I’m guessing 9 Hours Ahead got their name from the time difference between the two members – Breeze in Amsterdam and Namastrange in San Francisco. Together, they put together their Smooth SailingEP and, despite the time difference, created one of the best house music records of 2026 so far.
The title track uses seagull cries, looped hand percussion beats, and undeniably catchy beats to get you moving. The breakdown and comeback in the middle of the track is so slick you might fall off your boat and into the ocean from it.
“Meridian Space” bumps and thumps with thick bass drum hits and then the even thicker synth bass drops in so thick you could spread it on your pancakes. “Transatlantic Dreams” is probably another reference to the time and space gap between the two DJ pals, and it’s a killer cut suitable for dancing, action sequences, and HIIT workouts. I love the old school synth blasts in it.
The EP ends with the Bliss Inc. remix of “Meridian Space” that makes the beats snappier and the bass a bit menacing while adding what sound like alien transmissions to the track.
Add this to a few of your playlists. You’ll dig it.
Keep your mind open.
[Sail over to the subscription box while you’re here.]
After moving to Stockholm, Sweden, drum and bass / techno / breakbeat producer and D Enduser had to adjust to the extreme changes in seasons there: Long periods of darkness, long periods of sunlight, extreme cold, perfect sunny days. The experience was, I’m guessing, unsettling at first. This might’ve led to the title of his new album, Unquiet, which is anything but quiet.
Starting with “Trial By Fire,” Enduser immediately begins layering beats and rhythms with trip-hop sounds to ignite something under your feet and in your chest. The “Lost” mix of “Turning Point” could be the theme music to your new favorite streaming TV show about a mysterious organization or town or a group of hackers. The beats of “Northern Tribe” slither and sizzle with drone synths behind them. “Broken Branch” is pure industrial fury and menace. The “Decay” mix of “Waiting,” believe it or not, brightens things up a bit with lighter synths and bouncier beats.
“Street Lamp” has an Orbital-like quality to it with its big drums and soft synths. The “Homemade Weapons” remix of “Where I Found You” is another standout with big, thumping bass and lurking synths. Nowan‘s remix of “Northern Tribe” makes the song, somehow, bolder and brasher. SCRWZ‘s remix of “Cabin Fever” will get the whole place jumping.
Another thing I like about Unquiet is, much like Enduser’s Swedish landscape, it gives the songs room to breathe. The shortest song on the record, the album mix of “Where I Found You,” is just under five minutes in lengths. Most songs are at least six minutes long. They change shape, stretch, retract, and pull you in different directions – to the dance floor, a shadowy corner, a warm bedroom, a cold forest. It’s meant to upset the quiet around you but also help you appreciate it.
Orbital‘s second album doesn’t really have a title (like their first). It’s commonly known as “Orbital 2” or “The Brown Album” (Because, you know, the cover is brown…and their first album is sometimes called “The Yellow Album” because, you know, the cover is yellow.).
Regardless of what you call it, it’s a techno classic starting with the Lt. Worf-narrated “Time Becomes” that lets you know time will loop, curve, and rebound on itself across the span of the record. The looped sample of “Even a stopped clock can give the right time twice a day.” on “Planet of the Shapes” further explores this theme of stretched, repeated, and warped time. Once the drums kick in, you’re dancing for almost nine straight minutes.
The next four tracks become one long, beautiful techno suite. Starting with “Lust 3-1,” and then drifting / floating / bumping / bouncing through “Lush 3-2,” “Impact (The Earth Is Burning),” and “Remind.” The first of the quartet has become a primer on what early to mid-1990s electronic music was at the time: Bright synths, big beats, and transcendental grooves. “Lush 3-2” flows right out of it and, somehow, becomes even better for dancing. The layered beats on it keep driving you forward, getting your heart rate up and your joints lubed for the third part of the suite. “Impact” is over ten minutes long, so I hope your cardio is good. By the time you get to “Remind,” you’re pretty much in an industrial club.
