Allyson Whitmell's "Crack in My Window" arrived in my inbox, and honestly, my first thought was, "Is this the soundtrack to a particularly poignant cat food commercial?" But then, of course – because life loves a good plot twist – it wasn't. https://open.spotify.com/album/7lNXzGxooWZNRYKxSusY3q?si=isdinrQoRwi-yVmYTMH4fA It is, in reality, Whitmell taking a swan dive into the murky waters of nostalgia, grief, and that weird feeling you get when...

If you’ve ever tried to catch a seagull mid-flight with a butterfly net, you’ll understand the elusive joy that Funky Blackman's "The Beach" EP serves up. Not that there are any feathered friends involved, directly. But the feeling? Yeah, it’s there, a fleeting, beautiful awkwardness. https://open.spotify.com/album/5Sk7pagwbS02FPhsKKAzOb?si=QYWmoCruQv2lw3xMISpLJQ This isn’t some synthesized shoreline; forget the stock wave sounds. This is a memory, maybe yours, maybe his, re-assembled. He’s...