Cat Mayel's "FREE" arrived, not on a silver platter, but more like a rogue pigeon delivering a very important message – a crumpled napkin with profound scribbles. This Nigerian producer, composer, arranger, and all-around sonic sorceress has served up a single dose of alternative neo-soul that feels… well, free. As free as a shopping cart with a wonky wheel, anyway. It goes where it...

Jon Gold’s new single, "Lullaby for a Dream," is an act of gorgeous disorientation. You see the name—a pianist rooted in the intricate soils of jazz—and you prepare for one thing, but what arrives is a mist-laden skiff drifting from an entirely different shore. Gold, a Delaware musician, has composed a piece of British-Gaelic folk, and the cognitive dissonance is half the immediate magic....