Listening to “Small Town Syndrome” by thinking silly is an exercise in delightful contradiction. Dylan Morrison’s project, shaped here by the production hand of collaborator Margot Taylor, builds a sleek, propulsive chassis of dark pop and minimal techno, only to house an engine of pure, grinding ache. It’s the sound of someone forcing a smile so wide their face hurts, a dance track for...

The single from Syracuse’s ORWAX, “Everything's Addictive,” doesn’t so much ask a question as it does state a grim, unblinking diagnosis for the modern soul. From its first notes, the track establishes itself not as a party anthem for self-destruction, but as the sound of the machine humming underneath our choices. The trio—a self-contained unit of Ryan and Jim Moran, with Jason Randall on...