It’s no surprise that Rare DM (Erin Hoagg) titled her new, entirely self-produced and recorded album Attention. The whole thing demands your attention, and your pulse.
Opening track “Compliment” hits all the right beats and gets your pulse elevated for what’s to come. You’ll need the energy for all the dancing, and Rare DM’s often breathy vocal delivery is as seductive as the beat. “The Ring” throbs in your head and your hips, and, yes, it’s about the Japanese horror film Ringu and the wicked ghost in it who slays people via VHS tape. Rare DM loves blends of music and visuals, technology and humanity, sex and science fiction. It’s a perfect fit.
“Honey” has a drifting, floating, tactile sound that sounds like a cool darkwave track you haven’t heard in years. The question on Rare DM’s mind at the beginning of “Mean Girled” is “We’re not even fuckin’, but am I worried about you?” She’s trying to figure out a weird relationship dynamic and if it’s worth taking to another level or if she should just walk away.
“Butterfly Historian” is drenched in muted bass and sultry sweat. “325” might be the best love song about a vehicle since Queen‘s “I’m in Love with My Car.” Speaking of vehicles, the next track is “LA Traffic,” in which Rare DM laments (over drum and bass beats) over being stuck in it while friends wait for her at the club. “Lil DM” has her wishing for at least a night free of phone calls and e-mails.
“Skater Hits Me Harder” has Rare DM looking back on an adolescent crush through the lenses of adulthood and time. “Significant Other” is an instrumental banger. “Do you like me better, now that I’m like you?” Hoagg asks on the near-industrial “Feel Nothing.” She’s come to realize that she doesn’t need what her lover is selling. The album ends with the lush “Landed,” showcasing Hoagg’s misty voice and sunlight-through-the-fog synths (most of which, by the way, are vintage gear she’s collected from all over NYC).
Pay attention to this album. You’ll notice something different every time.
Today, renowned French musician and artist Félicia Atkinson announces new album SANS VISAGE, a reimagined score for Georges Franju’s cult 1960 horror classic Les yeux sans visage (Eyes Without a Face), out June 26 via Viernulvier Records. The news arrives alongside lead preview “Les Yeux II” and follows her recently released collaborative album with Christina Vantzou, Reflections Vol. 3: Water Poems, via RVNG Intl., as well as her acclaimed solo releases Promenades and Space as an Instrument on Shelter Press.
Atkinson first saw Les yeux sans visage when she was a teenager, around the turn of the century. The film made an impact for its iconic imagery and the way Franju draws on the aesthetics of early filmmaking, from its score that relies on stylistic markers typical of the 1940s or 50s to the decision to shoot in black and white. Even four decades after its first release, it was clear that this was a work that stood outside of the cultural moment that birthed it, speaking through time in ways that were uncanny, but profound.
A quarter-century later, Atkinson was approached by the Belgian cultural center VIERNULVIER to create a new score for Les yeux sans visage for its celebrated Videodroom series, which has seen artists like claire rousay, Mabe Fratti, Lee Renaldo, and many more create new original scores for cult classics and genre cinema. Atkinson’s music, with its sublime meditations on space and proximity, its elusive sense of narrative development, mirrors the pacing and mystery at the heart of horror filmmaking. There is a shadow at the heart of her soundtrack to Les yeux sans visage, an ever-shifting wisp and an insinuation of encroaching transfiguration. Echoing a climactic moment in the film, the music obliquely points to “the Beyond,” an impossible place of discovery and revelation.
Atkinson envisioned her music as something akin to the air moving throughout and beyond the many cages that appear in the film, unconstrained by the bars and with undefined borders. Those cages hold the victims of a madman surgeon, determined to graft a new face onto his daughter, the protagonist Christiane Génessier, who lost hers in a car accident while he was behind the wheel. Atkinson was reminded of her predecessors at the pioneering French studio the GRM, who approached sound in a less sinister, but similarly surgical manner, and took inspiration from their playful approach to cerebral soundmaking for the electroacoustic topography into which the piano is embedded. As such, Atkinson’s reactions to the larger themes and the minute-by-minute happenings onscreen are both audible simultaneously.
A film about a man who destroys the lives of young women marked by their beauty and similarity to his daughter in a shame-fueled rage has clear, continuous cultural resonance. “Through the music, I decided to bring back their empowerment despite what they endure,” says Atkinson. “This is why the record is also dedicated to Gisèle Pelicot, whose trial happened while I was in the process of composing the music and kept thinking of her strength and her decision to share her trial in order to reverse the shame.”
