There is a peculiar alchemy happening with Jimmy Eff and the Sundogs on their new single, "Better Like Before". It sits in the air like the smell of ozone right after a lightning strike charged, crisp, and signifying a sudden shift in the atmosphere. You listen to it, and you sort of expect the industrial gray of their Birmingham home base, yet the sound...

Trick Shooter Social Club's "Television," isn't some shiny, manufactured anthem. It's a scratched-up record, the kind you pull out after a long day where everything tasted like cardboard and feels the same kind of worn in and comfortable. This Chicago outfit, led by Larry Liss and Steve Simoncic, they’ve bottled that feeling into a song about quiet corners and the kind of love that...