Well, Ricky Leroy Brown has gone and done it, presenting us with "SEXUAL MANUAL FOR EXPERTS," and I confess, the title alone sent my mind skittering off like a startled cat at a séance. This solo Madrileño, who conjures entire soundscapes from his own hands and instruments, is clearly still communing with the spirit of Prince, all slinky guitars and a rhythm section that...

There is a specific kind of cold that burns, like dry ice pressed against a fingertip, and that paradoxical sensation pervaded my entire weekend spent listening to the latest output from CMD.EXE, their debut full-length album "love.language.model". This collaboration between human musicians and machine intelligence hits with the weight of a pressurized cabin decompressing. It sits in that bruised, purple twilight between Electronic Rock...