Listening to Arnold J.’s new single, "Muddy Waters," isn't quite like anything else swirling around right now. It arrives with the gentle insistence of incoming tide, pulling you into its specific gravity. Arnold J., Ghanaian-born and now Canada-based, weaves a sound tagged as alt-country and folk, but those labels feel thin, like trying to contain smoke. There’s earthiness, sure, but his soulful vocal lines...

Desperate Electric, the genre-defying power disco duo out of Butte, Montana, dive headfirst into an intoxicating cocktail of rhythm and human vulnerability on their new studio album, "News Flash!". Kayti Korte and Ben Morris are tapping into a bizarre yet flawless universe where late-night romantic nostalgia meets a relentlessly confident dance-pop bounce. The entire record is an exploration of sexual liberation and escapism that...