The Canadian-born NYC alt-pop artist Tori Lord  turns a bad act into a sleek, dark pop single with bite, poise, and replay value. "Conman" has the energy of watching someone’s perfect online persona glitch live. One second, the smile is glossy. The next, the lighting is too bright, the story does not add up, and Tori Lord is already two steps ahead. This new single from...

Mercy Kelly presents "Out in the Night" as a sonic artifact that feels strangely heavy in the hand, possessing the density of a brass paperweight found on a detective’s desk in a noir film. The track arrives with a moody swagger, trading the gloss of modern production for a "raw northern grit" that sticks to your clothes like second-hand smoke. It’s a revitalized sound...