The latest from Jacob and the Starry Eyed Shadows, “Racing on the Back Straight,” performs a fantastic trick: it dresses up a full-blown existential crisis in its summer best and sends it to the beach. This Glasgow solo architect, Jacob, has constructed a Trojan horse of a track, all propulsive indie rock guitars and a pop-punk chorus so immediate it feels like you’ve known...

Let me tell you something—listening to "Falling From The Floor" feels a bit like slipping through the cracks of your own memories. It's not about soaring or plummeting. No. MJ Lake and his Salt Lake-based cohort (Dylan Schorer, M. Horton Smith, Travis Mickelson, and the enigmatic touch of Joshy Soul) have crafted something that doesn't rise or fall. It levitates in that strange, almost...