In the contemporary R&B scene, however, a fresh voice emerges from the Byron Bay shores in Australia. The first part of this year has seen the debut EP from Billie Skye – a 19-year-old prodigy - who takes her place as an emerging star with beautiful R&B moments. For Billie Skye, a person who grew up in a family where music flows through his veins; her...

The single from Syracuse’s ORWAX, “Everything's Addictive,” doesn’t so much ask a question as it does state a grim, unblinking diagnosis for the modern soul. From its first notes, the track establishes itself not as a party anthem for self-destruction, but as the sound of the machine humming underneath our choices. The trio—a self-contained unit of Ryan and Jim Moran, with Jason Randall on...