Stream: Greatest Hits … This Week (Vol. 343)
Kevin Bronson on
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Here’s Greatest Hits … This Week (Vol. 343), home to new music from Dear Boy, Eliza McLamb, Electric Guest, Ryn Weaver, Haim, Automatic, Lauren Ruth Ward, Cold War Kids, Jade Bird, Bad Suns, Sun Room, Ruby Friedman Orchestra, Dylan Meek, Octavio F.G. and many more.
Anita Mills contributed to today’s roundup.
■ Dear Boy, “Kelly Green” — A nostalgic fusion of the Madchester sound and the glossier side of Britpop, “Kelly Green” is the new single from Dear Boy and an introduction to the L.A. quartet’s sophomore album, arriving later this year from Last Gang Records. (If you’re streaming this and thinking “Stone Roses,” you’ve come to the right website.) Enjoy the video, directed by Lucy Idella.
■ Haim, “All Over Me” — Friendly reminder that Haim’s fourth full-length, “I Quit,” is out today. Here’s the video for “All Over Me.”
■ Electric Guest, “Play Your Guitar” — Speaking of resurfacings, Electric Guest returns with “Play Your Guitar,” a track that finds the duo (Asa Taccone and Matthew “Cornbread” Compton) collaborating with co-writers Cole MGN, Reese Richards and Wade Ryff. In the video, Haim, Snacktime, Portugal The Man and Jordana are among the folks making cameos.
■ Automatic, “Is It Now?” — L.A. trio Automatic (Izzy Glaudini, Halle Saxon Gaines and Lola Dompé) have announced the fall arrival of their third album by releasing its title track, “Is Is Now?” Made with producer Loren Humphrey, “Is It Now?” builds on the minimalist post-punk the trio nailed on “Excess” (2022) and “Signal” (2019). Live Oct. 11 at the Novo, along with Sextile.
■ The Black Watch, “Surely You Rally” — A bounty of alternately jangling, fuzzy, propulsive, lulling, literate, mood-swinging vignettes, “For All the World” is the 25th full-length (and a double-LP to boot) from John Andrew Fredrick’s irrepressible musical vehicle the Black Watch. See also: “Achilles Past” and “Listen You Wait.” Live tonight (free show) at the Fable in Eagle Rock.
■ Avalon, “Scream” — Avalon, aka Avalon Lurks, is a Santa Ana native whose debut EP “Permanent Californian” drops July 18 via KRO Records.”Scream,” the second single, features shoegaze guitar, a grounding drum beat and intimate vocals. Yves Rothman (Blondshell, among others) is a co-producer on the track. Avalon, who is also a club DJ, takes on dual personalities in the black-and-white music video here.
■ Ruby Friedman Orchestra, “Milky Way (Ode to Frank Black)” — SoCal native Ruby Friedman’s formidable vocals and nonpareil storytelling are on full display on “Chimes After Midnight,” the long-awaited sophomore album from her Ruby Friedman Orchestra. In a word, timeless. Live at 3 p.m. today at Licorice Pizza in Studio City (free performance and signing) and at 7 tonight at the Hotel Café.
■ Octavio F.G., “Ride With Me” — Octavio F.G. (Octavio Genera, former frontman of the Soft White Sixties) returns with his first single in almost two years, “Ride Me Me,” a footloose, top-down summer song. As with his previous singles, Pete Min produced.
■ Eliza McLamb, “Quitting” — “Quitting so easy / I’ve done it / a million times,” Eliza McLamb declares in her new song “Quitting,” which starts off talking about smoking but doesn’t stop at that particular bad habit.
■ Sun Room, “Oslo, Paris, LA” — Sun Room have turned heads with their swaggering garage-rock, but their new single, “Oslo, Paris LA,” is a dialed-back, acoustic guitar-led track. Says band’s Luke Asgian: “It’s the first slow song we’ve written, but I’d been listening to Belle and Sebastian’s ‘Piazza, New York Catcher’ a lot and was inspired to explore a different sound. I’ve always admired bands like Blur who don’t box themselves into one sound and style.” Live at the Fox Theater Pomona on Aug. 16.
■ Boo Boos, “C’mon Baby” — Boo Boos are the new collaboration between EELS mastermind Mark Oliver Everett (he’s Bronco Boo here) and Kate Mattison of Brooklyn quartet 79.5 (she’s Katie Boo here). The say the project’s origin was simple: Everett put a 79.5 song on a playlist for Radio L’envie, which sparked a long-distance conversation, which sparked a long-distance exchange of creative ideas. Boo Boos’ debut album, “Young Love,” is out Sept. 19.
■ GOON, “Begin Here” — So here is now GOON’S new album, “Dream 3” (out July 11) starts. “Begin Here” follows previously released singles “Patsy’s Twin” and “Closer To.”
■ Lauren Ruth Ward, “Love Lost and Loved Again” — Lauren Ruth Ward’s first single since last year’s EP, “Self Electric,” is “Love Lost and Loved Again” and was produced by Chris Hess (of SWIMM).
