Arvid Holst - Fjer (2026)

Arvid Holst comes from Denmark and brings with him the most beautiful soundscapes. His new EP called Fjer is built on the slow and calm sounds of piano keys. But there is something more in those compositions, something just barely audible, yet quite profound.

I love when a good neoclassical work has some electronica hidden somewhere in the backgrounds. Holst chose the extreme version: the electronic additions are really barely audible, sitting somewhere in the background but still influencing the listeners like some sort of subliminal messages aimed at the audience to make their lives slightly more special. The 6 short compositions are subtle and calm, there is no place for hurry or releasing an overflow of energy. This is music for quiet relaxations, but one with a hint of mystery and darkness. 

Fjer costs 4 EUR (6 CAD).

Check: Frigear

Country: Denmark

Genre: piano soundscapes

Label: Moderna Records

:bandcamp:

:instagram:

:soundcloud:

:spotify:

Blueneck - Moonlighting (2026)

"10 years in the making, forged through chaos, illness and persistence", yes, Blueneck's new album is gonna be the second of the comebacks after a decade since the last album was released this week. Possible one of the albums I'd waited the most this year as The Outpost was really a highlight of 2016. The now-duo overcame the challenges and finally gave us their 8th album and I can safely say that it lived up to the hype.

Heavier dependency on the electronic sounds, come back after years, changes in the line-up. Some time ago Piano Magic came back as Theory of Ghosts and I can hear some similarities in what is happening to Blueneck right now. The sound is slightly different, but the core is there: just as it was on The Outpost and before, the British artist are capable of creating phenomenal atmosphere sitting somewhere between slowcore, post-rock and art pop styles. Based on the beautiful vocals and sad lyrics, formed with synthetic beats and electronica and finally underlined with the guitar noise finishes, most of the compositions on Moonlighting follow the pattern and it works like a gem.

Return to Cadiz ends with hypnotic guitar-focused section that makes you transcendent yourself for a while, Goliath charms with its melodies, but my favourite piece here has to be the title song, Moonlighting. The vocals and the piano keys lead through the first part of the track and its cosy ambiance only to be slowly transformed into a beautifully chaotic mix of sounds and back into an atmospheric ballad. This is going to be one of the most important albums of the year for me.

Moonlighting costs 11 EUR (9 GBP).

Check: Moonlighting 

Country: UK

Genre: electronic slowcore

:bandcamp:

:facebook:

:instagram:

:soundcloud:

:spotify:

Martyna Basta - Winged in Collapse (2026)

When you are called a "sonic alchemist", you know there is something special in your music. Martyna Basta, Polish composer and singer/songwriter based in the city of Kraków (my neighbour I presume) released her third album (but first under the acclaimed 7k records) filled with ambitious electronica turned ambient pop music.

The signature sound of this album focuses on the artful electronic samples sewn together into a sonic canvas on which beautiful though enigmatic vocals are displayed. This is not an easy kind of neoclassical electronica, it requires attention and brain power to process everything that is happening around you. But it's satisfying if enjoyed properly. I love the vocals, even if they are used sparingly, they show the range of the artist's voice and add to the mysterious atmosphere of the release. 

I love that Basta invited some interesting guests, especially the harp-electronic duo LEYA (which, coincidentally, has also some Polish roots) in Laid and the British experimental rapper Rainy Miller in 2674. This is a beautiful, airy and ambitious electronic soundscape with elements of chamber pop appearing here and there that only make it more engaging to listen to.

Winged in Collapse costs 11 EUR.

Check: Laid 

Country: Poland

Genre: experimental ambient pop

Label: 7k

:bandcamp:

:instagram:

:spotify:

VLMV - There Will Come Soft Rains (2026)

Pete Lambrou is now the whole VLMV and he just released his new album with Pelagic Records. The "ambient-ish post-something" of his is as spiritual and tasteful as ever with a very heavy focus on the "singer/songwriter" part of the music, making me think of Raised by Swans a lot, not only because of how beautiful his vocals are.

This is this kind of post music that should be closer to post-pop or post-singer/songwriter than anything else: the core of the compositions here IS the lyrics and the vocals combo and the song's gravity is built by their presence. The sensible, lyrical songs don't care about the melodies that much, their role is to catch the listener and guide them from the chaotic reality of today's world into a safe place of beauty and calm. Even if in a very bitter fashion: "Robins will wear their feathery fire/Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire/And not one will know of the war, not one/Will care at last when it is done" reminds me very much of the post-war songwriting in Poland with a modern, pessimistic twist.

