Take Jack Horton, a Portland-based singer-songwriter whose path to folk-Americana included stops at Japanese law school, Tokyo piano bars, corporate boardrooms, and government offices. His latest EP, "Imperfections," feels like finding someone's private journal set to music. And that someone happens to write really, really well. The five-song collection opens with "Set Me Free," a piano-driven confession that might surprise anyone expecting typical breakup bitterness. Horton...

Some songs slink into existence like they’ve emerged from a digital jungle, chrome vines and all. Super Massive’s latest single, "Caught In A Web," doesn’t just step into the foliage; it practically swings from the branches. Glenn Abbott’s tight, pulsating drum rhythms instantly provide the scaffolding, while Malina Hamilton-Smith’s vocals glide, entangle, and occasionally sting like the titular web’s arachnid inhabitant. It grooves like...