Sean at the Hotel’s latest single, "I Didn’t Think About Noah," doesn't so much start as erupt, a frantic confetti cannon of art pop anxieties. It’s the sound of a mind racing, or perhaps the collective consciousness of every thirty-something who’s ever stared into the blue light of a screen and wondered if they’ve irreparably broken their brain. The track’s skittering rhythms and overlapping...

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...