Listening to “Panic Buttons,” the new single from the resurrected rave act Joe Average, feels like finding a party invitation tucked inside a government-issued emergency broadcast. It arrives with a grin, not a grimace. Thirty-four years is a long time to be quiet, and the Brighton trio of Rich, Mad Mick, and Prof have clearly spent their time away pondering the best way to...

Gary Mictian’s "All I Ever Wanted" has just zapped into my ears, and it’s like being handed a perfectly ripe, glowing fruit by a robot who might also be quietly plotting your emotional unraveling. This London producer delivers a single that struts with that tell-tale Hyperpop swagger; a beat so bouncy it could escape a child’s birthday party, a bassline with a satisfying, almost...