Listening to RIOT SON’s new single, “Loneliest at Best,” is a curious exercise in emotional time-travel. The sound pulls you back to the early 2000s, to a time of angular guitars and heartfelt, frayed-collar vocals. It has that nervous, shimmering energy of indie rock that always sounded best on a pair of wired headphones, the beat prodding you forward even as the lyrics confess...

Marie Chain and "Holy Water" come at a time when the lines between styles of music are becoming less natural. For more than ten years, the Berlin-based artist has been making what she calls "Global Soul," and her newest song shows why that term is so perfect. The track's origin story reads like something from a travel journal. Chain conceived the melody during a summer hike...