With “Island Lantern Festival”, Tony Frissore manages to soundtrack a specific kind of mental vacation I didn’t realize I was overdue for taking. Ostensibly an instrumental nod to the Lunar New Year and the hopefulness of renewal, this piece operates less like a celebration and more like a gentle exhalation. https://open.spotify.com/album/3n43BcxSnavYKC0wt28GNu?si=E_50eQ_lQomyHT1RsD2Jrg It starts wet with the actual crash of ocean waves before slowly drifting inland. I...

There's something profoundly moving about an artist who chooses silence over noise, clarity over chaos. Daniel Nwosu Jr., better known as Dax, made exactly that choice when he promised himself he wouldn't release new music until he achieved six months of sobriety. The result? "Man I Used To Be" - a track that feels like watching someone rebuild themselves note by note. The Canadian-Nigerian rapper, who once...