Just why?

ʅ͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡(̸̢̛̼̞̭͋ͅ)̸͚̰͛̔̾̀̿͒͂:̴͓̞̑̌̂̆̊͋̀:̸͎̟̯̂̓̌　҉　　　　　͡　͞　͞　͞　҉● ࿀ ●  ࿀  ●　　　҉⃝ 　　　⃝͢ ͞　　　͘　͞⃝̕ ͢　　　　̛　⃝ 　　　̸　̡　　͢⃝̧ 　͡　͡　　̀　̧　̢⃝͜ 　 　҉　　͞　͞　⃝͞ 　͞　͡⃝  ⃝҉҈҉҈҉҈҉҈҉҈҉ :̶̢͙͙͕̠̩͆(̷̮͍͚̫͚͂̍)̵̳̗̊(　̟̞̝̜̙̘̗̖҉̵̴̨̧̢̡̼̻̺̹̳̲̱̰̯̮̭̬̫̪̩̦̥

What am I supposed to do with this?

It's un-Googleable. Unpronounceable.

It doesn't even render the same way on various platforms. It looks one way on YouTube Music. Another on Apple Music. And yet another on Bandcamp. Even the artist name ⣎⡇ꉺლ༽இ•̛)ྀ◞ ༎ຶ ༽ৣৢ؞ৢ؞ؖ ꉺლ is an unpronounceable series of glyphs that would make Prince shake his head.

So, from here on out, I'm just going to refer to ⣎⡇ꉺლ༽இ•̛)ྀ◞ ༎ຶ …

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Matmos are an incredibly accomplished duo between their own solo records like the masterpiece A Chance to Cut Is a Chance to Cure and production classic Björk records like Vespertine. But Drew Daniel, one half of Matmos, is fiendishly prolific. When he's not literally dreaming up new viral music genres, he's also putting out records under the banner of The Soft Pink Truth.

Where Matmos usually focuses on a specific musical experiment - using only samples of medical procedures or building instruments out of PVC tubing - Soft Pink Truth goes wherever Daniel's whims take him. That might be a house record. It might be a bunch of black metal co …

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There was a period in the early aughts when Definitive Jux (nee: Def Jux) seemed like it was going to be the future of hip-hop. While the label featured plenty of experimental, boundary-pushing, and politically minded acts, Lif stood out as the most "conscious rapper" in the traditional sense. It was clear though, that label head El-P envisioned that as an important part of Def Jux's identity, as the first record it put out was 2000's Enter the Colossus EP, from Lif.

Mr. Lif's follow-up was 2002's Emergency Rations EP, a sort of place setter for the full-length I Phantom just a couple of months later. It opens with a skit about Lif missing, …

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Cold Court is a brother-sister duo from Philly that seems to love nothing more than shoving all of their influences together in a messy soup that at least superficially resembles the hyperpop you've come to expect from acts like 100 Gecs. But, where songs like "Dumbest Girl Alive" goofily wink at pop punk and emo, Cold Court are a bit more self-serious, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

The opening track on the band's debut EP \ (^_^) / (aka Hands Up), "Nina," starts off sounding not unlike the dance punk bands that stormed the scene in the mid aughts like Franz Ferdinand or Test Icicles. But that all starts to change about a minute …

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I have this vivid memory of walking to pick up my oldest from school in June of 2022. For a variety of reasons, I was in a very bad place mentally. And to make matters worse, it was brutally hot. I was depressed, angry with the world, sunburned, and soaked through with sweat. But as the second track on Conclave, "Habla," settled into its groove, I found myself unconsciously strutting. Not walking, but moving through the streets in lockstep with the music, just as a much-needed cool breeze kicked up, and some scaffolding afforded me a full block's worth of shade. For a brief moment, I found myself smiling for the first time in what felt like …

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I'll give the usual caveat: The horror novel Japanese Gothic is best experienced going in with as little information as possible. Content warnings for graphic gore, scenes of domestic violence, self-harm, and mental illness. If you're okay with that, then consider pausing here. While I will try to keep this relatively spoiler-free, there will be some plot points I can't avoid.

Kylie Lee Baker's latest novel, following her acclaimed Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng, is sort of a ghost story and sort of a time travel story. It follows two protagonists.

Lee Turner is an NYU student in 2026 who has fled to Japan to stay with his father …

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From the opening moments of bitknot, it's obvious that Feeble Little Horse has found an entirely new gear. Where on Girl with Fish the blown-out textures were more '90s indie rock and shoegaze, on their latest LP, there's a more modern edge to the distortion and the riffs cut cleaner. Similarly, where the digital glitchiness was mostly relegated to window dressing on their sophomore record, on bitknot it's integral to the arrangements and a core part of their emerging, distinct sound.

We got a preview of this new direction on the one-off single, and one of my favorite songs of 2025, "This Is Real." It blended blast beats, Sonic Youth-esque …

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