Maraad’s new album, “BUFF”, is a strange and beautiful paradox, an object forged in the very fire it’s meant to protect you from. Each track is presented as a "buff," a bit of protective magic for the spirit, but the energy humming underneath feels less like a polished shield and more like the faint, determined glow around a figure in a centuries-old altarpiece—somehow both...

Megan Wheeler’s new single, "Now That I'm Gone," arrived. Not via carrier pigeon, thankfully, though wouldn't that be a marketing strategy? No, it arrived in the usual, utterly un-magical digital way, yet somehow, managed to feel like a little explosion of confetti made of pure, defiant self-respect. https://open.spotify.com/track/2m3tz4bSNELxdIbTjRWc92?si=546c28793c4443bc This isn't your typical "woe-is-me" breakup ballad. Wheeler, often drawing favorable comparisons to the songwriting queens, that Holy...