You’ve probably heard “guitar music is dying” or something like that a dozen times over the past 20 years, but please, keep your voice down and don’t tell 96 Cougar. The Chicago-based four piece’s only rule is “it has to rock,” and that’s what they’ve been doing since 2019. New Noise Magazine describes them as having “a touch of The Replacements and Hüsker Dü with their nostalgia-tinged, ‘80s-style pop punk with gorgeous melodies,” two comparisons they’ll gladly take and parlay into an SST Records deal, provided they can find a time machine and 1986-appropriate outfits. The band has a full length record titled The Finest Crime slated for release in mid-2023.

Part man, part band