alt), The Young Evils* (alt pop).

Cool Folk, Blues & Country

Call it folk, folk rock, blues rock, roots rock, or whatever you want.

The Barr Brothers (folk rock), Jake Bugg* (Folk Rock), Peter Case (blues rock), Chadwick Stokes (folk rock), Gary Clark Jr.* (blues rock), Hayes Carll (country), I See Hawks In L.A. (country), Lincoln Durham (blues rock), Fort Atlantic (folk rock), Ben Harper (folk rock/blues rock), Will Hoge (blues rock), Chris Knight* (Americana county), Sunday Lane (songwriter), Bobby Long (folk rock), Malone And The Experts (folk/country), Daniel Pearson (americana), Luke Roberts (folk), Seasick Steve (blues), Richard & Lydia Thompson (folk rock), Reckless Kelly (country rock), Trampled By Turtles (folk rock), Sharon Van Etten (songwriter), Wake Owl (alt. folk) Gillian Welch (folk country), The White Buffalo** (folk rock), Hank Williams Jr.* (country), Wye Oak (indie folk).

Indie Rock

It's just like rock, with more rawness and rougher edges.

A Dangerous Summer (indie), All My Goodness (indie rock), The Babies (indie rock), Babysitter* (garage rock), Breathe Out (indie rock), Cloud Nothings (indie rock), The Collingwood (indie rock), Comet Gain (indie), The Dirty Nil* (indie rock), Disappears (indie rock), The Donkeys (indie rock), The Drowning Men (indie rock), DZ Deathrays (party rock), Eastern Conference Champions - ECC (indie rock), Eric Elbogen (indie), Fourth Of July (indie), Jason Freeman (blues rock), The Greenhornes (indie rock), Hanni El Khatib (indie rock), Henry Clay People* (indie), Wendy James* (garage rock), Japandroids (garage rock), Lions For Real* (funk rock), Little Barrie (indie rock), The London Souls (indie rock), Ralegh Long (indie rock), Male Bonding (indie rock), Manchester Orchestra (indie rock), Stuart Newman (indie rock) Nothington (indie rock), Oax (indie), The Orwells (garage rock), Paws* (rock-noise), Plants And Animals (indie rock), Two Gallants (indie rock), Spider Bags* (garage rock), The Stone Foxes (indie rock), Sun Wizard (indie rock), Trail of Dead (indie/prog), Triple Hex (grime rock), Vanaprasta (indie), Waters (indie rock), Wildmen (indie rock), Your 33 Black Angels (indie rock), Pete Yorn (indie), Yuck (indie rock).

Cool Metal

Anything heavier than hard rock from psychedelic to metal. 

As I Lay Dying (metalcore), Avenged Sevenfold* (metal), Baroness (metal), Bardo Pond (psych rock), Barn Burner (metal), Before The Dawn (metal), Chimaira (metal), Clutch* (metal), Demon Hunter (metal), Deftones* (alt. metal), Devil To Play (metal), Disturbed (metal), JEFF The Brotherhood (metal), Gojira* (metal), Gozu* (metal), Graveyard (vintage metal), Indicator Dogs (metal), Kadavar* (psych rock), Kvelertak* (metal), Lo-Pan (heavy rock), The Luck of Eden Hall (psychedelic), Napalm Death* (grindcore), Newsted* (metal), Red Fang (metal), Rev Theory (metal), Times Of Grace (metal), Torche (metal), Tweak Bird (psychedelic), Uncle Acid And The Deadbeats* (metal), Witch Mountain* (metal), Wet Nuns (blues-punk), Who Cares (metal), Wo Fat* (metal).




Cool One Off Pop

We almost never cover pure pop, but do find one off favorites.

