Some Artists to Add to Your Playlist
I think one of my favorite parts of listening to music is finding an artist I like and realizing they have an entire discography for me to work through. There's something so satisfying about finding a song that scratches a very specific itch in your brain, looking up the person who made it, and suddenly having ten more songs to add to a playlist. I've found some of my favorite artists this way, and at this point, finding new music has become almost as much of a hobby as listening to it.
There's a lot of different ways to go about it. One of my favorites is looking at the artists I already listen to and seeing who they listen to themselves. Sometimes this means finding an artist's influences, sometimes it's opening acts or collaborators, and sometimes it's just a musician posting about someone they like. Social media has been particularly good for this, especially TikTok, where I've found myself going down some pretty deep rabbit holes after hearing a fifteen-second snippet of a song played live.
I'm also a big fan of New Music Fridays, which, for me, means listening to as much of the music released that Friday as I can. It's an easy way to stumble across artists I wouldn't have searched for on my own. Following music critics, publications, and other blogs helps, too, especially when I'm looking for something outside my usual rotation. Between all of these, I have a fairly consistent supply of new music to listen to, which is probably good for me and terrible for my Spotify listening statistics.
Anyway, all of this is to say that I've spent a lot of time finding artists who I think deserve more listeners, and I wanted to share a few of them. Some of these people are smaller than others, but I just think these artists make really good music, and if I can convince even one person to give them a listen, I'd consider that a success.
Nep
I found Nep through an acoustic performance of her song "Doc" on TikTok. There's something about her music that feels like if a scrapbook were a song, with all the little details, memories, and emotions that come with one. If I had to compare her to more familiar artists, I'd probably say Pinegrove and Leith Ross, with the sort of personal, almost conversational songwriting and a twangy but catchy guitar tune in the back.
My favorite thing about Nep's music is that it can feel really intimate without becoming overly serious about itself. There's a certain charm to the way she writes, and I think her songs are particularly good at making small observations feel worth paying attention to. That being said, the song I'd recommend starting with is actually a newer release, "peripheral," specifically the rock version rather than the acoustic one.
The production on "peripheral" is so much fun. It's punchy, energetic, and full of little details that make the song exciting to listen to, and it gives the lyrics room to be funny and memorable without losing their impact. I think it's a great introduction to her music because it shows off that playful side of her songwriting while still giving you a sense of what makes her more story-driven songs so good. If you like "peripheral," I'd definitely recommend going back through her other releases and seeing what else catches your attention.
My favorite line from the song is "I fell harder than a sunset / That's a metaphor I have never chosen to use!" It's incredibly effective, especially when being called back to later in the song, and it's the exact amount of catchy to have been stuck in my head for the past two weeks.
Brooke Wheeler
I found Brooke Wheeler through a promotional video for her song "whisper" on TikTok, and I'm glad I did, because the production on her music is one of the most immediately distinctive things about it. Wheeler describes her sound as a combination of Frutiger Aero and shoegaze, which I'd say is a pretty accurate description. For anyone unfamiliar with the former, Frutiger Aero is that glossy, futuristic, early-2000s visual aesthetic associated with blue skies, water, bubbles, and the sort of technology advertisements that made the future look like a really clean swimming pool. Combining that with the hazy, layered guitars of shoegaze makes for an incredibly unique music identity that I haven't seen in any other artist recently.
The production is what really sells it for me. Her music has all these little effects and textures that make the songs feel almost artificially colorful, but in a way that works with the songwriting rather than distracting from it. There's something really distinct about the way the different sounds interact, and I think her music does a particularly good job of making its production feel like an extension of the artist herself.
Her new EP, Frutigaze, is where I'd recommend starting. "Stardust" and "whisper" are both great examples of what she's doing, with effects on her voice and the background that make the songs feel like you're inside MS Paint while listening. That's probably a strange way to describe music, but I think it's the best way I can explain the particular combination of color and hazy atmosphere that makes her sound so fun. The songs have a very specific visual quality to them, which I always appreciate in music.
One of my favorite lines is "and there's a story / in the stitch of your shirt and the subtleties in my eye." I like the attention to little details here, especially in a song where the production is already doing so much to create a particular atmosphere.
Buboy
I cannot sing this guy's praises enough. Pretty much all of my friends have been forced to listen to his music at some point of time in my presence, and for good reason. Buboy is easily one of my favorite artists at the moment, and I genuinely think more people should be listening to him. If I had to give a quick comparison, I'd say Dominic Fike and beabadoobee, but, dare I say, better? That's obviously a matter of personal taste, but I think there's something particularly compelling about the way Buboy combines catchy, guitar-driven music with really earnest and relatable songwriting.
I found him through a video of a live performance of his song "Wasted Fridays," which was so catchy that I couldn't get it out of my head for an entire week. Eventually, I had to give in and listen through his full discography, and I'm very glad I did. There's something about his music that makes it feel familiar without making it feel derivative. The production is grounded in guitars and atmosphere, with the instrumentation often doing as much work as the lyrics to establish the scenery of a song. You can almost picture the places his music takes you, even when the songs themselves are about very different things. One of the things I appreciate most about his discography is how much it feels like growing up, even though each song approaches that experience differently.
If you're going to listen to one project, make it his EP Sixteen. It's brilliant all the way through, and I think it captures what makes him such an interesting artist. My particular favorite is "Stubborn," which will almost certainly be making it onto my Spotify Wrapped this year. It's got a brilliant guitar melody in the back with a natural buildup into an incredibly catchy chorus.
