Austin’s Michael Sanders is dropping “the wild,” the blistering lead single from his upcoming album fuzzer. If you’re sick of bland radio rock that puts you to sleep, this is gonna wake you up real quick. Sanders is a one-man band on steroids, cramming in fuzzy guitar riffs, hooks that’ll get stuck, and enough brashness to make you remember why guitar music still rocks our world.
Sanders is taking old sounds and turning them up. “the wild” kicks down the door with guitars so distorted they’d make Jack White jealous, mixed with drum beats that jam sooo hard. The song’s got a pop structure, sure, but it’s raw and dirty around the edges. Picture The Strokes and Cheap Trick having a bar fight in Texas, and you’re getting close.
As the centrepiece of fuzzer—a 10-track firecracker of an album clocking under 30 minutes—Sanders proves he’s a master of economy. No filler, no meandering solos, just pure adrenaline. While cuts like “impression” and “bb plz” tip their hats to ‘60s garage-rock jangle (earning past praise from Alt77 as “undeniable” and “catchy as hell”), “the wild” raises the voltage.
The Austin influence isn’t only a talking point—it’s the album’s DNA. Sanders admits fuzzer is his love letter to the city’s scrappy, genre-mashing scene. This is music built for sweat-drenched live shows, and you can almost taste the beer-soaked floors when Sanders lets loose on the mic.
Critics have already crowned him a shapeshifter (American Pancake nailed it: “Sanders exists outside time”), but “the wild” feels like a mission statement. It’s loud, lean, and dripping with the kind of confidence that doesn’t need pyrotechnics— just a sick beat and a big “run along!” to boring crap.
Preach, Michael Sanders. fuzzer drops this summer, and if “the wild” is any sign, it’s gonna be a face-melter. Play it back-to-back, and thank whatever rock gods are listening that Austin’s still churning out some real troublemakers.