Listening to Arnold J.’s new single, "Muddy Waters," isn't quite like anything else swirling around right now. It arrives with the gentle insistence of incoming tide, pulling you into its specific gravity. Arnold J., Ghanaian-born and now Canada-based, weaves a sound tagged as alt-country and folk, but those labels feel thin, like trying to contain smoke. There’s earthiness, sure, but his soulful vocal lines...

The Chicago duo Two Whatevers drops a genre-smashing, high-energy protest album 'Punk Deluxe' that makes fighting hyper-capitalism sound like the best party of the year. You know that feeling when you have fifty tabs open, your phone is buzzing with notifications, and you just want to scream? Two Whatevers took that exact sensation, plugged it into a massive pedalboard, and turned it into a ten-track...