The repeating synth groove of “Walk Now…” is top-notch, bringing in sizzling house riffs on top of rave beats. “Monday” is almost an ambient track, amd “Halcyon + On + On” has become a rave classic by this point, having been remixed by probably hundreds of DJs across the years. It uses sampled female vocal sounds to lovely effect and the beats on it are crisp. It will throw you back into the early Nineties right away if you were anywhere near rave culture then.
The whole album will do this, even the weird “Input Out” ending with its strange, repeating sample that becomes almost hypnotic by the end. “The Brown Album” (not to be confused with the Primus album of the same name) still holds up today as prime rave music.
At first listen to Mandy, Indiana‘s new album, URGH, you’re not sure what’s happening. The first track, “Sevastopol,” hits you with industrial synths, robot vocals, thudding drums, and warped orchestral sounds all in the same track.
URGH, like all Mandy, Indiana (who actually hail from Manchester in the UK) records, is multi-layered (like the album’s cover) with its instrumentation and subjects, but the overall theme seems to be rage. Mandy, Indiana are, like most of us, just pissed off right now and not afraid to call people out on their bullshit. The album’s title could be spoken as a tired sigh, a guttural growl, a response to a gut punch, or a grunt of hard effort.
“Magazine” tackles one of their favorite subjects – the objectification of women and the impossible standards women are expected to meet. “try saying” mixes video game bloops with wild processed drum sounds from Alex Macdougall and looped French vocals from Valentine Caulfield.
“Dodecahedron,” believe it or not, reminds me of early, heavier Art of Noise tracks. “A Brighter Tomorrow” could be a rallying call or a warning, depending on which side of history you’re choosing. I lean more toward it being a warning of sorts since Scott Fair‘s guitars sound like alarms blaring in the distance. “Life Hex” is a rager and feels like the bubbling anger under the surface of so many of us.
“ist halt so” combines big drums hits with guitars that sound like a belt sander on its last bits of battery charge while Caulfield commands your attention with her snarled vocal delivery. “Sicko” throbs with thick synths and electro-bass and includes guest bars from Billy Woods. “Cursive” is a bumping and bubbling techno track with beats that blend industrial pulse with tribal dance rhythms.
URGH ends with “I’ll Ask Her,” a wicked takedown of toxic masculinity, women’s beauty standards, and dudes who are such pricks that they don’t even realize their own friends are calling them out on it. Caulfield has made it no secret that she was dealing with the aftermath of a sexual assault (and other health issues, along with Macdougall having his own health problems) while writing this album. She and the rest of her bandmates pull no punches on the song or anywhere else on the record.
It’s an urgent record, a powerful record, a cathartic record, an inspiring record. It’s a record we need right now to get us out of the housefire, get our friends, family, and neighbors, out of theirs, and then find the bastards who lit the matches.
The cover of Klangphonics‘ 2021 album Songs to Try takes an image of a forest and the sky above it, flips it, blurs it, and makes it something intriguing. The album does much the same with our perception.
In case you didn’t know, “deep house” is a thing, and Klangphonics might be the best proponents of it. The German trio eschew traditional DJ methods (How weird is it to write that?) and opt to create live electronic music from a blend of acoustic and electronic instruments (or sometimes household objects, tools, and even a riding lawn mower).
“Great Plains” starts off the record with dance grooves and drums that feel right at home in a night club or the Grand Canyon. The switch halfway through to the meditative song become a straight-up house banger is stunning. “Holocene” brings in Anna Metko on guest vocals that give the track a brightness that’s difficult to describe but lovely to experience.
“Dendrometry” (the study of the sizes and shapes of trees) is perfect for your morning run through the woods with its bumping beats, “wind through the leaves” synths, echoed birdsong, and encouraging bass line. “White Flower” takes off like a race car and doesn’t look back. “Heliosphere” uses Carl Sagan’s speech about all of us living on a speck of dust in a sunbeam to excellent effect and sends us out on an uplifting note.
The whole record is uplifting and intriguing…and danceable. These three are high on my must-see list now.