This recorded version of the soundtrack is a 34-minute synthesis of the full 90-minute score, presented on LP along with an essay by writer-musician Claire Cronin and drawings by Momo Gordon, together forming a complex reflection on the film’s themes. If these sounds move as if the bars of cages are no barrier, they also intimate the freedom and power of those held behind them. Rather than simply mirroring the fear and confinement shown onscreen, Atkinson offers an elusive escape, a beacon for the characters, and the listener, to follow as they reckon with the narrative and move through it.
Listen to “Les Yeux II” above and stay tuned for more from Félicia Atkinson ahead of the full release of SANS VISAGE on June 26 via Viernulvier Records.
Today, Cornelius returns with his first new music in years, opening a long-awaited new chapter on Eat Your Own Ears Recordings. His new single, a cover of “Yumenemi,” was originally released in 1989 by one of Japan’s most iconic singer-songwriters, Yosui Inoue, and remains a cult Balearic classic.
Reimagined through Cornelius’s singular lens, the track marries his signature collage-like production, intricate rhythmic detail and soft-focus electronics with a lilting tropicalia inflection, for a swirling, heady track befitting of it’s title, which roughly translates to “dreaming”.
The new track arrives following a recent resurgence of interest in his work, including a viral TikTok moment and a nod from Rosalía, who featured “Typewrite Lesson”, originally a b-side from Cornelius’s iconic 1997 album ‘Fantasma’, in her Met Gala–themed Vogue playlist of all-time favourites.
Cornelius is the musical project of Japanese multi-instrumentalist Keigo Oyamada, who began his career in his teens and launched the Cornelius name in the early 1990s after his band Flipper’s Guitar. The project takes its name from Planet of the Apes.
He broke internationally with 1997’s Fantasma, a genre-blurring album of cut-and-paste production that drew comparisons to Beck and The Beastie Boys and was released worldwide by Matador Records. Often dubbed a “modern-day Brian Wilson,” Oyamada became a sought-after producer and remixer, a “musician’s musician”, collaborating with artists including Blur, Beck, Sean Ono Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Plastic Ono Band, Haruomi Hosono, James Brown and many others.
With 2002’s Point, Cornelius shifted toward intricate loops of organic sound sources, from water droplets to vocoder-heavy reinterpretations, pushing his meticulous sound design further on 2007’s Sensuous. His live shows are renowned for precision-synced visuals, custom lighting, and immersive, band-led performances that treat the stage as a fully integrated audio-visual system.
The companion release Sensurround + B Sides was nominated for Best Surround Sound Album at the 2009 Grammy Awards.
“Yumenemi” marks the start of a long-awaited new body of work, set to unfold over the coming months.
As Rare DM, Erin Hoagg fuses moody pop songwriting, vintage synthesis, and striking visuals. The New York City-based artist will release her second full-length, Attention, on May 29, 2026. Today, she shares the pensive and catchy new single “Honey,” which stemmed from the complexity of a budding romance. She ponders the vulnerable rush of admitting you love someone over a meticulous electronic arrangement. A brooding self-directed video, which nods to classic vampire movies, contrasts the euphoric subject matter.
On the single, Rare DM shares:“’Honey’ is my first happy love song. I wrote it during the uncertain time before saying the words ‘I love you’ – you’re in a constant state of butterflies: it’s sweet, vulnerable and a little scary. I wrote it in my old studio in Bushwick when I was being swept up, and really got into the symphony of things, percussive polyrhythms; chopping up my vocals. ‘Honey’ is one of the first songs I finished with producer Ross Fish aka Moffenzeef Modular (also from 4MS). I’m thrilled with how it turned out – super wide and swirly. I really enjoyed dialing in the finishing touches together. It’s one of my favorite songs to perform live.
‘Honey’ the video is leaning into the best part of being in love: having fun and being silly. Dating is a lot of sifting through trash, looking in the wrong places, getting caught up in games, battling decision paralysis… there are so many fish in the sea, you have to be willing to make a fool of yourself to find the right one. I am a strong believer that the most important part of a relationship is making each other laugh. The world is too serious.”
We’ve reached the top 15 of albums I reviewed (not released) over the last five years. Read on to see who made the list!
#15: Maquina – Prata (2024)
That cover image pretty much sums up the sound of this wild post-punk / noise rock / dance rock album. It’s a stunning record, and I’m happy to report they’re close to releasing a new one.
#14: Lair – Ngélar (2024)
Indonesian psych-rock? Yes, please. Funky, groovy, weird, and playful. This is a delight from start to finish.
#13: Sextile – yes, please. (2025)
Possibly the best dance-punk album of 2025. This record slams non-stop and gets you moving whether you want to or not.
