There is a peculiar kind of engine at the heart of "Half Evil" by Tomato Soup, and it runs not on gasoline but on disorientation. The Denver six-piece calls their sound "Motor-Folk," and it fits. The track has the chugging, forward-moving momentum of a vehicle, yet it seems to be driving through a landscape seen in a fever dream, where the signposts are all...

Claudia Balla has just released her sweeping new single, "The Old Magnolia". As a Hungarian-born, Switzerland-based chanteuse and practicing psychiatrist, Balla naturally possesses a unique vantage point on the human mind's fractured mechanics. Her work frequently carves out an inclusive, melancholic space, merging classical and jazz influences with modern pop sensibilities. Here, she performs a surgical autopsy on a uniquely modern delusion: the dreaded...