The first is Rico Casazza‘s remix of “Reach the Nucleus” (and a shorter radio edit of it closes the EP). It’s a lush track with Fille’s breathy vocals mixed well with thudding bas and bright synths that burst like sunlight through clouds. Alienata‘s take on “Portals” is a bit spooky and might open a portal to a creepy (yet sexy) dimension if you play it loud enough.
Sestrica remixes “Time Is a Circle” with sizzling electric cymbals and just enough distortion to make the slick dance track a little trippy. Clouser takes “Thistles” and makes it into a somewhat goth track that sounds like a rare B-side you heard once in a club and have been searching for decades to find.
It’s a slick EP from start to finish. You’ll love it for your next workout or dance playlists.
Revered producer and composer Daniel Avery announces his new album, Tremor (Midnight Versions) — a reimagining of his acclaimed sixth studio album Tremor — out March 6th via Domino with lead single “Haze w/ Ellie (Midnight Version).” Remixing the entirety of the record himself, Avery presents a nocturnal counterpart to last year’s Tremor with a collection of darker, club-focused reworkings, drawing the record firmly into the late-night hours. Today’s announcement lands alongside news of a spring North American DJ tour.
Tremor (Midnight Versions) continues the world Avery created on Tremor, reframing its material through a techno lens and speaking directly to the dancefloor. Stripped back, intensified and retooled for the strobe light, these tracks channel Avery’s long-standing relationship with club culture while maintaining the emotional weight and textural depth that defines his work.
Two Midnight Versions have already surfaced, “Rapture In Blue w/ Cecile Believe” and “Greasy Off The Racing Line w/ Alison Mosshart,” offering a first glimpse of this shadowed universe. The full project expands on that energy, positioning itself as a vital bridge between Tremor’s expansive, collaborative spirit and Avery’s enduring techno lineage. Avery comments: “For every tremor, there’s a reaction. These are the Midnight Versions. Songs reimagined and sent directly into the night.”
On Tremor, Avery welcomed an inspiring cast of collaborators, including the likes of Alison Mosshart (The Kills), Walter Schreifels (Quicksand / Rival Schools), bdrmm, Julie Dawson(NewDad), yeule, Ellie, Art School Girlfriend, yunè pinku, and Cecile Believe. Each artist left their indelible mark, yet the record’s true power lies in the communal spirit at its core. Marking his debut on Domino, the album was mixed by Alan Moulder (Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails) and David Wrench (FKA twigs, Frank Ocean), and mastered by Heba Kadry—each vital to the creative fabric of the record.
Daniel Avery Tour Dates Sat. Jan. 31 – Brighton, UK @ Patterns ^ Sat. Feb. 21 – Brussels, BE @ Fuse ^ Fri. Feb. 27 – Birmingham, UK @ Hare & Hounds ^ Sat. Feb. 28 – Geneva, CH @ Audio ^ Fri. March 6 – London, UK @ Phonox Residency ^ Sat. March 7 – Bognor Regis, UK @ Bugged Out Weekender ^ Fri. March 13 – London, UK @ Phonox Residency ^ Fri. March 20 – London, UK @ Phonox Residency ^ Sat. March 21 – Manchester, UK @ Victoria Baths ^ Fri. March 27 – London, UK @ Phonox Residency ^ Thu. April 2 – Glasgow, UK @ Queen Margaret Union * Fri. April 3 – Dublin, IE @ Opium * Sat. April 4 – Belfast, UK @ Ulster Sports Club (b2b Richard Fearless) ^ Fri. April 24 – Toronto, CA @ Standard Time ^ Sat. April 25 – New York, NY @ Public Records ^ Thu. April 30 – Washington, DC @ Tigres de la Noche ^ Fri. May 1 – Chicago, IL @ Smoke & Mirrors ^ Sat. May 2 – Miami, FL @ The Ground ^ Thu. May 7 – Portland, OR @ Process ^ Fri. May 8 – Los Angeles, CA @ Into the Woods ^ Sat. May 9 – San Francisco, CA @ SquishFest ^ Sat. May 30 – Edinburgh, UK @ Dark Days (b2b Helena Hauff) ^
I saw over 50 bands last year, so these five had to bring it to make the top of the list.
