There is a specific kind of quiet you find in the Midwest, and listening to Derby Hill and his self-titled release, "Derby Hill", feels like stumbling into that quiet after a long, noisy shift. It’s not the silence of emptiness; it’s the silence of after. After the argument, after the paycheck clears, after the sun goes down over the Detroit skyline or a Chicago...

Stephen H. Cumberbatch (also known professionally as C’batch) bridges the past and present on his latest instrumental release, "The Vault 1 (C’batch Smooth / Rough)". Operating out of White Plains, New York, where he runs the independent Stevette Music, Inc. with his wife Yvette, C'batch took a remarkably reflective approach here. By blowing the dust off unresolved concepts from his past *Unfinished Business* era,...