DBsock, the artistic moniker of Mingwei Gao, arrives not with a gentle announcement, but with a complex, shifting statement in her debut EP, "The Journey". The songs on this album do not really feel like easy music. Instead, they feel more like a complicated guide that shows the way through internal territories. Gao is a singer, musician, producer, and creator who works in Los Angeles and...

Bottara did not rush Bit Longer into the feed. She carried the song for years, took it from London to Los Angeles, and kept returning until the record could hold her earlier and present selves in the same frame. That patience gives this Bottara single review its hook. The track is not framed as a glossy debut-day rush. It is a held glance, a groove...