Kevin Bronson on February 21st, 2025

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Today’s playlist really packs a punch, and not just because one song is inspired by boxing (thanks, Madame Gandhi).

Greatest Hits … This Week (Vol. 326) kicks off with a raging generational anthem from Fime, and from there proceeds to new songs from the likes of Sextile, Charlie Hickey, LIANNA, Blondshell, Butch Bastard, Jawdropped, Wallows, KiNG MALA, Dream Ivory, Jensen McRae, Mt. Joy, Mamalarky, Baths, Luke Spiller, Brandon, THEY., Spill Tab and more. And stay for the inspirational finish, courtesy of Jessica Childress. There are a lot of new album announcements in the “liner notes” below, so scan some facts whilst you listen.

Catch up with our weekly playlists here, and thanks for listening.

Note: Anita Wills contributed to today’s roundup.

■ Fime, “Better Half of a Dollar” — If you’re of a certain generation and are struggling to make ends meet — let alone feel any modicum of optimism about the future — clench your fists for this one: “Better Half of a Dollar” is the first single from L.A. quartet Fime (Beto Brakmo, Maxine Garcia, Eric Promani and Scott Leahy) since their 2022 album “Sweeter Memory,” and like that LP, it’s produced by Melina Duterte (Jay Som). Brakmo’s screamed vocals and a slashing riff that could lead the Resistance conspire to make “Better Half” a memorable slab of emotional bloodletting. Consider: “And if my parents help out / And if my grandmother’s dead / Would it still be enough? / And if I save it all up / And if I don’t spend a cent / Would it still be enough? / No, it’s never enough.” Hailey Ruffner’s video shreds, too.

■ Sextile, “Freak Eyes” — Synth-punk duo Sextile (Melissa Scaduto and Brady Keehn) introduces their fourth full-length, “Yes, Please.” (out May 2) with the abrasive, pulsing single “Freak Eyes,” which sounds like power tools doing dance-punk, except that’s dangerous and nobody should dance and use power tools at the same time, no matter how much cowbell is involved. Unless you’re Sextile. “‘Freak Eyes’ is about the pressures of making art, living, and aspiring,” Keehn says. “The sound was inspired by house parties we went to in New York, where certain tracks had the conversation-stopping power. If you were in the middle of convo with a friend and heard certain songs, it didn’t matter what you were talking about, you stopped and joined the party in the collective release of emotion, singing, dancing, and drinks flying everywhere.”

■ Jawdropped, “Skully” — Jawdropped are a new band hitting the sounds of the ’90s hard — and their first couple of singles are hitting back, in a good way. Helmed by Roman Zangari, Kyra Morling and Sean Edwards, Jawdropped will release their debut EP, “Just Fantasy,”, on April 25 via Firetalk Records imprint Angel Tapes. They debuted in November with a banger, “Star,” and this week returned with “Skully” (here’s the video).

■ Blondshell, “Two Times” — The follow-up to “T&A,” “Two Times” is the latest single from Blondshell’s sophoore album, “If You Asked for a Picture,” due May 2. Sabrina Teitelbaum and her band have also announced a tour that includes a May 30 concert at the Fonda Theatre.

■ Butch Bastard, “Acrylic & Bleach” — “Acrylic & Bleach” follows “If It Wasn’t for the UFOs …” and the title track of Ian Murray’s third album as Butch Bastard, “Death Valley,” out in April. “This song is about an old friend of mine who is no longer with us. Out of respect for the family of the fallen and a hesitancy to glorify him or claim his story as my own to tell, I will leave him unnamed and won’t go into the grim details of his demise,” Murray says. “But I will say it involves a LOT of spray paint, crack cocaine, serious mental illness, some jail time, a knife fight outside of a Carl’s Jr., a stolen police cruiser, a high-speed pursuit, a body riddled with bullets fired by police, a missing persons report and a severed head. If you know, you know.”

■ Jensen McRae, “Praying for Your Downfall” — Valley-bred singer-songwriter Jensen McRae has announced that her debut album, “I Don’t Know How But They Found Me!,” will be out April 25 via Dead Oceans. McRae flexed her prowess last summer with the single “Massachusetts,” which will appear as the closer on the album co-produced by Brad Cook. Nathan Stocker (Hippo Campus), Matthew McCaughan (Bon Iver) and her brother Holden McRae make appearances. Live May 28 at the El Rey Theatre.

■ Brandon, “Right Back” —  Riverside-born Brandon Joseph is Brandon, an indie R&B artist who has already made a name for himself after two successful EPs, 2020’s “Coming Clean” and last year’s  “BLUSH.” A mix of acoustic guitar, R&B vocals and rap, “Right Back” is lead single off his debut album, “Before You Go” out May 9 via on Secret Canadian. Watch the dreamy music video here. 