And this highly artistic sensibility of VLMV is noticeable also in the visual side of the project with one of the most striking cover art examples I know. Musically speaking, the artist's cheeky self-description is exactly spot on: the music here certainly feels ambientish with soundscapes made of soft electronica, moody violins and delicate guitars as well post-something-ish as the whole thing took off from the Scandinavia-esque dark pop and landed somewhere else. 

There Will Come Soft Rains costs 7 EUR.

Check: Bodies Grown, Pt.2

Country: UK

Genre: ambient singer/songwriter

Label: Pelagic Records

VLMV - Sing With Abandon (2022)

VLMV - Stranded, Not Lost (2018)

:bandcamp:

:facebook:
:official:

:instagram:

:youtube:

:spotify:

Hanry - What Came From Silence (2026)

So it happens that two major contenders to the post-rock AOTY are being posted on this blog right after another. But while Kokomo's already recognized powerhouse within the genre, the French Hanry only just debuted with their album What Came From Silence. Not to mention that they could hardly be more different musically while still being more or less within the same music genre. So after the ruthless guitar heaviness yesterday, it's time for sublime and cinematic electronica-based post-rock.

Among their inspirations, the band lists shoegaze and trip-hop and you can really hear it from the first notes of the album. There is at least a perfect balance between the guitar and the electronic sounds with a heavy emphasis on the synth's presence. I feel like this is the French post-rock's specialty but unlike in Dragunov's and, especially, BRUIT ≤'s chaos, Hanry offer mellower, softer approach to the subgenre. More towards Lights and Motion than The Age of Ephemerality if you catch my drift. This doesn't mean that there is no more intense parts on Hanry's album though. The focus is clearly put more on the cinematic than the noisy.

What I love in their music is the flow the compositions offer: the synth-heavy and noisy parts (Remains! Time's Collapsing!) that capture you and leave you no choice but to follow them until a satisfying closure. The more I listen to it the more I feel like it really is BRUIT ≤ minus the weirdness, making it way easier to appreciate the intriguing soundscapes and electronic beauty the band creates, especially in the synths department. One more great reason to travel to this year's Pelagic Fest in the Netherlands. 

What Came From Silence costs 5 EUR.

Check: Remains

Country: France

Genre: electronic post-rock

Label: Pelagic Records

:bandcamp:

:facebook:

:instagram:

:spotify:

Foghazer - He Left The Temple (2026)

Take the artist's image, song titles, label and even the name, Foghazer, and try not to be surprised when you hear the music behind it, I dare you. The black-metal-facade meeting the trip-hop core sound of the Berlin-based artist is really just something else. And yes, the trippy beats and scratches are followed by metal guitar backgrounds, but the effect is still peculiar. In the best possible way.

This also means that Foghazer's debut album is one of very few trip-hop-adjacent releases that don't bore me. Unfortunately, I struggle to enjoy the genre I once thought might become my favourite. Something clicked in my mind in the wrong way. But it seems that what I need it a dose of originality. And yes, I recognize that this is probably a very amateur project, the quality of the guitar parts is not great, but I value the complexity and diversity of compositions a lot, enough to give the project an OK with a note "keep an eye on". 

According to Foghazer, the album is filled with the so-called "sound of low visibility", "slow beats, distorted memory and fog as both space and emotion" in his words mesmerize the audience with ease while the addition of surprising but so well-fitted elements (like the fantastic, Igorrr-like opera vocals in He) add up to the originality of this music even more.

He Left The Temple costs what you want to pay.

Check: He

Country: Germany

Genre: death trip-hop

Label: Hypnotic Dirge Records

:bandcamp:

:instagram:

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

:bandcamp:

:facebook:

:instagram:

:soundcloud:

:spotify:

Chalk - Crystalpunk (2026)

The Ulster band became a sensation with only three EPs ever released, but this is history now as the Ross Cullen - Benedict Goddard duo are finally releasing their debut album and it's as good as could be expected. The powerful music that blends post-punk, industrial and several other exciting genres leaves mark after the very first listening session. Welcome to Crystalpunk.

The music here marries various kinds of electronic and guitar music: the dark and the darker. The industrial vibes are all over the place, the electronic parts are designed to overwhelm you while make you dance like a psycho at the same time. It's the kind of a sound you feel with every inch of your body. The high-pulse compositions are the core of this release: high pace and angry, chaotic post-punk vocals do their job so well! And I can't even say which songs are best here, all I know is that the artists are really good at picking the single tracks.

