ElectroMatters: Best Electronic Music of January 2026

January tends to be a slow time for new releases, as no one wants to be forgotten by the time the Best Albums of the Year lists start rolling out in December. Luckily, electronic artists don’t sleep, nor do many lose much sleep over awards shows and golden statues. January 2026 has been no exception, as there have already been a bunch of striking new electronic albums released this year.

First, there’s the stunning return of Nico Jaar, who pivots to techno with his new Surface Access project. Then there’s the Fourth World tropical bounce of xavisphone for the indispensable Modern Love. There are several striking synthpop records for those who prefer their electronic music with melodies and a subtle, artful footwork workout from username and Marsh Crane; even some modular bossa nova from Fabiano do Nascimento.

Katia Krow – Moss Eats (The Silence She Left for Me) (Kay Krow)

Katia Krow delivers an album of quiet, introspective ambient electroacoustic drone as the first full-length on her Kay Krow label, creating an organic equivalent of the Caretaker’s amnesiac drones. Warm, woozy, sustained drones, cracking and splintering into clinical glitches, give the impression of watching 16mm home movies get devoured by lichens and moss until the bottom drops out, leaving the whole thing floating in a sense of weightless suspended animation. Equal parts peaceful and ominous, Krow proves yet again she’s one to watch.

Fabiano do Nascimento/ E Ruscha V – Aquáticos (Music From Memory)

Acoustic instruments seem to see-saw with blurry analogue electronics on Aquaticos, with Ruscha’s modular synths and fourth-world beats taking turns in the spotlight alongside Nascimento’s idyllic guitar playing. Finds that sweet spot between ECM jazz, vaporwave, and blissed-out 1980s new age, Aquaticos hints at a new polyculturalism, with musicians listening to and learning from one another while living in harmony with the machines.

Toobris – Everzero EP (Hayes Collective)

Sometimes you just need some driving, locked-in techno to get you through your day, week, weekend, or existential crisis. As much as we love a good carnival polyrhythm, sometimes a simple 4/4 kick and disco hi-hats are the only thing that will suffice. Driving, relentless kicks and Chic hats are abundant on Toobris’ most fully fleshed-out release to date, but so are macroscopic sound design and flawless dancefloor instincts. Everzero should be a welcome addition to your slightly post-peak time DJ sets.

Various Artists – Insects (Dustopian Frequences)

Experimental label Dustopian Frequencies kick off a new series of compilations focusing on the role insects play in mythology and folklore. You can expect to hear everything from driving techno to drilling IDM to bleary-eyed analogue synths and indeterminate, amorphous noise. As ever, you can expect to be exposed to two handfuls of criminally underrated underground electronic musicians and producers on Insects, thanks to Dustopian Frequencies’ careful curation and vibrant community of artists and creatives.

Marco Maldarella – Silent Logic (Omen Mapta)

MARMO’s Marco Maldarella debut solo full-length is an odd, unexpected offering, taking the stark machine precision of minimal techno and leaving it in the rain to molder and rot. Subtle and transfixing, it’s like listening to robotic butterflies and grubs chew their way through the forest floor. Coming hot on the heels of last year’s The Neural Abyss EP, Malderella is quickly establishing himself as a restless innovator with a distinct style and sonic sensibility.

Leaving Laurel – Our Lives Entwined (Anjunadeep)

While not the most innovative album to ever grace the decks, Our Lives Entwined is a rock-solid album of sturdy 2-step grinding and ratcheting over a gorgeous interstellar backdrop, until it unfurls into a horseshow nebulae of epic house synths and big, bold trance beats. Graceful and subtle as listening to Burial on a night bus through the rings of Saturn, Leaving Laurel is yet more proof that you don’t have sacrifice heart or creativity to be accessible. Our Live Entwined is going to be steaming up plenty of chilly dancefloors this winter.

Oak City Slums – Untitled (Tijolo)

Raleigh, North Carolina’s Oak City Slums kicks off 2026 with a short, sweet EP of Jersey-Sound-by-way-of-footwork, filtering its constantly-shifting beat tapestry through a vast, primordial Pong machine. Untitled has the same raw, unfettered experimentation of experimental beat-driven genres like Gqom, as driving and relentless as a squadron of invading flying saucers, without ever becoming abrasive. You’ll never get bored listening to an Oak City Slums release.

username & Marsh crane – Overtime (Independent)

Nashville’s modestly monikered username sands the rough edges off of Footwork on his first collaboration with Marsh Crane. Overtime takes the avant-garde instincts of Planet Mu’s Bangs & Works compilations and injects them with some Saturday Night club energy. Perfect for poppin’ bottles, provided those bottles are full of nitroglycerine and glitter.

Kaylah Painter – Tectonic Particles (Quiet Details)

It’s hard to tell where the acoustic instruments end and the electronics begin on interdisciplinary artist Kaylah Painter’s first offering for the indispensable Quiet Details label. Dyslexic tape loops give way to hypnotic drones which, in turn, become clanking, cantankerous electroacoustic sound sculptures. Tactile yet otherworldly, Tectonic Particles is a fine example of what can happen when humans play nice with machines.

