Casey McQuillen’s single “Better” arrives not with a bang, but with the quiet, decisive click of a well-made lock securing a door. It’s pop music, certainly, groomed and gleaming, yet beneath the surface bubbles a fierce kind of self-possession that’s less about demanding attention and more about curating who gets past the velvet rope of your own contentment. Coming from someone known for empowerment...

Groove Vultures’ latest single, "Flytrap Love," lands with the subtle grace of a dropped toolbox – which is exactly its charm. This Melbourne quartet kicks up a glorious racket, a potent brew where garage rock's raw edges fray against punk's agitated pulse, all weighed down by grunge's heavy heart and occasionally flashed with a metal glint in its eye. It’s music that sounds like...