Britney Freud is here to shake up your playlist and your preconceived notions of what it means to be a man. The debut single "Feelings For Violence" hits you immediately with a wall of sound that is as chaotic as it is catchy. Dragut Lugalzagosi, the creative force behind this new solo project, has traded the expansive folk of his previous band, The Great Dictators,...

Take Jack Horton, a Portland-based singer-songwriter whose path to folk-Americana included stops at Japanese law school, Tokyo piano bars, corporate boardrooms, and government offices. His latest EP, "Imperfections," feels like finding someone's private journal set to music. And that someone happens to write really, really well. The five-song collection opens with "Set Me Free," a piano-driven confession that might surprise anyone expecting typical breakup bitterness. Horton...