There’s a certain expectation that comes with a new release from Kim Cameron. For years, the Miami-based artist has been a reliable source of high-energy, deep house anthems, music precision-engineered for the dance floor. Her name is synonymous with movement, with the kind of infectious hooks that have propelled her up the Billboard and iTunes charts. So when a new track of hers begins not...

Ultan’s single, "The Tempest," erupts not so much into the room as it does through the floorboards, dragging with it the scent of wet wool and imminent confrontation. This Dublin solo musician, a cartographer of past agonies, presents an energetic rock piece that feels less like a song about history and more like a fragment of it, throbbing and urgent. The main riff careers...