Listening to Shotgun Driver’s new EP, “Jester Privileges”, is like finding a glitter bomb in a padded cell. The four songs present a disorienting, strangely compelling contradiction. On the surface, the alt-pop framework pulses with an upbeat, almost defiant energy; this is the slick, rock-tinged anxiety of a Machine Gun Kelly track built for open-road brooding. But beneath it, the narrative, carried by those...

A year after the release of his first song, "Change," Chris B., also known as Villeman, is still keeping a low profile. But it has nothing to do with the caliber of his music in any way, shape, or form. The fantastic radio songs of the 1990s that we all hold dearest in our memories have impacted the blend of pop, folk, and grunge. The use...