It’s a rare and bewildering thrill to encounter something as organically bizarre and entirely transportive as Koradan’s newest album, "Around the World...Music". The Italian duo Alex Baccari and Marzia Di Cicco are dedicated acoustic alchemists. They build the very tools they play. Through their patented centerpiece, the "Koritas," they have physically fused materials harvested from five different continents into a single resonating chamber. You...

Keeping going can sound deceptively simple as advice. Digging For Kanky complicate that idea on “Raining Stones”, their single. The Manchester trio put the cost of endurance in view. Their focus is not heroic triumph, but the pressure of carrying on when life has closed in. That makes this an alternative music release with a serious social charge. It does not settle for a motivational slogan. Instead,...