#12: Ki Oni – A Leisurely Swim to Everlasting Life (2023)
A beautiful album about grief, our continued, changed existence after death, and a salute to Ki Oni’s late grandmother all wrapped up in lush ambient music.
#11: No Joy – Bugland (2025)
A brilliant return for No Joy and their shoegaze rock. This album sprinted into the top ten of 2025 for me the first time I heard it.
Speaking of the top ten, come back tomorrow to see who’s in the top ten of the last five years!
Miss Grit‘s new album, Under My Umbrella, is an album about loneliness – both the embrace of it and the sadness of it. Loneliness can be liberating at times. It can feel great to be on your own with endless possibilities before you. It can also feel crushing, like your world has stopped and no one even thinks to look for you while they’re rushing around outside.
The pulsing, symphonic synths of “Tourist Mind” build to an upbeat outlook as you drop the car into drive and head out for a solo road trip to wherever you’d like (as Miss Grit / Margaret Sohn did around North America during a tour). When they sing, “I never wanted to be so alone,” you can’t tell if they’re happy or sad about it. It could be both depending on the moment. “Mind Disaster” sizzles with electric hums and Sohn’s modulated voice sounding like a robot awakening from a weird dream about someone they can’t place but whose presence they can still feel.
“I Won’t Count on You” has Sohn embracing the idea of not having to rely on someone (“I’m going to enjoy this. I won’t count on you.”). “It Feels Like” could be a shoegaze track if you swap the synthesizers for distorted guitars. “Where Is My Head?” is a hypnotizing trip-hop track with Sohn repeating simple lyrics like “You’re all so free.” and “You’ll never see inside of me.” as bubbling, brewing beats and bass surround them.
“Stranger” has Sohn feeling alone as a lover grows detached from them and they’re just trying to keep up before the race is finished. “You Will Change” seems to be about making your way out of the maze of grief with lyrics like “And one day it could all change. While you wait for pain, your heart will go on pushed into another day.” The track (appropriately) flows into “Overflow” – a song about wondering if you’ll know when it’s time to leave a relationship or if you’ll only realize after the other half has left.
The album ends with “Waste Me.” It’s a bit upbeat even though Sohn’s lyrics are sprinkled with sadness (“And it’s very me to feel misunderstood, but I barely try to explain myself to you.”). Sohn is facing the fact that they’re going to be alone, again, for a while, and that might be okay. They’ll just have to ride it out.
It’s all any of us can do, really, but this album helps you navigate it by not feeling so alone.
Keep your mind open.
[Subscribing for music news and reviews might help alleviate loneliness.]
I’m far behind on this, as it’s already mid-May 2026, but I’ve meant to create a list of my favorite records (and concerts, see other posts) of the last five years. I created such lists for my top stuff from 2020 through 2024, so I’m continuing the trend. Mind you, these are the top twenty-five albums I reviewed, not albums released during those five years. There were many excellent albums that slipped through the cracks. Enough backstory. Let’s get to it before this gets delayed yet again.
#25: Rochelle Jordan – Play with the Changes(2021)
This is a beautiful, funky, and sexy record that introduced me to Ms. Jordan’s music and instantly made me want to find out more about her work that mixes house music with R&B with ease.
#24: Brijean – Feelings(2021)
This lovely dream pop record came out of nowhere (for me at least) and floored me. They’re a fun duo who have yet to make a bad album.
#23: Ty Segall – Harmonizer(2021)
I was a bit surprised to hear Ty Segall embracing synthesizers and going into electronic music somewhat on this record, but then I wasn’t surprised because Segall is always exploring different genres and embracing his many influences. It was a cool surprise from him.
#22: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – The Silver Cord extended version(2023)
Speaking of cool surprises: King Gizzard goes full rave! There was the “regular” version of this all-synth album by the Australian psych giants and then this “extended” version of the album that I preferred. Once again, KGATLW showed they can adapt to anything they decide to play.
#21: Anika – Change(2021)
Haunting and gorgeous. That’s the best way I can describe this synthwave album from Anika. It snuggles / slithers up next to you and doesn’t leave for days.
Who’s in the top twenty? Come back tomorrow to find out!
Following the epic conclusion of the Netflix global phenomenon, Emmy-winning composers Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein (of the band S U R V I V E) return to the stage for the definitive live celebration of the entire saga. This 2026 tour offers a complete sonic retrospective, spanning all five seasons of Stranger Things. From the iconic 2016 opening theme to the climactic sounds of the recently released Season 5, Dixon and Stein bring their atmospheric scores to life. Having recently announced shows in Prague, Brussels, Berlin, Belfast, Birmingham, London, and Fiastra, the duo have now extended their run adding shows in Belgrade, Barcelona, Madrid, Sopot, Sofia, Bratislava, Athens, and Dublin.
