Before listening to a single note of Suris’ new album, “Pertinax”, I spent a few minutes just looking at the word. Pertinax. It has the distinct ring of a Stoic philosopher’s last defiant utterance or maybe a type of beetle known for its unusually stubborn shell. What a curious flag to fly for a collection of songs in an age of fleeting distraction. But...

Dev London's new single, “Spell On Me,” slid into my listening queue, and frankly, the title felt less like an invitation and more like a diagnosis. This rising Manteca artist crafts a sound here – an R&B/Pop fusion – that's as smooth as it is unsettling, like finding a perfectly polished stone that hums with a faint, troubling energy. https://open.spotify.com/track/73XvCea2NkVBeTPEhqoTvj?si=jXi6lrm_TVukGsDhbjcMfw The track unpacks the exquisite torture...