With the release of Jeppediinho’s debut album, “Games of Life”, we are reminded that sometimes the most profound rulebooks are written by those who’ve mastered a different kind of joystick. Jesper Holmgren, a former professional e-sports player, has constructed a thirteen-level odyssey that treats human emotion like a side-scrolling adventure: there are pitfalls, power-ups, and a final boss that turns out to look suspiciously...

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,...