For fans of Underscores, Gang of Four, Jesse Ware, dance punk, and the decision to boldly and colorfully express yourself in the oppressive age of cringe, Join Hands by Congratulations finds a million musical ways to get us to move our bodies and celebrate in the face of a mass culture deprived of whimsical joy.

Finally, the word becomes flesh, a horror which only adequately comes through in the extreme dark aesthetics of art like Terrible Things Will Happen to the Ones You Love Most by Dog Complex, a blackened hardcore record which breathes down our backs with the necrotic stench of totalitarianism.

For fans of Nine Inch Nails, Björk, Massive Attack, indie sleaze and its revival, and having a conversation with your childhood self, Pale Bloom by Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys mourns lost potential with a dark art pop funeral.

For fans of Parannoul, Brave Little Abacus, Your Arms Are My Cocoon, sasscore, and the scene you grew up in that doesn’t exist in the same way anymore, Disco II - Monomyth by La Petite Mort/Little Death takes a critical eye to the 2010s scene and sets the stage for something fundamentally different through their celebratory emo sound.

For fans of Willy Rodriguez, Total Wife, Car Seat Headrest, new wave, and those dreams which reveal themselves as symptoms of our most foundational desires, Tether Me to You by demleague infuses the bedroom sound with ample pop hooks to show us the sources of light in our melancholic lives.

For fans of Ornette Coleman, Zoh Amba, DJ Shadow, jazz fusion, and the chaotic dance of memory, Burn the Plastic, Sell the Copper by Ishmael Ali intuitively crafts an avant garde aesthetic to illuminate the great filing cabinet of the subconscious.

For fans of Black Country, New Road, Jockstrap, Sufjan Stevens, classic twee, and those intrusive thoughts you get while spending time with those you love which force you to wonder how this all might end, The Flowers I See You In by Ninush floats weightlessly through relationship dynamics on the wings of a distinctly neoclassical electronic pop style.

For fans of William Basinski, late Lou Reed, Weirs, drone metal, and taking a moment to breathe even during the apocalypse, Revolutions by Daniel Bachman guides our meditation through a droning guitar composition which harmonizes with the low groan of pain emanating from the earth.

For fans of Los Thuthanaka, Asleep Country, Huremic, noise rock, and that first moment of hitting your couch after a long day’s work, Anata by Joshua Chuquimia Crampton celebrates the harvest festival of a nation indigenous to the Andes Mountains through an album of entirely abstract, noisy psychedelia.

For fans of Charles Mingus, Mamaleek, Cisnienie, all things David Lynch, and the uncomfortable burden of transcendent knowledge, Panoramica Degli Abissi by To Die on Ice speaks straight to our subconscious in the graceful tones of pure musical noir.

For fans of Animal Collective, The Strokes, Have a Nice Life, that one specific segment of the London sound, and dissociating in the middle of a serious conversation, Wind and Worms by River Access innovates on the psych rock formula to provide a new perspective on a familiar environment.

For fans of Sigur Ros, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Ze Ramalho, Brazilian samba, and the radical liberation of hitting rock bottom, Prensado by Gloios overcomes guilt, loss, and oppression through a spiritual revolution enabled by a brand of post rock packed with subtle references to local musical traditions.

For fans of Talk Talk, Disco Inferno, Gastr Del Sol, the many facets of dub, and those brief moments after you wake up when you forget that you’re in a new place, Home Is Everywhere and Nowhere at Once by Takeo.k assesses our ideas of belonging, using an experimental electronic sound to unpack the immigrant experience.

For fans of Animal Collective, Oneohtrix Point Never, Neptunian Maximalism, space rock, and long drives under the desert sun, Can I Get a Pack of Camel Lights? by Geologist presents an episodic memoir in the form of an intimately approachable ambient soundscape.

For fans of Gingerbee, the first Geese album, J Dilla, contemporary slacker rock, and seeing a top-down view of the grocery store and seeing just how wild that place looks, Peace Album by Olympic Deth spreads its wings over every genre in sight to call upon the purest, angstiest energy held within each.

For fans of Drive45, Roxy Radclyffe, Death Grips, the pandemic hyperpop era, and choosing to live loudly in the face of state-sanctioned violent repression, MISTRESS OF MISFORTUNE by Miiraposa harnesses digital age schizophrenia to lampoon all exertions of power in our midst.

For fans of Uniform, Viagra Boys, Knocked Loose, 90s experimental post hardcore, and the unique and indescribable stresses of our moment in time, Respect the Hustle, I Won’t Be Your Dog Forever by Ronker immerses us in a personal diary painted into radiant color by a technically varied and emotionally intense take on punk rock.

For fans of Viagra Boys, Black Eyes, Mclusky, first wave hardcore, and that nihilistic spirit which brought punk into the limelight, Waiting for Another Script by STRES bemoans self-righteousness, criticising all authority in an effort to find a deeply human and irrefutably true way of life.

For fans of Tim Hecker, Saba Alizadeh, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Adam Curtis documentaries, and the helpless, horrifying calm of witnessing a distant natural disaster, Particularly Dangerous Situation by Ian Wellman builds a brooding ambient epic founded upon field recordings taken during the 2025 Los Angeles County wildfires.

For fans of Sunny Day Real Estate, Carissa’s Wierd, The Zombies, the current scene of folksy slowcore, and that moment in late fall when you look up into the trees and realize how quickly the time has passed, Spring by Quiet Commotion uses imagery of those transitional seasons to paint a stunning sunset of bygone romance.