But there is more to the album than only the adrenaline-fueled hits. The uncomfortable lyrics sound best when screamed out, no wonder that the word "pain" appears everywhere at the release, mostly referring to the emotional struggles the artists lived through. As the description of the album goes, it was inspired by "the beauty, confusion, complexity, and intensity of [the artists'] youth – lived under the shadow and around the scars of conflict. In many ways it reminds me of Glasvegas' lyrics even if musically the two couldn't be much different. The duo is planned to come to OFF festival being one of the major reasons for me to go there too this year.

Crystalpunk costs 9 USD.

Check: Can't Feel It

Country: Northern Ireland, UK

Genre: industrial dance punk

Label: ALTER Music

:bandcamp:

:facebook:

:instagram:

:spotify:

Bloed - Tranen (2025)

So I have this little tradition that before every edition of Dunk!Festival, I listen to the whole discographies of all of the announced bands. I listen to the artists I know to start celebrating this fantastic event and to the artists I don't know to assess if I want to see them live or choose eating something instead. And it's a great thing I do that as this made me discover Bloed, the Belgian band that combines everything I like in aggressive metal sounds.

A sister and two brothers make up the line up of this fresh outfit for whom this is the long distance debut. And saying they play metal is an extreme understatement. It's more like aggressive electronic music (sometimes makes me think of Crystal Castles) with aggressive vocals (the metal part here) and great bass lines-drums framework. Last year I was amazed how much I loved Igorrr's single track called Headbutt where truly impressive metal anger was combined with whatever Igorrr does to maintain their image of true weirdoes. So, in short, Bloed's music sounds like Headbutt without the weird. Electronica very rarely compliments the metal vocals so well so I give kudos to the rookies from the depth of my heart.

I believe Bloed's walls of noise will make many of Dunk!'s regulars blush while the exciting, modern compositions filled with ever-changing pace and surprising bursts of noise will force the audience to reach their limits in front of the stage. I, personally, can't wait.

Tranen costs 9 EUR.

Check: Druk

Country: Belgium

Genre: electronica-based modern metal

:bandcamp:

:facebook:

:instagram:

:spotify:

Theory of Ghosts - The Sulphur and the Grey (2026)

For many reasons, Closure by Piano Magic was an album as important as it was devastating to listen to for me. It also crowned the band's discography in near perfect way, but still meant that there was a musical presence I would sorely miss. Fortunately, on Piano Magic's ashes, Theory of Ghosts rose and it shares a lot of common things with its predecessor. And the artists behind it have just released their debut album!

Theory of Ghosts is Glen Johnson and Franck Alba (of Piano Magic) who, together with Robert Hervais-Adelman, create something I would call minimal ghost rock. All the PM fans out there will quickly recognize the vocals (obviously) but also the lyrical flavour that, to me, a person from Central Europe, is so strikingly British. I love it and I love when they sing about UK and London (places I've never been to, let alone have any relationship with) but also about more universal aspects of life. "When nobody knows who you are, you can do whatever you want" being probably the sentence I will take with me from this one.

Music-wise, it's a minimal (but still very artistic) electronica that has a hint of this autumnal sadness I associate these vocals with. Especially when it's joined by subtle guitar sounds and strings. Sometimes the electronic part is even more... beepy. I know it's not a word, but listening to Blame makes me think of this word. Theory of Ghosts is a great name as it's like listening to a ghost of something that used to be, but also to something that is completely new in form. 

The Sulphur and the Grey costs 9 EUR (7.99 GBP).

Check: When Nobody Knows Who You Are

Country: UK

Genre: minimal ghost rock

Label: Second Language Music

Theory of Ghosts - EP1 (2023)

:bandcamp:

:instagram:

:spotify:

Hollie Kenniff - For Forever (2024)

Hollie Kenniff, half of the Mint Julep duo, creates ambient music as a solo musician. The depth of this soft and airy electronica is unfathomed, encompassing both beauty and mystery in its abyss.

Piano keys like flower petals, synthy sounds like a delicate wind and then, there's the background of the compositions: deep, multi-layered, dark. This makes me think of a meadow early in the morning: the traces of the incoming day on the vast canvas of the night that is still close enough to be a little scary. Emotions. As the label describes the album, it "delivers miles of endless bliss" and that's very true. I love it.

For Forever costs 12 USD.

Check: Surface

Country: Canada/US

Genre: multi-layered ambient

Label: Nettwerk Music Group

:bandcamp:

:facebook:
:official:

:instagram:

:youtube:

:spotify:

Cruel Diagonals - Fractured Whole (2023)

Megan Mitchell makes music as Cruel Diagonals. Her new album is another example as of late of music created entirely with the artist's vocals (very recently I posted about Aphir's new album with similar theme), but Fractured Whole is as experimental as it's ethereal.

