Smells Like Alt Rock

 January 2026 is in the rearview mirror - we are one twelfth of the way through 2026 - and there's a ton of new music coming! Bring it! We are so ready for February! And freakin' pumped that we've got some new Sevendust and Voila and Noah Kahan on the same list, so without further delay...enjoy the latest tracks dropping on the Smells Like Alt Rock blog. Check the videos below or listen on Spotify .  Joyce Manor - I Used To Go To This Bar Cowboy Mouth.- Wild Ride Sevendust - Is This The Real You? Voila - Frozen Lake Bermuda Search Party - Side Effect Goldfinger, El Hefe, NOFX - Punisher Out In Front - In Another Life Calling All Captains - Stay Away Youth Fountain - Dearly Beloved First and Forever - Faith, Love, Doubt, And Everything In Between Papa Roach - Wake Up Calling The Maine - Die To Fall Sly Withers - Look Down Dermot Kennedy - Funeral Noah Kahan - The Great Divide

It's time! Time to cut down the January playlist. It was tough, the list was approaching 70 songs. A big thank you to all of the bands for their great music this month. Don't worry, if there was song you liked you can still find it here on the 2026-2030 playlist . Did your favorite make the top 15? The top 10? I hope so, it's always a tough call when cutting the list back.   Anyway, here's the first monthly best of - Something Like Alt Rock playlist of 2026: Dexter and The Moonrocks (picitured above) - All Your Friends Still Scare Me Tom Morello w/ Beartooth - Everything Burns Within Temptation w/ Smash Into Pieces - Somebody Like You Lansdowne - Release Me Nanana - Before I Leave Michael Clifford - Carry You Away The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus - Angels Cry Lakeview - Can't Live Without Eddie and The Getaway - What Do I Do? Sahara Hotnights - Vanishing Girl Silversun Pickups - Long Gone Cole Barnhill - Everything You Hate The Format - Right Where I Belong DZ Deathrays ...

 Another Friday gone by, another drop of new music. Here are the new rock tracks we're checking out this week. We've add another 19 songs to the January playlist - and this week's mega-task will be cutting this list back down to ~15 or songs for the end of the month. The January list is currently chockablock full with almost 70 songs. A big thank you to all the bands for a great month of music!   Here are the latest additions: The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus - Angel Cry The Fray - A Light That Waits The Format - Depressed Alexsucks - Autopilot The Arctic Monkeys with War Child Records - Opening Night Snail Mail - Dead End Telescreens - Preacher The Scratch - Pullin' Teeth Stone - Stack Up The Reasons Tigercub - I'm Breaking Out No Money Kids - The Flame Girli - Slap on the Wrist Weston Lonely - Ghost Good Terms - All In Pop Evil - The Decay Radium Dolls - Daddy Artio, As It Is - Full On Fight For Fun Calling All Captains - Dark Clouds Arrested Youth - I Cry 

We first stumbled onto these Texas‑based, self‑described “Western space grunge” rockers when “ Ritalin ” landed on the All New Rock Spotify playlist in early 2025. We kept an ear on them, waiting for whatever came next — and “ Cry ” sealed the deal. Their sound leans into a mellow, almost weightless kind of rock. The vocals carry that raw, 90s‑grunge edge, but the overall vibe has this ambient, drifting quality that weirdly echoes the laid‑back cool of Steve Miller Band’s “ The Joker .” It wasn’t until recently while listening to 106.7 FM — The Resistance that I finally connected the dots: “ Sad in Carolina ” is theirs too. And honestly, if you know Dexter and the Moonrocks at all, it’s probably through that track. It’s the most uptempo cut on their 2024 EP Western Space Grunge , and it went all the way to #1 on the Alternative charts. If that still doesn’t ring a bell, you might recognize “ Ritalin ,” which hit #4 in 2025. They’re not rolling through the Upper Midwest at the mo...

Alright! It's Friday! So let's dive into some new music! Fill your ears up with the latest on the January the list.  This week's list as a number returning bands like AS IT IS, Grey Daze, L0L0, Silversun Pickups and New Found Glory and some bands making their debut like DZ Deathrays, YONAKA, and Alice Merton. It's pretty big mix this week:  Grey Daze isn't pulling any punches in Monster You Adore L0L0's latest has strong enough pop vibes that almost didn't put it on the list I'm loving the guitar riffs in Rise by DeeOhGee Story of the Year's Disconnected is a straight up banger!  And the latest from They Might Be Giants makes feel like I need to check which TMBG songs made the Alt Rock Rewind .  Check all of the music videos out below.  New Found Glory - Beer and Blood Stains L0L0 - 007 DeeOhGee - Rise AS IT IS with The XCERTS, Murray Macleod - Ruin My Life Grey Daze - Monster You Adore YONAKA - Trouble Follows You Story of the Year - Disconnected Gh...

