There's an intimacy to the new FREE/MAN release, "The Reconnection EP," that borders on a welcome invasion of personal space. It is the sonic equivalent of someone leaning in, not to share a secret, but to create the silence where your own might finally surface. Charlie Freeman hasn't built a grand cathedral of sound here; he's simply furnished a quiet room with stark, necessary...

The musical environment is always shifting, and fusion has become the dominant style as a result. Milliarn, the brilliant light that is rising progressively higher on the horizon of contemporary music, is now the only one who can play it better than anybody else. His most recent single, "Famous," is more than simply a song; rather, it is a vibrant tapestry of Afrobeats and Caribbean...