Listening to Afaq Art Production's new single "Bejamalen (With Beauty)" performed by Ziad Kamal feels a bit like stepping out of a chaotic, sun-baked street into the sudden, vaulted vastness of an ancient sanctuary. https://open.spotify.com/album/7GbecQZE3yVH6enRaALvLk?si=seoOwwjgS_SE3MsuPg-rxw Kamal is only twenty-four. He manages the rather fascinating trick of balancing his daily life as a Mechatronics engineer with a profound, academic mastery of Eastern Maqams, violin, and oud. Here,...

It takes a distinct kind of exhaustion to write a gorgeous tune about feeling entirely helpless, which is exactly the bruised nerve Maicín strike with their new single, "Fear The War". The five-piece Irish band formed by architects Matt Hurley and Aidan Kelleher as an escape from corporate burnout gained rapid momentum in 2025 by winning university battles of the bands and extensively touring...