The first listen of Haus of Sound’s new single, “Mirage,” is like walking into a room where a beautifully ornate vase has just been shattered against a wall. There's a jagged, crystalline energy here, a collision of theatrical drama and raw, modern discontent. Evolving from their 2000s tribute roots, the Everett band has synthesized the best of that era’s angst—the coiled tension of early...

Golden Alliance's new single, "Cruise," lands with the kind of revving immediacy that makes you instinctively check if you’ve left the car keys somewhere obvious. This Sussex-based studio artist isn't just plotting a holiday; "Cruise" maps out a profound, almost spiritual, desire to get under the skin of Route 66 – to understand its faded glories, those sun-bleached fragments of chrome and neon, its...