There is a particular heavy gravity to December afternoons, a specific slant of light that Gavin Fox manages to shoulder and inspect closely in his latest single, "Where I Belong". This isn't the shiny, plastic joy of commercial holiday tunes; it is the acoustic texture of the season as it is actually lived—often separated, occasionally lonely, and universally hopeful. https://open.spotify.com/track/54Xlu7cN2d8UiNJA6K1xG7?si=212baf49bb7d4c7f Fox, a Dublin-based storyteller who wears...

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,...