There is an endearing, unvarnished sincerity running through ErickOscar’s new album, “Hold The Light”, the kind that catches you off guard when you were expecting ordinary background noise. A Panamanian-born songwriter who has spent over three decades quietly building a life in the United States, ErickOscar approaches music not as a sterile exercise in studio perfection, but as an open workshop of personal history....

DJ AB’s “YNS Cypher 2025” has swaggered into existence. Not a gentle arrival, mind you, but more the auditory equivalent of a conquering legion setting up a very loud, very confident camp. This isn't background hum for a Tuesday afternoon; it’s a full-colour, high-decibel assertion from the Northern Nigerian hip-hop vanguard, a yearly planting of the YNS flag. DJ AB, the central current, is...