When you look at the titles of the tracks, you automatically think of Lingua Ignota and it's not my only connotation: there is something from Kristin Hayter in the vocals as well. But unlike her, Mitchell drowns the compositions in both extremely airy and very glitchy vibes. If you like sacral-like, ethereal vocals surrounding you from every direction but also being reshaped by experimental electronic music, this is definitely something for you. The compositions are rarely put within more formulated structures and often freely go wherever the artist wants them to.

Fractured Whole costs 8 USD.

Check: Penance

Country: California, US

Genre: vocal-only electronica

Label: Beacon Sound

:bandcamp:

:facebook:
:official:

:instagram:

:soundcloud:

:spotify:

Pascal Savy - Simulacra (2023)

Pascal Savy, a French artist based in London, is said to create "organic ambient and drone music as a way to reflect on erosion, transition and decay". This makes him a perfect match for the French label, Cyclic Law, which released his new album called Simulacra.

This album is the artist's answer to the nervous political situation around the world with the music here  that is filled with "feelings of alienation and powerlessness as well as convey(ing) ideas of anger and latent violence". The industrial, aggressive dark ambient is a perfect way to express this kind of atmosphere of constant danger and uncertainty. But there's another layer to his music: the always-changing, looping backgrounds create an otherworldly atmosphere that can feel airy and soothing as well as dangerous and poignant at the same time. A lot of approaches towards the same goal: unnerving space/dark ambient.

Simulacra costs 7 EUR.

Check: Hyperspace Without Atmosphere

Country: France/UK

Genre: industrial dark ambient

Label: Cyclic Law

:bandcamp:

:instagram:

:soundcloud:

:spotify:

Wendy Rae Fowler - Flicker​+​Pulse (2023)

Wendy Rae Fowler, member of psychedelic rock outfits Earthlings? and We Fell to Earth is now more focused on her solo music and ambient electronica. Recently she has released a movie score to a documentary about the British nature called Flicker​+​Pulse.

And while it is opened with pulsating bass line, the whole album is more about delicate ambient meeting neoclassical, piano-based beauty that evolves towards more intense electronica. While the whole score is not very long, it does what they usually lack in: every track is unique and quite different while still revolving within the subtle electronica realm. It may sound even too subtle for a documentary, but maybe it means that I should watch it somewhere.

Flicker​+​Pulse costs 8 EUR (7 GBP).

 

Check: The Sound of My Heart

Country: UK

Genre: neoclassical soundscape

Label: Ghost Rhythm Records

:bandcamp:

:facebook:
:official:

:instagram:

:youtube:

:spotify:

aMute - Days of Light & Let Go (2023)

aMute is a music project with a long history. Now Jérôme Deuson's solo project, it used to involve more people and debuted almost 20 years ago. Now, Deauson released the 8th album under this moniker and Days of Light & Let Go and it's as strange and moody as its cover art.

It's very difficult to label this music. It's safe to say that from the look of the cover art, you'd expect some kind of metal music, but it couldn't be further from truth. The compositions here are not loud, they are more into creating a particular kind of atmosphere, but you couldn't say they are slow or dragging. They are made of more or less subtle electronica with a great deal of organ-sounding keys (so great in Complaints & Thoughts). But most of the time here we spend with the darker kind of ambient music with or without vocals. There's a lot going on here genre-wise but everything is filtered with the same unnerving but interesting, horror-like but self-reflecting lenses and I appreciate it a lot. 

And once again, because I love it so much, the cover art is what draws attention to the album with the photography taken by a talented visual artist with a really cool name: Mothmeister.

Days of Light & Let Go costs 8 USD.

Check: Complaints & Thoughts

Country: Belgium

Genre: gothic electronica

Label: Hopedrive Editions

:bandcamp:

:facebook:

:instagram:

:spotify:

Laikamorí - △​△​△ (2023)

The Peruvian artists who currently live in US, Laikamorí, made me fall in love with their unique and weird music with their fantastic debut Persōna five years ago. Now, they are back and △​△​△ proves that the debut was not a coincidence.

Based on electronic music that can be both lively and energetic as well as dark and gloomy, Laikamorí's compositions spark awe with how uniquely they sound. The industrial influences take over most of the tracks but they have to share with almost-dub-like electronica and noisy ambient parts. And this all is accompanied by one of the most interesting vocals out there: high-pitched and dreamy that express this partly gibberish partly poetic lyrics to make everything glow with the most attractive kind of musical mystery. 

