Kevin Bronson on October 4th, 2024

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It’s Friday, so you should reflexively click “play” on Greatest Hits … This Week (Vol. 310), featuring new music from Mae Deline, Nitefire, Finneas, Starcrawler, Loyal Lobos, Soft Blue Shimmer, Campus Christy, Conditioner, Tangerine, Cheekface, Tender Misfit, Tawny Ellis and more, along with something special from the Mynabirds.

Catch up with past playlists here. Although that can wait until Saturday.

■ Mae Deline, “Hate That I Hate You” — Madeline Spooner has forayed into folk, pop and avant-pop since she arrived in L.A. from her native Wisconsin eight years ago. Today brings the release of her first album as Mae Deline. It’s titled “Whole Again,” spanning many different variations on confessional pop. And her sumptuous vocals shine on the acoustic guitar-propelled single “Hate That I Hate You.”

■ Nitefire, “Saturday” — You’d be forgiven for thinking you woke up in Manchester upon hearing the backbeat of “Saturday,” the new single from L.A. garage-rock sprites Nitefire. The band’s new EP, “Ameripop!,” is out Nov. 1. Says the band: “‘Saturday’ is a sarcastic critique on Hollywood nightlife and micro-celebrity culture. It’s about living for the weekend and pining to be in the same rooms as your favorite non-celebrity celebrities so that maybe your own career can be thrust out of obscurity and into the limelight of L.A.’s most beautiful. It makes fun of the clout-chasing and horn-dogging masses that get caught up in the egotistical mess of it all.” Speaking of … there’s a show tonight somewhere.

■ Soft Blue Shimmer, “Frequency Hammer” — Meredith Ramond, Charlie Crowley and Kenzo Cardenas have released two full-lengths of bright dream-pop as Soft Blue Shimmer, with a third, “They Will Leave Us With Nothing,” recorded with Corey Coffman (Gleemer) and arriving Feb. 28. “Much of ‘They Will Leave Us With Nothing’ is about capitalist and social pressures and their immediate effects on us,” the band says. “‘Frequency Hammer’ bridges the gap between our previous albums, which were very much about the symptoms of living in a nation that doesn’t care for our physical or mental health, our communities or safety, and this album calls those things into question by identifying what the billionaire and political ruling classes would leave us with if they could: nothing.” Next week, Soft Blue Shimmer embark on a fall tour supporting Touché Amoré, starting with a show Oct. 9 at the Regent Theater.

■ Finneas, “Lotus Eater” — Finneas returns today with his sophomore album, “For Cryin’ Out Loud!,” a collection of pop finery that, he told Zane Lowe, he created in 14 days. Here’s the video for the closing track, “Lotus Eater.”

■ Loyal Lobos, “Summer en París” — Andrea Silva, the L.A.-based Colombian singer-songwriter who’s been winning hearts since she debuted as Loyal Lobos in 2017, stretches out into dance-pop on the bilingual jam “Summer en París.” Her new EP, “Loba Vol. 2,” the follow-up to 2023’s Vol. 1, will be out Oct. 24.

■ Campus Christy, “Horizon” — Campus Christy, the project of Stones Throw Records founder Chris Manak (aka Peanut Butter Wolf) and multi-instrumentalist Brian Ellis, continues to intrigue. Campus Christy’s self-titled album (out Dec. 6) features reshaping of obscure/overlooked tracks. The fifth sampling from the record is “Horizon,” a tune from the ’80s penned by The Inn’s Mitch Cooper (see this for a bit about him, and here’s the original, “Always on the Horizon”). Manak says it “sounds like part of the L.A. Paisley [Underground] scene.” Ellis added synth to CC’s arrangement, adding bang to the jangle-pop buck.

■ Cheekface, “Flies” — Cheekface never rests. Either Greg Katz, Amanda Tannen and Mark “Echo” Edwards are touring, or they’re infiltrating our playlists with brain teasers like “Flies.” “The market is flooded with people like me / and our value is plummeting, now we’re worthless and free,” Katz declares on the new single, arriving nine months after their fun-filled fourth full-length, “It’s Sorted.” For your Bandcamp Friday shopping.

■ Starcrawler, “Learn to Say Goodbye” — “I feel like everyone struggles with letting things go sometimes, even if they know that what they’re holding onto might end up hurting them,” frontwoman Arrow de Wilde says of Starcrawler’s new single. “We wanted to encapsulate that in this song, those desperate feelings you have when you want something so bad that you don’t care what anyone else has to say about it.” The song is the first from Starcrawler since their third album, “She Said,” released in 2022. They’re currently on tour supporting Boris.

