Artists To Listen To If You Miss The '90s

Villain Park is a young crew from California, and they take things way back with their gritty posse cuts and old school approach. Sick of rappers trying to sing every other line over trap beats? Check out Villain Park.

A voice alone shouldn't sound like the '90s, but Jeh-sea Wells' tone recalls the pain of Shannon Hoon and Layne Staley. We're still waiting to hear where Jeh-sea's music will go, but the chilling, acoustic songs "Summer" and "XMas '97" put the Arkansas singer in territory that hasn't been effectively explored in a long time. And that "Heart-Shaped Box" cover was just icing on the cake.

Action Bronson has become shorthand for that classic New York sound. Dating back to his landmark Blue Chips mixtape, Bronson has perfected the wry, raspy, sneering style that recalls the Wu-Tang Clan (especially Ghostface) and Nas. He might be making waves as Mr. Wonderful in 2015, but Action Bronson would have fit in just fine a couple of decades ago.

MØ brings that '90s girlpower vibe back in a big way. How? By respecting the power of a funky bass line, keeping the call and response alive and well, and by listing the Spice Girls as an early influence.

Best Coast sounds like the lovechild of Garbage, No Doubt, and Interpol. Super clean riffs, grungy rhythm guitar, and perfect pop structures are the defining features of the L.A. power-rock duo, and Bethany Cosentino and Bobb Bruno have stuck with that formula since the beginning. Their music will bring you right back to those carefree summers spent outside—before you spent all day online. They've made two albums and have a third, California Night, due out next month.

Cozz shares common ground with Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole. But he's also a student of history, and there are some Cozz jams that could belong to some '90s house parties. Nowhere is that more true than the "Knock The Hustle" remix Cozz turned out, which gets rounded out nicely with a feature from Dreamville head honcho J. Cole. Smooth saxophone samples, boom-bap backbeats, and a buttery, unconcerned flow from both parties involved make it a track to remember. Might as well turn on "All That" and relax in some Zumba pants.

Meg Myers once said in an interview: "A lot of people compare me to, like, Fiona Apple, Sinead O’Connor, Alanis Morisette is a huge one that I get, Tori Amos a little bit, PJ Harvey. Just like that female ’90s thing. The thing is I didn’t grow up listening to those people really. I listened to Heart and Joan Osbourne and Tracy Chapman and Jewel—that was like a huge one for me, she’s such an influence, even if you can’t hear it in my stuff really. I listened to all these guy rock bands. I liked males a lot more growing up. It wasn’t actually until the last few years that I started listening more to females. At the same time, all those women that I get compared to, it’s a huge compliment, and I’ll listen to their stuff now, like, that’s what I want to be. But I don’t want to be put in any sort of box, like I’m rock or I’m pop or whatever."

Knowing that, we won't make the Fiona comparison again, but I think the reason Meg Myers gets compared to '90s female artists so often is because that raw, visceral quality has been lacking in new, popular music from female artists. Even vocal forces like Adele, Jessie Ware, and Florence Welch sound a little tame compared to Meg, and the trends of the moment favor a more controlled, sometimes hushed style.

Meg allows herself to lose control, to scream. That reckless, emotionally charged delivery is what sets her apart from the current soundscape, and it's why you'll probably like her if you grew up on '90s music.

Read our latest interview with Meg Myers here.

2014's What Is This Heart is a gorgeous album, eighteen tracks that showcase How To Dress Well's myriad songwriting talents. One of those talents is modernizing that boy band sound. Where the Backstreet Boys and LFO grew stale and crumbled, "Precious Love" remains fresh and vibrant.

No offense intended towards AJ, Justin, Chad, Tyler, Tyrion, and the rest, of course—How To Dress Well isn't far removed from their harmonies and beats (as well as the Cisco hold music originally composed in 1989), but he took the style to a beautiful, modern place that allowed it to resurface in today's world.

Joey Bada$$ is one of the natural inclusions on this list. He's the archetypal retro vibemaker, even calling his breakout mixtape 1999. His style is strictly classic NYC, but in a different way than Action Bronson.

Where Bronson emphasizes flow, boasts, and a millionaire lifestyle, Joey is the picture of street grit and realism. His early work is all about hustle, detailing the odds stacked against him and verbalizing his anxieties about the future. He is a young Jay Z to Bronson's outlandish Ghostface, facing the somber realities of today by invoking the lessons of the city's history.

Courtney Barnett's matter-of-fact lyricism and alt-rock roots are easy enough to sink into but exciting enough to actively enjoy. Her '90s doppelgängers are Pavement, Built to Spill, and a whole cabal of intelligent, apathetic musicians who understand the power of some well-placed distortion.

With her latest album Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit in heavy rotation on the blogosphere, Barnett's self-deprecation will be carrying the torch for the blissed-out guitar gods of yore for the foreseeable future.