Listening to RIOT SON’s new single, “Loneliest at Best,” is a curious exercise in emotional time-travel. The sound pulls you back to the early 2000s, to a time of angular guitars and heartfelt, frayed-collar vocals. It has that nervous, shimmering energy of indie rock that always sounded best on a pair of wired headphones, the beat prodding you forward even as the lyrics confess...

Some love songs sit politely in the corner. "When I'm With You" walks in with bright guitars, a racing heart, and that slightly ridiculous confidence people get when a crush rewires their whole day. Nick Pappalardo's new single, takes its spark from his early gigging days in Brooklyn and NYC, where one meeting with a Brooklyn girl gave him the emotional fuel for a full-on...