I confess, my first encounter with MAAME’s new single, “Daydreaming,” was one of deceptive serenity. Here is a track that slides into your awareness with such poise, a self-assured piece of modern R&B that knows its way around a groove. It’s only on the second pass that you realize the serene space it creates is filled with a low, anxious hum—the sound of a...

When Indianapolis-based progressive metal project Pentrilox announced "Apotheosis: The New Frontier", I genuinely didn't expect to be handed a literal digital antidepressant. But here we are. Operating entirely out of their in-house production studio, this independent outfit utterly rejects the exhausted, dystopian sci-fi tropes we've all been choking on lately. Instead, they’ve engineered a massive, heavy sonic blueprint for celestial optimism. https://open.spotify.com/album/1lXMirFmYCFLZ8CJ8LJGfi?si=oXWz-hzbSV-i2MNymOiwDA The physical force of...