The orchestral opening stops a listener’s scroll. Roger K’s “Please Don’t Put It on Me,” arrives as cinematic dark pop with a real ache at its centre. The independent Australian singer, songwriter and producer gives adult force to a child’s plea, placing inner-child pressure, fear and self-worth against trap and drill-informed drums. It is direct, dark and built for the moment when somebody finally says the...

Houston-based psych-rock duo The Shrubs return with "Let Us In", a frantically catchy single that basically sugarcoats a societal breakdown in layers of infectious fuzz. https://open.spotify.com/album/4DHZnz49JHoaX6Ce0uAdd6?si=xvATg3GHRyS6lHn1pLjiNw Miguel and Sophie have a fascinating knack for dragging fifty-year-old analog reel-to-reels and gritty cassettes into modern digital landscapes. Here, they have engineered a massive, heavily distorted wall of sound that races forward with a sweaty, desperate urgency. You catch...