From this cracked clay earth arises Seeds from the Furthest Vine by Mordecai, an even lower fidelity spin on the experimental folk style of Lou Reed that expands western rock to western proportions.

As hip hop circles back to its golden age sounds, a new generation discovers the power within the smooth flows and snappy beats of boom bap, applying a wide range of new experiences to this time-tested sound.

We cling to this mechanical rhythm for support as sour harmonies pour over us, blocks of harsh electronic noise and unsettling field recordings whizzing past our heads as we hold on for dear life.

Some musicians now pull inspiration from more current aspects of our post-industrialized society, removed from the means of production but still affected by the pollution and waste that our lifestyles demand.

Observing this energetic swell in nature, Septendecim by Saccata Quartet crafts the human analogue to these outbursts, spinning up droney, noisy free jazz into an unstoppable cyclone.

On Lamentations by Sachi Kobayashi, tape manipulation and distortion mimics the corrupting effect of conflict, chewing up the spotless synth pads of hopes and dreams, spitting out an unsettling mass of crunchy noise.

Instead of highlighting wild woodwind solos or wonky guitar riffs, the krautrock of The Key (Became the Important Thing [and Then Just Faded Away]) by Chris Corsano focuses on an element that often gets taken for granted in the genre: the drums.

Throwing a harsh spotlight on this alienation, Allarme by Allarme puts this observer in front of a mirror, giving us a front-row seat to the slow realization of foiled hopes and defunct dreams.

On a personal level as well, White’s lyrics betray a rootlessness and unsteadiness that gets projected outward onto society, all of which gets imprinted onto the music through flowing, kinetic songwriting.

While the idol’s external world sings in pentatonic harmony, their internal reality crumbles into moody free jazz, industrial ambient, and haunting chopped vocals.

Kimj finds a new home for this explosive, experimental style on kimj in korea, a dj tape that infuses edm, hip hop, and pop with a hyperpop flair.

Impossibly wide landscapes inhabited by looping folk instruments and densely atmospheric drones tell us the story of a society of blind ambition, a continual urge towards expansion before unsustainability inevitably begets tragedy.

Striking the stone-cold austerity of gothic rock with a staff until a colorful flood of excess bursts forth, the miraculous wanderers in No Teeth introduce us to a delightful and absurd brand of maximalism on Decadence in Breeding.

This heartwarmingly sincere singer-songwriter album sits at the bottom of the slick slope of childhood, craning its neck to make out the details of the path just traversed.

Each song examines a character reckoning with the onset of colonialism and capitalism, from a woman who feels more similar to the men who sail the world than the women they leave behind to an artisan whose priceless handiwork falls by the wayside as machines replace human hands.

The mainstream vaporized, our confidence decomposed, our enemies multiplied; the only honest path forward for punk lies in the teeth-chattering anxiety of A Salve for Institution by The Sheaves.

Compositionally, introspective lyrics, intuitive structures, and swirling rhythms draw us into the speaker’s inner world, observing our surroundings in all of their typically disregarded psychedelic absurdity.

For Ange Madame on her new record Birth Becomes Her, rebirth represents a deepening of all kinds of sensation and knowledge, from the scalding burn of sympathetic pain to the warm comfort of interpersonal intimacy.

Coin by Taxidermy explores loss in both concrete and abstract forms, using a dark, emo-influenced post-hardcore sound to move past the shock phase of grief.

Deliberately pulling back on the reins before the music spirals into overindulgence, these tracks prioritize acceptance and contentment ahead of jubilation, staying firmly rooted on the ground with positive melodies that remain spindly and narrow instead of escalating to an extravagant height.