Sugar Horse - Not a Sound in Heaven (2026)

The messy and chaotic mix of nugaze, pop, post-metal and pure anger that boils with energy and noise! Yes, the Brits of Sugar Horse are back! The third album came quite soon after the last one and I couldn't be happier as it's exactly what I love in this Machine Girl meets Nothing project. It just makes me jump around, even on this grey and melancholic day.

Although they still call themselves "a decidedly average band", they don't fool anyone anymore. Three albums in and it's still a fresh and exciting take on modern noise music. Short phrases for short attention spin suffering audience, tons of shifts in paces and melodies, angry screaming being a neighbour of soft, atmospheric choruses. And it's all put together and melt into a perfect modern album that calls extreme eclecticism being "decidedly average". This blend is a mesmerizing one indeed.

It's only fitting that the lyrics here are slightly poetic but very timely comments on the reality around us. The reality that is equally chaotic and messy but also way less appealing. "Brought to heel/Trained not to feel" in Secret Speech and "Keep the market free/And if it bleeds/We can kill it for you" in Fire Graphics being only two examples of the poignant and not-so-fun-at-all themes on the album .Sugar Horse, the missing horseman of the Apocalypse.

Not a Sound in Heaven costs 6 EUR (5 GBP).

Check: Secret Speech

Country: UK

Genre: chaotic modern shoegaze

Label: Fat Dracula Records

Sugar Horse - The Live Long After (2021)

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thrilled - no one for miles (2026)

Two short EPs and a single: this is the discography of the Dutch band thrilled so far. I met them at last year's Automatic Noise festival and it was a... thrilling experience marked by heavy atmosphere and energetic performance. No wonder I really had to post a bit about their newest release.

The Rotterdam-based outfit create shoegaze music that is both catchy and dripping with atmosphere. The guitars create a soft and fuzzy canvas that captivates me every time I listen to their songs. While the music is very much shoegaze-like, the vocals are more like withdrawn indie rock-inspired and I think it works quite well.  Well, at least in the first 33% of the album as the finishing  track, Tunnel, is a full-blown dreamy and loud shoegaze. It also happens to be my favourite here. The new EP is very short, but still manages to catch the attention of the audience. Easily. 

"The warm and fuzzy tones of thrilled are sure to give you all the goosebumps you need for the day" says their Bandcamp account. I agree. But why so short?

no one for miles costs 5 EUR.

Check: Tunnel

Country: The Netherlands

Genre: noise rock

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Green Horizon - Blessing (2026)

I'm pretty sure I've said it before, but let me repeat myself: one of my favourite ambient pop artists comes from Taiwan and is definitely not well-known enough. Green Horizon has recently released her new EP on which she blends ambient pop with soft neoclassical tunes, everything honest, real and intimate.

The album is meant to be a blessing "for the forgotten, for the unloved, for those in pain" and I must say that the neoclassical beauty of the piano keys that sometimes lead the compositions here but sometimes also drown in peaceful noise are something that has to bring some kind of relief to anyone in need. It doesn't matter if the compositions are mostly piano soundscapes or if they are written around the airy vocals, all of them are beautiful.

I don't know much about the Asian poetry, but to me and to my layman heart, Green Horizon's lyrics feel very much like a rendition of poems form this part of the world. Honest and clearly indicating certain things, but still mysterious. Telling everything without telling everything. Which I guess is true to the music itself.

Blessing costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: Path

Country: Taiwan

Genre: piano ambient pop

Green Horizon - The Place I Buried Memories (2021)

Green Horizon - 沉睡 (2017)

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David Boring - Liminal Beings and Their Echoes (2026)

Post-punk so energetic that makes you move uncontrollably and so catchy that could almost be heard on a radio? And coming from such an exotic place (from my perspective) as Hong Kong? BANGER! I'm so glad I discovered the exciting weirdness of David Boring just in time to feature their sophomore album on the blog.

It's not like the whole almost an hour long album is filled with adrenaline-fueling high-pulse music. Surprisingly, when you focus on this, most of the album is about the moody and intriguing parts that are slower but equally satisfying. But when the whole thing ends, you remember the moments that make you jump like crazy. In fact, the latter wouldn't really work without the former. I love the changes of pace between dark and moody Jenny Rotten, fantastically catchy Earth Song and the ballad in Visit Me (Cabin Song). So we have the dark, the catchy and the moody. And the whole album can be described in this way. Like going in and out of the best disco of your life.