■ Madame Gandhi, “Pisces Knockout” — Musician-activist Kiran Gandhi, dba Madame Gandhi, in May will release her new album, “Let Me Be Water.” Popping with beats and woozy accents from a sārangī, “Pisces Knockout” is described as an ode to the time Gandhi spent training in boxing with a team of 10 women under her partner and British champion pugilist Lesley Sackey.

■ Brad Byrd, “Night Dream” — Brad Byrd, maker of spacious, introspective, Americana-tinged indie-rock, this week released “Night Dream,” The song arrived with a video directed by SoCal Sound radio DJ Nic Harcourt and filmed by the station’s video producer, Matt Blake.

■ Cash & Skye, “I Hate This City” — Friendly reminder that “Just a Stranger,” the debut album from Cash & Skye, came out this week. It’s countrified goodness from Henri Cash (Starcrawler’s guitarist) and Sophia Skye (daughter of Pierre de Reeder of Rilo Kiley), a cumulation of tunes the duo have written over their seven-year friendship. They make it sound easy on singles such as “I Hate This City.”

■ Mt. Joy, “More More More” — Folk-rockers Mt. Joy return with “More More More,” the first single from their fourth album, “Hope We Have Fun” (out May 30). In between a major spate of touring last year, the band — Matt Quinn, Sam Cooper, Jackie Miclau, Sotiris Eliopoulos and Michael Byrnes — released the singles “Highway Queen” and “She Wants to Go Dancing.” They have a massive tour laid out for this year, too, including the final day (May 4) of the Beachlife Festival and Aug. 24 at the Santa Barbara Bowl.

■ Spill Tab, “Angie” — Spill Tab, the project led by L.A.-based French-Korean artist Claire Chicha, will release their debut album, “Angie,” on May 16. Here’s the video for the title track. She’ll take the album for a test drive on a mini-tour this summer, including June 17 at El Cid.

■ Dream, Ivory, “Lost Angeles” — Brothers Christian and Louie Baello (dba Dream, Ivory) gaze not-so-fondly back on 2024 — “a turbulent year for us as brothers and as a band,” they say — on their new single “Lost Angeles.” Adds Christian: “We had to deal with a lot of change personally — and as a recovering alcoholic, the first part of the year was dealt with sinking lower into rock bottom while the second part of the year was escaping that low point.”

■ LIANNA, “Rich & Famous” — Violinist-turned-singer-songwriter Lianna Ross-Townsley (just LIANNA here) was reared in the Pacific Palisades trailer park that was reduced to ashes in January’s devastating fires. It adds a poignance to “Rich & Famous,” the ethereal new single she released today. Rick Parker produced.

■ Charlie Hickey, “Nikita” (feat. The Milk Carton Kids) — Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan (aka The Milk Carton Kids) join Charlie Hickey on the latter’s new single “Nikita.” Hickey’s sophoomore album, “Could’ve Been Anyone,” is out March 7. Live March 6 at Scribble.

■ THEY., “Gemini” — Neo-soul duo THEY. (Drew Love and Dante Jones) stay on their romantic roll on their fourth full-length, the aptly titled “LOVE.JONES.” Pop, R&B, rap and a lot in between — it’s all there. Here’s a quite fetching deep cut from the record, “Gemini.” Our favorite artist quote in a quite a while? Jones, on this new album: “We’re out here trying to raise some birthrates.”

■ Ruth Radelet, Adam Miller and Nat Walker, “The Wild Unknown” — Three members of the Chromatics (who broke up in 2021) reunite to pen music for the video game “Lost Records: Bloom & Rage,” about four teenage girls in a punk band. Part 1 of the game’s soundtrack also features songs from the Nora Kelly Band and Milk & Bone.

■ Split Moon, “Fall Without Fading” — The follow-up to “More Clouds,” “Fall Without Fading” is the latest from space-rock band Split Moon (Mark Starr, Ryan Orvis, Nick Thomas and Tiffany Sotomayor). Their new album “More Clouds More Stars” is out March 7.

■ Tigers in Cairo, “In Our Fields” (feat. Tobias Grave of Soft Kill) — San Diego post-punk/indie-rock outfit Tigers in Cairo return with a ’90s-vintage anthem, “In Our Fields,” featuring Soft Kill’s Tobias Grave on vocals.

