A crowded pavement can make cruelty look ordinary. DirtPhunks' "Subway Reflections" asks us to stop accepting that. The guitar-first single grew from a sight FH Baloo could not shake. As an Oslo student, he saw an older wheelchair user playing harmonica for money outside a downtown subway station near the old University. Passers-by mocked him. Instead of treating that scene as passing colour, the single asks...

Synthaurion pushes back against the cynicism of the modern era on the new atmospheric trance album, "Echoes Of Your Blessing." The independent electronic producer has mapped out a deeply emotional project, using the sprawling architecture of vocal and melodic dance music to explore spiritual resilience. While plenty of contemporary electronic music thrives in shadowy, underground isolation, Synthaurion aggressively chases the light. This is an...