With "Regret", Nelson G constructs a sonic space that sits somewhere between a confession and a late-night drive through an empty Swiss town. This single, emerging from his home studio in Brugg, immediately disarms you with a repetitive, plucked acoustic string progression. It functions less like a melody and more like a nervous habit like the way you might subconsciously tear at a paper...

Amara-Fe has definitively shifted from the messy business of becoming into the absolute certainty of claiming with her new album, "A Queen’s Ambition". The rising solo artist, tethered to deep musical roots extending through Mission and Dallas, Texas, arrives fully formed here. There is a palpable weight to her cinematic R&B and electropop arrangements. You can almost feel her surveying her territory, setting borders,...