There's a specific kind of bleak bartering that happens at 2 AM, and Rusty Reid’s single “Piece of the Action” builds a whole four-minute economy around it. This isn't a song about the sweeping grandeur of romance; it’s a clinical look at turning “dissatisfaction” into “a transaction of love.” The language is deliberate, almost like a contract being signed on a napkin under a...

Megan Wheeler’s new single, "Now That I'm Gone," arrived. Not via carrier pigeon, thankfully, though wouldn't that be a marketing strategy? No, it arrived in the usual, utterly un-magical digital way, yet somehow, managed to feel like a little explosion of confetti made of pure, defiant self-respect. https://open.spotify.com/track/2m3tz4bSNELxdIbTjRWc92?si=546c28793c4443bc This isn't your typical "woe-is-me" breakup ballad. Wheeler, often drawing favorable comparisons to the songwriting queens, that Holy...