The Polar Dream - Alma Gris (2025)

Their fourth album is th first that got through into my music bubble and I'm so glad it did! The Mexican post-rock outfit The Polar Dream create a unique take on the music genre, that is lighter and fresher than most, staying true to the music's atmosphere though.

Post-rock inspired by cyberpunk (and also shoegaze, Krautrock, etc,)? Oh yes, count me in! It's definitely not a coincidence since the album is opened with a track titled Mexico 2045! The sound also shows the inspirations with a big parts of the compositions being driven by synthesizer sounds. It's something like Tides from Nebula but maybe even more synthetic in some parts. But the thing I like the most (and, to me, feels most exotic) is the trumpet and its impact on the music (so great in Mudra!). This screams Mexico to me and I love it.

In general, the music here feels so much alive! It's melodic and energetic while still preserving the genre's signature mood. It's really fun listening to the Mexicans, I have to catch on with their previous releases as well.

Alma Gris costs 4 EUR (84 MXN).

Check: Mudra

Country: Mexico

Genre: cyberpunk post-rock

Label: Atajos del Norte 

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Concepcion Huerta - El Sol de los Muertos (2025)

Sound textures, audio soundscapes, narratives delivered by notes only. Concepcion Huerta is a Mexican artist whose drones and ambient sounds create an emotional cocktail deeply rooted in her geographical background. The veins of the world are open again, just like the cover art suggests.

This emotional piece was created "entirely within a subharmonic framework and meticulously processed through tape manipulation". It has to be said that not all of the sounds here are gonna be pleasant, in fact, it's quite the opposite: some of the tracks are designed to evoke nightmares of deep undergrounds and the worlds of the dead. There is, however, no notion of morality here I think, described pictures are not terrifying or charming, they just are. It's the truth about the world as seen by the artist and as transcribed into these monumental soundscapes.

El Sol de los Muertos costs 7 EUR.

Check: El Sol de los Muertos

Country: Mexico

Genre: droney soundscape

Label: Umor-Rex

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Soulless, Sadness - burning as the first light (2024)

Damián Antón Ojeda, professionally known as Sadness is already a well-known name for any fan looking for the blackgaze scene's underdogs. The Mexican artist releases a number of shorter and longer albums a year and towards the end of 2024, he joined forces with his lesser known, but at least as interesting, Indonesian counterpart, Soulless. 

The album is opened by an intro that sound more like a melancholic ambientish piece, but soon enough bursts into Sadness' signature noise. It is made with harsh noise of guitars that is hidden behind the silky flow of piano keys and, finally, vocals. Those are rather fresh-sounding, hopeful, energetic, providing a pleasurable contrast with the music, beautiful in its melancholy. His second track feels like a complementing piece, an ornament underlining the importance of every edge of your name, burning.

The part of the split provided by Soulless has a slightly different taste to it. While it is also a prime example of underground blackgaze music, the vibes are changed: the black metal vocals add the element of anger and depression that, when juxtaposed with the synthy, flowy music, always brings a tear to my eye. The euphoric parts come to the picture in the second track by Soulless and they make the whole blackgazey picture absolutely complete.

burning as the first light costs 4 USD.

Check: every edge of your name, burning

Country: Indonesia, Mexico/US

Genre: synthy blackgaze

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Sáasil - Ephemeral (2023)

Sáasil is a duo that comprises of artists the are already quite well-known for the readers of this blog: Carlos Herrera Quifes (Non Somnia) and Victoria Carmilla Hazemaze (aka Nox Victoria or Oculi Melancholiarum). Both appeared with their solo music on this blog and so their 2023 joint debut should really be inlcuded here as well.

The Mexican artists blend in what each of them has best to offer: the neoclassical, extremely  airy post-rock of Non Somnia and melancholic blackgaze of Oculi Melancholiarum. The results are as good as the could be. The black metal part of this music has this lo-fi atmosphere that makes the whole thing more honest and even more nostalgic. And the guitar-oriented music is not always too loud, there's more focus put on the subtle, softer sides of the compositions and this has to be the post-rock influences. This results in music that is both dark and airy, loud and atmospheric, filled with various emotions and properly distant.

