Listening to gnomes’ new EP, “Microclimbs,” feels less like hearing songs and more like stumbling upon a meticulously catalogued collection of internal weather systems. The Berlin artist has shed an acoustic skin, emerging with a sound that’s electric, nervy, and complex. This is music for feeling overwhelmed in a way that’s almost, dare I say it, cozy. https://open.spotify.com/album/6a9jnB0IcQDdP6BHLaHpdJ?si=1zS3355CRwe4oaDcdouNeA The warm, watery warble of a Wurli synth...

Ken Woods and the Old Blue Gang kick up some serious dust with their single "Ride the Rails," and listening feels less like tapping your foot and more like watching the ground crack open nearby. It’s got that Bakersfield twang alright, bright and wiry, but tangled up with a nervous psychobilly heartbeat and the kind of scuffed-boot roots rock energy that sounds like it’s...