Badtaste, the creative vehicle of Czech-German artist Anna Kristina, has dropped a conceptual diptych titled "Hedonism, Sobriety." Now operating out of Paris, the singer, songwriter, and dancer has constructed a release that thrives on friction. It is a project that looks directly at the messy, often contradictory nature of human desire and refuses to tidy it up for easy consumption. The music operates in the...

Laru’s “Contra el Río” arrives with its shoulders up. The Spanish-language debut single uses a firm dembow groove and intense vocal delivery to meet the feeling of pushing ahead when life keeps adding weight. The companion video gives every pressure a face, object, or physical task. For anyone building a plan while bills, doubts, and other people’s demands crowd the frame, Laru has made a...