Axiom ThaWyze and Andy O's "Merfolk Space Program" arrived with a title that stopped my brain for a solid ten seconds. A Merfolk… Space Program. It’s an idea that smells of brine and ozone, of impossible ambition born in the crushing deep. It's a perfect, almost comically absurd flag to plant in the soil of Boise, Idaho, and it perfectly captures the spirit of...

There’s a peculiar, soil-and-metal chill to Rubanq’s new single, "Bury Me Deep." From the first few sparse piano keys, you’re not so much listening to a song as you are being lowered into its world—a quiet, frostbitten landscape where the roads are empty and the sun is just a rumor. The Swedish songwriter operates in that stark territory between grunge’s raw-nerve honesty and Americana’s...