Award-winning composer Leyla Romanova bridges the academy and the vanguard on her intense new instrumental single, "9/8". Rooted firmly in the academic tradition of classical concert halls, she possesses a fascinating habit of fusing those traditional symphonic arrangements with the jagged textures of cutting-edge electronics, pop-rock, and pop-jazz. https://open.spotify.com/album/3z6YbVpsTAdw22CjuoUJSP?si=5qq2AgL8TsOKg4YwltLMWg The physical reaction begins immediately. Rapid, pulsating rhythmic patterns open the track, continuously building tension and winding...

Violet Love has offered up an EP titled "Destined to Fail," and it arrives less like a prediction and more like a pre-existing condition, a medical chart for a soul that’s been diagnosed with itself. The DIY recording quality doesn’t feel lo-fi for aesthetics; it feels necessary, like these songs could only have been born in a sealed-off room where the air was getting...