ElectroMatters: Best Electronic Music of October 2026
The best electronic music of October 2026 felt like a port in the storm, a safe harbor in raging seas. Some of it feels surprisingly unbothered by the troubled psychic soup.
PopMatters Picks
PopMatters picks the best pop culture for your enjoyment, including music, film, TV, books, games, comics, and more.
Editors Sport Guitars Galore on Heartfelt New Album
One of rock’s key strengths is honesty, and Editors’ ‘Surface, Echo & Sound’ is wrapped in that facet, making for a deeply human listening experience.
The Overlook’s Debut Celebrates the Modern String Quartet
Showcasing contemporary composers, the Overlook’s Say It succeeds in integrating musicians, composers, and writers with the larger community.
Yr Knives Create a Mesmerizing Blend of Prog, Jazz, and Post-Rock
Yr Knives’ Begin Yr Singing is a heavy and mesmerizing debut record that crystallizes Chicago’s post-rock scene and introduces an exceptionally gifted band.
young friend’s ‘New Entertainment’ Is Ragged and Glorious
What young friend offers is something of a musical refuge from the relentless novelty of the present: new entertainment, yes, but very much for old souls.
Bassist and Composer Stephan Crump Debuts a New Quartet
With Passerine, jazz artist Stephan Crump further expands the intrigue and power of his music, making his most lyrical album yet.
Grace Bowers Goes Punk and Has a Great Time
Grace Bowers’ latest EP features short, staccato, grungy electric-guitar riffs, lots of shredding, pounding drums and bass, and a sneering attitude. It rocks.
Charlie Kaplan Settles Into a Relaxed Groove on Excellent ‘Dobro’
As always, Charlie Kaplan is drawn to absurdity and how it lives among regular, relatable, everyday life. Dobro is about observations and a sense of community.
Urarv’s ‘Nychta Psychis’ Is Magic in Its Genre-Smashing
Urarv’s Nychta Psychis is a big, colorful mess that showcases the band’s personality and creativity, but the most striking thing is that it shouldn’t work.
Lance Olsen’s Story About Artist Henry Darger Falls into His Worlds
Lance Olsen’s An Inventory of Benevolent Butterflies immerses readers in the wild, fragmented mind of Henry Darger, collapsing the boundary between the artist’s psyche and his imagined worlds.
Django Django Take Us on a Psychedelic Journey to ‘Doveland’
Doveland sounds less like a reduction of Django Django’s musical vocabulary than a more relaxed demonstration of how much they possess.
HMLTD Launch a Vampiric Goth Opera on ‘Fangs’
On Fangs, HMLTD craft updated styles from across the broader goth spectrum by lacing them with trends in post-punk and electropop.