Today's Top Tune

Today’s Top Tune: Jeff Tweedy ‘Lou Reed Was My Babysitter’  Jeff Tweedy’s “Lou Reed Was My Babysitter” reimagines musical influence as a kind of childhood guardianship, honoring Lou Reed as the artist who “babysat” him through his early years. With its understated warmth and gently humorous tone, the song celebrates the dark beauty and unlikely comfort of Reed’s music — the way it offered guidance, companionship, and creative courage from afar. Tweedy turns personal nostalgia into a universal feeling: the artists who become our mentors without ever being in the room.  Jan. 4 - 8 Jeff Tweedy sold out @ Largo  Mar. 20 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Belasco  Mar. 21 - Los Angeles, CA @ The United Theater  Mar. 22 - Ventura, CA @ The Ventura Theatre  (dBpm Records)  

  Today’s Top Tune: Hercules & Love Affair ‘Someone Else Is Calling’   Hercules & Love Affair returns with Someone Else Is Calling, a new EP that marks a full-circle dive back into the dancefloor for founder Andy Butler. The project was sparked during time spent working in Iceland, where a sudden impulse to “crack out some dance music” ignited an immediate creative rush. Let’s check out the title track.    (StrataSonic Records)  

    Today’s Top Tune: The Barr Brothers ‘Run Right Into It’ (Feat. Land of Talk) Let’s check out the newly updated version of The Barr Brothers’ “Run Right Into It,” a propulsive ode to the power of change. Featuring the unmistakable vocals of fellow Montrealer Elizabeth Powell (Land of Talk), the track buzzes with the kinetic energy of transformation and the spirit of renewal. Sonically, it draws inspiration from the tight counterpoint harmonies and magnetic vocal chemistry of groups like The Raveonettes, resulting in a track that feels both urgent and beautifully alive. (Secret City Records)  

Today’s Top Tune: Mavis Staples ‘Human Mind’ Sad And Beautiful World is the latest solo album from our national treasure, Mavis Staples, a generation spanning talent who continues to stand with us through uncertain times, singing from a place of lived experience and unwavering compassion. On the album, Staples delves into seven decades of the American songbook. The opening track “Human Mind” reflects on the complexity of modern life while holding onto a fragile but persistent faith in humanity.  (Anti)  

Today’s Top Tune: DÜÜL SUNS ‘Jealousy’  DÜÜL SUNS introduce their distinctive psych-soul/garage-rock fusion with “Jealousy,” the explosive lead single from their self-titled debut mini-album. Built on hypnotic riffs, molten grooves, and soaring vocal harmonies, “Jealousy” captures the band’s raw electricity and cinematic sense of space. It’s the perfect entry point into the DÜÜL SUNS universe—heavy, soulful, and instantly memorable.  (Declared Goods)  

    Today’s Top Tune: Boy Deluxe ‘EAT YOU ALIVE’   Los Angeles-based dark pop/electronic duo Boy Deluxe dive deeper into their shadow-pop world with “EAT YOU ALIVE,” a pulsing, seductive track that sits at the intersection of danger and desire.    (Industry Houseplant)  

    Today’s Top Tune: Melody's Echo Chamber ‘The House That Doesn't Exist’   With her fourth studio album Unclouded, Melody’s Echo Chamber shares the luminous song “The House That Doesn’t Exist.” Built on swooping strings and a diaphanous elegance, the track showcases the deep creative synergy between Melody and producer and jazz musician Sven Wunder, who mirrors her soaring vocal lines with rich ensemble textures. Melody describes the song as “turning the impossible perspective of a joyful human life in today’s world into reality, evoking a new sense of faith.”    (Domino)  

    Today’s Top Tune: Reyna Tropical ‘Tu Voz’  Revered, border-shattering artist Reyna Tropical (Fabiola Reyna) unveils her new single “Tu Voz,” a track born, as she describes, from “that exact moment in my room having an existential crisis.” Produced, written, and performed by Reyna, with Angel Michael Lau on percussion, the song draws inspiration from the tenderness and ache of queer long-distance love. Blending the emotive pull of Mexican ranchera with the vibrant rhythms of Brazilian samba, “Tu Voz” is carried by Reyna’s vocals.   (Reyna Tropical)  

Today’s Top Tune: Jalen Ngonda ‘All About Me’  Soul singer supreme Jalen Ngonda and veteran keyboardist-producer Victor Axelrod have joined forces for the irresistibly soulful reggae anthem “All About Me.” After collaborating on sessions for Jalen’s 2023 debut Come Around and Love Me, Axelrod was struck by the way Jalen’s voice echoed the British singer Bitty McLean. With the track’s instrumental already in place, all it needed was the perfect voice — and with Jalen on board, the duo wrote the lyrics and laid down the vocals in a single night.  (Daptone Records)   