Erik Hall – Solo Three (Western Vinyl)

You might not notice that Solo Three is an electronic album. You might not notice it’s the work of one person, as Michigan multi-instrumentalist Erik Hall deftly multitracks and overdubs Hammond M-101 organ, Rhodes electric piano, Moog Sub 37 synthesizer, and Nord Lead synthesizer to conjure the work of master minimalists like Glenn Branca and Steve Reich.

Craven Faults – Sidings (Leaf)

There’s just something about Craven Faults’ albums. Maybe it’s their less-is-more attitude towards public relations, maintaining a shadowy, enigmatic presence. Maybe it’s the disconnect between their rough-hewn, post-industrial black-and-white cover art and the shimmering hypercolors contained within, creating a speculative landscape where the Northern Lights glimmer and sparkle over Northern English quarries.

Christian Löffler – Until We Meet Again (Ki)

It’s hard to pin down German producer Christian Löffler. At times, he’s capable of the shadowiest, most brooding techno. At others, he can pull off the most pummeling, punishing tech house this side of a black hole. Still other times, he makes the most exquisitely beautiful, thoughtful, life-affirming music you’ll ever hear. Even by these standards, Until We Meet Again is particularly lovely, glowing like a bioluminescent algae forest full of subaquatic fireflies. Until We Meet Again is an uplifting pillar of hope in dark, hard times.

Keep Shelley In Athens – V (Athenian Aura)

The electronics on Keep Shelley in Athens’ V are subtle but essential, allowing the Greek duo to speedrun the majority of underground 1980s music in just over half an hour. Not that they needs them. The gorgeous, soaring vocals are more than enough to make V one of this year’s most ecstatic listens so far, but they do allow KSIA to shapeshift from Bonnie Tyler to Liz Fraser to Enya faster than Diana Prince can become Wonder Woman. 2026 is off to a good start for synthpop!

PVA – No More Like This (It’s All For Fun)

No More Like This is another record exploring both the experimental and the accessible. Working with a template of 1990s trip-hop and 1980s industrial EBM, No More Like This explores the concept of indentations, the things that leave a mark–even when we don’t want them to–with hard-edged beats crawling out of the murk while angelic vocals soar by, unperturbed.

Jenny on Holiday – Quicksand Heart (Transgressive)

Let’s Eat Grandma’s Jenny Hollingworth’s solo debut is a sparkling, scintillating synthpop record channeling a tumultuous couple of years into epic, windswept, heartfelt grandeur. Like the Keep Shelley in Athens release we wrote about earlier, Quicksand Heart in no way relies on electronics or post-production for its excellence. Given the strength of the songwriting and performances, it seems that Hollingsworth could create a brilliant album with a rubber band and an empty can of Coke. They just happen to make Quicksand Heart extra beautiful.

Datassette – Offal 2 (1996-2025) (Independent)

If there weren’t several albums of new, artful, ambitious electronic music released this month, we’d give Datassette the trophy for sheer ambition and scale alone. Coming over a decade after their lauded Offal collection, Offal 2 brings together another 100 tracks of austere ambient music, clinical clicks ‘n’ cuts, quicksand drones, levitating house, banging techno, fizzing IDM and every other niche you can imagine. No matter what flavor of electronic music, you’re sure to find your next obsession among Datassette’s avalanche of treasures.

Adey Omotade – Ęęro : Eeşu (Afrosynth)

Warm and hypnotic, Nigerian producer’s debut draws upon Omotade’s Yoruba heritage, managing to be simultaneously organic and otherworldly, with constantly shifting hand drums swimming into focus over locked grooves and hypnotic tape loops, only for the whole thing to fall apart again, dissolving into a cybernetic soup. Deceptively tranquil with an amazing amount going on beneath the surface. A fascinating debut from a major talent.

Surface Access – Transfer (Other People)

Nicolar Jaar hangs up his recent autobiographical sound art in favor of two tracks of crisp, deep dub techno. “Transfer” isn’t especially flashy, instead favoring the slo-mo mutation of classic dub techno artists like Chain Delay. Some of the heaviest, headiest techno we’ve heard in ages. It’s beyond thrilling to have Jaar working in 4/4 dancefloor territory again!

Xterea – I’ll Call You Later (5 Gate Temple)

Xterea returns to John T. Gast’s 5 Gate Temple with another album of shifting, hypnotic jungle riddims, dnb steppers, and party-rockin’ beats all smeared in petrol and set ablaze. As groddy and indeterminate as a basement party yet still somehow addictive enough for pop radio, I’ll Call You Later is a glorious example of what can happen when you wrap underground attitudes in populist sensibilities.

xavisphone – balança e paixão (Modern Love)

Intricate, frenetic, xavisphone’s debut for Modern Love is a hazy, blurred vision of equatorial music, bouncy and bright one moment, venomous and shadowed the next. An absolute killer addition to the Modern Love roster, who continue to bring us the most cutting-edge mutations of sound system music and culture.