Daniel de Boer isn't just making tunes; he's orchestrating miniature global summits set to music. "The Turnaround," his EP, does not really feel like a collection of songs. Instead, it is more like a rack of postcards from faraway friends, all sent from a studio in Berlin. Produced alongside Shakthi Prasad, this six-track offering pulls together musicians from an impressive roster of nations – Russia, Argentina,...

Robin James Hurt’s “A Song, A Story Told” arrives with a sound you can almost run a thumb over, like worn corduroy. In an age of sterile, diamond-polished productions, this album is a defiantly handmade thing, tracked onto vintage cassette machines. The result is not a flaw, but an ingredient. A faint, persistent hiss breathes alongside the instruments, a ghost in the machine who...