For fans of Deli Girls, Snow Strippers, Machine Girl, witch house, that one last party before the apocalypse, We Can Rot Together by Kill Alters reaches aesthetic maximalism through both an immense diversity of source material and an unfathomably aggressive electronic rhythm, recontextualizing everything we experience into one burst of pure energy.

For fans of Fleet Foxes, Underscores, Hooky, 90s alternative singer-songwriter, and the twisted coziness of melancholy, Autosmile by @ ties lightweight aesthetics to some of the darkest lyrical themes imaginable, forcing us face-to-face with the many ways we’ve made ourselves comfortable in our own misery.

For fans of Jockstrap, Andy Stott, Eva808, the Oneohtrix Point Never extended universe, and memory as a permanently unstable fluid, Алеа by Sofia Ivanova taps into the deepest recesses of our minds with a deeply deconstructed club sound, connecting rare moments of rhythm with vast tracts of atmosphere.

For fans of Maruja, Hesse Kassel, Shearling, classic prog rock, and the symphony as something with amplifiers and drum kits, Come In, Thank You by Cat Soup takes today’s beloved jazzy post rock sounds into an unmistakably psychedelic direction, using their fully instrumental lineup to explore diverse, extended song structures reminiscent of altered states of mind.

For fans of Premrock, McKinley Dixon, MF Doom, old school jazz rap, and end user license agreements as the epitome of metamodern horror, To Live and Die in E.U.L.A. by Rhys Langston examines the absurd complexity of our digital prisons through free-association lyricism that skates effortlessly on laid-back beats.

For fans of Talking Heads, Crippling Alcoholism, Mr Beast Death 2030, chaotic, charismatic noise rock, and the afterlife in all its horrifying outcomes, Training Musisic by Water Gun Water Gun Sky Attack teeters on the edge of existential despair, embracing the endless push-and-pull between daily distractions and some of life’s most essential questions.

For fans of Bjork, Virusse, Qur’an Shaheed, post-rock-adjacent electronica, and the hero’s journey as something that happens entirely inside one’s own mind, Dja Dja by Marina Herlop follows a harrowing quest to attain a radiant lust for life, a path characterized by the constant conflict between dark electronica and the human form.

For fans of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Old Saw, Current 93, the contemporary British folk-influenced experimental scene, and the porous boundary between romantic and spiritual yearning, I Am Yours by Spirited Followers combines folk traditions from around the world to call out in one united voice to one great beyond, bringing us all together under the desires inherent to our inner spark of consciousness.

For fans of YHWH Nailgun, The Cure, Coil, tragically burnt out post rock, and post punk as something genuinely aesthetically transgressive, No Promotion by Whimm takes us to the limits of psychological alienation, immersing us in liminal lostness as we vent our frustration out into an increasingly unforgiving abyss.

For fans of Ricky Bishop, Judgitzu, d.silvestre, hyperpop, and distorted chaos as a new source of comfort, B0YG1RL by B0YG1RL converts overstimulated inputs into naturally danceable outputs, crossing boundaries of style, production, instrumentation, culture, and energy to create something that feels distinctly of the present moment.

For fans of Still House Plants, Cardiacs, Lightning Bolt, early British post rock, and the unexpected tragedies of miscommunication, Divine Schism by Deerhoof exposes some of our most deeply held yet generally invisible trauma, using a diverse range of influences to play all the parts in a dramatic dialogue.

For fans of Nine Inch Nails, Ramleh, Uboa, semi-progressive noise rock, and dancing to the voices of your own psychosis, Pugnello by Gilla Band brings an industrial flair to the current wave of noise rock, blurring the lines between electronic noise and acoustic performance and by extension blurring the lines between our delusions and real-life absurdity.

For fans of Black Midi, Cardiacs, Buffet Lunch, mathcore, and aesthetic maximalism as pure fun, Revocder by Cowboyy brings a genuine joy to the oftentimes stuffy atmosphere of progressive rock, simultaneously employing a diy self-awareness that keeps this record authentic and down-to-earth.

For fans of Poor Creature, ØXN, Swans, contemporary dark-ish ambient music, and the preservation of linguistic diversity, Cloch ’s Claí by Trá Pháidin follows the survival of the Irish language in a new age of English dominance, using an ambient avant-folk style to reveal emotional commonalities between traditional storytelling and postmodern alienation.

For fans of The Velvet Underground, Can, Gang of Four, hypnogogic pop, and those vague impressions you have about the supposed golden age, I Lost My Way for Centuries by The Drin haunts us with some near-familiar tones of classic folk rock as a thickening haze of psychedelia forces us face-to-face with the corpse of the hippy era.

For fans of Shearling, Black Midi, Cisnienie, heavy, cyclical post rock, and dance as a method of catharsis, Wij Zinken by Grote Geelstaart shifts post punk machinery into overdrive using dynamic song structures and an organic emotional pulse, providing us the purest possible remedy for our pent-up negativity.

For fans of Leather.Head, Snag., The New Eves, off-kilter singer-songwriter, and that gnawing emptiness you’ll spend a lifetime trying to understand, Our Songs Are Spells by offwithhishead! explores rage through a deeply varied take on the skramz formula, bringing in folksy verses and sung vocals to fill out the space between emotional peaks and troughs.

For fans of Malevich, Scarcity, Thantifaxath, atmospheric black metal, and the old and significantly more brutal versions of beloved fairy tales, Scour Order by Krallice takes metal to the scales of classical mythology while avoiding mention of heroic redemption, leaving us in an unfathomably deep pit of despair.

For fans of Me Lost Me, Animal Collective, To Die on Ice, trip hop, and turning to an old favorite band for comfort during hard times, The Limits of a Light Touch by Troth reanimate the art pop of the previous generation, using a distinctly liminal, eerily off-kilter approach that constantly reminds us how much times have changed.

For fans of Julie Christmas, Guts Club, The New Eves, atmospheric art rock, and the feeling that literally everything in the universe has conspired to ruin your life, The Virgin’s Ballade by Wet Silhouette takes anger to a cataclysmic scale, creating enormous atmospheres to fill with pure, justified resentment.