There is a peculiar friction to the digital textures of Skylarka and her new album, "Somnorine". It’s supposed to be chiptune-influenced synthwave, but listening to it feels less like browsing the internet and more like chewing on aluminum foil while watching Blade Runner on a CRT monitor that’s slowly degaussing. It’s a sensory contradiction bright, crystalline pop hooks wrestling with the deep, existential dread...

With the release of AKA Primetime’s latest single, "Electric Blue", I found myself instinctively checking if the heating in my apartment was actually on, or if the sudden warmth was just bleeding out of the speakers. Kelly Appleton, the architect behind this project, has constructed something that tackles the dreaded ‘seasonal slump’ not with a cozy wool blanket, but with a sheer, neon-drenched shock...