Giant Claw – Soft Channel
Keith Rankin’s musical collage project is an odd and interesting piece of, how to call it, experimental vaporwave? The plunderphonics-based experiment is a challenging piece of modern electronic music that’s slightly abstract and very artistic.

Sridhar Varadarajan – Imperfect Things
Oh, yes, math-infused post-rock, a style with delicacy and tenderness, appealing to emotions by constructing evocative passages that are assimilable by nearly everyone. Despite the broad and quasi-populist nature of it, there is some tremendously great music to be found. I think Sridhar’s little EP is very good, and much worth your time.

Thot – Fleuve
This Belgian post-metal band has struck gold with Fleuve, an album that uses alternative, even avant-garde metal aesthetics inside a more conventional progressive metal and post-metal structure to create something really cool. An ode to the many great rivers of Europe, the full-length will transport you through various landscapes, white waters, and dark depths.

Mino yanci – Mino yanci
The Mino yanci EP is a jazz fusion release from California, and it’s truly a gem of the genre. The album is groovy, jazzy, and an impressive feat of musicianship from all members involved. Despite its thirty minutes length – pretty large, for an EP –, you’ll find yourself asking for more. And that’s what I demand!

The Body – A Home on Earth
Mere days after releasing an absolutely fantastic collaborative work with Full of Hell, The Body is back with a new EP, the seemingly Christmas-themed A Home on Earth. The band’s brand sound is back in full view with its slow, heavy, aggressive music and screeching vocals. It’s great, and too short.

김기철 (Kicheol Kim), 리융귱 (Youngkyoung Lee), and 강해진 (Haekin Kang) – Alive
This is a re-release on vinyl of the 2014 South Korean free jazz album, but I thought it was worth mentioning nonetheless, as it includes a few new tracks. This saxophone-piano-violin trio from 서울 (Seoul) is very expressive and also somewhat challenging upon first listen, but the colourful pseudo-compositions really strike the imaginary.

Cara neir/Chasmbound – Split
This split marks the return of black pop – or, as they call it, sourpop – artists Chasmbound, as well as a continued flow of releases from the Cara neir duo. This split shows the two bands at their fullest, with almost radio-friendly songs of harsh blackness. It still feels like an odd mix, but it’s very enjoyable.

Nullingroots – Into the Grey
Blackgaze has seemingly come and gone already, at least the bulk of it, but there still are some artists pushing the envelope. This one here adds the progressive modifier in front of it, and pushes the usually rather short songs into the ten- to thirteen-minute territory. Into the Grey is a fantastic release.

Trespasser – Suffer Alone, Suffer Together
Yet another glorious find by Art as Catharsis, Trespasser is a blackened post-hardcore band, and their debut EP just recently came out. Their bleak compositions also step into the spheres of doom metal and post-metal, which makes for an interesting listen.