What We’re Listening to This Week (10.7.26)

Ambient Articles Dark Ambient Electronic Experimental Goblincore Jazz Jazz Fusion New Wave Pop Progressive Rock Sound Collage Synth Pop Synthpop
James Krustofski
October 8, 2026
13 minutes read

Archives:

A Secret Third Thing by Akila’s Trio

You’re in a small venue with that first crisp blonde ale sitting cold in a pilsner glass, the foam still climbing the sides – as that frothy goodness hits your lips, you feel that first jolt of bass rattle in your body. It’s a feeling you maybe felt previously from some lucky resonance coming out of a guitar, but here you feel it and it hits your body cleanly. It’s jazz. Akila’s Trio hits the spot for me with this record. I feel like the warmer weather has been lingering, but this record has finally tipped the scales to Autumn. We’re here now. A beautiful record.

Micro-Ambient-Fool by B_DWIL

Need a quick experimental EP? Check out B_DWIL‘s aptly titled Micro-Ambient-Fool. I love B_DWIL’s work and this is a fabulous little quirky record. He has an unusually sharp sense of placement and above all else, amazing control of his tools and an astute eye for what needs to go where. Everything appears to go exactly where it should. If we can get him to make eighteen or nineteen of these in 2027, we’ll be happy campers at Micro Genre Music. Guess will have to settle for a comp he’s on later in this article.

End Of Everything by Mega Bog

I listened to Mega Bog on the way back from San Francisco with resident alien dance music creator SPINES. We were driving through that fascinating landscape in Northern California back to Portland, where parts of the drive reminded me weirdly of navigating through open roads in Texas: long stretches of land opening up around the highway – bleak and desolate. There I was on that sad highway lamenting leaving all of the delectable culinary delights the Bay had to offer far behind and then this record started playing; and in that moment I started to get over the loss of Stella Pastry on Columbus Ave. I want to thank my alien friend in time crime for playing this while we drove. It’s the perfect mix of that ’80s emotional contradiction: music that can make you feel strangely powerful while simultaneously convincing you that civilization has already ended. Standout track is Anthropocene. I need to spend more time with Mega Bog’s catalog.

Anthology Of Experimental Music From Latin America by Various Artists

This was a tough listen for me, because there’s a lot going on in this album. My problem in life, especially during this time of year, is trying to control my personal environment. What I need to do more is let go and let the experimental music take the wheel. This is a dark, deeply satisfying collection. Released by the label Unexplained Sounds Group (Global Network Of Aural Disorientation), this a load bearing album that threatens to close in around you. A lot of great stuff here and dare I say this is true dark ambient: unstable, psychologically suggestive, and constantly capable of changing shape when you think you’ve figured out where you are. I like my psychedelic trips the same way I like my experimental music – mercurial. For me, that unpredictability is one of the form’s essential qualities. There is an enormous amount of ground covered here, and the work keeps opening doors into radically different approaches to sound. I’m already realizing this blurb is inadequate and probably deserves a review of it’s own.

Click Farm by all the stores are closed

I love it when a new all the stores are closed album comes out. Jason Morales is a unique human, along with being an avid anti-racist, who has released a lot of really amazing work over the past few years. A drummer to his core, this album fits his particular mold of experimenting with percussion. The album description just says, “Noise generator run through a myriad of stereo processing.” And when you listen to it, that’s exactly what it fucking is. Standout track is tHROUGH tUBES. Also that album cover really bothers me, so I guess mission accomplished. Give this a listen.