Twenty years into their tenure, The Plastic Pals have returned with "Keep it Burning", a record that feels less like a studio product and more like finding a pristine, forgotten leather jacket in a thrift store scuffed, smelling faintly of clove cigarettes, and fitting perfectly. Hailing from Stockholm, this group has managed a strange bit of sonic teleportation. They are Swedish, yes, but the...

Listening to Creative Vibrations’ new album, “Sunday Bummer”, feels a lot like the ailment it’s named for. It’s not an abrupt sadness, but a slow, creeping realization that the weekend’s flimsy sanctuary is dissolving. It’s the color of the sky turning from blue to a kind of industrial grey, the feeling of putting on work shoes that have spent two days forgetting the shape...