With LunaRover and their latest single "Little Things", I found myself suspended in that strange, gelatinous space between being fully awake and drifting into a fever dream. It’s a curious offering from Kevin Rieth and Ben Pelletier, a duo who build their soundscapes asynchronously, sending digital ghosts back and forth across Silver Spring, Maryland. https://open.spotify.com/track/56VUMjvZZsw6hI8geeg7CH?si=8fbf469199984b3e The track operates like a malfunctioning calmness machine. There is a...

Near Death Experience's single, "Shake," arrived not so much as music, but as a sudden, urgent insistence. It’s London psych-rock-soul alright, but brewed with something fiercely immediate, demanding attention like a ringing telephone in an empty room. The core quartet – Ian Whiteling guiding the trip with vocals and guitar fuzz, Joshua Van Ness laying down a heartbeat that feels both frantic and locked-in,...