There is also an element of the wild and angry noise somewhere there which makes the project on pair with noisy pop projects like Poppy but clearly more post-punk in origins than metal-adjacent. Anyway, I hear here also KOKOKO (again, in my favourite Earth Song) and a multitude of other influences and every one of them is amazing. And I haven't even mentioned the charisma-dripping vocalist who blends in with the genre changes effortlessly. Fantastic album.

Liminal Beings and Their Echoes costs 12 EUR (10 GBP). 

Check: Earth Song

Country: Hong Kong

Genre: dance punk

Label: Damnably/UN.TOMORROW

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Kielichy - Punkty płonące (2026)

"Melancholia, Misanthropy, Melody", this is the whole description of the Polish project Kielichy ("Chalices"). But it's also everything it needs. The Wrocław-based band walks among alternative genres with grace, taking a lot from folk and post-punk, but ultimately creating something very, very theirs. But it's also a goodbye of some sorts.

The short EP makes the second longer entry in the band's discography after the self-titled EP from two years ago. This one feels like a continuation of the debut, but also a level up for me. Adrian Szczecina's deep voice automatically adds a lot of darkness (and darkwaveness) to the whole project that marries folk's lyrics-writing and sensibility with alternative guitar music. I must say that my favourite part of this music is the sound of the guitars here: the darkness just emanates from their low-pitched, calm but also unnerving presence. Black Heart Procession's vibes all over the place.

But also i is said that the band aims at changing their signature sound, moving away from the neofolk vibes towards... Yeah, who knows? The EP's last song, Morze Czarne ("The Black Sea") is a clear statement on this style shift. It doesn't reveal the destination, but verses like "We have to destroy some things finally/To create new places" tell a lot. I'm very curious here cause the artists clearly know how to draw inspiration from various genres to make something poignant and dark so I'm not worried. As they sing: "Let us sail. We'll find ourselves alone in the middle of the sea".

Punkty płonące costs 2.5 EUR (10 PLN).

Check: Morze Czarne

Country: Poland

Genre: darkwave neofolk

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trauma ray - Carnival (2026)

Two years after their well-received debut album, the Texas-based trauma ray are back with a short EP. But, spoiler warning, the album may be short, but it's not short of intensive sounds balanced by ethereal peace in some parts. These ever-changing, forward-thinking but also always extremely moody compositions are what we love the band's music.

Years and years ago I called their music "Somewhat shoegaze, somewhat post" and I can still agree with my former self. Their music is very guitar-heavy, I don't think there's place for any weirdness like samples or synths or electronic additions. No, it's rough guitar sounds and tangible textures everywhere. But this is contradicted with very modern-feeling compositions that make me think of Holy Fawn or Nothing, bands that are definitely more keen on experimenting with sounds. I love it. 

The description of the album says that it's the band's "strongest, most intense, and exploratory work". It was created in the midst of an extremely busy period of time when the artists toured a lot with barely any time for developing the project further. In the middle of a real-life Carousel if you wish. But the compositions here don't feel rushed, in fact, if it wasn't for the length of the album, I'd say it's already material from the sophomore album. But for that, we have to wait.

Carnival costs 4.99 USD.

Check: Méliès

Country: Texas, US

Genre: heavy shoegaze

Label: Dais Records

trauma ray - [trauma ray] (2018)

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Dear Gravity & Raphah - Chronos (2026)

Another transatlantic collaborations in recent months makes it to the blog. This time it's a short EP made by Mike Graff aka Dear Gravity from the States and the artist known as Raphah from UK. It is short, but it's also so beautiful like a drop of dew in the morning sunshine.

As is clearly stated in the EP's title, the main theme of music here is the concept of time. The slow, introspective compositions feel like they are meant to make you experience the time flowing around you, from nothingness to nothingness. But while this concept is dreadful (to me and I'm sure to most people), the artists turn it into a thing of beauty. Thick layers of ambient with occasional droplets of piano sounds always get me. The album's slow pace and beautiful combination of neoclassical and ambient sound is a perfect way to end a day.

Chronos costs 5 USD.

Check: Chronos

Country: Minnesota, US/UK

Genre: neoclassical ambient

Label: Echoes Blue Music

Dear Gravity & We Dream of Eden - Holocene (2022)

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