Alright, let’s talk about 808TSIE and their new single, "Dub Drive." This isn’t a review in the stuffy sense, more like a… sonic snapshot, if that makes sense. Belgium, dub techno, a Tascam recorder – these words paint a picture, don't they? Of someone hunched over hardware, maybe the kind of person who still knows how to use a rotary phone. I appreciate that...

Take Jack Horton, a Portland-based singer-songwriter whose path to folk-Americana included stops at Japanese law school, Tokyo piano bars, corporate boardrooms, and government offices. His latest EP, "Imperfections," feels like finding someone's private journal set to music. And that someone happens to write really, really well. The five-song collection opens with "Set Me Free," a piano-driven confession that might surprise anyone expecting typical breakup bitterness. Horton...