Firing up the synth-soaked underground: SOFT RIOT's Crux channels early '80s DIY spirit through darkwave, EBM, and Italo minimalism with a dissonant Ballardian twist, while Kindness Inc. tugs at the heartstrings with a tender wish to travel back in time to every moment a loved one needed you. The City Gates' Chimera unfolds like a nocturnal landscape — brooding post-punk rhythms meeting shimmering walls of shoegaze sound — while j.demar sheds creative restraints with reverb-soaked guitars and low-register vocals carrying a ritualistic, Leonard Cohen-esque weight. Stars and the Underground round things out with ethereal post-punk shoegaze heights, featuring Hannah Berry's luminous guest vocals on "Echolocation."