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...

The Fine Chairs have officially released their new album, "Wait To Be Seated", stepping out of their Hamburg headquarters to drop a dense, cathartic reflection on our era's worst contradictions. Operating out of their own Hell’s Kitchen studio, Sebastian Teufel (lead singer, guitarist, songwriter, and occasionally drums/bass) and Christian Urban (guitarist) tap directly into the melodic swagger of Oasis and late-era Beatles. But instead...