Not all wars are fought with guns. Some battles are waged in traffic jams, in empty kitchens, or in the hollow space between a scream and a whisper at 2 a.m. Dax's latest single "Soldier" featuring Tom MacDonald doesn’t march with a drumbeat of victory; it crawls, it scratches, it survives. Written for anyone wrestling with life’s demons—the internal kind, the ones that don't...

Empty Pinata – remember LA Rodriguez? – serves up the single "Bonfire," and honestly, the air changes slightly when you play it. It’s less like passively listening and more like discovering a singed diary page fluttering down a quiet street. The music itself is this curious contradiction, wrapping harrowing emotional shrapnel in the comforting gauze of indie-pop, flecked with soft rock warmth. A strangely...