Remy Smith’s "Short Ride Down" arrived not with a crash, but with the insistent hum of fluorescent lights in a waiting room you can’t quite leave. This slice of indie rock, edged with the introspection of folk, doesn't just sing about the Los Angeles hustle; it smells faintly of studio air conditioning and the specific anxiety of knowing your smile is part of the...

I spent a solid hour this morning watching dust motes suspended in a single shaft of sunlight, my entire nervous system held absolutely captive by Magdi Aboul-Kheir and his devastatingly immersive new album, "Slow Heat". The Germany-based journalist and classically trained pianist usually writes across a massive spectrum of genres, pivoting wildly from trance to late romanticism. Today, he has dropped an ambient, contemporary...