The single from Syracuse’s ORWAX, “Everything's Addictive,” doesn’t so much ask a question as it does state a grim, unblinking diagnosis for the modern soul. From its first notes, the track establishes itself not as a party anthem for self-destruction, but as the sound of the machine humming underneath our choices. The trio—a self-contained unit of Ryan and Jim Moran, with Jason Randall on...

Listening to The Gilhoolys’ new single, "Bad Routine," is to feel the pressure of a low, grey sky just before it breaks. There’s a muscular, unapologetic rock energy here, the kind of sound forged in rooms with sticky floors and loud histories. It moves with a bruised swagger, the ghost of Thin Lizzy hanging around the edges of a decidedly modern indie rock angst,...