From January through the end of March, several exciting new releases have emerged from the underground rock scene, including two from indie heavyweights Mitski and Courtney Barnett. Across indie rock, psychedelic rock, stoner rock, and punk, 2026 is already shaping up to be a strong year for new music. Here are eight recent releases from small bands that deserve your attention.

CREATURE OF HABIT BY COURTNEY BARNETT

After dissolving her label Milk! Records and releasing the ambient noise album End of the Day in 2023, Courtney Barnett went radio silent for the next few years. I started to wonder if we’d ever hear new music from her again. Then, last October, she returned with the single “Stay in Your Lane,” accompanied by a music video but no further details. Was this the start of a new album cycle, or just another standalone release like she’s done before? A few months later, that question was answered with more new singles, an official album announcement, and tour dates. I was overjoyed, but also a little hesitant. Following her underwhelming last album Things Take Time, Take Time in 2021, I wasn’t sure that I’d like what I’d hear from Barnett after such a long break. Creature of Habit finds her returning to form while branching out into folk, Americana, and new wave.  The folk influence is most apparent on “Sight Unseen,” her collaborative song with Waxahatchee, and “Mantis”, the latter likely inspiring the album’s cover art. Later in the album, synth-driven tracks “Same” and “Great Advice” bend into new wave experimentation. “One Thing at a Time” feels the most reminiscent of her earlier work, while the closing track, “Another Beautiful Day” would fit comfortably alongside songs from her collaborative album with Kurt Vile, Lotta Sea Lice. Amidst these stylistic detours, Creature of Habit remains unmistakably a Courtney Barnett album. The record complements her existing catalogue while simultaneously marking a triumphant return. I’m glad to have her back, and excited to see how her music evolves next.

NOTHING’S ABOUT TO HAPPEN TO ME BY MITSKI

This list would be incomplete if I failed to mention Mitski’s latest release. A true shapeshifter in the indie world, Mitski has come a long way since her experimental debut, Lush. Over the course of her career, she has bounced between chamber pop (Lush, Retired from Sad, New Career in Business), indie rock (Bury Me at Makeout Creek, Puberty 2), indie electropop (Be the Cowboy, Laurel Hell), and even Americana (The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We), leading up to this new album. Along the way, she has cultivated a fervent, frenzied fanbase that call her “Mother”—a label she has openly resisted—and in doing so, she’s become a clear example of parasocial relationships in the indie world. Despite this growing fame, Mitski has committed to artistic evolution rather than languishing in what made her popular. Her music continues to expand in both sound and scope, incorporating a variety of instruments: from her familiar guitar and bass to pedal steel, orchestral strings, piano, brass, and now banjo and fiddle. While the album maintains a cohesive tone, no two songs sound alike, with each track exploring their own stories and sounds. In addition to this rich musical palette, Mitski remains best known for her lyrical depth and emotional precision. As a large figure in the ‘sad girl’ genre of music, she pairs aching, introspective writing with equally powerful vocal performances. On Nothing’s About to Happen to Me, themes of loneliness and isolation take center stage, present in earlier work but brought into sharper focus here. “In a Lake” captures the claustrophobic nature of small-town life, while “If I Leave” explores the fears and dependency within a toxic relationship. The especially haunting “I’ll Change for You” brings Mitski’s vocals to the foreground in a story of someone trying to salvage a relationship long past its breaking point. I could go on about how this album continues Mitski’s legacy and what each song means in relation to her previous works, but its scope is difficult to fully capture. With Nothing’s About to Happen to Me, Mitski returns with bold experimentation and her consistently depressing lyricism that has long defined her work.

GARIP BY ALTIN GÜN

Altin Gün underwent a major change ahead of their latest album Garip. Co-lead vocalist Merve Daşdemir exited the group, leaving Erdinç Ecevit Yıldız as the sole singer and the only member of Turkish descent. While Daşdemir’s vocals and the duo’s harmonies had been central to the band’s sound, Garip still stands as a strong release from the Turkish-Dutch band. Altin Gün built a following in the psych-rock world, no small feat for a band performing entirely in Turkish, due to their ability to preserve traditional Turkish folk songs while reshaping them with a modern sound. The band continues that mission through Garip, where all songs are covers of Neşet Ertaş, a Turkish folk artist who performed with just his voice and the long-necked lute known as the bağlama. Yet, listening to the album, it’s hard to imagine these songs coming from an earlier time. Altin Gün reimagines and reinterprets this material through a wide array of musicians—five now with Daşdemir’s departure—layering keyboard, guitar, bass, and drums alongside the bağlama. “Neredesin Sen” and “Öldürme Beni” slant more towards rock, while “Gönül Dağı” and “Bir Nazar Eyledim” bring keyboards and electronic effects to the forefront. Elsewhere, songs like “Niğde Bağları” and “Zülüf Dökülmüş Yüze” produce a more distinctly Eastern feel alongside faster tempos. Although Garip lacks a core element of the band’s earlier dynamic, Altin Gün continues to create a unique sound, successfully fusing traditional Turkish folk with modern psychedelic and synth.

YATTA! BY YIN YIN

The Maastricht-based quartet draw from a wide range of influences in their music, spanning South Asian psychedelia all the way to disco and funk. Oddly enough, all these elements can be heard in their music. It’s hard to categorize their sound,but it’s precisely this fusion that defines them in a style that has been evolving since their debut, The Rabbit That Hunts Tigers. In Yatta!, they shift away from the electronic foundations of their past releases and lean more into danceable disco. I normally hate disco, but it works here as a subtle underlayer to their signature psychedelic melodies. Their electronic and hip-hop influences are present in their use of samples, which are seamlessly woven into the breakdowns of each track. This approach is evident from the opener, “In Search of Yang,” that functions as a thesis to the album. Its sample of a philosophical explanation of the concept of yin yang recalls those used in previous albums while giving a nod to the band’s name, invoking ‘yang’ with its complementary ‘yin’ left unsaid. The next song, “Spirit Adapter,” incorporates light vocals that blur into the music, while the rest of the album remains purely instrumental. “Lecker Song” and “Elma” are strong psychedelic disco tracks, while “Slow Burner” and “Kasumi’s Quest” stray into the band’s electronic side. Amongst the variety of influences and experimentation, Yatta! feels cohesive throughout, with each song blending into the next.

