This is the second album from The Go! Team, and the first one made with a band rather than a guy in his basement with a four-track and a sampler. It’s got their live show energy, but it keeps the charm and heart of Thunder Lightning Strike. This one’s noisier, too, and really fun. Funny story: I saw them touring for this album while my wife was pregnant with a kid who just registered for her senior year of high school!

I’m a big fan of Copy, who has been making instrumental synth albums since the early 00s. I have most of their stuff on vinyl and they get spun regularly. I’m a big fan of all of their instrumental synth and beats. It’s the perfect mix of atmosphere and driving sounds but not synthwave, it's its own thing.

Sandro Perri is a sonic texture master, and this live improvisation is chock full of incredible sounds. It’s surprisingly beat-driven single 20-minute track that harkens back to Perri’s older work as Polmo Polpo, plus a handful of bonus tracks.

Found this one on bluesky from an account that has given me a lot of good shoegaze in the past, so them saying it’s AOTY (album of the year) material made me sit up and listen. Jangly, dreamy, crushing. This is great.

I wrote about this one when it came out in April, but today for bandcamp Friday, Velvet Blue Records put out the instrumentals. I love RM’s synth work, and it’s great that they kept the background vocals in while taking the lead vocals out, really helps the heart of the music feel full.