Mark Vennis & Different Place have unleashed "Goodbye to All That", a record that feels less like a standard studio production and more like stumbling across a box of forgotten, mud-stained letters from the front lines, set to a rhythm that refuses to sit still. https://open.spotify.com/album/0uvXq10rlm29SxAdmx8IVQ?si=fai-hk9BQru4curtMTfKIA There is a particular flavor of cynicism that seems to ferment best in the damp air of the British Isles,...

Geoff Westen’s album, “Music For My Friends”, thumps onto the scene like a dropped box of heavy disco balls – all shiny potential energy and the slight threat of chaos. It aims for that classic pop song euphoria, the kind designed to rattle car speakers and fuel late-night dance floors, an "aural assault" as Westen puts it. And it does pulse with energy, a...