With “I’m Still Standing,” Frankie Muriel isn't just releasing nine songs; he’s excavating a life lived in the key of rock and roll. The glam-metal swagger of KINGOFTHEHILL and the dance-floor pulse of Dr. Zhivegas are here, but only as ghosts in the machine—ancestral echoes beneath a sound that is grittier, warmer, and stained with the wisdom of survival. This is the sound of...

Listening to Creative Vibrations’ new album, “Sunday Bummer”, feels a lot like the ailment it’s named for. It’s not an abrupt sadness, but a slow, creeping realization that the weekend’s flimsy sanctuary is dissolving. It’s the color of the sky turning from blue to a kind of industrial grey, the feeling of putting on work shoes that have spent two days forgetting the shape...