Ephemeral costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: Narea

Country: Mexico

Genre: lo-fi blackgaze

Label: These Hands Melt

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sadness / oculi melancholiarum - springgarden (2023)

Damián Antón Ojeda and Victoria Carmilla Hazemaze, or as they are better known sadness and oculi melancholarium, joined forces to release a fantastic split album earlier this year. springgarden feels like a perfect soundtrack for greeting the intoxicating season that is upon us.

The two artist who feel extremely comfortable at creating the lo-fi, bedroom blackgaze with a lot of influences from everywhere. The first two tracks are provided by Ojeda and they are surprisingly lively and energetic. The fast-paced compositions do have the signature haze and noisy bits (quite long one in fact), but the main thing one focuses on is the signature, dispersed but definitely not subtle vocals and the pace. In especially love the free approach to the structure of the tracks with long drone'y passages that divide the instances of the noisy shoegaze madness. The part delivered by Hazemaze is what we would call a true blackgaze: angry metal vocalizations and oneiric, subtle vocals on top of guitar-based but also very synthy and extremely flow-reach music is what the genre is about. 

springgarden costs whatever you want to pay.

Sadness - Rain (2018)

Check: Best Friend

Country: Mexico/Illinois, US

Genre: lo-fi electronic shoegaze/blackgaze

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Tajak - La sombra del agua (2022)

Tajak are from the capital city of Mexico and they have been doing their extremely entertaining psychedelic rock since 2015. Their new album, La sombra del agua (or "The shadow of the water") is already their fifth, although it is my first meeting with their music. Hopefully not the last.

The artists admit that the way they recorded this album was different from the previous, more improvisation-oriented ones. This one was created through a "much more patient, meticulous and intimate process" and I have to say that I dig this creativity-filled, complex playlist. The other thing is the range of various instruments used during recording, including ocarina, sitar, flute and more with a heavy dose of field recordings from the lush, Mexican landscapes. 

One thing that is very special about this album is the huge amount of instrumental ambient passages that create a unique, exotic but also extremely moody atmosphere which can soon enough transform into noisy sections (like in Soñar es despertar). The whole thing feels closer to the subtle, mysterious soundscapes than any kind of rock and the delicate, barely audible vocals add to this feeling too. But the whole album is structured like a post-rock song: it gets louder and louder throughout the whole hour. Still, even if, in my favourite parts, guitars take over, the overall feeling is still slowly mesmerizing and this is something I appreciate a lot at this release. 

La sombra del agua costs 7 EUR (140 MXN).

Check: La puerta

Country: Mexico 

Genre: psychedelic rock soundscape

Label: Látigo

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Mooring - Blue Dream (2022)

Mooring is a Guadalajara-based noise pop outfit that have recently released their debut album called Blue Dream. The Mexicans are really into the airy atmosphere and sweet melodies of dream pop and I appreciate it a lot in their music.

On their debut, the four-piece band is quick to evoke many interesting inspirations with The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Letting Up Despite Great Faults as perfect examples here. Their music is an exciting blend of melody-heavy dream pop with harsher guitars and noise-filled backgrounds. The soft and dreamy vocals by Nathalia Romo and Carlos Kardusen correspond with the synth tunes and are balanced by heavier guitars that appear from time to time to lively up the dreamy compositions. Mooring's song are very good at leading a listener into a psychedelic trance, especially that their lyrics are in good part based on short and repetitive phrases written with a heavy dose of poetic mysteriousness. 

Blue Dream costs 8.5 EUR (175 MXN)

Check: Blue Dream

Country: Mexico

Genre: noise pop

Label: LATIGO

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Bethlehem Struluckt - Daphne (2022)

Ambient/neoclassical musician but also a photographer and artist in general (as can be witnessed on his Instagram account), Bethlehem Struluckt comes from Central Mexico and brings a good dose of music magic. His new album, Daphne, seems to be his comeback to music making after a decade-long hiatus and it's a good thing he came back too.

There's so many different vibes on this album, the artist clearly wanted to try a lot of things and combine them into one whole. And I'd say it worked: the subtle electronic sounds (Agnosthesia) go together with the beautiful piano parts and very ethereal notes in the backgrounds. The latter are so omnipresent that I could safely say it's a dream ambient music, especially where background choir-like vocals make the composition extremely cinematic too. And there are parts that remind me of my favourite soundtracks - a good example would be Volver atrás y no sentir perdón with piano keys resembling the ones in Clint Mansell's works.

