Listening to RIOT SON’s new single, “Loneliest at Best,” is a curious exercise in emotional time-travel. The sound pulls you back to the early 2000s, to a time of angular guitars and heartfelt, frayed-collar vocals. It has that nervous, shimmering energy of indie rock that always sounded best on a pair of wired headphones, the beat prodding you forward even as the lyrics confess...

There is a specific texture to the air in Chicago a kind of electric grit but listening to Joey P. unravel his latest project, "MISSING IN ACTION", feels surprisingly like peeling the protective film off a brand-new emotional state. Satisfying, smooth, but with a lingering static charge. This two-song release functions like a handwritten note tucked into a coat pocket, discovered months later when...