Dylan Forshner's new EP, “Hopeless Optimism,” presents itself not so much as a collection of songs but as a series of candid diary entries set to intricately picked acoustic strings. This five-song journey from the Welland, Canada artist begins in a place of palpable internal wrestling, where the lyrics – and Forshner’s delivery – map out the grim territories of being overwhelmed, using substances...

Okay, here we go. Buckle up, buttercups, because Yksopretty's "IT IS WHAT IT IS" just body-slammed my expectations. This Detroit native, apparently a herald of Michigan's new wave (whatever that sonic sorcery is), dropped an album that’s… well, it is what it is. Six tracks of futuristic trap colliding head-on with… the existential dread of having too many gold chains? Seriously, that's the vibe. https://open.spotify.com/album/1bka60jvXUj0dK5BGDSP9K This isn't...