To elevate the performance into a fully immersive experience, they have partnered with renowned visual artist MFO (Marcel Weber). The new show features a minimal yet striking design of light and sculpted fog. Light takes on a physical presence through dreamy glows and violent, haunted movements, blurring the line between concert and cinema to make the Stranger Things atmosphere a truly tangible experience.
Tour dates: 10 June – Brussels, BE – Ancienne Belgique 15 June – Berlin, DE – Theater Des Westens 17 June – Belfast, UK – Waterfront Hall 19 June – Birmingham, UK – Symphony Hall 21 June – London, UK – Roundhouse 26 June – Fiastra (MC), IT – Fiastrapalooza Festival 3 September – Belgrade, RS – Drugstore 5 September – Barcelona, ES – Paral·lel 62 8 September – Madrid, ES – The Music Station Príncipe 12 September – Sopot, PL – Brasswood 14 September – Sofia, BU – National Palace of Culture 16 September – Bratislava, SK – Majestic Music Club 19 September – Athens, GR – Hellenic Cosmos 21 September – Dublin, IE – 3Olympia Theatre
In the annals of film and television, certain musical themes manage to transcend the moving image. From the iconic whistle introducing Morricone’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly theme to Tangerine Dream’s “Love On A Real Train,” memorable scores have the uncanny ability to sum up an epoch, an entire aesthetic. The prolific Texan musicians Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein are responsible for a body of work that’s synonymous with the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, the supernatural everytown at the center of the Netflix hit Stranger Things. But as the small town becomes the unlikely site for a supernatural battle within the hit series, Dixon and Stein’s soundscapes, too, have expanded in lockstep. In the meantime, Stein and Dixon compose music for feature films, documentary series and large-scale installations and play in the band S U R V I V E. Working in the lineage of predecessors like John Carpenter and contemporary peers like Oneohtrix Point Never, Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein use a lifelong obsession with synthesizers and electronic music as a vehicle for larger-than-life visions.
While Dixon & Stein came to prominence composing music for a series that has become a cultural touchstone, Stranger Things, imagery and setting have always been central to the duo’s practice. In 2009, alongside Mark Donica and Adam Jones, they formed the live synthesizer band S U R V I V E.
Leading up to the formation of the quartet, Dixon and Stein experimented with field recordings, venturing down tunnels and ascending water towers around Austin, Texas, hauling battery-powered modular setups and field recording equipment out to the sorts of places the Stranger Things kids might explore on their bicycles. As opposed to the laptop-based performances common in live electronic music at the time, S U R V I V E hauled a studio’s worth of synthesizers and amplifiers into dive bars for legendary live performances, achieving the ability to fill the room with crushing sound. Whether they knew it or not, with S U R V I V E, Dixon and Stein laid the groundwork for their future as one of the pre-eminent scoring teams of our time. Rather than speaking in musical terms, they’d describe their instrumental synth music with visual cues—a helicopter soaring over a waterfall, a high-speed chase down darkened Los Angeles alleys.
When The Duffer Brothers found the band and tapped Dixon and Stein for work on Stranger Things, the duo rolled their sleeves up, taking on a workload typically handled by a fleet of composers and assistants. As the show gradually transformed from ’80s sci-fi period piece to an expansive supernatural epic, Stein and Dixon rose to the occasion. While their music for early seasons focused on the timeless sound of ’80s analog synthesizers, they’d soon harness melodies and atmospherics befitting Eleven and Mike’s interdimensional struggle. Music is a main character in Stranger Things, with Dixon and Stein’s soundtrack weaving in and out of triumphant, period-appropriate songs like Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill.” That song topped the charts after its pivotal use in season four. Similarly, the duo’s tireless work on Stranger Things catapulted them from underground synth heroes to key composers for modern film and television. Stein and Dixon won an Emmy for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music for their work on the show, in addition to nominations for multiple Grammys and ASCAP awards.
For recent seasons of Stranger Things, the duo has worked at a daunting pace, crafting the equivalent of a feature film score every two weeks. Somehow, they’ve also found time to work on multiple feature films in recent years. For Joaquin del Paso’s 2021 independent psychological thriller The Hole In The Fence, Stein and Dixon paid homage to Tomita’s epic synthesizer compositions as well as the pioneering electronic experiments of Oscar Sala. Their score received a Hollywood Music In Media Awards nomination for Best Independent Score, while the film itself premiered at Venice Film Festival and took home best film honors at the Cairo Film Festival. Over the pandemic, Dixon and Stein managed to collaborate remotely with musicians and multiple choirs, even integrating the mysterious and singular sounds of a Bulgarian Women’s Choir into their Meow Wolf score. The duo also composed the score for the 2021 horror-tinged thriller Retaliators, adding to a burgeoning catalog that has placed Stein and Dixon’s soundscapes behind VR-views of the cosmos (Spheres), scenes from ’90s Silicon Valley (Valley Of The Boom), and the journey of an 11-year-old transgender girl (Butterfly), to name just a few.
