Sophia Mengrosso’s new album, “Unforgiven”, doesn’t so much start as it does detonate, a thirteen-song treatise on survival. Her voice, a thing clearly trained for gilded halls and velvet curtains, instead wails from within a foundry’s clang and fire. The result is a bizarre and beautiful collision, the sonic equivalent of discovering a lost Caravaggio painting lit by a flickering fluorescent tube in a...

Okay, so Jari Salmikivi. From Sweden, they make music. Right, got it. This particular serving, "Believe (Remix)", lands in the dance/pop arena, which, if you’re keeping score at home, means it’s basically designed to get you moving and possibly singing along into your hairbrush. But wait, there's more. It aims to dose you with pure, unadulterated positive energy, all served up with lyrics that...