Listening to Riax’s new single, "Saved My Life," feels like receiving a thank-you note from the future while standing in the middle of a lightning storm. Here is the furious, floor-shaking kick drum of Euphoric Hardstyle, a sound designed for packed crowds and laser-split darkness, yet it’s delivering an intensely private message of self-reconciliation. It’s a baffling, brilliant collision. The beat wants to obliterate...

Vie Jester’s new EP, ‘Masquerade’, presents itself like a costume box found in an attic that smells faintly of ozone and old, ambitious blueprints. This Los Angeles trio, typically weavers of their own heavy, harmonious rock tapestries laced with esoteric concerns, have opted for a different kind of unveiling: they’re trying on other people's clothes. https://open.spotify.com/album/0grUBCwpcgdKF29lBxWmLR?si=RTUUi7H3SC2oUUHu0TdHig A covers EP can be a curious beast. Here, Vie...