Of all the bands swept up in the 2020s shoegaze wave, Philadelphia’s They Are Gutting a Body of Water always seemed most eager to reimagine the genre’s wall-of-guitar squall as a densely layered tapestry that can accommodate myriad non-rock influences. And that amorphous aesthetic kicks into hyperdrive with KOOL FAITH / LOOSIES II, a mammoth 29-track mixtape that functions as both a purge of band brain trust Doug Dulgarian’s every creative impulse and a celebration of their extended community (which, judging by the feature-heavy tracklist, runs the gamut from fellow Philly indie shapeshifters SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE to rapper RXKNephew). That means for every track here in familiarly shoegazey terrain—like the Hotline TNT-assisted fuzz bomb “rodman” and the mbv-smeared Horse Jumper of Love collab “charter spec”—there’s an oddball electro experiment (“5dime”), spoken-word beatscape (“the day the river flows backwards”), and glitched-out posse cut about pre-ordering GTA 6 (“yellow dolphins”). The mixtape branding may position KOOL FAITH / LOOSIES II outside of TAGABOW’s official discography, however, more than any other release, it cements their status not just as leading lights of a thriving subcultural scene, but a musical universe unto themselves. Our Favorite Track: “a place where”—a collaboration with Danish trio haloplus+ that hits the sweet spot between dream pop and drum ’n’ bass.