Listening to Paul Louis Villani's new EP, The Other Side of Silence, feels less like pressing play and more like cracking open a locked diary found in a derelict building. It’s a messy, confrontational, and deeply private affair, where industrial-strength riffs grind against lyrics that feel surgically exposed. Villani doesn't write anthems for crowds; he seems to be recording the dissonant hum of his...

This is the kind of breakup track that checks your pulse before you have time to act fine. Drew Swords comes in hot on "Better Without Me?", a 3:32 indie rock single that turns one ugly little question into a full-body rush: what if someone really did get happier after you left? That thought can ruin a perfectly good afternoon. It can also make a chorus...