Big Hurry
Gets Me Low EP (self-released)

Doused in shimmering guitar work and bass riffs, Big Hurry’s Gets Me Low ignites quickly to burn twice as bright for half as long. The short-burst, five-song EP has fiery lead singer Kelly Tobias and arena-ready drummer Dani Buncher unleashing searing performances that continue smolder with each listen. The beautifully anthemic title cut is a keeper, a dynamic indie rocker that effortlessly earns its track-one status. By Patrick Bowman

Greazy Duzit
Mucho Greazy (self-released)

Tongue-twisting emcee Greazy Duzit steps out of the shadow of Pittsburgh-based rap group Shindiggaz with his debut release Mucho Greazy, a hard, heady blend of esoteric street poetics and blistering underground beats. Keeping pace with Greazy’s hardened flow is Shindiggaz’ DJ Thermos, who produced much of the album, crafting dense tapestries of off-kilter samples anchored by varying drum patterns. Standout “The Name of That Tune” has the duo at their razor-sharp best. By Patrick Bowman

Run, Forever
The Devil, and Death, and Me (Solidarity Records)

Run, Forever’s full-length debut, The Devil, and Death, and Me, is a rough-and-tumble rocker, filtering Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run through decades of beer-soaked garage punk and just enough religious imagery to keep the proceedings on the edge of an existential crisis.  And while the track “A Sequence of Sad Events” reduces existence to just that, it possesses the dimensions of a life-affirming anthem, full of throaty calls to action and desperate demands for something more. By Patrick Bowman