Today's Top Tune

For “Silver Bullet,” The South Hill Experiment employed pitched seismometer waves and twelve-story-stairwell tracked vocals alongside their guitars to provide a sense of scale. You may not be aware of the layering you are hearing because the lyrics provide a mantra you might find yourself repeating: “I think I’m getting older/I think I’m getting over it.” And that seems to be their intention. 

Earlier this year, KCRW’s Young Creators Project invited undiscovered musical talent in the greater Los Angeles area to share their work. We got a couple hundred submissions and then had the hard task of narrowing it down to five finalists. One of those finalists was/is the talented jazz pianist and Crenshaw-native Veritus Miller. And now we get to share Miller’s latest composition “The In Between.” It’s a languid, meditative piece equally alluring to the jazz novice and the jazz cat.   

As we await the arrival of Franz Ferdinand’s new studio recording The Human Fear – slated for release in early 2025 – we wind back the clock to 2004. At that time the Scottish band was just breaking through in the U.S. and they chose to make their radio debut on Morning Becomes Eclectic.  

SoCal musical polymath Cameron Lew has an alluring way of pulling you inside his work as Ginger Root. His homespun sound, informed by his Asian-American roots, also leans into his love of music from the ‘70s and ‘80s: from Japanese and French pop, to Philly soul.  The title of his third album SHINBANGUMI translates from Japanese to ‘a new season of a show,’ and it features a very appropriate track for today — “Better Than Monday.” 

Feeling restless? Austin-based duo Warm Sound are back with a new song today — just in time for the full moon(!). This new phase sees them emerging from their downtempo, electronic psychedelia into a more optimistic register. Warm Sound offers a message of resilience, self-love, and emotional buoyancy on “Moons.”

Labyrinthian electronics, organic live instrumentation and sublime vocals are the ingredients that make up Maribou State’s “Otherside” — a track which also features their long-time collaborator, singer Holly Walker.  Their new/next long-player will come early in 2025, and will celebrate their influences from jungle, UK garage, IDM, and trance … to everything in between. 

Share the joy of “Three Piece Suit” from the London-based, eight piece collective Kokoroko. The group comes to us with worldbuilding sonic capabilities, sublime talent, and a vision to unite the African continent and its diaspora with us today! P.S. This track features vocals from singer-songwriter (and Massive Attack collaborator) Azekel.

French neo-psych outfit La Femme have the unique distinction of being one of the few bands to present an entirely live show, i.e. one that’s free from computers or pre-recorded backing tracks, when they are on stage. What this means is that when they are live, you are hearing the present moment. Tap into the hypnotic energy fueling the song “Amazing.” 

Alt-rocking, Melbourne-based dream pop quartet Arbes (a play on trees in French), recently released their debut album Counterways. Jess Zanoni’s breathy vocals on “Full Sight” conjure the wistful embrace of Suzanne Vega. The mathematical and intricate guitar work of this track was the first to be written and built for the album, and it came about during their first full rehearsal welcoming new member, guitarist Ryan Basile, into the fold. 

Hometown hero Eddie Chacon, who you might know as half of the duo Charles & Eddie via their ‘90s mega-hit “Would I Lie To You,” is back with his second solo album for Stones Throw Records. Thirty years after the heyday of his pop success and on the heels of his 2023 LP Sundown, Chacon’s new album Lay Low is due on Jan. 31, 2025. As a bonus, it’s produced by one of our other favorite singers — Nick Hakim. “Empire” is a stunningly soulful track featuring the multi-talented LA staple John Carroll Kirby. 

Canadian-Palestinian Nemah Hassan — best known by her musical moniker Nemahsis — navigates her way as an independent artist, a Muslim, and the child of immigrant parents on her debut album Verbathim.   “Old Body, New Mind” holds the idea that while she looks the same on the outside, her experiences and emotions evolve on the inside. 

Colombian singer-songwriter and producer Elsa y Elmar recently passed through Los Angeles to open for Mexican singer Julieta Venegas. While here, she treated the crowd to a few new songs from her new album PALACIO to great reviews. A dozen tracks run the gamut of genres with standout “Ké Mal” coming across as especially anchored in Elsa y Elmar’s signature “spiritual pop.” Download the track and listen now for an unflinching confessional approach to her craft. 

Kingston, Jamaica native Mortimer sings at the crossroads between classic reggae tradition and the assimilation of R&B and ‘80s pop on his debut LP From Within. The album is an exploration of love, self-discovery, and the many facets of the human condition. Mortimer captures his inner struggles on “Not A Day Goes By” which features Grammy winning artist Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley.   

Thirteen is a lucky number for David Gray who recently announced a robust world tour to coincide with his forthcoming 13th album Dear Life (due on Jan. 17, 2025).  Gray defines the album by saying: “A lot has happened to me. There’s been change on so many levels, all the ups and downs and dramas and tragedies and joys that the slow movement through life brings. This record has been a reckoning with stuff that’s been building up like static for years. But I say this with joy and a smile on my face. I know what I’ve done is as good as anything I could possibly do.” And on that note, here’s a duet from the forthcoming album — a duet with newcomer Talia Rae called  “Plus & Minus.” 

Mapache songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Sam Blasucci swerves into his love of Motown as you’ll hear on the song “Flower.” You can find the track on Blasucci’s sophomore solo album Real Life — a place where he navigates new sonic territory.   

We’ve got a beast of a track to share today by New Zealanders Lips. It’s called “The Wolf” and it features the sinister sound of E from EELS. We’ll let the band explain.  “E had heard us on KCRW in LA, and reached out on Instagram,” recalls Lip Fen Ikner. “[It was] right around the time we had this track on the boil and were looking for a cool way to end it." "I’ve been an Eels fan for the longest time, and was truly honored to hear from him. I still can’t believe he was nice enough to go along with our nonsense.”  

A child of Los Angeles, Ariella has been nurturing her creativity and fine tuning her songwriting since early on. This indie folk artist recently released her debut album Crybaby. From it, we share “Call Me Your Angel.” 

Pablo Drexler (aka pablopablo) is the son of Academy Award-winning/Grammy-darling songwriter and guitarist Jorge Drexler. And pablopablo is shaping up to be a major player in the awards space himself, with two Latin Grammys already under his belt.  The London-based indie artist connected with Helado Negro at a festival last year where they were playing on the same line-up. They quickly decided they wanted to work together. Pablo shares this insight: "What's incredible is that, no matter how much you love someone's work, there's no guarantee that when you get together one afternoon to make music, something worthwhile will come out of it. However, in this case, we were very lucky; I felt that every idea we had was enhanced in the hands of the other. I wish it were always like this!" You can hear their bond on “Lejos de Más,” or “Far From” in English. 

We’re excited by the prospect of a new album by Sharon Van Etten, but this one is a little different. The self-titled LP (due Feb. 7, 2025)  will be the debut of her collaborative work with her band The Attachment Theory — adding a new dimension to the sound and songwriting. “For the first time in my life I asked the band if we could just jam,” Van Etten muses. “Words that have never come out of my mouth, ever! But I loved all the sounds we were getting. I was curious. What would happen?” Magic, apparently. Van Etten went on to share that two tracks from the forthcoming album were written within the span of an hour through this process. We’ll have to wait to hear those, but we can all enjoy “Afterlife” right now. It’s a good preview of what’s to come with its weighty message boosted by a rapturous melody. 

With Halloween around the corner and our Masquerade blowout at the Mayan tonight(!), we turn to a haunting track written by Z Berg (a founding member of The Like). “Better The Devil” is a song she constructed for the sleeper hit, summer thriller Strange Darling. We offer it here for your listening and downloading pleasure.