Angelo Ceriani's new album, "Lofi Weather," arrives not with a bang, but like a slow-moving front rolling in off Lake Maggiore, where I imagine his Somma Lombardo studio might catch the changing light. These ten instrumental pieces, curated from two decades of Ceriani simply making music (1995-2015, no less!), feel less like a planned collection and more like leafing through someone’s sonic sketchbook, found...

Listening to “Small Town Syndrome” by thinking silly is an exercise in delightful contradiction. Dylan Morrison’s project, shaped here by the production hand of collaborator Margot Taylor, builds a sleek, propulsive chassis of dark pop and minimal techno, only to house an engine of pure, grinding ache. It’s the sound of someone forcing a smile so wide their face hurts, a dance track for...