Before listening to a single note of Suris’ new album, “Pertinax”, I spent a few minutes just looking at the word. Pertinax. It has the distinct ring of a Stoic philosopher’s last defiant utterance or maybe a type of beetle known for its unusually stubborn shell. What a curious flag to fly for a collection of songs in an age of fleeting distraction. But...

Listening to Oxiroma unfold "Hug & Hold the Ocean (Cosmo Symphonic Version)" feels less like pressing play on a digital file and more like opening a window in a submarine that somehow navigates the Milky Way. Roman, the creative force behind the moniker, brings a peculiar discipline to this composition perhaps it’s the Kriya Yoga, or maybe the ghost of his big band trumpet...