Brandon Watson just released an absolute battering ram of a single with "Watch Me Work". The Franklin-based, Texas-born songwriter and producer tackles the age-old theme of ambition, but entirely ditches the usual glossy inspirational clichés for pure, combat-ready swagger. https://open.spotify.com/track/0za6E6IEIjs4B02OfuzuIz?si=7b1cb992bcec4632 The arrangement roots itself in the dirt. A heavy, stomping percussion sets a marching cadence from the jump, acting as the spine for jagged, distorted electric...

Violet Love has offered up an EP titled "Destined to Fail," and it arrives less like a prediction and more like a pre-existing condition, a medical chart for a soul that’s been diagnosed with itself. The DIY recording quality doesn’t feel lo-fi for aesthetics; it feels necessary, like these songs could only have been born in a sealed-off room where the air was getting...