Mia Mormino's music has an immediate impact and a power that is unlike anything else in the pop scene. You can find the tenacious spirit that sings songs of self-empowerment at the core of this beating heart. That's also where the ability is. On her way to loving herself, Mia has had both hard times and happy times, which gives her a truly captivating sincerity....

A rubber band ball, meticulously constructed and then unceremoniously dropped, that's what Outside Pedestrian's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" feels like. Not the ball itself, mind you, but the brief, elastic snap of unexpected order being momentarily... let go. We know the Bach tune. It’s a holiday staple, often served up with a side of polite reverence. But here, Anthony Fesmire’s guitar, David Lockeretz’s...