Brother Dolly tunes into a beautifully bizarre frequency on their new synth-pop single, "Transmission Number 5". Working as an enigmatic trio separated by entirely different time zones, Dan Whitehouse, Jason Tarver, and Tom Greenwood piece their music together across oceans. They fold the audio residue of everyday life—the rhythmic rush of a Tokyo subway, the hollow whir of spinning bicycle wheels—into an intensely hypnotic,...

Phoebe Huisman and the release "Inside" arrived in my speakers like the sudden, sharp scent of rain hitting hot asphalt familiar, grounding, and weirdly emotional. There is something unnerving about how accurately this collection of songs maps the topographical mess of being a teenager. Huisman, a singer-songwriter with the technical chops of a Distinction-grade vocalist and the heart of a poet, has essentially constructed...