After this prolific run, Dixon and Stein are simultaneously going back to their roots and embracing new challenges. Currently working out of their respective, hardware-heavy studios in Los Angeles and Austin, they’ll soon reunite with their band, S U R V I V E, for a new album and worldwide touring. At heart, Stein and Dixon are avid students of electronic music history who constantly explore new methods of composition and scoring. While they have a clear facility for soundtracking the supernatural and otherworldly, Stein and Dixon have an equal interest in scoring quieter, decidedly human drama. It’s been a wild decade for Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein, who have gone from DIY tinkerers in Austin to introducing a whole new generation to synthesizers via the alchemical combination of sound and moving image. The images have been in their mind all along. Now we just get to watch them.
Under the alias Rare DM, Erin Hoagg crafts dark pop music steeped in allure. Today, the New York City-based synthesist, songwriter, and visual sorcerer announces her full-length Attention, out May 29, 2026. She has also shared the single “Compliment,” premiering on METAL Magazine with an exclusive interview and photo spread. It explores the confusing validation of being flirted with while in a relationship, vocals shifting between abruptness and delicacy over a choppy dance beat. Accompanied by an otherworldly video directed by Lisa Saeboe and edited by Hoagg, this is a mesmerizing introduction to Attention’s sexy, enveloping world.
On the single, Rare DM shares:“’Compliment’ started with writing lyrics with my Juno 60, using twisting bouncy arpeggiators and chopping up my original vocals into rhythmic stabs.
“It is inspired by when you are in a relationship, and someone who you had eyes for (before meeting your s/o) suddenly pays attention to you. I was sent a suggestive message from someone, and wasn’t single anymore. As the lyrics share: ‘don’t you worry about it for a second, I can take a compliment’ because hey, I don’t want them to feel embarrassed or bad, they didn’t know that I met someone! This all being said… I can’t control if they are thinking of me. ‘You can’t have it… but you can imagine it'”
On the video, director Lisa Saeboe expands: “I wanted “Compliment” to feel like a surrealist journey through the unconscious, utilizing mirrors, repetition, and portals to create a simulacra of modern day loneliness and desire.
“Compliment'” is also a love letter to artists that have helped shape my own visual language. We start the video with a reference to the Rokeby Venus by Diego Velásquez, the dreamy beach landscape inspired by experimental filmmaker Maya Deren, followed by Caravaggio’s Narcissus gazing into the pool, and of course the multiple echoes or Rare DM ascending the stairs à la Eadweard Muybridge. I’ve always thought of Rare DM as Man Ray’s ideal muse, whose work also helped establish the tone for the video.”
Hailing from Jakarta, Indonesia Strange Fruit have been playing synth / motorik / krautrock / electro music for over a decade and have now released a wonderfully trippy new record – Drips.
Beginning with the bouncy, blissful “Pouvoir Moteur,” Dino Kristianto‘s repetitive, robotic beats instantly get your head and feet bouncing and the synth work by Baldi Calvianca and Irza Aryadiaz and Nabil Favian‘s bass line locks in the groove. John Tampubolon‘s guitar chords drift in and out of the track like a groovy ghost.
“Iridescent” is like a haunting goth synth track you once heard in a car ride one night and have been searching for ever since. The lyrics allude to how light and color can cause euphoric bliss under the right circumstances…and so can the entire track.
Calvianca’s vocals on “Monopolar” sound like transmissions from orbit, and the rest of the track is something you’d want while doing a space walk to gather ore samples on an asteroid, or while drifting in a boat on an Indonesian river, or while making out at an afterparty…with an android.
The title track closes the EP and appropriately has Tampubolon’s guitar sounding like its melting like a slow-burning candle As if these four tracks weren’t cool enough, the EP includes the Jonathan Kusuma “Hypnodubmix” of “Iridescent” and four different versions of “Monopolar”: remixes by Tom Furse and Hardway Bros and then two live dub mixes (one with and one without vocals) by Hardway Bros. The Furse mix is especially good and makes the track even more psychedelic.
This is the kind of EP that makes you want to track down everything else a band has to offer.
