Listening to Bloomfield Machine's new seventeen-track instrumental album, “Copium,” feels a bit like stepping into a terrarium during a quiet downpour. The title itself suggests a kind of modern, knowing self-delusion, the balm we apply just to get by. Yet, the music crafted by Huntington Beach’s Brian Kassan is far too sincere for pure cynicism. This isn’t the sound of giving up; it’s the...

Mad Morning have released a new single titled "Painkiller," and it’s less a piece of music and more a prescription filled with ferocious velocity. This isn't your gentle, over-the-counter remedy. This is the stuff you keep behind lock and key, a bitter pill of distorted guitar and adrenalized rhythm that vocalist and guitarist Rob Jarvis delivers with unflinching conviction. The song’s central idea—sound as...