Samantha Mora’s “Luto” arrived like a half-remembered dream, a wisp of smoke curling from a candle just extinguished. It's not a song to shout from rooftops; it's something you feel in the space between your breaths. Her voice is so smooth, a rich velvet you could lose yourself in. You'd almost think it could just glide across the cumbia rhythms like a hummingbird over...

Before listening to a single note of Suris’ new album, “Pertinax”, I spent a few minutes just looking at the word. Pertinax. It has the distinct ring of a Stoic philosopher’s last defiant utterance or maybe a type of beetle known for its unusually stubborn shell. What a curious flag to fly for a collection of songs in an age of fleeting distraction. But...