Daphne costs 7 EUR (150 MXN).

Check: Volver atrás y no sentir perdón

Country: Mexico

Genre: neoclassical ambient

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Sei Still - El Refugio (2021)

Back in November last year, Fuzz Club Records released the sophomore album from the Berlin-based Mexican psychedelia band Sei Still. Their music feels like a fresh take on very well-grounded German psychedelic music scene and so El Refugio (the title gaining so much more meaning at the moment) is a must-go-to for the genre's fans.

This is the kind of music I automatically put under the psychedelic post-punk label. The guitar haze and the withdrawn vocals are way more important here than the melodies themselves. The overall feeling is certainly cold and distanced, following the established krautrock blueprint, fitting perfectly into the genre. However, as the label states, after their move from Mexico to Europe, the artists decided to go more into the post-punk darkness, leaving some of the mesmerizing psychedelia behind. From my perspective, they achieved a perfect balance between the two, making me think of 10 000 Russos (the band, not the current situation). That said, there's still some of the melodic tunes buried under the darkness' heaviness, best audible in my favourite track on this album: Me persigue.

El Refugio costs 8.5 EUR (7 GBP).

Check: Me persigue

Country: Mexico/Germany

Genre: psychedelic post-punk

Label: Fuzz Club

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Sunset Images - Traumatismo Nacional (2021)

Sunset Images is a project led by Samuel Osorio from Mexico City. Its core lays in the ability and willingness to experiment with noisy guitar sounds and more or less dreamy atmosphere. Already the project's Obscure Daze was close to be featured on this blog back in 2017 and with the release of the third album in the project's discography, Traumatismo Nacional I couldn't miss the opportunity to drop some lines on the artists' noisy souls.

As the title suggests, the album is said to be "a sharp and deep wound represented in sound, a scar that we have carried inside for a long time and each time it hurts even more", a commentary on the state of the society with all of its misogynist, racist and chauvinistic tropes. Osorio meant it as a comment on his own country, but, in fact, you can apply it to the modern society anywhere. And this rage, the heaviness of the critique is clearly notable from the very first moments of the album: it is filled with angry and fierce music with punk-like drums and a lot of noise in every second (like in the euphorically mad Prohibición) but also toned down by the oneiric atmosphere. 

This anger is also clear in the vocals, often without much meaning except for the desperate, screaming frustration. This raging atmosphere, filtered by some dreamy and dispersed lenses, goes on and on, finding its pinnacle moments in the absolute noise of メルド / Merudo. Afterwards, the tracks get calmer for a while, but even then, they are not a tiny a bit less noisy. And finally, the album finishes with two long track psychedelic to their core. This is the essence of noisy rock with a great touch of dreamy psychedelia.

Traumatismo Nacional costs 4 EUR (90 MXN).

Check: Prohibición

Country: Mexico

Genre: angry noise rock

Label: Little Cloud Records/ Dirty Filthy Records 

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Mint Field - Sentimiento Mundial (2020) EN

Mint Field is a Mexican band we remember from their exciting debut Pasar de las Luces two years ago. This autumn, they are back with a solid, dream pop atmosphere- and shoegaze noise-filled followup in Sentimiento Mundial.

First thing that draws the listener's attention on the album are Estrella del Sol's vocals that combine dream pop mystery with almost theatrically pumped up emotions. It makes the impression of a mesmerizing dream full of warm but also sad feelings that go straight to the listener even if they don't speak Spanish. The vocals sound on the background that do not claim the leading role in this music and are rather dream pop supplements but from time to time can surprisingly burst out with some raw noise (as in Natural or Aterrizar).

The band claim that the album "explores the nostalgia and the melancholy of the daily life with loud guitars and vocals that give life to a unique and supernatural shoegaze". And this quest for finding inspiration and sadness in the every day reality really speaks to me and I feel it with my entire self.

Sentimiento Mundial costs 10 USD.

