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...

Leon Blanchard, a name perhaps faintly echoing from the mid-noughties indie surge, returns not with fanfare, but with a solitary signal flare titled "Astronaut". Hailing from Grimsby, a town known more for its fishing heritage than its celestial aspirations, Blanchard's new song does not really feel like a return, but more like a personal gearbox picked up after years of chatter. In 2007, his old band,...