15. Momak za ispomoć – Sijenke

Sijenke is a band from Podgorica, Montenegro, with their sophomore record, Momak za Ispomoć, released in April 2025. The record is entirely handled in-house: music, lyrics, recording, and arrangements by Marko Todorović and Radovan Raičević, with mixing by Todorović and Bojan Bojko, and mastering by Bojko. It’s a clean, self-contained project that wears its influences openly.

The album sits comfortably in the modern regional synthpop sphere, with clear new wave leanings and a strong 80s backbone. It’s accessible, melodic, and built around catchy repetition and atmosphere like counterparts Svemirko.

The opening track, Ko sam ja, establishes the glossy aesthetic early on with jagged new wave guitars cutting through 80s synths. It’s catchy and easy to listen to. Later tracks carry more vocal personality with a faint Haustor spirit in their warm, playful delivery.

It’s a solid synthpop album that builds on existing regional sounds rather than redefining them — pleasant and sun-kissed in its textures.

Full review coming soon…

Where to Find Them

• Instagram: @sijenke
• Bandcamp: listen & support on Bandcamp

14. 2018-2023 – Peach Pit

Zagreb-based instrumental trio Peach Pit return with 2018–2023, their first full-length album in over a decade. The record captures five years of creative output.

2018–2023 is tense, intricate, and slightly dystopian in mood. The guitar work moves fluidly between sludgy, grungy alt-rock textures and more delicate, almost emo-leaning passages, with these contrasts forming the backbone of the album’s math-rock identity. At times, the music leans into prog territory, with complex drum patterns and twisting guitar lines doing the narrative work usually left to vocals.

The album reinforces what Peach Pit does well: precise instrumental storytelling, with complex but controlled arrangements, and a sense of atmospheric tension.

Full review coming soon…

Where to Find Them

• Instagram: @peachpit_band
• Bandcamp: listen & support on Bandcamp

13. BETON KINO – Roj Osa meets Rob Mazurek

BETON KINO is the second album by Croatian experimental outfit Roj Osa. Released in November via Zagreb’s Kopaton Records, the project feels expansive, playing out like a fractured film reel with its raw textures, abstract IDM leanings, and cinematic tension. The record was stitched together by an international lineup that includes Rob Mazurek, whose presence looms heavily over the album’s restless and visionary atmosphere.

The opening track, Rustroot, throws you straight into the deep end, almost like a bad trip, with glitchy and distorted electronics. Free jazz and IDM shouldn’t coexist comfortably — and yet here they are, entangled and twitching together in a dystopian haze. It’s unsettling, disorienting, and strangely compelling.

BETON KINO is a strangely captivating record that fuses styles that feel fundamentally opposed: IDM, free jazz, post-rock, and electronic abstraction. Its apocalyptic atmosphere, cinematic soundscapes, and fearless experimentation make it hard to ignore and result in a brilliant listening experience.

Full review coming soon…

Where to Find Them

• Instagram: @roj_osa
• Bandcamp: listen & support on Bandcamp

12. Unending Confluence – Kamra

Ljubljana-based Kamra operates within the realm of atmospheric and dissonant black metal, but Unending Confluence avoids many of the genre’s more alienating tendencies. Across six tracks, the band lean into longer, progressive structures that allow tension and atmosphere to develop organically — a choice that works strongly in their favour.

The album’s emphasis on atmosphere, progression, and mood makes it an engaging listen. The drumming is consistently powerful, the vocals suitably feral, and the guitars strike a satisfying balance between satanic heaviness and eerie melody. Kamra succeeds in crafting a record that feels dark, dense, and immersive.

Full review coming soon…

Where to Find Them

• Instagram: @voices_of_kamra
• Bandcamp: listen & support on Bandcamp

11. Čiji je ovo pas? – kaleido

kaleido are a Zagreb-based indie-emo band operating firmly in the DIY tradition. Although “indie rock” is the easiest tag to apply, it doesn’t fully capture what’s happening here. The album blends Midwest emo warmth, post-punk restraint, light jazz elements, and fuzz-heavy guitar work into something that feels both fragile and raw. The trumpet and vocals add a distinctive texture that sets Čiji je ovo pas? apart from many genre-adjacent releases. If you’re drawn to the kind of alternative music associated with introspective American Midwest scenes of the late 90s and early 2000s, this will feel immediately familiar and comfortable.

Full review coming soon…

Where to Find Them

• Instagram: @kaleido_bend
• Bandcamp: listen & support on Bandcamp