The 18 best rock songs right now

Grab your air guitar and iron a patch on your jacket: Sheer Mag are back.

It’s no Cam’ron, but this is pretty great nonetheless.

Congolese-American artist Bofale’s Swim Team EP is beautiful in its languor. This song is perhaps its most straightforward moment, blending pop-rock with moments of heaviness.

Vagabon mixes things up ahead of her long-awaited second album, All The Women In Me. Ditching analogue equipment almost entirely, “Flood Hands” is a synth-heavy dive into the unknown, both musically and in subject matter. “I’m laying my lives down/Onto the cold ground/To be near you,” she sings optimistically about a fledgling relationship.

Whitney’s melodies should be packaged and sold on sunny days.

Alex G is back and channeling the Brothers Grimm. Like all the best of his songs, “Gretel” mixes the traditional with something a little weird to create a uniquely Alex G moment.

“Superbike” hops and skips across the shoegaze spectrum, starting out jangly and pretty before winding up in a gauzy drone. The result is intoxicating, with all eyes on upcoming album Anak Ko.

Crumb’s music often gets tagged as being both hypnotic and chill. While "Fall Down" is unlikely to start a mosh-pit anytime soon, it's a quicker and more direct side to a band that's destined for your next wind-down playlist.

Chinatown Slalom are a British band named after a particularly steep road in their hometown of Liverpool. “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” is typical of their kitchen-sink approach to music, packing everything from a Beta Band-esque approach to song structure and a clear love of Jai Paul. Consider this your lifeline.

Katherine Paul spent her childhood living as part of a Native American tribe, and on this stirring first single from her upcoming album, At the Party With My Brown Friends, she sends out a message of solidarity.

“I don’t care for Instagram Live” is statement to live by from this rising British singer-songwriter.

Aussie provocateur Kirin J Callinan returns in grandiose form, stuffing “Life If Life” with a marching band, electronic harps, a choir, and an earnest call for power to be shared equally.

Formerly of Chairlift and a Beyoncé collaborator to boot, Caroline Polachek is pursuing a solo career under her own name now. Less obtuse than her Romana Lisa project, “Door” spirals into a stunning melodic loop.

Cuco is clearly reaping the benefits of that multi-million dollar major label deal. This sounds lush.

This Frightened Rabbit cover hits harder than a normal Julien Baker song, and that’s saying something.

I think Greta Kline speaks for us all when she sings: “Do I have regrets? Certainly… Do I bounce? I bounce back.”

British songwriter Arlo Parks’ songs nail the specifics so well that her songs bury under your skin immediately. “George” brings in rose quartz, overall, and MF Doom over a hypnotic bassline.

MUNA come across all Black Mirror on their new single, an unabashed ‘80s synth-rock hit. “So I heard the bad news/Nobody likes me and I’m gonna die alone/In my bedroom, looking at strangers on my telephone,” vocalist Katie Gavin sings. MUNA are a defiant bunch, though, and she’s soon rejecting that narrative as she sings, “Wouldn’t you like if I believed those words?” over a Gary Numan-esque beat.