Flavor Wave’s single, “The Optimist,” arrived less like a declaration and more like someone tentatively drawing back a dusty curtain on a grey afternoon. From West Chester, PA, these five lifelong friends – Kyle Loedel (vocals, lyrics), Matthew Stretch (lead guitar), Patrick Blair (rhythm guitar), Noah Montgomery (bass), and Joshua Speaker (performer/drums) – typically tread alternative rock paths nodding to influences like The Strokes....

Independent power pop band Chandra has dropped their latest digital single, "Boom," a track that effectively scores the precise fraction of a second when a quiet cosmos collapses to form a brand new universe. Frontman and guitarist Chandra Nair frames true connection as a spiritual, highly reactive ambush. We all know the experience. You go about your week with a perfectly unassuming, guarded exterior,...