Last week, COOL HEAT  – also known as the solo project of Chicago-based musician and photographer Eden Sierotnik –  released his stunning sophomore album Abandon. It is follow up to Sierotnik’s remarkable debut album Nowhere released back in 2022 as well as his EP Permanence released last summer. Both releases, meticulous, maximalist, modern dream pop ..read more

Today, COOL HEAT  – also known as the solo project of Chicago-based musician and photographer Eden Sierotnik –  shares the stunning single “Not My Fault.” Following “Real Life” back in December, it’s the second new single from Abandon, Sierotnik’s upcoming sophomore album, follow up to his remarkable debut album Nowhere released back in 2022 as well as his excellent EP Permanence released last summer. We described Permanence as meticulous, maximalist, modern dream pop that – oscillating between shoegaze, coldwave, and synthwave – ultimately represented endlessness, solidifying it as ..read more

Earlier this week, post-punk quartet Parallel released their stunning new single “Blister,” the first track from Flooded, their upcoming sophomore EP out later this summer. Influenced by bands like Slowdive and The Chameleons, the Oakland, California based group maintain a “dedication to an authentic and reflective sound, devoid of distortion and rich in clean tones drenched in chorus and delay,” as well as a “commitment to sonic purity and intricate songwriting.” Follow up to their debut self-titled EP released back in 2022, Flooded will explore “the intense fluctuations of emotions such as ..read more

Last week, synthwave duo CD Ghost released their incredible new EP Vignette II, the follow up to the stunning Vignette I released just last year. The pair of EPs are Cody Han and Blake Dimas’s first major releases since their incredible album Night Music released back in 2022, which placed just a bit more emphasis on their darkwave inspired synth and reverb-heavy vocals, as well as gorgeously drew out the quiet brilliance of solitude; there was a phantom-like quality to those tracks, at once shadowy and impossibly lush. On both Vignette I and Vignette II, the tracks are a bit more upbeat, but ..read more

Yesterday, Midi Memory – also known as the synth/coldwave side project of Cathedral Bells’ Matt Messore – shared their stunning sophomore album Far Gone and Out. The Florida-based artist finds his main inspiration in darkwave/coldwave artists like Black Marble and Molchat Doma, and utilizes analog Roland tones, synthesizers from the 1980’s, and intense, propellant drum loops in order to create a lush, expansive sound that has, since his incredible debut Sensory Overload, become nothing short of a signature. Far Gone and Out takes us into slightly darker depths while maintaining an exhilaratin ..read more

Spacemoth is the psychedelic, space-pop project of Maryam Qudus. Later this summer, she will release her debut album No Past No Future, described succinctly as “the reckoning point between nostalgia and nihilism,” or the “struggle to hang on to a moment as it warps in time.” The album will express Qudus’s love of vintage synths like the Yamaha CS-50 and Korg Polysix, which has likened her sound to groups such as Stereolab and Broadcast. Her most recent single from the album, “Waves Come Crashing,” following singles “This Shit” and “Pipe and Pistol,” takes a slightly different direction, meldi ..read more

Earlier this week, COOL HEAT – also known as the lo-fi pop project of Chicago-based artist and photographer Eden Sierotnik – released “Lately,” the second official single from his upcoming debut LP Nowhere. The new album follows Sierotnik’s incredible 2021 EP Levitate, which further expounded his stunning, cinematic take on shoegaze and dream pop that was introduced in his 2020 self-titled debut (just take one listen to “Drift” and tell me that doesn’t take you to another dimension). Multi-textured yet subtly ethereal, modern yet lost in time, the project’s moniker is apt; Sierotnik proves wi ..read more

Earlier this week, Boston-based trio House of Harm released their stunning new single “Roseglass.” It’s the first tease of their upcoming sophomore album Playground, the follow-up to their fantastic debut LP Vicious Pastimes back in 2020. The new release will undoubtedly expand on Michael Rocheford, Cooper Leardi, and Tyler Kershaw’s unique amalgamation of darkwave and coldwave, placing an equal emphasis on texture and tone. But if Vicious Pastimes had more of a gothic aura, “Roseglass,” with its stark, industrial percussion, devastatingly sharp synth, and piercing vocals, also beautifully ge ..read more

In late July, post-punk group FEARING announced the upcoming release of Destroyer, their sophomore album. Starting as a 4 piece guitar band with full acoustic drums – which led to their stellar debut album Shadow – to now touring and recording as a 3 piece electronic hybrid, the group has nevertheless maintained their signature dark charm. Destroyer will have a more minimal sound, and will show the group gesturing towards a “vision of abyssal maritime desolation,” or “the sonic realms that capture the fine equilibrium allying the somber, austere, the vigorous, and vibrant.” “I Was So Alive ..read more

Earlier this month, Cathedral Bells announced their upcoming album Everything At Once, the follow up to 2021’s stunning release Ether. The “shoegaze-by-way-of-bedroom-pop” project is led by Orlando, Florida-based artist Matt Messore, who writes, records, and produces everything on his own; live, he’s accompanied by Griffin Marthe, Miguel Pais, and Jordan Bermudez. Overall, Messore’s sound is lush and otherworldly, a perfect mix of crystalline synth and crepuscular flourishes (imagine tendrils of smoke preserved in a rough-cut diamond – that’s what Cathedral Bells are to me). The album’s lates ..read more