Ruby Amanfu (songwriter), Atmosphere (hip hop/rap), The Airborne Toxic Event (indie pop), Black Party Politics (indie pop), Care Bears On Fire (pop punk), Chris Cohen (psych pop), Mac DeMarco (indie pop), Dexters (indie pop/rock), Eat More Cake (electronica), Funeral Party (pop rock), Jacuzzi Boys (indie pop), Junip* (indie pop), Serena Lauren (pop), Chris Lee (alt pop), Generationals (alt pop), Graciela Maria (indie pop), Hospitality* (indie pop/rock), Modern Superstitions (indie pop), Moonlight Bride (noise pop), Misfit Sugar (indie pop), No Doubt (pop rock), Now, Now* (indie pop), Of Monsters And Men (indie pop/rock), Papercuts (indie pop), Monte Pittman (indie pop/rock), No Doubt (pop rock), Radical Face (indie folk), Redlight King (indie), Rooftop Runners (alt pop), Saves The Day (indie pop), Sir Sly (indie electronica), Skinny Bitches (indie pop/rock), Spectrals (indie pop), Regina Spektor* (alt pop), Tapes 'N Tapes (pop rock), Tennis (indie pop), Tired Pony (pop), Tomorrows Tulips (indie pop), Tristen (indie pop), Ugly Kids Club (electronic rock), The Weeks (sludge pop), Wildlife (indie pop/rock), Youth Sounds (indie pop).

Cool Punk

Punk deserves its own section to cover all of its sub genres.

Against Me (punk), Bad Religion* (punk), Call Of The Wild* (garage punk), Ceremony (punk),  The Corin Tucker Band (punk), The Creepshow (punk), The Day I Snapped (melodic punk), Disraelis (post-punk), Dropkick Murphys* (punk), Everyone To The Anderson (punk), FIDLAR (rock-noise punk), Flatfoot 56 (celtic punk), Forever Came Calling (pop punk), Gallows (hardcore), Ghost Wave (punk), Colleen Green (alt punk), Handsome Furs (punk), The Kills (punk), The Menzingers* (punk), No Age (punk), The Ocean's Eyes (pop punk), One Man Army* (punk), Overwhelming Colorfast (pop punk), Parquet Courts* (punk), Ramones (punk), The Scenic (pop punk), Slug Guts (punk), Strife (hardcore), The Story So Far (pop punk), The Soviettes (punk), Poly Styrene (punk), Subwaste (punk), Sum 41 (pop punk), Tidal Arms (punk), Title Fight (punk), Virals (punk), X (punk), Xray Eyeballs (punk).

Cool Rock

When it's a little closer to mainstream, we put it here.

10 Years (rock), Alter Bridge (rock), The Arkells (rock), Atomic Tom (rock), Band Of Skulls (rock), Beware The Darkness (rock), The Black Angels (rock), Black Mountain (rock), Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (rock), Blink 182 (rock), The Bronx (rock), Cake (rock), Capsula* (rock), Charm City Devils (rock),  Counting Crows (rock), Dead Sara* (rock), Deepfield (hard rock), Deville (hard rock), Nigel Dupree (rock), Echoes The Fall (hard rock), The Fallen Leaves (retro rock), Jethro Tull (vintage rock), Gallon Drunk (rock), Gang Of Four (rock), Gaslight Anthem (rock), Godsmack* (rock), Ed Hale And The Transcendence (rock), The Heavy (rock), Ian Hunter* (rock), The Like (rock), Midnight Empire (rock), Moses Mayfield (rock), Middle Class Rut (rock), The Murder City Devils* (garage rock/punk), Nico Vega (rock), Pigeon Park (indie rock), The Pretty Reckless* (hard rock), Red Jumpsuit Apparatus (rock), R.E.M. (rock), Red Line Chemistry (rock), The Revels (rock), Rush* (rock), Social Distortion (rock), The Suppliers (hard rock), Tall For Jockeys* (rock), Thrice (rock), Trail Of Dead (rock), Turf War* (garage rock), The Virginmarys* (rock), The Whigs (rock), Wolf People (rock).

This is the playlist for now. We're still adding older reviews too.