With “Island Lantern Festival”, Tony Frissore manages to soundtrack a specific kind of mental vacation I didn’t realize I was overdue for taking. Ostensibly an instrumental nod to the Lunar New Year and the hopefulness of renewal, this piece operates less like a celebration and more like a gentle exhalation. https://open.spotify.com/album/3n43BcxSnavYKC0wt28GNu?si=E_50eQ_lQomyHT1RsD2Jrg It starts wet with the actual crash of ocean waves before slowly drifting inland. I...

Anthony Quaid’s newest single, "Do I Scare You?", opens like a thunderstorm in slow motion—the kind where the brewing tension isn’t just in the clouds but between people, between selves. This isn’t just a track for weekend playlists or post-brunch car rides. This is a clenched fist of a song, daring the listener to flinch. Baton Rouge may lie in Quaid’s rearview mirror, but...