Mint Field - Pasar de las Luces (2018) EN

Check: Aterrizar

Country: Mexico

Genre: noisy dream pop

Label: felte

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WatchCamp March with Alice Baldwin, Gant, Mighty Bear, Stygean, акульи слёзы (2020) EN

Alice Baldwin - Please Tell My Mum to Burn Me

One f the last singles from the irreplaceable Moderna Records label. This time it's neoclassical composer Alice Baldwin and this touching piece played entirely on piano. The single costs 1 EUR (1,5 CAD).

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Gant - Tales of a Sacred Night

True, it's more an EP than a single, but because of its length it appears here. The Mexican duo playing dark post-punk or darkwave, a bit of musical minimalism, a bit of attractive, dangerous atmosphere. The album costs 4 EUR (6 CAD).

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Mighty Bear - Álfaskeið

Absolutely my favourite drag queen - dark and gothic, visually fantastic, but also musically speaking, after some avant-pop songs, there's this new single that goes more towards attractive but dense and synth-filled soundscape. It costs 1 USD.

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Stygean - Not Blind

Lo-fi and dark shoegaze from the Malaysian artist, with very unclear vocals but instead being extremely melodic. Very promising piece. The single costs whatever you want to pay.

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акульи слёзы - малостьt

A new single from the Russian artists. Fantastically nostalgic dream pop / shoegaze with both depth and melody. The single costs 1 USD.

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The New Science - Ghosts in the City (2019) EN

The New Science, band from the Mexican city of Guadalajara, in August released their debut EP. And Ghost in the City is worth the audience's attention as it's a solid example of good, delicate shoegaze/indie rock.

The album starts with what the Mexicans are really good in. A bit monotonous guitar music and extremely moody vocal that can suddenly and without warning speed up turning subtle dream pop into cheeky shoegaze immediately. This is the situation in Waterfall Effect, after that, there's more of the atmospheric, not hasty dream pop. Reflective guitar weeping and very delicate voice of the vocalist make the whole thing an utterly pleasant experience.

Ghosts in the City costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: Waterfall Effect

Country: Mexico

Genre: dreamy indie rock

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Fractal - El Reflejo de la Ausencia (2019) EN

Fractal is a band originating from the Mexican city of Tijuana and having their place on the country's music scene for seven years now. The trio play guitar post-rock with elements of post-metal. They recently released an album called El Reflejo de la Ausencia.

The album labeled with a picture of an angry hyena, from the very first moment spoke to me with its doom guitars and post-metal vocals in very post-rock compositions. Plus, there are also atmospheric but also gloomy sounds of the string section provided by Cuarteto Vira in the backgrounds of Fragmentos and Lucrecia (although I'm pretty sure I heard them in other tracks too). Those longest compositions are something that makes the best impression. Very diverse, changing pace and concepts all the time, you can safely say they are more jazzy-, classical-like and less post-rockingly ordered. Anyhow, this is some impressive and interesting approach to the guitar instrumental music. 

El Reflejo de la Ausencia costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: Fragmentos

Country: Mexico

Genre: doom post-rock

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Flodhäst - Unos días en la Tierra (2019) EN

Although this album was released, at least on Spotify, a year ago, it debuted on Bandcamp fortunately only now so I can count it as a new arrival on this blog. Fortunately because the Mexican Flodhäst shows some worth-checking Latino post-rock.

Multidimensional instrumental music in which artful sound layers overlap each other in an exciting way, is inspired directly by the monumentality of nature. So no wonder that in Donde nacen los ríos ("Where the rivers are born") inspires awe with the rhythmical and clear drums-driven composition, La Edad de Las Plantas ("The age of the plants") with its very guitar, engaging trance and in Volcanes ("Volcanoes"), obviously, the eruptions of the guitar magma. Still, the whole album should be listened to as a whole which is extremely well-written and decorated with a fitting cover art.

Unos días en la Tierra costs whatever you are willing to pay.

Check: Volcanes 

Country: Mexico

Genre: guitar post-rock

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Candleburn - The Slippery Surface (2019) EN

Candleburn is a stage name of Alan Axl from the Mexican-American border. The debuting musician has released a very short album called The Slippery Surface.

