Lessons in Crime’s new single, "Reply ASAP," bounces along with the kind of infectious energy you’d want for a summer road trip, but it’s a smokescreen for a uniquely modern state of inertia. It feels less like a rock song and more like one of those old pneumatic message tubes from a 1940s department store—all zip and kinetic energy on the outside, but inside,...

"Snap," the most recent release from independent music pioneers Love Ghost, is a song that can only be described as a sonic adventure. It paints a moving image of the battle against despair and the change that results, encapsulating the struggle of metamorphosis in a way that is both powerful and tragic. Love Ghost has been an unstoppable force since they emerged from Los Angeles, developing...