My favorite lyric is "You draw pictures on your kneecaps / I draw comic books and relapse." I love the contrast between the two images, and the way the line feels so specific to a particular person and moment in time. If you take something away from this article, please give Buboy a listen.
Jake Minch
Jake Minch is probably one of the bigger artists on this list, but I still think he's worth talking about. His music sits in a space that reminds me a lot of Phoebe Bridgers and Elliott Smith, with the same sort of emotionally direct songwriting, although his production tends to feel a little more grounded. His songs have a way of making difficult feelings sound almost embarrassingly simple, as though he's managed to put something into words that you've been trying to explain to yourself for years.
I found him through an acoustic TikTok of his song "handgun" a few years ago, and I've followed his music since. What initially caught my attention was the songwriting, and that's still what keeps me coming back. I think there's a particular skill involved in writing lyrics that feel natural while still being memorable, and Minch is very good at it. His songs don't need to rely on elaborate metaphors or particularly complicated language to get their point across. Sometimes the most effective thing you can do is say something plainly, and let the feeling behind it carry the weight.
I'd recommend starting with his album George, which has plenty of examples of the sort of writing I'm talking about. My particular pick is "First I Was," a song that I think demonstrates how effective his songwriting can be. It's the sort of track I'd recommend to someone who likes music that feels personal and unfiltered, especially if they're drawn to artists who can make a relatively simple arrangement feel emotionally substantial.
My favorite lyric of his is "Baby, you can be the talker / I have given you my mouth." I think it's such a good example of how much he can communicate in a very small space.
Patrick Witkowski
Patrick Witkowski is probably the most alternative-rock-heavy pick on this list, which makes him stand out a little from the other artists I've mentioned. His music is much more centered around electric guitars, and I'd compare his sound to Pierce the Veil and Foxtide. There's a heavier, more energetic quality to his songs, but they still have the sort of personal songwriting that ties them to the rest of my recommendations.
I actually found him through his covers before he had released his own music, so it's been fun to follow his work as he's developed his sound. When he eventually released "Nuisance," it became one of my favorite songs, and it's still a track I come back to regularly. There's some heavy guitars in the back, but his vocals are still front and center.
My recommended starting point is his EP Silence at Last, particularly the song "Calm Down." I think the track pretty accurately sums up his sound as a whole, making it a good introduction for anyone who wants to know what he's about. If you tend to gravitate toward alternative rock with a more emotionally driven edge, I'd definitely recommend giving it a listen.
My favorite line is "I'm partially confused, only half-abused / a misery with a grin." I like the slightly off-kilter phrasing, which feels like it belongs to someone trying to make sense of their own feelings without necessarily taking themselves too seriously.
Kevin Atwater
Kevin Atwater is another artist on this list who's already built up a pretty substantial audience, but he's from the area, so I had to represent him. More importantly, I think his music deserves the recommendation regardless. His sound sits in that acoustic, emotionally driven space that reminds me of Adrienne Lenker and older Troye Sivan, with an emphasis on songwriting that feels intimate and direct.
I found him through an acoustic version of "star tripping" that he posted on TikTok before the song was released. It's always interesting to hear a song in that stripped-back form before hearing the finished version, because you get a sense of what the writing sounds like without the production surrounding it. In Atwater's case, I think that initial acoustic performance was a really good introduction to his music, and it made me interested in hearing what he'd do with a full arrangement.
His new album Blush Red is where I'd recommend starting, especially with the song "God in my Head." It's catchy, the production is really fun, and the lyrics have that quality of being immediately relatable without feeling generic. I think it's a good example of how he can take a song that feels personal and give it a sound that makes you want to listen to it over and over again. The album is worth exploring beyond that track, too, but if you need one place to start, this is it.
My favorite line is "We dream about new ways to stay awake / and talk around the things we wanna say." It's a very simple observation of the feeling of wanting to connect with someone while avoiding the thing you actually need to talk about, but that's what makes it effective.
Some Closing Thoughts
I think there's something genuinely special about finding a smaller artist whose music you connect with. Part of it is the music itself, obviously, but part of it is the process of discovery. You hear one song, decide you like it, and suddenly you're working through an entire discography, looking up old performances, finding songs that haven't gotten nearly as much attention, and getting excited about whatever the artist might release next. It makes listening to music feel a little more active, like there's always something new to find if you're willing to look for it. And it makes the creative world feel less bleak, because there's always new projects to find and more to discover.
I also think there's value in paying attention to smaller music scenes, even if you're not particularly involved in one yourself. Music doesn't exist in isolation. Artists collaborate, recommend each other, play the same venues, and introduce their audiences to people they might not otherwise hear about. Finding one musician can lead you to five more, and before you know it, you've found an entire group of artists who share influences, friends, or a particular sound.
Supporting smaller artists doesn't have to mean spending a ton of money or making a point of listening exclusively to people with tiny audiences. It can be as simple as sharing a song with a friend, showing up to a local show, or giving an album a chance instead of skipping past it because you don't recognize the name. These things can matter, especially for musicians who are still building an audience. Even if you can't support every artist you like in every possible way, recommending their music to someone else is a pretty easy place to start.
If you listen to any of these artists, I recommend starting with the tracks I've mentioned and work your way outward. You might find that one of them becomes a regular part of your rotation, or you might end up discovering someone else entirely through their music. Either way, that's kind of the point. There's always more music out there, and I think it's worth making the effort to find it.
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