San Marcos-based musician Chris Laguna isn’t just playing with sound—he’s dissecting it, warping it, and stitching it back together into something radically new.

Alex Gaskareth said, “Music is the soundtrack to every good and bad time we will ever have.” This is certainly true for Politik, a Southern California band composed of Eli Furar, Arend Hekma, Ben Dawson, and Lucas Durand. Their music merges feelings of adolescence with a classic rock feel and heavy-hitting beats. I met with Ben Dawson to discuss the band’s roots, maintaining creativity, and new music.

In her most haunting and historically resonant work to date, San Diego-based artist Gayle Skidmore returns with The Ashtabula River Railroad Disaster — a solo piano album that transforms grief, legacy, and personal history into a stirring eleven-track tribute.