Brooklyn songwriter and trumpeter Tōth returns with And The Voice Said, a soul-searching new album out February 27, 2026. Co-produced with Caroline Rose and featuring Kimbra, it’s a radiant look at healing and self-discovery. The lead single “Not Broken” bursts with bright horns, piano, and a mantra of self-love — captured in a joyful Coney Island video filled with strangers singing along. (Northern Spy Records/Egghunt Records!) (Tōth rhymes with both)  

Today’s Top Tune:  Joseph ‘Ready To Let You Down’ (Radio Edit)  Indie-pop duo JOSEPH — sisters Natalie and Meegan Closner — have announced a 2026 headline tour in support of their forthcoming album Closer To Happy, which lands in Los Angeles on Friday, February 27 at Pacific Electric. We’re gravitating toward the title track, a blissfully frenetic anthem powered by dizzying beats and sweat-soaked melodies. (Nettwerk Music Group)

Singer-songwriter Benny Sings returns with “Castle,” a new song and self-directed video that marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter. Known for more than two decades of warm, witty, genre-blurring songwriting and collaborations with artists like Remi Wolf, Mac DeMarco, and Rex Orange County, Benny now turns his focus to a more grounded, family-centered life.    (Stones Throw)  

Soulwax made a major impact on our Best of 2025 list, landing in the Top 10 Albums of the Year and earning the third most-played song on KCRW. Fresh off the release of All Systems Are Lying, the band — formed by brothers David and Stephen Dewaele — continues to expand its boundary-pushing creative universe, spanning their work as Soulwax, their 2manydjs persona, the DEEWEE label, and the Despacio sound system. Their acclaimed three-drummer live show is now touring across Europe and the UK, further cementing their reputation as one of the most innovative forces in modern electronic music.   (Mass Appeal)  

British composer Isobel Waller-Bridge turns her gaze inward on her new album Objects, a project that explores the act of radical stillness. Written over four years in the rare quiet moments her busy career allowed, the album celebrates the overlooked beauty in a world moving too fast. Waller-Bridge invites listeners to experience the music not as something objective, but as a personal, mysterious response to the world around us. “Objective Contemplation” is one of the album’s simplest pieces — and one of its most lovingly crafted. (Mercury KX)   

    Today’s Top Tune: Public Service Broadcasting – ‘The South Atlantic’ (Feat. This Is The Kit)   Public Service Broadcasting, long celebrated for their immersive concept albums, take a darker, more electronic turn on their new remix collection Night Flight (The Last Flight Remixes) — a project centered on Amelia Earhart’s final journey. The album brings together an array of collaborators, including alt-J and This Is The Kit’s Kate Stables. On “The South Atlantic,” Stables delivers a vocal performance that grounds the track in unmistakable human emotion. The result is a piece that feels both cinematic and intimate — a meditation on distance, endurance, and the stories hidden beneath the surface.   (SO Recordings)  

Avalon Emerson has long solidified her position as one of the most respected DJs and dynamic artists from her beginnings in San Francisco's warehouse scene to her time living and playing in Berlin. Joined by her band The Charm, “Eden,” sits at the intersection of club culture and intimate songwriting — a space where melody blooms and emotion pulses beneath the surface. Built on warm synth swells, gentle percussion, and Emerson’s expressive vocals, the track captures that fleeting moment where nostalgia and hope overlap.  (Dead Oceans)

Get ready — Los Angeles producer and DJ Captain Planet returns with his sixth full-length album, DIG, showcasing his signature blend of global music styles aimed squarely at the dancefloor. Channeling the high energy of his live DJ sets, “Canta El Agua” brings the warmth of the tropics into vivid focus.   (Bastard Jazz Recordings)  

Legendary Japanese musical polymath Shintaro Sakamoto will release his fifth studio album, Yoo-hoo, on January 23. A standout track, “Is There a Place for You There?” delivers a nostalgic, Shōwa-era–influenced, dub-infused sound that perfectly captures Sakamoto’s singular style — mind-bending, warm, and unmistakably his own. (Zelone Records)  

Lizzie Weber weaves a spellbinding blend of folk intimacy and spiritual resonance on a luminous collaboration with Icelandic artist Markéta Irglová. Their voices intertwine with a quiet, cathedral-like warmth, carrying a sense of devotion and emotional clarity. Gentle piano, soft strings, and Weber’s patient, heartfelt delivery create a space that feels both sacred and deeply human. With Irglová’s harmony adding an otherworldly lift, the song becomes a meditation on grace, longing, and the power of surrender. (Lizzie Weber)  

Eric Hilton drifts into his signature blend of downtempo elegance and smoky, late-night atmosphere, letting warm basslines, shimmering textures, and a subtly propulsive groove set the pace. The track moves like a slow exhale after midnight, guided by Natalia Clavier’s soft, hypnotic vocals.   (Mixto Records)