The arrival of Dan Devlin’s EP, "SCREAM," feels less like a music release and more like discovering an exquisitely crafted, slightly alarming Fabergé egg on your doorstep – open it up, and a miniature, glittering opera of heartbreak and eventual, roaring triumph plays out. Devlin, who seems to juggle the roles of singer, songwriter, producer, and DJ with the aplomb of a seasoned circus...

Robin James Hurt’s “A Song, A Story Told” arrives with a sound you can almost run a thumb over, like worn corduroy. In an age of sterile, diamond-polished productions, this album is a defiantly handmade thing, tracked onto vintage cassette machines. The result is not a flaw, but an ingredient. A faint, persistent hiss breathes alongside the instruments, a ghost in the machine who...