Before listening to a single note of Suris’ new album, “Pertinax”, I spent a few minutes just looking at the word. Pertinax. It has the distinct ring of a Stoic philosopher’s last defiant utterance or maybe a type of beetle known for its unusually stubborn shell. What a curious flag to fly for a collection of songs in an age of fleeting distraction. But...

There is a certain engine-knock honesty to Thain’s new single "Still Sick", a sound that feels less produced and more… excavated. It’s a defiant piece of Midwest air, thick with the collaborative energy of Hippy K’s verses and the raw, tangible world built by producer Audio Paradolia. This isn't the slick, polished chrome of mainstream ambition; it's the hum of a workshop where something...