Well now, here’s The Flying Beets with their single "I See Through You," and it lands with the distinct thud of knowing something you almost wish you didn't. Singer/guitarist Nathan Waller, flanked by David Cross on bass and Steven Clements on drums, crafts an alt-rock sound here that feels less like soaring rebellion and more like pacing anxiously in a beautifully furnished, yet soundproof,...

Danny Watts is to acoustic strings what winter frost is to tree branches: an unexpected adornment, at odds with what you thought you knew, but too breathtaking to question. With "Angels In The Snow," the Downtown Patriots step into a snow globe of uncharted soundscapes, leaving behind the grungey scrape of amplifiers for something quieter, but no less expansive. It’s a curveball—a swerve from...