Kevin Bronson on December 13th, 2024

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It’s Friday the 13th and here is Buzz Bands LA’s last weekly roundup of the year, Greatest Hits … This Week (Vol. 319). Let’s see … This makes 47 playlists for the year and 1,352 songs featured, so thanks to all you music-makers for keeping us busy.

(Stand by for the annual Buzz Bands LA 101, our faves of ’24, coming early next week.)

Press play below to hear music from Baths, Aloe Blacc, JJUUJJUU, The Holy Knives, Witch Post, So What! Who Cares?, TV Girl & George Clanton, Jackson Lundy, Pop Cautious, Paul Givant, Scarlet Taylor, Talker, Bruvvy, Leo Lauren, Nova Cult and more.

Note: Anita Wills contributed to today’s roundup.

■ The Holy Knives, “Manipulator” — Rock duo the Holy Knives — brothers Kody and Kyle Valentine — this week released their new EP, “Don’t Wanna Win.” True to the band’s name, the EP — made with producer Jamie Hince of the Kills — has sharp edges, as evidenced by previous singles “Killer” and “Damned.”

■ Gold Anchor, “Colors” — Gold Anchor, the wife-husband project of singer-guitarist Lauren Conn and percussionist Marcos Beltran, have rolled out two singles this year in advance of the 2025 release their debut full-length, “The Space Within.” Their is a buoyant, surging sound that straddles the indie-rock and Americana worlds; “Colors” and November’s single “Fountains of Love” were co-produced with Jeremiah Gray and feature Pelle Hillstrom (Teleskopes) on guitar.

■ Witch Post, “Rust” — With Post is the new indie-rock collaboration between Scottish musician Dylan Fraser and Alaska Reid, the Montana native who once fronted the indie band Alyeska and last year released her latest album “Disenchanter.”

■ JJUUJJUU, “Willing” — Phil Pirrone and his band of alchemists are back with a new JJUUJJUU track that could be titled “March of the Psych-Rock Warriors (And Their Ghosts).” Live tonight at the Echo.

■ Baths, “Sea of Men” — L.A. native Will Wiesenfeld has announced that his first Baths album in six years, “Gut,”, will be out Feb. 21. Baths’ fourth full-length, the release was introduced by the single “Sea of Men” (video here), a frisky, seemingly light-hearted track that speaks to his relationship with sex. “I find myself thinking about how confusingly animal I often feel—present in body but dissociative in spirit. Instinctual,” Wiesenfeld says. “An entire life where appetite comes first and ‘carnal is a normal mode,’ leaving little room to discover anything new about myself while constantly scavenging for the next gratification.”

■ TV Girl & George Clanton, “Everything Blue” — See the new collaborative album “Fauxllennium” for some brain-melters. Live Dec. 20 at Zebulon.

■ Aloe Blacc, “Don’t Go Alone” — Aloe Blacc has announced the Feb. 28 arrival of his new album, “Stand Together,” a partnership with the philanthropic community of the same name. The first single “Don’t Go Alone” is a missile of positivism shot across the bow of a harsh world. It’s inspired, he says, by by the African proverb, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

■ So What! Who Cares?, “Strike While the Irony’s Hot” — Pop-disco insurgents So What! Who Cares?, who had us in September with “Jobs,” return with the their fourth single of the year, “Strike While the Irony’s Hot.” They make you smile. And so does this familial reaction to their debut single back in April, “S My D.” Live (free show) on Sunday night at Pixels Bar in Riverside.

■ Junior Museum, “Azealas” — Junior Museum is the solo project of Jacob Farmer, whose engaging folk tunes are packed with lyrical veracity. Junior Museum’s debut EP “Palm Springs Occasionally” came out in 2022; “Azaleas” is his second single since.

■ Bruvvy, “Concealer” — Bruvvy (Liz Varnum, Paula Bunich, Nelson Gonzalez and Juan Cabrera) are a group of riff-loving rebels who forsook their native Florida to pursue their dreams in L.A. Their latest single “Concealer” gets right in your face, where they like to be.  

■ Nova Cult, “New Sensation” — “New Sensation” is an experimental alt-rock single from singer-songwriter/producer J.J. Dunlap and his group of revolving musicians known as Nova Cult.

■ Scarlett Taylor, “Pink Bars” — Scarlett Taylor’s deep and soulful voice sings poignant lyrics to a slowly creeping beat in “Pink Bars.” The single (the follow-up to “Reckless Love”) explores “the illusion of choice and the suffocating cycle of dependence,” the songwriter says.

■ Leo Lauren, “Damage Drop-Off Site” — Following up singles “Lovesick” and “Vampire,” musician/visual artist Leo Lauren releases another taste of his EP “Supernormal” (out early next year), “Damage Drop-Off Site,” a pop-rocker like they made ’em in the ’80s.

■ Jackson Lundy, “Work Friends” — Singer-songwriter Jackson Lundy new album “Peachy Keen” that dropped last week. The single “Work Friends” has little instrumentals due to Lundy’s rich vocals. You can watch the ’70s-inspired music video  here.

■ Paul Givant, “Awake” — Singer-songwriter Paul Givant (frontman of scene regulars Rose’s Pawn Shop) is working on a new solo album, “Marigold.” The new single “Awake” is a slice of open-road folk-rock.

■ Pop Cautious, “Two Weeks” — “Two Weeks” in the first single from Tyler Porterfield, aka Pop Cautious, in a year and a half as he refereshes his folk/folk-rock sound with a touch of reggae. It’s the first taste of an EP Pop Cautious has on the way, titled “Troubadour.”

■ Cave Flowers, “Good Love” — Country rockers Cave Flowers share their second single “Good Love” off of the upcoming second album, “Western Spectre,” due Jan. 17. “Good Love” is a feel-good song full of lovely vocal harmonies and guitar solos.

■ Coffin Prick, “Loose Enchantment” — Ryan Weinstein is an experimental art-pop artist known as Coffin Prick. “Loose Enchantment” is the title track off his upcoming LP, set to be released on April 4. “Recorded by my lonesome here in the ever quixotic city of Los Angeles,” he says, “the song’s meaning to me is as elusive as most of the ideas that drift in and out of my mind.”

■ Talker, “Smile Like You Mean It” — To close out a year during which Talker (Celeste Tauchar) released her debut full-length, “I’m Telling You the Truth,” she releases a cover of the Killers’ hit. Smile if you’ve got a reason.