Sometimes you just need to hear guitars that sound like they are trying to break through the speakers. 'Rise', the new single from Australian alternative rock four-piece The Broken Rich, is exactly that kind of track. It grabs you by the collar immediately and refuses to let go until the final note rings out. There is no slow build or gentle introduction here. The band kicks...

I spent a solid hour this morning watching dust motes suspended in a single shaft of sunlight, my entire nervous system held absolutely captive by Magdi Aboul-Kheir and his devastatingly immersive new album, "Slow Heat". The Germany-based journalist and classically trained pianist usually writes across a massive spectrum of genres, pivoting wildly from trance to late romanticism. Today, he has dropped an ambient, contemporary...