With the new album "Climax", Decadent Heroes captures the precise sound of an artist exhaling after holding his breath for an eternity. Italian musician Luigi Chiappini has spent years building this instrumental rock project, using his electric guitar as a leading voice. Here, he reaches the exact point of creative evolution where a player abandons the exhausting pursuit of external validation. He trades showing...

Matt Nation drops "April’s Fool," and I am instantly struck by the sheer exhaustion of loving a hologram. The Brooklyn-born, LA-based artist has a knack for dissolving the borders between alt-pop, R&B, and nu-disco, but here, he channels a soul-stirring pop-punk urgency through a laid-back, indie-pop filter. https://open.spotify.com/track/7rPHpg1lXMiQFFuuIX9ZT5 It is a strange, brilliant contrast. A melancholic chord loop cycles endlessly, creating a flowing foundation for Nation's...