There's a curious jolt in hearing a title like "Us Against The World" from an act called The Cockney Cowboy. The name itself is a glorious contradiction, a pairing of gritty East London reality with the wide-open romance of Nashville. You half expect a joke, but what Justin Vella delivers is a dead-serious, straight-shooting country ballad that smells less of hay bales and more...

With "The HeARTist," Dublin's very own Galvo joins the indie-folk community in its ongoing pursuit for true heartbeats among an array of sounds. This 14-track journey relates to an authenticity that is difficult to find these days. Galvo is a phenomenon rather than simply a name or an artist. Every note he sings and every chord he pulls tells of a life submerged in melodies since...