San Francisco singer-songwriter and producer Jacob Barrett just released a new single, "Maybe", diving headfirst into the agonizing loop of an unanswered call. You know that specific, isolating brand of mental purgatory? The one where you pace around your living room having frantic, phantom arguments with someone who already walked away, hopelessly convinced that turning the situation over in your head will somehow retroactively...

With the arrival of Archers New Rival and their single "Direction", I found myself tracing the jagged line of a crack in my ceiling, letting the melody dictate exactly how much that imperfection bothered me. The track initiates with a deception a clean, resonant melancholy that feels safe before suddenly mushrooming into a thick, distorted wall of heavy texture. It reminds me, oddly enough,...