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...

Naomi Jane has gone big with her latest single, "Pretty Boys", which promises artistic maturity going higher proportionally to the pace of her growing stardom. The fifteen-year-old girl's voice travels beyond her age to convey a message about the love of self and beating any superficial ruse. The story of the one, with its explicit and underlined feel of independence and self-worth, captures the hearts...