And it's definitely worth checking out. Axl creates neoclassical compositions for synth keys that are looped and thus well fitting the album's omnipresent electronics. Those loops have the ability to get straight to brain and refuse to leave (as can be experienced on Write It Down). The artist is good at balancing between more subtle and more lively electronics (the las one represented for example by The Sky Is Full of Androids), the artist himself states that the project is "made to convey emotions whether they're dark or bright".

The Slippery Surface costs 1 USD.

Check: Write It Down

Country: Mexico

Genre: neoclassical electronic

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Mint Field - Pasar de las Luces (2018) EN

Absolutely engaging and abspolutely mesmerizing, this is the debut album byt Mint Field, two very young girls from Mexican city of Tijuana. Although there's only two of them, they are able to create unique and mint guitar vapour dense atmosphere shoegaze. "Pasar de las Luces" takes us with them for a long journey where you may forget your own self.

Slow drums by Amor Amezcua and a guitar and this otherworldly like angels' steps vocal by Estrella Sanchez are enough to lift a person off of the ground. They begin it with the single entitled "Ojos en el Carro" in which the airy vocal and psychedelic guitar catch attention and begin the process of hypnosis. The minimalist usage of instruments doesn't bother at all. Two-people White Stripes could make us dance and so Mint Fields can make us get lost in their misty climate.

Their songs are rarely traditionally written. It's enough to have a bite of "Temporada De Jacarandas" to see how to write a catchy song using only two words. Or not much than a title, as in "Quiero Otoño De Nuevo" ("I want Autumn Anew") in which the psychedelic guitar is ut in the foreground and leads inevitably towards fantastic finish. Beautiful vocal as "just" an addition to ambitious and well-written music on this album is both frequent and well done.

"Pasar de las Luces"costs 9,99 USD.

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Sadfields - Homesick (2017) EN

Sadfields from Mexico City advertise themselves as "Simply conduits of torrential noise" and, as could be expected, it's this sort of advertisement that really draws my attention. The Daniel Espinoza, Miguel Flores and Erick Román trio can indeed kick asses and smash with a wall of sound like not everybody can.

It can be sensed almost through the whole album but I was particularly hit with "Falling Apart" in which the quiet introduction is a classic trap that aims to surprise the audience with the incoming loudness. And is particularly fitting for the song about human and his self falling apart. Just as suggested by the name of the band, they have this attraction to melancholy and sadness, they sing about longing, being lost and powerlessness. And the way to express those couldn't be more fitting - balancing between noise, blackgaze and wave is how it should be done.

In their country they are known as an on-stage chaos and I can see that quite clearly.

"Homesick" costs 80 MXN.

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Espejo Convexo - Ruina Circular (2017) EN

This nation has this something in them because after Stockhaussen there is another project on our blog, that offers a combination of shoegaze, darkness and cold - Espejo Convexo.  The band from the Mexican capital city's goal is to create music they call a "darkgaze pop" - as catchy as jarring. If you add the feeling of an incoming danger and darkness, no wonder the combination is interesting.

The band is really good at the not easy task of combining genres. Thick bass strings set the course and lead the dark atmosphere of guitars and electronic sounds and really intriguing vocals: shoegazing by Azul Carazo (her name means "blue" in Spanish, the colour of sadness) as in "Color del Cielo" and a colder one by Daniel Arp (e.g. in "El Miedo").

Czemu nie. The whole thing sounds like a calmer and sadder version of the Horrors. The name of the band means a convex mirror - a mirror that exaggerates feelings, disfigures reality, scares with deformation? Why not.

"Ruina Circular" costs 84 MXN.

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Imperfect Tree - Roots EP (2017) EN

If you are in search for music that seduces with its nostalgic mood and at the same time forces you to frolic, you couldn't find a better option. The Mexicans from Imperfect Tree show us how to create sublime tracks that are at the same time far from being boring.

The opening "Rhizome" sounds already super exciting with a wonderful melody put on high paced guitars. Similarly in "Roots" where the lyrics are replaced by a moody murmuring which is no obstacle to find it worth experiencing. The lyrical degradation goes further as "Overflow" is lyrics free and Imperfect Tree's music turns into stifling post-rock only to get reborn as rock/grungy and turns back to almost dreampopish "Departure".

Perhaps the tree is not perfect but the music by the Mexicans is almost there.

The EP costs 2 USD.

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