Listening to RIOT SON’s new single, “Loneliest at Best,” is a curious exercise in emotional time-travel. The sound pulls you back to the early 2000s, to a time of angular guitars and heartfelt, frayed-collar vocals. It has that nervous, shimmering energy of indie rock that always sounded best on a pair of wired headphones, the beat prodding you forward even as the lyrics confess...

THE HYBRIS, a masked virtual trio—Ringo Rabbit, Beanie Bison, and Malcolm Mandrill—posing as superhero wannabes, drop their new album "t h r e e." They claim a mission to save the world with tunes. It's alt-rock, doused with punk sneer, a splash of 80s neon, and enough stadium-rock ambition to make Bono blush. But does it soar? https://open.spotify.com/album/77fXBjseRJRoWbGrHSGAwB?si=HVX0tqQlRTCswO0HaDxAgQ Well. This record digs its claws deep, like...