Kevin Bronson on January 10th, 2025

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Face it, it feels trivial to get stoked for a new-music playlist this week, what with lives, dreams and livelihoods being incinerated by firestorms. Hearts are heavy.

To introduce Greatest Hits … This Week (Vol. 320) — which in a non-apocalyptic world we’d be turning cartwheels over — I’ll share this from Sabrina Teitelbaum of Blondshell, one of the artists to release excellent new singles this week:

“It feels impossible to think of anything other than the fires in Los Angeles right now. The city I’ve lived in for 10 years is burning and the scale of the loss is incomprehensible. In a way it feels dumb to talk about music, but I also think the whole point of art is for it to exist in the context of pain as a small emotional respite … even if just for one moment. Please stay safe. Thank you for letting me share this with you.”

In a spate of wishful thinking, the cover image for this week’s playlist shows raindrops.

So here’s the mix, featuring Morgan, Runnner, Butch Bastard, Cryogeyser, The Altons, Blondshell, Shane Alexander, Otis Kane, Sahara Grim, Zzzahara, Linying, Exploding Flowers, Tom Henry, Wallows, KiNG MALA, The Starvations (see this from Gabriel Hart) and more.

Stay safe, and, in any way you can, please support those who’ve lost the most to the fires — a heart-wrenchingly large cohort from the L.A. music community among them.

■ Morgan Nagler, “Cradle the Pain” — Music fans probably know Morgan Nagler from her indie band Whispertown (aka Whisptertown 2000), or for her songwriting collaborations with Rilo Kiley, Haim, Kim Deal and Maria Taylor, among others. The fuzzy indie-rocker “Cradle the Pain” is her first release under her own name. The song, produced by King Tuff’s Kyle Thomas, features Thomas and Hand Habits’ Meg Duffy on guitar and Josh Adams (Cat Power, Weyes Blood) on drums.

■ Runnner, “Coinstar” — Turns out Runnner can rock out, too. Songwriter/producer/sonic adventurer Noah Weinman followed up his brilliant 2023 album “Like Dying Stars, We’re Reaching Out” by releasing an improvisational LP last year. Now Runnner has released “Coinstar,” a shimmering indie-rocker that’s far from the engaging left-field folk on his 2023 record. “When I first wrote this song I was very excited,” Weimman says. “It felt like a flying train (if that makes sense). I quickly made a demo at home and thought about finishing it the way I so often did, but I wanted to see how far I could push it. To really pack that punch with big guitars and that soaring pedal steel from Tommy [de Bourbon]. It’s the first song I’ve done since starting Runnner that I really wanted to do in a studio to get that big sound.” Mission accomplished. Live at Makeout Music on Jan. 25.

■ Blondshell, “T&A” — Blondshell (Sabrina Teitelbaum) introduces her sophomore album, “If You Asked for a Picture” (out May 2), with a poignant (watch the video) and powerful blast of alt-rock, “T&A.” Like her 2023 debut, the new album was made with producer Yves Rothman.

■ Butch Bastard, “If It Wasn’t For The UFOs …” — Working as Butch Bastard, Seattle-reared, L.A.-based Ian Murray crafts wryly humorous, tenderly melodic and lyrically rich (both the definition suggesting abundance and the one suggesting amusement) songs that shone on his 2023 album “Las Vegas Salvation.” Now he’s returning with a new LP, “Death Valley,” out in April. Casey Wescott (Fleet Foxes) assists on the droll first single, “If It Wasn’t For the UFOS …” Says the songwriter: “I wrote this song at a time when I was completely overwhelmed by what life was throwing at me. Aside from that, and this is a major theme throughout the entire album, I was disturbed by the collective madness I was witnessing around me in the wake of the pandemic. The UFO theme, with its central place in conspiracy, came naturally. I hesitate to reduce my lyrics down to one identifiable notion, but UFOs in this sense can represent things that come into your life that you did not anticipate and don’t know what to do with.”

■ Maddie Jay, “Name Your Price” — Friendly reminder that Maddie Jay’s debut album, “I Can Change Your Mind,” is out now. The former bassist for Lorde and Remi Wolf celebrates the LP release with a show Jan. 18 at Scribble.

■ Shane Alexander, “Something Good” — Veteran songwriter Shane Alexander this spring will release his seventh album (and first in five-plus years), “Forever Songs.” His new single “Something Good” certainly lives up to its title.

■ Exploding Flowers, “Crowded Streets” — Sharif Dumani, who’s lent his skills to the likes of Alice Bag, Cody Chenutt, Moon Upstairs, Sex Stains. Silver Apples and many more, released his first solo album last year. Now he’s rounded up the gang of the band he fronts, Exploding Flowers, and announced that the project’s third album, “Watermelon/Peacock,” will be out March 21. Made with a lineup including Josh Mancell, Happy Tsugawa-Banta and Mark Sogomian, it’s power-pop a la L.A.’s Paisley Underground, so try the opening track, “Crowded Streets,” on for size.

■ Cryogeyser, “Stargirl” — The follow-up to singles such as “Sorry” and “Fortress,” “Stargirl” (see the Lance Bangs-directed video) formally introduces Cryogeyser’s self-titled new album, out Feb. 14. Straddling shoegaze, grunge and dream-pop, the expansive, majestic-in-an-indie-way album was produced by drummer Zach Capitti. Turn it up, and turn out to see them March 27 at the Constellation Room and March 28 at the Lodge Room.

■ See Night, “Gravity” — See Night is the work of singer-songwriter-guitarist Linda Sao, along with collaborators such as Brad Pemberton, Tania Elizabeth and Chris Tench. Feb. 28 will bring the release of See Night’s debut album, “Just Another Life,” and the latest single “Gravity” might well have Mazzy Star fans floating in space. Live (solo) on Jan. 30 at Scribble, supporting Dancermancer.

