I’m going to define it, because nobody else will. Not even the bands.
What is Modern Western?
Modern Western is instrumental guitar music, mostly made by people out here in the American West, that sounds like the place it came from. Reverb. Space. A bass line you could set a watch to. Nothing in a hurry.
Not all of it sounds like a western movie. Some of it very much does. But a lot of these bands are from out here, and you can hear it.
Almost all of it is made by two or three people. Khruangbin are a trio. Hermanos Gutiérrez are two brothers. BALTHVS, LA LOM — trios. That’s not incidental, it’s the whole reason the music has room in it. Three players can’t fill a space, so they don’t try.
The rule
One rule, and it’s a prohibition: nothing that grabs your attention.
That’s stricter than “no lyrics.” There are vocals on this playlist — but they sit inside the band, the way a horn section does. A voice used as an ensemble instrument instead of being pushed out front. That’s the whole trick, and it’s why this works as background without being empty. One song breaks the rule outright. I left it in.
Where it came from
Ohana Fest, 2022. Khruangbin. I went in knowing nothing and came out remembering three things — the bassist dancing while she played, a guitarist who was flatly a virtuoso, and a drummer who had the soft jazz thing completely nailed. Then nothing. I filed them away.
Ohana Fest, 2023. Hermanos Gutiérrez. Same venue, a year later. That’s when it connected.
By 2026 I knew what I wanted and went looking for it: feel-good, background, few words, non-distracting. It took a few months. Spotify helped more than I expected.
Who’s on it
Khruangbin out of Houston. BALTHVS out of Bogotá. Hermanos Gutiérrez — two brothers raised in Switzerland who say “the desert is where our music was born,” and you will not argue with them once you hear it. LA LOM, who formed playing five nights a week in the lobby of the Roosevelt Hotel and list Bakersfield country among their ingredients. Allah-Las out of LA. Monophonics out of San Francisco.
And George Benson, one track, “Breezin’.” Because somebody had to show the rest of them how it’s done.
Over half the artists on this list have no entry in any music database I could find. That is not a complaint. That’s the point.
What it’s for
Dinners. Working. A couple of sessions in the gym, which surprised me. And an enormous amount of it while I’m deep in a project and my brain needs to be left alone.
Soothing music for a working brain — or just a window of time with some simplicity in it.
“Modern Western” is mostly instrumental and mellow. 88.5 and Dream Pop will give you a nice mellow feel too, and including vocals for a slightly different vibe.
If you’d like to try some more “mostly instrumental” but with an electronic flair, go to Made of Sky.
