Declan McKenna

Huw Stephens/PRS for Music

Latitude 30

British Music Embassy, open – no passports required. Kamikaze single “Pro Procrastinator” puts Kent boys Get Inuit on the guitar rock map, fusing fuzzed-up riffs and sing-along choruses with monster guitar breaks. Belfast’s noise pop Girls Names started as a stripped-down duo, but as a quartet they’re diving deeper into surf rock. Jump on the hype train now: Signed before his 17th birthday, Glastonbury-endorsed Declan McKenna gets Beck comparisons for his meteoric rise and development from teen poetry (“Paracetamol”) to assured, layered pop (“Brazil”). Oscar (aka Londoner Oscar Scheller) blends the Dandy Warhols’ studied diffidence with pre-Hardcore Pulp’s world-weary witticisms. Liverpudlians Clean Cut Kid are more Byrds than Beatles: Electronic-augmented “Runaway,” their paean to the pain of student debt, is a perfect counterpart to Loyle Carner‘s “Ain’t Nothing Changed,” the MC’s smoky jazz take on post-graduation urban gloom.

This article appears in March 11 • 2016.

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The Chronicle's first Culture Desk editor, Richard has reported on Austin's growing film production and appreciation scene for over a decade. A graduate of the universities of York, Stirling, and UT-Austin, a Rotten Tomatoes certified critic, and eight-time Best of Austin winner, he's currently at work on two books and a play.