To listen to Vicious Clay’s `"bleecker street revisited"` is to stumble upon a cartographer’s personal diary, one filled with maps of places that no longer exist and sketches of emotional territories still being charted. This is the latest work from Vinny Silva’s musical project, and it feels less like a collection of songs and more like a core sample, drilled deep into the bedrock...

Listening to Afaq Art Production's new single "Bejamalen (With Beauty)" performed by Ziad Kamal feels a bit like stepping out of a chaotic, sun-baked street into the sudden, vaulted vastness of an ancient sanctuary. https://open.spotify.com/album/7GbecQZE3yVH6enRaALvLk?si=seoOwwjgS_SE3MsuPg-rxw Kamal is only twenty-four. He manages the rather fascinating trick of balancing his daily life as a Mechatronics engineer with a profound, academic mastery of Eastern Maqams, violin, and oud. Here,...