Some songs are protests. Others are warnings. But a rare few are something else entirely: they are stories that transport you to another place, another time, another possible future. Ted Stanley’s “Shoreline” is one of those songs. It’s a piece of music that feels less like a song and more like a modern myth, a folktale carried softly across a rising tide. It’s a story...

Darkness can leave room for a joke, and heavy music can still move. On "Rustbelt Rejects", Akron artist Zmack puts that relationship to work through abrasive textures, grooves and odd humour. His original album brings hip-hop into contact with Memphis trap, Horrorcore, industrial, funk-metal and phonk. Yet the aim is not genre display. The range accommodates memory, loss, anger, pride, relationships and Irish-American identity. It gives...