As I have mentioned before, one of my favorite things about Tik Tok is how easy it is to discover new music on the app; specifically, music from rising independent artists. Very often, I will be scrolling through the feed and a song from an artist I haven’t heard of will pop up that I end up immediately enjoying. This is how I discovered the Milwaukee band Diet Lite(via the page of their drummer). Now, I thought I was pretty in tune with the Milwaukee music scene, but with how vast and diverse it is becoming, there are constantly great artists coming onto my radar that I hadn’t heard of. Diet Lite has been using social media to emerge as one of the fastest-rising acts in the area, and it is awesome to see. Diet Lite has a sound that is so fresh and unique within the modern Indie and Rock scenes. They tend to incorporate sounds from all the different eras in their music. I swear that I can hear elements of Punk and Alternative music from every decade going back to the 60s in their songs. This gives their music a simultaneously retro and modern feeling, which is so rare and cool. They have a style of music that stands out in a big way; it keeps the listener wanting more because they don’t know what they will get next.

Diet Lite’s latest release is their single ‘Madison City Parking Ticket Groove.’ It is a song that exemplifies their signature old-school yet current sound super well. This track has a super catchy yet tough and distorted guitar riff that drives the song, and a thrashing drum beat that will make anyone want to headbang. Sonically, one era of music I think of when listening to this is the early 2000s Garage Rock era. This song(and a lot of Diet Lite’s catalog in general) reminds me of bands like The White Stripes, The Strokes, and the Arctic Monkeys. Like ‘Madison City Parking Ticket Groove,’ this kind of music is so fuzzy and warm and makes me want to party. The vocals on this track have such an early 70s Punk and Surf Rock feeling. When I hear the vocals on this song, it makes me think of bands like The Ramones and The Kinks. Lyrically, this track is super literal. It is about the singer having trouble finding a parking spot at night, only to, unfortunately, discover he ended up getting a parking ticket when going to his car in the morning. If you have ever been to Madison, Wisconsin, you understand how difficult it can be to park there. Overall, this is a very cool Indie-Rock track that stands out in a massive way in 2022. I can’t wait to see what Diet Lite does next, as they are one of the most exciting ascending artists in Milwaukee.