■ Otis Kane, “Breathe” — Friendly reminder that R&B artist Otis Kane’s (Anthony Vasquez) sophomore LP “Violet” came out this week. Kane is head over heels in the groovy love song “Breathe.”

■ Linying, “Blondie” — Starting with “Donovan” and ending with “The Key,” L.A.-based Singaporean Linying released four singles in 2024. She kicks off the new year with the news that her sophomore album, “Swim, Swim,” will be out April 4. “Blondie” is the new single, with Linying keeping the vocals and instrumentals bright and playful, although there is a much darker message behind the song, “It’s about a beautiful, idyllic day I spent swimming in a lagoon with someone I’d just met. I felt so happy and light, but at the same time there was a part of me that kept thinking, ‘I’m not actually this light. You don’t know who I really am.'” Watch Linying swim about the Filipino island of Siargao in the music video here.

■ The Violet Mindfield, “Autonomous Overdrive” — The Violet Mindfield are a time machine propelled by singer-guitarist John Duran, along with Harry Parr, Sean McBreen, Clifton Weaver and Victor Salazar. Unabashedly retro, their two new singles “Autonomous Overdrive” and “Distorted Portrait” hark back to 1960s psych- and surf-pop. Your uncle might have some scratchy 45 RPMs (which folks now call 7-inch records) that sound like this; smile when you share these. The band will have a busy February, touring across Europe and the U.K.

■ The Altons, “Your Light” — One of the leading lights of the Souldies movement, the Altons (Adriana Flores and Bryan Ponce, backed by a rhythm section of Caitlin Moss Chris “Bolillo” Manjarrez) will release their new album “Heartache in Room 14” on Feb. 14. Arriving via Daptone Records and produced by the label’s Bosco Mann, it’s old-school sweet; see their October single “Waiting,” or their tender Spanish single “Del Cielo Te Cuido,” released Christmas week.

■ Jordan Duffy, “Not Your Dream Girl” — “Not Your Dream Girl” is the new single from singer-songwriter Jordan Duffy. The Massachusetts native credits the film “Sixteen Candles” as a heavy influence for the pop song. You can watch Duffy fall for a handsome extraterrestrial in her new music video here.

■ Wallows, “Your New Favorite Song” — Wallows dials it back on their new single “Your Favorite Song,” which arrived along with the band’s cover of the Marías’ “No One Noticed.” Wallows has a huge year of touring ahead, including dates July 26-27 at Dodger Stadium opening for My Chemical Romance.

■ Sahara Grim, “Hysteria” — Indie-pop artist Sahara Grim, whose voice is pleasantly reminiscent of the ’90s band Splendid, will release her debut album, “Fable,” later this year. As a follow-up to “Time Wanderer,” Grim manifested “Hysteria” in the instrumentation of her new single of that name. “Though the song is harmonically happy,” she says of the Luke Temple-produced song, “the string arrangements, detuned counter melodies and distorted electric guitar imply a dissonance beneath the surface.” Sahara pays tribute to the renowned feminist short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper” in her experimental music video here.

■ KiNG MALA, “GØD” — Alt-pop siren Airel Castro — aka KiNG MALA (“She Calls Me Daddy”) — returns with the woozy, beat-driven new single “GØD.”

■ Tom Henry, “Bella” — L.A.-based Chicago native Tom Henry will release his debut album, “Songs To Sing and Dance To,” on June 27. It was produced by Kai Slater of Chicago power-poppers Sharp Pins, and the first single “Bella” jangles in an innocent, retro-garage-psych-pop way until things get aggressive about the 3-minute mark.

■ Jack Drinker, “California King” — Singer-songwriter Jack Drinker draws a keen analogy in his new single “California King.” The lyrics describe how falling in love is a naively glamorous feeling, “You’re a James Dean movie scene / Speeding down the highway.”

■ Able Machines, “Watch Me Win” — Tay Côlieé of Able Machines (her project with producer Linus of Hollywood) sings with confidence in the high-energy single, “Watch Me Win,” a perfect victory song for your retro video game night.

■ Zzzahara, “In Your Head” — Friendly reminder that “Spiral Your Way Out,” the new album from Zzzahara (aka Zahara Jaime), came out this week. File under: Fuzzy, catchy indie-rock with its fingers in post-punk, shoegaze, grunge and emo. Live Feb. 14 at the Roxy.

■ NORMANS, “Pure Evil” — Matthew Reid of the noise-punk band NORMANS viciously chants, “To play with the blood of a working man / That’s pure evil,” in the new single “Pure Evil,” out via Solid Brass Records. The song experiments with song structure by shortening the verses and choruses, making up for it with an impressive genre-bending outro.

■ Royal She, “Silent Killer” — A follow-up to “Karma,” “Silent Killer,” is a sexy pop-rock anthem with a warning from rock-duo Royal She (vocalist Alison Freed and multi-instrumentalist Alexandria Reyes), off of their upcoming album, “Befores and Afters,” to be released later this year.

■ Breaks, “Come Back Now” — L.A. four-piece Breaks (Damo Goyenechea, Nikkoli Kade, Cameron Stephens and Garret Henritz) have released the full-length, “Hard Times,” which draws its formidable energy from post-punk, indie-rock and darkwave.

■ Zoe Ko, “Drop the Man” — The title of the new single from pop sprite Zoe Ko speaks for itself.

■ The Starvations, “An American Funeral” — They don’t make hellraisers like the Starvations anymore, at least not that we’ve run across. The band made nervy, give-zero-f*cks country-punk-blues for a decade (1996-2005), and you might recognize the perpetrators’ names from ensuing artistic endeavors. Their 2003 album “Get Well Soon” is being reissued this week. Get on it.