Mardi Gras, six souls strong – Liina Rätsep, Fabrizio Fontanelli, Alessandro Matilli, Carlo Di Tore Tosti, Valerio Giovanardi, Fabrizio Del Marchesato. A sonic stew of pop, rock, soul, seasoned with pinches of Irish countryside and grunge. Their new album, “Sandcastle,” it's a funny thing. You build it, you know, meticulously. Expecting something sturdy, but then... the tide. https://open.spotify.com/album/4lZvTKocqM3ZASCijsFIwm?si=J47K5t1NRRGY1wJb29sUVw This record feels like exactly that; a gorgeous...

Julia Kate, a 20-year-old sojourner in the land of melodies (a.k.a. a songwriting student at Berklee), just dropped "fake friends," and my initial reaction was… did a sentient Instagram filter write this? Not in a bad way. More in a "wait, is this the matrix?" way. https://open.spotify.com/album/5x6CaYde9gncmDI5KpIKkQ?si=2gYl_dQ4SFm3vAVffdX5Vg The song’s theme slaps you in the face, gently. It explores how, in our curated, perpetually-online existence, actual connection...