With this song, American rapper Frank Black takes a more thoughtful and aware style, rapping about topics that many people from all backgrounds may connect to. The new song "Peaks and Valleys" demonstrates his true interest in conscious matters, and his ability to use his words to highlight critical societal and artistic concerns distinguishes him as an artist with a mission. His songwriting is both interesting...

There is a particular kind of clarity that only surfaces when a body has nothing left to give, the kind found on the last night of a run of shows, in a stairwell or a car park, somewhere between one place and the next. It was in exactly this kind of setting, a multi-story car park in Dublin, that Cork singer-songwriter Cathal Fitz wrote "A...