Rowland S. Howard

Solo wave is an internet-era microgenre that blends the intimate, DIY sensibility of bedroom pop with vaporwave- and chillwave-tinged atmospheres and soft indie pop songwriting. Typically produced by solo artists working from home studios, it favors gentle synth pads, chorus-washed guitars, understated trap- or pop-leaning drums, and confessional vocals framed by nostalgic reverb and tape-like warmth. The result is dreamy, sentimental, and highly shareable songs that circulate on streaming platforms and social media. Lyric themes often center on young adult relationships, self-reflection, mental health, and digital-age loneliness—delivered in a direct, diaristic tone that reinforces the genre’s solitary, “one-person project” ethos.

Punk blues is a raw, high-energy fusion of the emotional grit of blues with the speed, attitude, and minimalism of punk rock. It takes the 12‑bar forms, pentatonic riffs, and call‑and‑response phrasing of traditional blues and performs them with overdriven guitars, shouted vocals, and a fiercely propulsive backbeat. The style favors lo‑fi, live-in-the-room production, skeletal arrangements (often just guitar, vocals, and drums), and hypnotic, repetitive riffs. While rooted in American blues traditions, punk blues rejects polish and virtuosity, channeling urgency, abrasion, and cathartic release.