#5: Osees – Old National Center – October 22, 2025 – Indianapolis, IN
I’m not sure it would be proper for me to not see Osees at least once a year by this point (or The Black Angels, for that matter). This show was in a small ballroom in the basement of the Old National Center that didn’t have much airflow but did have rock-sold pillars at the four corners of the dance floor / mosh pit. It was a sweaty, loud affair, which is just what you want for an Osees show. They hadn’t played in Indianapolis in a few years, so the crowd was eager to see them — and many hadn’t seen them until that night. They were either shocked or delighted by the end.
#4: King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra – August 09, 2025 – Ravinia – Highland Park, IL
I almost didn’t include this show by King Gizzard (another band I seem to catch every year) because our seats were too far back to see the actual stage. However, this show teaming KGATLW up with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra was too neat of a show to pass up and, what put it into the top five, they sounded great. No joke, this is probably the best sound engineering I’ve experienced at a KGATLW show, and I’ve seen many (and all of them are recorded and released by their highly skilled sound crew). I’d never heard them so clear in a live setting.
#3: TV on the Radio – September 27, 2025 – Levitation Austin – Austin, TX
I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to see TVOTR live, so I was bouncing when my suspicions were confirmed and they were booked for Levitation Austin. The show was everything I’d hoped for — high energy, great sound, and powerful messages. It felt like a blessing to see them after so many years without a tour.
#2: Nine Inch Nails – August 20, 2025 – United Center – Chicago, IL
Here’s a show I almost didn’t attend because the first night at Chicago’s United Center sold out so fast that I couldn’t get tickets. Luckily, Trent Reznor and his pals decided to book another show the following night and I scored tickets for that. The set included three different stages, great new versions of classic tracks, new tunes, and NIN looking and sounding like they’d never taken a break to make Oscar-winning film music.
#1: Underworld – May 17, 2025 – Radius – Chicago, IL
Here’s the other band I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to see live. They don’t make many trips to the U.S., and the closest they’d come in recent years was Detroit (four hours from where I live). Seeing them in a relatively small venue half the distance away was an immediate priority, and then I learned they were playing two sets with no opening act. It was a stunning performance that had everyone jumping for hours with only a short intermission and left everyone floating by the end.
Who do you want to see this year? I’m already looking forward to catching The Hives, Dry Cleaning, LCD Soundsystem, Gary Numan, Failure, Shame, Alison Krauss, and (of course) Osees, not to mention a return to Levitation Austin. Levitation France is taking a hiatus this year, so perhaps Austin Psych Fest will take its place?
This is always a tough decision, although my number one album of each year tends to arrive early and not leave. This trend continued in 2025.
#5: Sextile – yes, please.
Thrilling electro, sexy bass, erotic lyrics, club bangers, provocative cover, you name it, this album has all of it. It shot up into my top ten of the year as soon as I heard it and was one of the hottest records of 2025.
#4: Lonnie Holley – Tonky
Beautiful, soulful, and powerful, Tonky has soul legend Lonnie Holley encouraging us to all come together in turbulent times, “protest with love,” and embrace our neighbors. This is an album that rings true in any year, but we needed it in 2025.
#3: No Joy – Bugland
I hadn’t heard anything from No Joy in a while, so it was great to hear from them again and with such a good record. It mixes shoegaze with psych and pays tribute to the healing properties of nature and presence. I didn’t realize how much I missed No Joy until hearing this.
#2: DITZ – Never Exhale
These fiery post-punk Brits seemed to come out of nowhere (to this Yank, at least) and unleashed one of the loudest, wildest records of the year. The album is about anxiety and panic, but it never goes completely off the rails. It keeps you on the edge of your seat or helps you burn off aggression, depending on which track you blast.
