There is a specific kind of quiet you find in the Midwest, and listening to Derby Hill and his self-titled release, "Derby Hill", feels like stumbling into that quiet after a long, noisy shift. It’s not the silence of emptiness; it’s the silence of after. After the argument, after the paycheck clears, after the sun goes down over the Detroit skyline or a Chicago...

British singer-songwriter Daisy Howard brilliantly captures the dizzying, maddening loop of an addictive relationship on her abrasive new grunge-pop single, "On and On". Trading her background in polished YouTube covers for a semi-nomadic life currently rooted in Chiang Mai, Thailand, Howard pivots into deeply personal territory. She leans heavily into alternative rock dripping with dry humor and exhausted self-awareness. Instead of romantically weeping over...