Seishin Takeno's "Echoes," a sonic postcard from Kanagawa. Nine instrumental pieces, I've been told. Not nine songs, mind you – more like nine shaded windows into a particular kind of quiet. This isn't music that yells; it leans in, like a friend confiding a secret you half-hear on a summer porch. Immediately, you're not so much listening as remembering. Or maybe anticipating. It feels...

As the name of the song implies, the purpose of this music is to improve your mood with each passing second and minute that you spend listening to it. Radwulf and Zero Sugar were aware of their roles in the song, and they played them to the best of their abilities. The music that has been given the moniker "Better" is the kind of song...