Kevin Bronson on May 9th, 2025

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On the mix known as Greatest Hits … This Week (Vol. 337): Singles announcing new albums from Lord Huron and Fitz & the Tantrums; a collaboration between HEALTH & Chelsea Wolfe; and fresh songs from Cuco, Girljockey, Brandon, Lydia Night, MILCK, Bouquet, Lone Kodiak, Shunkan, Frankie and the Witch Fingers, Devon Again, Cadet A, Gold Anchor, Maddy Davis and more. Also: See our item on Mind’s Eye.

Anita Mills contributed to today’s roundup.

■ HEALTH & Chelsea Wolfe, “Mean” — Two heavyweights have teamed up for something heavier-weight: “Mean” is a collaboration between HEALTH and Chelsea Wolfe. Wolfe plays the Cruel World Festival on May 17.

■ Bouquet, “All Living Rooms” — A week away from the release of their sophomore album “Spellbreaker,” L.A. dream-pop sophisticates Bouquet keep the hits coming. “All Living Rooms” is about architecture, and somehow “the walls will remember” is magical. See also: “Hold On” and “Moon Was Made.”

■ Lord Huron, “Looking Back” — You never know whether those are tumbleweeds, spaceships or ghosts always lurking in the background of Lord Huron’s songs. All good either way, we say. “Looking Back” introduces the L.A. band’s fifth album, “The Cosmis Selector Vol. 1″ (out July 18). “The weight of your past can distort your present and future, the way massive celestial objects warp the fabric of the universe,” main man Ben Schneider says of the song, which is album’s opening track. “Like a bowling ball on a trampoline. This song wonders if it’s possible to let go, or if looking back is a fundamental law of existence.” Live Nov. 2 at the Forum.

■ Emily Elbert, “God Is Change” — Texas-bred singer-songwriter Emily Elbert has played guitar for the likes of Lorde, Leon Bridges, Jenny Lewis and Amos Lee, among others. Author of four albums herself, she suffered the misfortune of having lost her Altadena home in the Eaton Fire. Her new single “God Is Change” is a spirited slice of psychedelic blues.

■ Girljockey, “Manhood” — The debut song from Girljockey, the band formed last year by Gillian Chamberlin, is pretty unfuckwithable. “Manhood” is fear spiked with rage poured over urgency — “a plea for safety, devotion and control torn from the fabric of artists like PJ Harvey and Swans,” Chamberlin says. Watch the video.

■ HLLLYH, “Uru Buru” — The rebirth of DIY scene heroes the Mae Shi — reassembled under the name HLLLYH — continues. Uru Buru is the lead song on the band’s new album, “URUBURU” (out June 27), which they introduced in April with the single “Dead Clade.” Live Aug. 8 at Permanent Records Roadhouse and Aug. 9 at the Smell.

■ Shunkan, “Frogtown” — Winking at Randy Newman all the way up the 5, “Frogtown” is one of the hidden gems on “Kamikaze Girl,” the third album from songwriter Marina Sakimoto’s project Shunkan. Made with producer Alex Newport, released this week and featuring singles “Prettier,” “Usual Suspects” and “Hellbound,” “Kamikaze Girl” is full of fizzy, fuzzy smarts.

■ Lone Kodiak, “Reptilian” — The first single from Lone Kodiak since the L.A. trio’s debut album, “If We Have a Future” (released last fall), “Reptilian” is a magnificent hard-rock slugfest that lands every punch. On June 20, Lone Kodiak will release the new, Rob Daiker-produced EP, “No Receiver.” Live June 20 at the Echo.

■ Mind’s Eye, “Misery Christine” — Bay Area-bred indie-rockers Mind’s Eye released a new EP in March. “If She Looks Like Heaven …” — disarmingly charming, we’ll call it — follows 2023’s huge “Long Nights and Wasted Affairs.” And while “Misery Christine” has your attention (this video should do the trick), here’s a PSA: Thieves cleaned out the band’s storage unit and Mind’s Eye is now without gear. Here’s here if you’re able.

■ Cadet A, “Christine Shine On” — Speaking of Christines … Do you like House of Love, the British guitar band from the ’80s/’90s? So do we. A lot. Weirdly, the new single from Cadet A — the solo project of Axel Steuerwald (United Ghosts, and before that, Mere Mortals) — combines the title of two House of Love hits in a song that sounds, well, not unlike House of Love. Behold “Christine Shine On.”

■ Devon Again, “People v. Maryanne Sue” — On her latest single as Devon Again, “People v. Maryanne Sue,” Colorado native Devon Johanningmeier and collaborator Jon Buscema bottle up a little cowgirl energy to go along with her substantial, whimsical charm. The single, out via Pizzatime Records (and b/w “Lover”) is her first solo effort of 2025 and follows last year’s winner of an EP, “Never Goes Away.”

■ Frankie and the Witch Fingers, “Dead Silence”— Frankie and the Witch Fingers continue their momentum with “Dead Silence,” the latest single from their upcoming album Trash Castle (June 6). Following the hard-hitting “Total Reset,” this fun, fast-paced track features the roar of a real plane taking off, adding texture to the song. Watch the psychedelic music video here. Frankie and the Witch Fingers will play an intimate set at Permanent Records Roadhouse on June 7.

