(Cover art by Alexis Politz) The Personas - Perspective  EP (self-released) Rock's not dead! It never really died, but I needed some click-baity way to introduce this segment. The things we do for journalistic integrity. In a word, Perspective  is effortless. The debut EP from the Personas floats on by without any external momentum. I imagine there's a tiny engine, chugging along, powering the band as they produce song-after-song of classic power pop, but from the listener's perspective (ha), Perspective  was recorded this morning and put out without a whim. Usually such ease is a façade, masking extremely deliberate songcraft. The seams are invisible, but every riff, melody, bassline, or solo was stitched together. From the fuzzed-out bass riff that kicks off "Audience of No One" to the fierce solo in "Waiting My Life Away," the Personas go all out in making maximum-satisfaction rock songs. Ironically, this write-up is going up on the sa...

DURR  - "Scream" (self-released) Hey, look! The first rap we've ever covered! Technically, I heard about "Scream," DURR's new track, because Lucas is also the vocalist/guitarist of local punk heroes Pierre . But here we are anyway - I'm excited! The only throughline connecting the two projects is their natural velocity. DURR tears through a vicious beat that's half 90's boom-bap sample and half skittering high-hats. All it takes is these two elements, tossed into a blender, to make a crunchy, booming beat to flow over. A DURR in motion tends to stay in motion, and he ca$ual ly spits menacing bar after bar, line after line. If you could inject music directly into your bloodstream, "Scream" would give you enough energy to run for miles. "Scream" will (presumably) appear on CAPSAICIN , the album DURR is releasing tomorrow. The Personas - "Picture Show" (self-released) Sometimes a song is just good...