The Smells Like Alt Rock Concert Calendar keeps track of many concerts at our favorite venues, but there are a bunch of great shows coming to Wisconsin in 2026, and we wanted to give you a shortlist of shows beyond the calendar.  Jan 23 / 24 - Riverfront Revolt - Lit, Sick Puppies, 311, Nonpoint, Amira Elfeky, Of Mice and Men, Chevelle - Lacrosse, WI Feb 6 - Everclear - Green Bay , WI Mar 5 - Three Days Grace, I Prevail, Sleep Theory Mar 26 - Local H, Filter, Finger Eleven - Lacrosse, WI Apr 02, 03, 04 - Soul Asylum - Wausau, Viroqua, Eau Claire May 5 - Alter Bridge, Filter - Green Bay, WI May 6 - Mammoth, Bush - Oshkosh, WI May 9 - Dayseeker - Green Bay, WI May 17 - Yellowcard, New Found Glory, Plain White T's - Milwaukee, WI July 2 - Muse - Summerfest - Milwaukee July 3 - Alex Warren - Summerfest - Milwaukee Aug 6 - Goo Goo Dolls, Neon Trees - Milwaukee, WI Aug 8 - Train, Barenaked Ladies - Madison, WI

Yo! January is so on! Lots of great new music dropped this week. Lakeview is still dishing out the country-metal with their latest single "Can't Live Without". Alter Bridge's self-titled album dropped, and I know folks were waiting for this one. Swedish rockers, Smash Into Pieces teamed up with Dutch symphonic rockers, Within Temptation, to deliver a slow jam. Lansdowne gave us another taste of their upcoming album Wish You Well (drops March 27).  And there's so much more - check out the music videos and visualizers for each below, or just have listen on the January playlist or all new 2026-2030 playlist.   Lakeview - Can't Live Without Alter Bridge - Scales Are Falling Within Temptation and Smash Into Pieces - Somebody Like You Lansdowne - Release Me Mumford & Sons - Banjo Song Joyce Manor - I Know Where Mark Chen Lives Cole Barnhill - Everything You Hate Volumes - Worth It Eli. - Control Florence Black - Pouring Rain Eddie and the Getaway - What Do I D...

It’s been a hot minute since we’ve done a band spotlight, so going back to where this whole new‑music journey started feels right. Our push to explore fresh sounds really kicked off when familiar names like Fuel, Bush, and Pearl Jam dropped their post‑pandemic bangers: Anomaly, The Art of Survival, and Dark Matter . Around the same time, we found ourselves tuning back into 106.7 FM The Resistance in Madison, WI. At first, we were laser‑focused on new tracks from the bands we already loved, but as radio tends to do, it slowly opened the door to new artists. And honestly? It was good. In 2024, we grabbed a family Spotify account. My listening habits were still anchored in the old favorites, but the whole point was to branch out, to actively seek out new music. And I’ll be real; it was a struggle. I kept waiting for a song to hit me the way music did back in junior high and high school — when the right guitar riff or the right lyric made you think, this is my song . You know that feeling....

Welcome back for another go at this! Most of this week’s list is genuinely fresh — brand‑new tracks that just dropped — with one exception: Tom Morello’s “Everything Burns.” It technically landed in December, but since it showed up on my Release Radar and the All New Rock playlist, it earned a spot here. Everything else is net‑new for the week. We’re kicking things off with a couple of familiar faces from 2025. Dexter and The Moonrocks return with their latest, “All Friends Still Scare Me,” and Yungblud is back with a new rendition of “Zombie,” this time featuring The Smashing Pumpkins. You can decide how you feel about that collaboration, “Zombie” is still a kick‑ass track, and I love the Pumpkins, but I’m not totally sold on this pairing. Other returning artists include Billy Idol, who last showed up on our list in May 2025 with “77,” his collab with Avril Lavigne. The Format and Volumes also made appearances late last year and are back again for January. Check out the full list bel...

Happy New Years, all!  2026 is here! That means we'll start all over again, listening to new music, sharing to playlists, and cutting each playlist back at the end of the month. 2025 was awesome, a bunch of bands dropped a ton of new music, and we're looking forward to new music dropping in 2026.  If you are new to Smells Like Alt Rock, here's what we have going on: Something Like Alt Rock Posts - our bread and butter, posts of new music each week to build up a monthly playlist that we cut back to ~15 songs. Then a quarterly playlist, and an annual playlist.  Say Hello 2 Posts - to spotlight a particular band, we're enjoying.  Other content including a concert calendar that focuses on some favorite venues in / near Southern WI To keep ourselves organized, we're starting a new playlist for the back-half of the decade. It's empty currently, but soon you'll be able to find new music on the 2026-2030 Spotify Playlist .  And hopefully soon means this weekend as n...