With the arrival of Pandemonium's debut single, "Dalí", it feels as though someone has cracked open a geode on the studio console and let the crystalline chaos spill out. Billed as “pan-dimensional pirates,” the trio of Maffmatix, Claire Ray, and Charlton Banks deliver a sound that feels both ancient and beamed in from a strange future. It’s built on the sturdy spine of boom-bap,...

With a name like that, you expect a certain solitary drift, so when Earth-o-Naut’s “Bring The Light” kicks in, the effect is disarming. Here is a vessel, piloted by a single Liverpudlian architect of sound, that feels impossibly full. This isn't the cold echo of the void; it's a warm, inhabited space, anchored by the legendary propulsion of Steve White on drums. His groove...