Determinations

Alt country emerged in the late 1980s as a corrective to Nashville's commercial gloss, rooting itself in the rawer traditions of Hank Williams, Gram Parsons, and Merle Haggard. Earnest, messy, and often brilliant.

Named for a 1986 NME cassette compilation, C86 captured a moment of wilful innocence in British indie pop—jangly guitars, whispered vocals, and a studied amateurism that concealed real emotional intelligence. The template for twee ever since.

Slowcore stripped indie rock down to its most elemental and unhurried form, favouring sparse arrangements, restrained dynamics, and lyrics that sat with grief rather than resolving it. Few genres have sounded quite so honestly exhausted.

Intelligent Dance Music emerged from the UK rave underground in the early 1990s, prioritising rhythmic complexity and textural depth over dancefloor utility. Challenging, beautiful, and endlessly detailed, it changed what electronic music could be.

Post-punk arose from punk's ashes in the late 1970s, replacing raw aggression with intellectual ambition. Angular guitars, dub-influenced rhythms, and cold electronic textures defined a movement that continues to shape guitar music today.