■ Dry Spell, “Ready and Caffeinated” — Dry Spell (Lexi Lane, Fern Aguilar, Allie Gray and Stefan Kennedy) is a skate-punk revival band from Orange County. “Ready and Caffeinated,” out via Stay Tough Records, is a high-velocity punk anthem with an unapologetic chorus that has all members chanting, “God forgives / but I don’t.” Allie Gray, bass player, says: “The song is a call to come together and survive, a pro-trans song for anyone who is gender-diverse.” Catch Dry Spell at Programme Skate & Sound on Feb. 28.

■ Chase Petra, “Have Faith, Horatio” — As a follow-up to “A Bug’s Life,” “Have Faith, Horatio,” is the latest single off Chase Petra’s upcoming album “Lullabies for Dogs,” out March 7 via Wax Bodega. Hunter Allen’s vocals are the focal point of the song, singing pop-punk in a really beautiful and unique way. Chase Petra will be performing April 26 at the Roxy. Watch the very appropriately “Hamlet”-themed music video here. 

■ Wallows, “Coffin Change” — Pardon us, but we’re in to Wallows new single “Coffin Change” more than their presumptuously titled single “Your New Favorite Song.” Speaking of more, “More” is the title of the new EP they will release March 28. Live July 26-27 at Dodger Stadium, opening for My Chemical Romance.

■ Mamalarky, “#1 Best of All Time” — Avant-pop explorers Mamalarky (Livvy Bennett, Michael B. Hunter, Dylan Hill and Noor Khan) have announced the April 11 arrival of “Hex Key,” their new album for Epitaph Records. Dare you to keep up with the time signature changes and other wiggles in their new single “#1 Best of All Time.” Live March 21 at the Echoplex, opening for Hinds.

■ Baths, “Governed” — Friendly reminder that Will Wiesenfeld’s first Baths album in eight years, “Gut,” is out today. He says the latest single “Governed” is “like an emotional gateway drug to the rest of the record — not to say that it goes down easy.” Live April 20 at the Echo, with Fashion Club opening.

■ KiNG MALA, “Fun!”— As a follow-up to “GØD”, alt-pop rocker King Mala’s (Areli Castro) “Fun!” is dark and chaotic, featuring a haunting piano melody, frightening moments of jolt, heavy breakdowns and ethereal vocals. Her upcoming 12-track debut album, “And You Who Drowned In The Grief Of A Golden Thing,”  drops May 2. Watch the spooky music video here.

■ Witch Post, “Dreaming” — Witch Post, the duo of Alaska Reid and Scottish musician Dylan Fraser, will release their debut EP, “Beast,” in May. “Dreaming” is a fuzzy, lo-fi charmer.

■ Cloe Wilder, “Tallahassee” — As a follow-up to “Cigarette,” “Tallahassee” is the second single off Cloe Wilder’s EP, “Life’s a Bitch,” out March 21. Wilder plays April 8 at the Constellation Room. “Tallahassee” is a delicate acoustic guitar-driven Americana-pop song with Wilder staying in a whispering in the high ranges for the verses, and showcasing her vocal power in the choruses.

■ Luke Spiller, “The Ending Is Always the Same” — Englishman Luke Spiller, lead singer of the Struts, calls the songs on his forthcoming solo album documents of everything he experienced when he moved to L.A. The LP is titled “Love Will Probably Kill Me Before Cigarettes and Wine,” and it’s out April 25. He released the grandiose title track in January, and this week brought “The Ending Is Always the Same.”

■ Molly Kills, “How Dare You”—Alt-pop artist Molly Kills (Mollie Katrina) may be new to us, but is certainly not new to the Los Angeles DIY music scene. Kills is the former leader of Love Like Suicide, a notable rock band that was active for a decade. As a follow-up to the title-track “Heavy As Gold,” “How Dare You” is the second single off her debut EP, to be released this May. The song is an eclectic mix of music box-inspired keys, impressive violin, low-range vocals, and drum machine. Kills says: “The song is a raw take on a  heartbreaking friendship that went through extreme highs and devastating lows.”

■ Jack Xander, “Listen 2 My Heart” — “Drug Free Nation,” the new solo EP from Jack Xander (The Gerrymanders), arrives this summer. “Listen 2 My Heart” is a dance-the-pain-away jam.

■ Alaina Pamela, “Could It Be” — Quebec-reared, Orange County-based pop artist Alaina Pamela released her debut EP in 2023, and this week she returned in pop grandiosity with “Could It Be.”

■ Jessica Childress, “Rise Together” — We’ll wrap this playlist on an inspirational note: Jessica Childress has released a new single, “Rise Together,” co-written with Anna Schulze and having premiered on NBC’s “Found.”