And this is the first time I can post here, under a band picture I took personally. Apart from being extremely talented, the two artists proved to be super friendly when they spent some time in Kraków back in 2021.

△​△​△ costs 10 USD.

Laikamorí - Persōna (2018)

Check: Amok

Country: Peru/New York, US

Genre: ethereal wave

:bandcamp:

:facebook:

:instagram:

:youtube:

:spotify:

Nac/Hut Report - Absent (2023)

With already their 7th album, the Kraków-based Nac/Hut Report continue to develop their very unique style that marries dream pop-atmosphere with experimental ambient electronica. Absent makes yet another extremely interesting album in the offstream landscape of Poland.

Brigitte Roussel is the singing part of the duo and her voice is utterly oneiric and atmospheric. It always sound like something that appears on the verge of a dream, difficult to decipher but enriching the mesmerizing ambiance of the compositions. Anyone who attended any of their shows knows how focused Roussel and Li/ese/Li are while working on their experimental ambient music. This music manages to be melodic and catchy while undoubtedly representing the very experimental part of the electronic music that directly borders with drone and noise genres. 

The artists sprinkle this outstanding mode of operation with a captivating idea on this particular album on which "All music has been extracted from shortwave radio interval signals from different international broadcasters" named in the track titles (from Korea and Uzbekistan to Poland and Slovakia). This alone makes it even more mysterious and difficult to pass on.

Absent costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: 702 KHz, Radio Stockholm

Country: Poland

Genre: experimental ambient pop

Label: Crunchy Human Children Records

:bandcamp:

:facebook:

:instagram:

:spotify:

Throw Down Bones - Three (2023)

The newest album from the Fuzz Club Records powerhouse is provided by the Italian Piemonte's artist from Throw Down Bones. For the trio, it is the third album in discography and they fittingly called it Three. With no doubt, it is filled with a super interesting take on instrumental music.

Although the music here is certainly based on guitars and it's mostly instrumental, I can't say it sounds like your typical post-rock music. First of all, the synthy electronica has a lot to say here: I love how the gut-reaching electronic noise dominates Optichrome and how well the smaller but viable distortion compliment the guitar compositions. This crazy post-industrial vibe rules the whole album. It makes the music go insanely fast (the pace on Loma!), hits like a bullet and make the unique and strong impression on the listeners.

Three costs 8 EUR (7 GBP).

Check: Loma

Country: Italy

Genre: post-industrial post-rock

Label: Fuzz Club Records

:bandcamp:

:facebook:

:instagram:

:soundcloud:

:spotify:

Lost in Reverb - (H)ours (2023)

Nicolás Madrid from the Argentinian city of Marcos Paz is a drone artist whose music creates some beautiful, although harsh soundscapes. Ones that I'd imagine would fit perfectly the southern end of the artist's home country. His new EP is called (H)ours.

The music here is a nice combination of space, dark ambient with uncomfortable presence of drone music. Some of the cosmic peace, represented by the cover art's picture of the Moon, is also audible here. Especially in the hopefully titled second track on the album. And the more beautiful face of this music is shown when the piano keys are introduced in The Hours in Mare Imbrium, my favourite track here.

(H)ours costs 3 USD.

Check: The Hours in Mare Imbrium

Country: Argentina

Genre: droney space ambient

:bandcamp:

:instagram:

:spotify:

Lowly - Keep Up the Good Work (2023)

In 2019 they shook my musical world withe their near-perfect album Hifalutin. This winter, the Danish band of Lowly finally released their next, third one already, album called Keep Up the Good Work. And they did exactly what they mentioned in the title.

They call themselves "restlessly inventive, exquisitely melodic, and defying easy categorisation" and there's no exaggeration in those words. They create indie pop that borders with everything possible. There's a lot of ambitious electronica and synthpop here, that's for sure. There's some dreampop and noise pop elements (although I feel like less than before, instead, there's more tropical, twee vibes). There's a very broad approach to vocals as they very often function as background sounds for the whole compositions. But the main thing is how easily the Danish create absolute bangers that are catchy and melodic to the extreme. On the last album, it was Children and In the Hearts, now it's Seasons and Keep Up the Good Work.

This kind of experimental in nature but also extremely catchy music with positive vibes makes me think of their latest work as a calmer, more artsy version of what Plastic Mermaids delivered us last year. Both albums being something very special.

Keep Up the Good Work costs 8 EUR (7 GBP).

Lowly - Hifalutin (2019)

Check: Seasons

Country: Denmark

Genre: experimental synthpop

Label: Bella Union

:bandcamp:

:facebook:

:instagram:

:spotify: