Julia Faulks’ new EP, “Colours”, doesn’t so much present a palette as it does the messy, satisfying work of mixing the paints yourself. It's a six-song study in emotional reciprocity, a sonic accounting of what it costs to love and what it means to be loved in return. https://open.spotify.com/album/6o7E8t0HKQCUiu9uINpATo?si=612B0YA9TJCuKfH-ndCupg Faulks operates in that murky, humid space she calls the “in-between,” where affection curdles into obligation and...

Listening to Afaq Art Production's new single "Bejamalen (With Beauty)" performed by Ziad Kamal feels a bit like stepping out of a chaotic, sun-baked street into the sudden, vaulted vastness of an ancient sanctuary. https://open.spotify.com/album/7GbecQZE3yVH6enRaALvLk?si=seoOwwjgS_SE3MsuPg-rxw Kamal is only twenty-four. He manages the rather fascinating trick of balancing his daily life as a Mechatronics engineer with a profound, academic mastery of Eastern Maqams, violin, and oud. Here,...