With The Widows and their jagged new single "Bardo Blues", the speakers don't just output sound; they seem to physically sweat. From the opening seconds, this track captures the exact frequency of a nervous breakdown occurring in a dimly lit restroom of a venue that definitely violates several health codes. https://open.spotify.com/track/4U7900swNQAaAj2T5MxrqY?si=0f2168babd504508 This London quartet, Kim Le Tan, Francesco Manzi, Roger Salsas, and Vince Johnson, has been...

The moment the jaunty guitar kicks in on John Smyths’ new single, "Now I'm Wiser", you feel a familiar, comfortable warmth. It’s the sound of a good chair in a bar where the floor is sticky with spilled truths. And then the story starts, a classic yarn of a hard-living past yielding to a peaceful present. Smyths, a Dutch ex-metalhead singing country out of...