To cover "Jolene" is to stand in a very long, very deep shadow, yet with their new single, Sugarfoot have brought their own strange and compelling light. This isn't the familiar, simmering confrontation we know. Stripped of its country gallop and rebuilt around the stark, lonely-sounding architecture of Graeme Park's piano, the song is transformed from a desperate challenge into a haunting, prayer-like surrender. https://open.spotify.com/track/4P53bty0Ik9kgTfvMjqiIG?si=7e611d085f2f41c4 The...

When the Malaga-based duo My State unleashed "Its Whatever", I half-expected my speakers to start smoking—or at least demand an apology for the sudden surge in voltage. It is rare to hear a track that captures the precise auditory frequency of snapping a pencil in half out of sheer frustration, but here we are. This isn't polite radio fodder. It is high-octane pop-rock that forgot...