"Avalon" hits like someone opening the car window at midnight and turning the volume up before anyone asks permission. Red Light Factory have built a single that moves fast and knows where its hook is hiding. This is Manchester alternative music with a pulse you can feel in the chest: electronic drums snapping forward, guitar attitude cutting through the smoke, and a chorus-ready spirit made...

Some comeback albums arrive wearing a suit. Block’s "Love Crash" kicks the shoes off at the door, laughs at the mess, then starts telling the truth before anyone has found a chair. Released on Meridian, ECR Music Group, the album is Block’s sixth full-length and his first new record in 13 years. That gap matters, but the record does not beg for sympathy. It feels awake,...