NOT HERE NOT GONE BY BLACKWATER HOLYLIGHT

Blackwater Holylight’s progression across their catalogue has been an interesting one. Formed in Portland, Oregon in 2018, they debuted with a self-titled album firmly rooted in stoner rock. Their sound morphed into doom metal and psychedelia in their consecutive releases, Veils of Winter and Silence/Motion. However, the singles released ahead of this album, Not Here Not Gone, drifted more towards shoegaze. While shoegaze and doom metal share a foundation in slow tempos, heavy instrumentation, and lush vocals, it’s still uncommon to see a successful transition between the two styles. As I am more of a fan of stoner rock than shoegaze (evident by this list of releases), I was a bit apprehensive going into the album, especially since the pre-release singles “Involuntary Haze” and “Heavy, Why?” were firmly steeped in shoegaze. Fortunately, the final album is a strong and cohesive listen, successfully blending shoegaze and doom metal. The songs flow seamlessly into each other, drenched in heavy reverb and ethereal vocals. “Spades” and “Void to Be” stand out as heavier, doom-focused tracks, while “Mourning After” and “Poppyfields” close the album on a quieter, more somber note. Beyond the music itself, the album art is striking and memorable, capturing a woman mid-motion emerging from a bath of red paint–or perhaps blood? That sense of slow movement through a dense liquid mirrors the album’s essence perfectly. With this fourth release, Blackwater Holylight cement their status as a contemporary doom metal band to watch.

DUNGEON VISION BY EARTH TONGUE

The latest album from New Zealand’s Earth Tongue is an amalgamation of psychedelic rock, stoner rock, and doom metal. They fully lean into the genre’s satanic aesthetics, drawing on the imagery of 1970s and 1980s B-horror films in both their lyrics and music videos. As a duo, they generate a surprisingly massive sound, driven by just a guitar and drums, that feels far larger than its parts, greatest on “Body of Water”, “Watchtower”, and “Silver Eye.” Beyond the heavy fuzz-laden riffs and propulsive drumming, it’s Gussie Larkin’s vocals that distinguish the album from other stoner rock releases. Her harmonic, almost operatic singing style is rooted in her choral music background that elevates the entire record. Her performance is  most striking on the closing track, “Ritual”: the song begins in familiar territory, but fades into an acappella loop where Larkin does a four-part harmony with herself, evoking the cult-like themes that run through the album’s aesthetic. The effect is eerie and immersive, providing a memorable conclusion. I first listened to this album while walking through Eaton Centre, and it proved to be an unexpectedly perfect soundtrack to the mall’s cacophony and apocalyptic atmosphere. It stands as my favorite release from the band so far.

MOO BY KING TUFF

King Tuff has made a name for himself in the psych rock scene starting in 2008 with Was Dead, which blended lo-fi garage rock with psychedelia and surf influences. While he had a prominent garage rock base early on, his more recent albums, Smalltown Stardust and The Other, delved more into art rock and neo-psychedelia, trading fuzzy guitars for synth. MOO, however, finds King Tuff back in his element with a rock ‘n’ roll focused album that embraces simplicity and grit. This return to form mirrors his move from Los Angeles back to his native Vermont, a shift that results in a straightforward rock album. Once I heard the opening track, “Twisted on a Train,” I was immediately hooked. This momentum is sustained throughout the album as it unfolds with easy confidence. “Invisible Ink” stands out with its catchy rhythm, jangly guitar, and playful lyrics, while “Crosseyed Critters” slows down the pace, adding a Southern rock twang reminiscent of Uncle Tupelo. The tempo quickly picks back up on “Oil Change,” driven by riffs that echo the style of Richie Blackmore. “Unglued” serves as the album’s ballad, featuring layered harmonies over a reverb drenched guitar. In its final stretch, the album leans into fuzzy guitars, evoking melodies reminiscent of desert-rock meant for a long drive. This image is conjured in the last song, “Backroads,” in both title and sound, bringing the album to a fitting close.

REALITY STAR BY SURFBORT

Following a move from New York to Los Angeles and a surge of attention after a Louis Vuitton modeling stint, Surfbort’s third album proves why they remain one of the most exciting garage punk bands operating today. Named after a Beyoncé lyric, Surfbort has never taken themselves too seriously, embodying punk’s fun, brash spirit. Reality Star opens with the catchy single “Lucky” and maintains a relentless, sub-three-minute pace until the slacker anthem “Jessica’s Changed” slows things down. Some songs are silly and fall into playful absurdity, like the double entendre-filled “Peaches and Cream” and “Hot Dog,” while others take on darker subject matter, such as “MK Ultra,” which references the infamous CIA program. As demonstrated through singer Dani Miller’s signature dramatic eyeliner and imperfect teeth, Surfbort rejects any glossy veneer. Instead, the band puts the ugliness and rawness of human experience at the forefront, arguably the truest expression of punk. Existing in a world where social media and AI increasingly make real and fake hard to discern, Surfbort embraces authenticity, encouraging listeners to do the same.

Taken together, these releases highlight the range of genres within underground rock, moving between indie rock, psych, stoner rock, disco, funk, and punk, without losing a sense of cohesion. With so many sounds and styles on display, hopefully you can find one that resonates with you.