DJ Momotaro’s new single "Neon Heat (feat. Vessa) " is less a track you listen to and more a space you occupy for three and a half minutes. The official description promises “optimistic melancholy,” a phrase that sounds like an exquisite paradox until the first synth pad washes over you. This is the sound of a midnight drive through a city that exists only...

Before listening to a single note of Suris’ new album, “Pertinax”, I spent a few minutes just looking at the word. Pertinax. It has the distinct ring of a Stoic philosopher’s last defiant utterance or maybe a type of beetle known for its unusually stubborn shell. What a curious flag to fly for a collection of songs in an age of fleeting distraction. But...