Earl Patrick pivots sharply away from his usual indie-folk and guitar-driven comfort zones for his newest release, the wildly inventive album "Conditioned By Machines". The Portland, Oregon-based composer, singer-songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist has spent over two decades building a dense, eight-album catalog. Here, however, he entirely flips the script. Feeling that classical flute music too often prioritizes gesture over pure melody, he set out...

Some records do more than ask for your attention; they sit down right next to you, hand you a tissue, and wait for you to stop pretending everything is fine. Light Bird's debut album 'See Her' is exactly that kind of record. Released a few years after singer and songwriter Danni Hoshino came out as a trans woman, this eleven-track collection hits like a late-night...