"America" from Dave Clark drops like a chipped ceramic mug onto a linoleum floor, not exactly a bang but you feel the thud. It's not about sparkly flag-waving; that much is clear from the first plucky guitar notes. It’s a story woven in threadbare folk chords and tinged with the static hum of some plugged-in grief. https://open.spotify.com/track/7nSYreI8IQDkOgvGjTvjwy?si=bbfaa8073f824d01 There's a man in this track, though you never...

There are songs that sound like a place, and then there’s Neil Potter’s "Música El Idioma Del Amor," which sounds like a specific time of day in a specific place you’ve never been. It’s a curious creation, a sonic postcard from a parallel-universe Seville where the flamenco guitarist and the local rock progressive have decided to build something new on a foundation of pure...