It's easy to see Edie Yvonne's story in her latest hit, "Girl Code," even though the scene is full of teen songs. Edie writes about the hard facts and unsaid rules of growing up at a time when life is dangerously balanced between having fun as a child and about to become an adult. That's not like Edie; her skills work just as well on set...

A house can be made from wood, stone, tin, red soil, or memory. In music, it can also be made from strings, shared breath, and the small pauses that let one culture listen to another without rushing to answer. Karoo's debut EP, "Casa", carries that feeling with quiet confidence. The title points toward home, but the record treats home as a living idea rather than...