■ K. Soto, “Forgive Me” — Kyle Soto, the singer-guitarist for South Bay stalwarts Seahaven, is turning his energies to his solo project, K. Soto. A gentle breeze of emotions, “Forgive Me” is the latest single from his first solo album, “Your Love Is Conditional,” out Nov. 22. Live Oct. 13 at the Echoplex, opening for Pianos Become Teeth.

■ Tangerine, “Thieves” — The follow-up to “Timeless,” “Thieves” is the latest single from indie duo Tangerine’s debut album, “You’re Still the Only One,” out Oct. 25.

■ Conditioner, “Unhallowed Arts” — Conditioner (the duo of Riley McCluskey and Aaron Kirkbride) return from the three-year hiatus with the song “Unhallowed Arts.”

■ Lucy & La Mer, “Palm Springs” — “I think she might B-I,” songwriter, dog lover, bi activist and owner of a waterproof ukulele Lucy Laforge muses on the new Lucy & La Mer single, “Palm Springs.”

■ Amanda Pascali, “I Toss and Turn” — Singing in Italian and English, Amanda Pascali reimagines the Sicilian folk song, “I Toss and Turn” inn a way that’s both soothing and eerie at the same time. Pascali with be making her L.A. debut tonight at the Hotel Café.

■ Possible Oceans, “Walls Come Down” — Birthed as an 8-minute instrumental demo, “Walls Come Down” is the latest from Trevor O’Neill and the crew in Possible Oceans. “It’s a tribute to a night of abandon spent on the dance floor and its ability to cleanse the soul,” he says of the song, the follow-up to “Obsidian” and appearing on Possible Oceans’ second EP of 2024, “Big Wave,” out in November.

■ Presence, “No Remedy” — “No Remedy” is a gritty pop-punk banger off Presence’s debut album “Tears in the Moshpit!,” which songwriter-producer Jonathan Martinez surprise-released today.

■ Maddie Jay, “Chemical” — The dreamy pop of “Chemical” introduces Maddie Jay’s debut album “I Can Change Your Mind,” out Jan. 10. The singer-songwriter-producer (and former bassist for Lorde and Remi Wolf) penned the song with Coleman Williams, Josh Shpak and Robert Ross. (Wolf’s name also appears in the credits.)

■ Dye, “Feel” — L.A. artist Daniel Ye releases music under the moniker Dye, and “Feel” is a shoegaze-meets-power ballad that whispers and then roars.

■ Tender Misfit, “Ghost” — Ariel Beesley’s sixth (!) Tender Misfit single of 2024 is the latest from her forthcoming EP. “Do You Hate Me?”

■ Rec Hall, “Olive” — Introducing indie-rock trio Rec Hall (John Barry, Lance Meliota and Ben Tyrrell) with their new single “Olive,” out via Arista Records. “Olive” is a groovin’, underwater dance track surprisingly about “unrequited love and how keeping low expectations is sometimes for the best.” Catch Rec Hall Dec. 5 at the Troubadour.

■ Aloud, “The Sky’s in Love With You” — Aloud’s first release since 2023’s “Big Blue” is a shimmering piece of pop rock. Aloud’s new EP, “Observer Affect” drops Dec. 6.

■ Tawny Ellis, “Sweet Georgia” — Americana singer Tawny Ellis is back after a three-year hiatus with her deeply personal new song, “Sweet Georgia,” the first single from her new album “Edge of the World,” scheduled to be released next year.

■ Nick Flessa, “Theme From the Dick Gibson Show” — Friendly reminder that singer-songwriter-raconteur Nick Flessa’s new album, “The Politics of Personal Destruction,” is out today. There are stories herein you’ll want to hear. Live Saturday at Healing Force of the Universe in Pasadena.

■ The Doohickeys, “This Town Sucks” — Smile awhile with country duo the Doohickeys on their latest single, “This Town Sucks,” an ode to the town of Liberty, Mo. (the hometown of singer Haley Spence Brown). The Doohickeys’ album, “All Hat and No Cattle,” is out Jan. 24.

■ Monica Aben, “The Unknown” — “This song was a download from my higher self, my spirit guides, whatever you want to call that,” Monica Aben says of “The Unknown,” from her recently released EP, “Everything I’ve Ever Known.” “When it fell out of me, I knew there was something there, but now I find myself needing to trust in the unknown more than ever. I hope it can be a lighthouse for anyone listening, because that’s what it has become for me.”

■ The Mynabirds, “Disarm (Ceasefire Now)” — We wrap this playlist with a strong statement, courtesy of Laura Burhenn (The Mynabirds). It’s a re-recording of a song originally co-written with the late Richard Swift for the Mynabirds’ 2012 album “Generals.” Current events.