XRick SaenzX, an emerging voice from the vibrant Los Angeles hip-hop scene, seems to understand this primal urge that sometimes, a song just wants to have a good time. His latest single, "Kickback," featuring fellow artist Out The Way (OTW), arrives with the straightforward intention of being a "party song." Yet, like any good get-together, there’s often more happening beneath the surface chatter and booming...

One rarely encounters a title as forthright in its ambition as what Nikiré offers with "ETERNITY beneath the stars of God." This single from Tom Arild Junge’s philosophical project is not something you’d play while sorting the recycling; it demands, and subsequently creates, a specific kind of quiet. The Enya comparison is there, certainly—a female voice gliding over vast, ambient soundscapes—but the effect is...