■ Science in Nature, “This Money Talks” — Science in Nature is a throwback dance-punk trio led by Joel Petersen (a founding member of the Faint and a one-man terror as Broken Spindles), along with Han-Su Kim and Adam Alt. Last month brought the release of their second album, “Time Spent.” If you’re suffering from a jagged rock deficiency, these guys have you covered.

■ Gold Anchor, “To Be With You” — L.A. duo Gold Anchor (Laura Conn and Marcos Beltran) unveil the latest single from their forthcoming album, “The Space Within.” “To Be With You” goes widescreen, featuring Pelle Hillstrom (Teleskopes) on guitar, Melisa McGregor on violin and producer Jeremiah Gray on bass.

■ Provoker, “Swarm of Flies” — Friendly reminder that darkwave trio Provoker (Christian Crow Petty, Jonathon Lopez and Wil Palacios) today released their third album, “Mausoleum.” (See “Tears in the Club.”) Provoker plays the Cruel World Festival on May 17.

■ Luster, “Sunday” — “Sunday” is the first of two singles released this year by L.A.’s Luster, who make heavy shoegaze that’s not for the faint of heart.

■ MOTO SOLO, “Celebration Sound” — The follow-up to “There’s Another Way,” “Celebration Sound” is the second single from MOTO SOLO, the project headed up by Bobby Tamkin (Xu Xu Fang, The Warlocks).

■ Maddy Davis, “What If?” — Maddy DAvis released her debut EP last year, and now she’s back with “What If?”

■ Pop Noir, “Seaside” — U.K..-born, Orange County-reared twins Luke and Joe McGarry have done big things since debuting their musical project Pop Noir some 15 years ago — Luke as an award-winning illustrator and animator and Joe as a web developer. “Seaside” (video here), which appears in the new film “Summer of ’69,” starring Chloe Fineman, finds the brothers dispatching more of the dancy, Brit-poppy post-punk that has long been their calling card.

■ Audrey Hobert, “Sue Me” — “Sue Me” is the debut single from singer-songwriter Audrey Hobert via RCA Records. Hobert’s quick-witted lyrics are refreshing in this upbeat and unapologetic track, “I’m sorry that your dog died /
Sorry that I’m, like, your dream bride / You’ll go to heaven / And I’ll go to hell in the meantime.”
Hobert dances manically with a sad clown in the music video here.

■ Fitz and the Tantrums, “Man on the Moon” — Pop stalwarts Fitz & the Tantrums are back July 25 with their sixth full-length, “Man on the Moon.” Here is your predictably breezy, feel-good title track. Live July 25 at the Pacific Amphitheatre at the O.C. Fair. 

■ Lydia Night, “The Hearse” — Former Regrettes frontwoman Lydia Night returns with her second solo single, “The Hearse,” which she backgrounds thusly: “I wrote this song after getting my ego hurt in a classic friend-zoning scenario. It’s petty, silly, and a bit hypocritical. I decided to use the hearse as a metaphor in the song because sometimes getting your ego bruised in a romantic scenario can truly feel like death, especially in a situation where you felt like you had all the power going into it just to have the rug swept out from under you.” It follows April’s single “Pity Party.”

■ Cuco, “Walk the Way” — Omar Banos, aka Cuco, goes full-on retro on his third album, “Ridin’,” out today. Oh, did we say retro? We meant “Modern Chicano Soul.” No matter the label, “Ridin’” bursts with love of the croon. Warm up your falsetto.

■ Lila Forde, “All I Expected” — Lila Forde is a Seattle-born singer-songwriter with a retro sound whose debut album, Vessel, drops today. Forde says: “I want to be a timeless artist. I want the songs to last.” Watch the visually stunning music video for the title track here. Catch Forde at Healing Force of the Universe in Pasadena on May 13.

■ Brandon, “You Look Like Love” — Friendly reminder that Brandon’s debut album “Before You Go” drops today, via Secretly Canadian. The opening track, “You Look Like Love,” features raw acoustic guitar and lovely vocal harmonies. Check out “Seeing Stars,” his previous single here.

■ MILCK, “Sisters of Winter” (feat. Raye Zaragoza) — Just three months after the release of her latest album “Mother Tongue,” MILCK is back with a rousing gospel-adjacent tune, “Sisters of Winter,” joined by Raye Zaragoza.

■ Mt. Joy, “Lucy” — An ode to a friend of the band who died young, “Lucy” is the latest single from Mt. Joy’s new album, “Hope We Have Fun,” out May 20.

■ Kid Lightning, “Stolen Land” — Songwriter Will Munroe, aka Kid Lightning (not to be confused with the solo project of Gigolo Aunts’ Dave Gibbs), channels the great Woody Guthrie to good effect. History, people.

■ Sparkbyrd, “Angel From Montgomery” — As is our habit, we’ll bring this playlist in for a soft landing with a cover song — Sparkbyrd (Chelsea Davis and Willow White) connecting with John Prine’s “Angel From Montgomery.”