Robbie Rapids drops "Class 2 Rapids" onto the table like a heavy set of keys to houses you used to live in, but can’t quite remember the address of. This Atlanta-based Gen X rocker has assembled a collection that feels less like a polished studio product and more like a glove compartment mixtape that has survived three car wrecks and a cross-country move. It...

I spent a solid hour this morning watching dust motes suspended in a single shaft of sunlight, my entire nervous system held absolutely captive by Magdi Aboul-Kheir and his devastatingly immersive new album, "Slow Heat". The Germany-based journalist and classically trained pianist usually writes across a massive spectrum of genres, pivoting wildly from trance to late romanticism. Today, he has dropped an ambient, contemporary...