Near Death Experience's single, "Shake," arrived not so much as music, but as a sudden, urgent insistence. It’s London psych-rock-soul alright, but brewed with something fiercely immediate, demanding attention like a ringing telephone in an empty room. The core quartet – Ian Whiteling guiding the trip with vocals and guitar fuzz, Joshua Van Ness laying down a heartbeat that feels both frantic and locked-in,...

Afternoon Sister’s “Reset E.P.” starts with a clear promise: heavy guitars can sit beside a laid-back melodic pull. That push and release gives the Boise-area band’s debut its immediate hook. The five-song EP arrives through North Corona Records, with 14-year-old singer and songwriter Alice Esquibel at the front. Indie rock and dream pop form the coordinates, but the point is the movement between them. Each song...