As soon as I saw that album cover, I knew Death Hilarious was going to be a monster of a record. My gut was right. This is another heavy stunner from Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs in a line of material that has yet to miss. The topics of loss (friends, creative energy, relationships) and satire are biting and empowering. You’ll growl, stomp, and roar along with this record. You’ll laugh at the absurdity of our times with it, and then dive into the mosh pit with glee.
There’s already a lot of good stuff lined up for 2026. Let me know what you’re looking forward to the most!
I couldn’t think of a better way to kick off the first full day of Levitation 2025 than a slow-motion sword fight between a Rat Queen and a rat skull-headed incarnation of Death over a book containing countless souls.
That’s how Day One of the festival started in its new home — the Palmer Event Center. The new space is impressive. The interior stage is in a massive cave-like room with 360-degrees of projections to keep you tripping all day if you’d like. Oliver Ackermann of A Place to Bury Strangers described it to me as “amazing,” and I think he and his bandmates (still a bit bleary-eyed from their recent South American tour) are eager to blast the place on Day Three.
First to blast it, and setting a high bar for the rest of the bands to come for the rest of the festival, were a band consisting of a vampire, a druid, a plague doctor, and a warrior queen.
Castle Rat came out to an exuberant crowd as the voice of a distant wizard told us they had been given the task of protecting The Bestiary — a book of souls they must protect at all costs from evil forces. As a friend put it, “Listening to them is like opening your Dungeons & DragonsPlayer’s Handbook for the first time.” They proceeded to flatten the place, ending their too short forty-minute time slot with the aforementioned sword fight.
Castle Rat versus Death.
The line for Castle Rat’s merch was at least twenty minutes long for hours after their set. I later met their drummer, The Druid, and told him my friend’s description of their music. He laughed and said, “Yes! That’s exactly what we’re going for.”
Now is forever in this realm!
The exterior stage is in a smaller space, and set up facing south with the unintended result of having many of the bands (depending on their set time) staring into the afternoon sun. One such band was Skloss, who’d just returned from a tour in Scotland and had become unaccustomed to such bright sunlight. Guitarist SandyCarson had trouble seeing his foot pedal board a couple times, resulting in what drummer / singer Karen Skloss called “the Skloss experimental set” by the end. Regardless of the pedal trouble, they still put on a loud, psychedelic show that blasted as hard as the sun.
Pizza for Skloss!The pattern speaks.
I had to get some hydration and calories by this point, so I missed the opening of Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol‘s set, but got there in time for a lot of solid rockers such as “Heel,” “1-800-EAT-SHIT,” and “I’m the Fucking Man.” They sounded great, even better when I saw them at Levitation last year at Stubb’s BBQ on a much bigger stage.
Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Whatever the Fuck
I had a little time to wander for a bit, checking out the various vendors there, and then got to see most of the set from Austin’s own The Sword — who played to a packed house indoors. Their set got a bit funky by the end, which I thought was great.
The Sword cutting through time and space.
I took a much-needed disco nap back at the hotel after their set, and it was almost too good of a break. I woke up groggy and debated not going downtown to see the late night show for which I’d purchased a ticket a while ago. I decided to go outside, get some fresh air, and make the decision. It turned out to be a good one.
I didn’t get to Elysium in time to see Austin drag star Louisanna Purchase perform, but did get there for the last half of Auragraph‘s drum and bass set that had the place bumping. Much like the Boy Harsher show the previous night, the goth and queer crowd was out in force here — which is always great to see.
Auragraph dropping science.
Pixel Grip was playing down a man with synth player Jonathon Freund not being able to make the show, but pre-programmed loops and chords keyed up by drummer Tyler Ommen worked just fine and singer Rita Lukea commanded the stage and the jam-packed crowd. They had the floors shaking multiple times. It was a wild end to a wild day.
Pixel Grip showing us their stamina.
Up next for Day Two…post-punk, disco, and a DJ set from my favorite band.
