Nostalgia-laden pastoral post-rock, artistic post-hardcore, raging feminist post hardcore, and a cosmic horror soundtrack.

Pastoral post-rock, ominous-yet-lovely electronic, contemplative electro-classical, krautrock-inspired cinematic music, and glassy dreampop.

The Mary Onettes return with more dreamy pop, Mondo Grosso delivers euphoric electronica, and Pure Bathing Culture cover The Blue Nile.

Classic-sounding goth pop, hazy dreampop, synth-only Smiths covers, and vintage Japanese cinematic funk.

Sleek ethereal pop, serene drones, South Korean dreampop, and lush indie-folk.

Delicate acoustic folk, spaced out synth jams, contemplative ambience, and soulful electronic pop.

Heart-breaking music about death; dreamy electronica from shoegaze giants; inspired ’80s pop; plaintive, old-timey folk/country; and goofy country-punk.

An impressive debut that feels both nostalgic and original; exquisitely composed dreampop; and super funky future funk.

Sparse, intimate folk/slowcore, nocturnal cinematic ambient, airy electronic music, and anime-inspired future funk.

Dreamy autumnal pop, spaced-out slowcore, The Smiths get a shoegaze makeover, and some gorgeous psychedelic pop.

Highly evocative electronic music, unused synthesizer movie scores, and vaporwave composed before vaporwave was a thing.

Minimalist industrial punk; the return of a shoegaze legend; dreamy inter-dimensional post-punk; and darkly lush pop from Germany.

Dark-tinged folk balladry, spacey techno from Iceland, goth-y psychedelia, and stripped down post-rock.

Autumnal dream-pop, cosmic electronic music, impeccable Swedish pop, and the final Circle of Dust reissue.

Ominous synth music, playful electronica, beautiful dark ambient, Swedish psych-rock instrumentals, and elegant emo.

Wintry darkwave, glorious orchestral-folk cacophonies, sleepy urban soundscapes, and vaporwave muzak.

Cinematic electronic music, Quaker-influenced synthpop, spacious ambient dub, atmospheric chamber music, and exotic instrumentals.

This time: Atmospheric darkwave, eerie space rock, poetic post-hardcore, jangly pop, and soulful hip-hop.

In this edition: Pastoral post-rock, bombastic indie-prog, emotional folk-rock, and elegant guitar instrumentals.

Some thoughts on Before Today by Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti and the “witch house” music of Balam Acab.