Listening to “Panic Buttons,” the new single from the resurrected rave act Joe Average, feels like finding a party invitation tucked inside a government-issued emergency broadcast. It arrives with a grin, not a grimace. Thirty-four years is a long time to be quiet, and the Brighton trio of Rich, Mad Mick, and Prof have clearly spent their time away pondering the best way to...

Farbod Biglari’s new single, "Waltz for Baran (The Rain Waltz)," arrived like a polite invitation to a forgotten ballroom, where the chandeliers are lit but the guests are all pleasingly melancholic figments of memory. It doesn't swagger; it glides, a full orchestral sway that clearly tips its hat to the spirit of composers like Stelvio Cipriani, not by mimicry, but by sharing a certain...