The moment the jaunty guitar kicks in on John Smyths’ new single, "Now I'm Wiser", you feel a familiar, comfortable warmth. It’s the sound of a good chair in a bar where the floor is sticky with spilled truths. And then the story starts, a classic yarn of a hard-living past yielding to a peaceful present. Smyths, a Dutch ex-metalhead singing country out of...

With The Widows and their jagged new single "Bardo Blues", the speakers don't just output sound; they seem to physically sweat. From the opening seconds, this track captures the exact frequency of a nervous breakdown occurring in a dimly lit restroom of a venue that definitely violates several health codes. https://open.spotify.com/track/4U7900swNQAaAj2T5MxrqY?si=0f2168babd504508 This London quartet, Kim Le Tan, Francesco Manzi, Roger Salsas, and Vince Johnson, has been...