Maverick Smith’s “We Make Fire, They Make Smoke” lands not with a thud, but with the distinct, satisfying crackle of something catching alight. It’s a title that carries the grit of the Ohio Valley in its consonants, a resolute statement from a band – Paige Bosic on commanding vocals and rhythm guitar, Sean Boynes sculpting soundscapes on guitar, Jim Courtney’s intricate drumming, Charlie Kovach’s...

Margate-based “Hyper-Country” artist Jack Goldstein navigates systemic erasure on his staggering new single, "Falling Off The Earth." Sifting through the wreckage of the 1980s American farming crisis and recalling trips to his sister’s farm, Goldstein constructs a narrative around the brutal collapse of traditional rural livelihoods. It traces a devastating line from physical displacement to a sprawling, cosmic detachment, leaving its subjects abandoned to...