RISE’s new single, “Lost For Words,” doesn’t sound like the slow, sad end of a relationship; it sounds like the starting pistol for the next phase of a life. Here is an anthem that throws its shoulders back, propelled by a velocity that feels less like running away and more like accelerating toward something certain. Alex Mahoney’s drumming provides a relentless forward momentum, a...

With their single "Numbers Game," Grey Jacks has managed to build a deceptively inviting room inside a house that’s actively on fire. The foundation here is a slithering, almost hypnotic rock groove, driven by the lock-step pulse of Teddy Minton on drums and Howard Rabach on bass. It has that cool, coiled tension reminiscent of late-90s Radiohead, a sound that gets in your bones...