Sometimes the best inspiration for art is just boredom. The endless mission for excitement may be futile, considering excitement is temporary; however, Portland indie rockers Guitar have captured lightning in a bottle with “Every Day Without Fail.” The rhythm outruns itself, the riffs screech and explode with color, and Saia Kuli narrates maddening mundanity with infectious frustration: “Sandwich and a bev/ Play guitar in bed/ It’s getting to my head.” It would be easy to deal with boredom by watching television or scrolling your phone, but for Guitar it means creating a banger that offers a thrill for others. This is what music’s about. —Danielle

“No one can take away your rhythm from you – no one can take away your self-will,” Brittney Parks says of her latest single as Sudan Archives. “All those things can be your own power if you utilize them right.” From the first few seconds of “COME AND FIND YOU,” it’s clear no one has taken away her rhythm. The track’s layers of clicks and burbles become an irresistible foundation for a mesmerizing R&B track, the jagged undergrowth beneath a smooth exterior. By the time the strings are careening and the wordless vocals are “ooh ooh”-ing, your body is bound to be moving. —Chris

“That girl just has a mission to make it down the hallway tonight.” Sometimes it really is that simple, and it’s one observation of many that Black Eyes make on “Tomtom.” The foreboding closer to their upcoming album Hostile Design is seven minutes long, but the anxiety conveyed through its snapshot depiction of womanhood — and the grey area between independence and helplessness — is neverending. Black Eyes’ eclectic sonic palette, meanwhile, feels like a cross between Fugazi, Talking Heads, and Angelo Badalamenti, and the result is just as compelling as it is unnerving. —Abby

It’s on the verge of becoming a truism: If you are a model with the surname Ferreira, you will make excellent, stylish pop music. In the absence of much noise from Sky, we’ve been gifted these Carrossel tunes from Gab, most recently “Seu Olhar.” The song puts a dreamy modern spin on the traditional sounds of Ferreira’s native Brazil as, in Portuguese, she invites a potential romantic interest to give her one good reason: “I’ll drop everything, I’ll go on an adventure with you.” It’s easy to imagine this song becoming the embarkment point for lots of listeners’ adventure with Gab Ferreira’s music. —Chris

“We’re born alone! We die alone!” You’ve heard those words before, but maybe you haven’t heard them in gang-chant form. And maybe you haven’t heard them with this kicker: “But don’t ever think you have to live alone.” On “Light Sleeper,” those words come almost as a trailed-off afterthought, but they’re the crux of the thing. The world is bleak and isolating, but you can find people who make it a place worth occupying for however long you have. Maybe you can even get them to sing along with you. Home Front’s combination of icy synthpop and hot-blooded street-punk is a strange and singular thing, and “Light Sleeper” shows how it works. It’s the contrast — the beeps and the yells pushing against each other to make something new. —Tom