Montreal five-piece Wave and Wire unleash a searing purge of bad blood on their new single, “Bullet.” The track opens with an echoing, subdued vocal melody hovering over a steady pulse before suddenly detonating into a frantic blast of skate-punk velocity and blown-out distortion. It pulls heavily from the sweat-drenched grit of ’90s alt-rock and Queens of the Stone Age, moving with the reckless...

Keeping going can sound deceptively simple as advice. Digging For Kanky complicate that idea on “Raining Stones”, their single. The Manchester trio put the cost of endurance in view. Their focus is not heroic triumph, but the pressure of carrying on when life has closed in. That makes this an alternative music release with a serious social charge. It does not settle for a motivational slogan. Instead,...