■ The Silvertone, “You Wonder Why We Say A.C.A.B” — Mixto Records drops “You Wonder Why We Say A.C.A.B,” a psychedelic Chicano soul track by the Silvertone. Vocalist Alfredo Fratti says: “Right now, with the present situation to our community in Los Angeles, we feel it’s time to let this song be yours.”
■ Lucius, “Joyride” — Less than two months ago, Lucius released their fourth album, a self-titled gem. This week they returned with an upbeat new single, “Joyride.”
■ Izzy Outerspace, “Dreamstate” — “Dreamstate” is the title track of the new EP of languid dream-pop/shoegaze from Izzy Outerspace. It was made in collaboration with Jeff Schroeder (ex-Smashing Pumpkins) and includes three originals plus a Galaxie 500 cover.
■ Cold War Kids, “Any Day Now” — Cold War Kids frontman tackles paying tribute to singer-songwriter-producer and friend of band Richard Swift, who died in 2018. Read the story behind the song here.
■ Ryn Weaver, “Odin St.” — You remember Ryn Weaver, right? She of the Soundcloud smash “OctaHate” and the impressive debut album, “The Fool?” The toast of 2015? Weaver is back, and it’s a long though compelling story. The new single “Odin St” is named for the street in the Hollywood Hills where Weaver lived around the time that album was released a decade ago.
■ Dylan Meek, “I Feel Fine” — The follow-up to swoon-worthy singles “Be Your Man” and “Higher Place,” “I Feel Fine” is another slice of vintage soul from Dylan Meek’s forthcoming album “Love Language,” release date TBA.
■ Tawny Ellis, “Edge of the World” — The title track of Tawny Ellis’ sixth full-length (released today), “Edge of the World” exemplifies the cinematic reaches the singer-songwriter has taken her folk-pop since her debut release almost two decades ago. Boasting singles such as “Bottom Line,” “Elephant” and “Sweet Georgia,” the album was co-produced with her husband and frequent collaborator Gio Loria. And it features Daniel Lanois playing pedal steel and piano on the title track. “It was a dream come true,” Ellis says of working with Lanois. “Listening to him talk about music is a master class.”
■ Bad Suns, “Mystery Girl” — “Mystery Girl” is the latest single from Bad Suns’ new album “Accelerator,” out Aug. 8 via Epitaph. Frontman Christo Bowman says: “‘Mystery Girl’ is a song about my teenage years, past relationships and experiences, and being a young person who is ultimately just looking for love.”
■ Deb Never, “Blue” — “Blue” is the fourth in Deb Never’s string of singles this year. Warm and mellow, “Blue” is a guitar-driven track that ends in a beautiful piano melody. There’s a debut album somewhere on the horizon.
■ DMYTRYK, “I’m a Tray” — Multi-instrumentalist Cameron Dmytryk (Vanaprasta, Giant Waste of Man, Facial) has launched his solo project, DMYTRYK. “I’m a Tray” offers a miasma of rhythms, guitars and synth tht people have called “chaos pop.” Beneath, though, “is a story of working service jobs in the city as we watch the city decay,” Dmytryk says. “Most artists are one or two paychecks away from being the unhoused person we try to ignore as we walk past. We have way more in common with them than any billionaire. So what do we do? We smile and go to work. We live in our heads. We’re all trays for eight hours a day. Take what you want.”
■ Saadi, “Homo sapiens” — “Homo Sapiens” is the third single off “Birds of Paradise” (out Sept. 4 via Switch Hit Records) by Saadi, aka Boshra AlSaadi, a Syria-born, Pensylvania-reared multi-instrumentalist. AlSaadi, who lives with muscular dystrophy, says: “This song was very painful to write but functioned as therapy for me. It was recorded at Valis in California, with additional synth tracking at Rosen Sound in L.A. I was lucky enough to play on a Yamaha CS80 there, which really added to the emotional quality of the track.”
■ Spencer Hoffman, “Harm” (feat Jay Som) — Jay Som provides background vocals on singer-songwriter Spencer Hoffman’s new single, “Harm.” He explains: “I have often found myself in a bit of a shame spiral about fidelity, chastity, or another some-such puritanical imprint on my psyche. You can love someone very deeply and feel suddenly infatuated with another, especially when far away from home. Then there may be feelings of weakness, self-hatred and confusion intermixed with wonder and sublimity. It can be difficult not to internalize the expectation that love is a perfect and uncomplicated thing, or else it’s nothing at all. Both this song and the B-side ‘Abbey WiFi’ intermix love, romance and a kind of religious guilt.”
■ Between Friends, “1234567” — Sibling duo Between Friends (L.A. natives Savannah and Brandon Hudson) have been rolling out singles this year in advance of their debut album, “WOW!,” out Aug. 1. “1234567,” co-written with Tove Burman (Addison Rae), is the latest, following the Max Martin-produced “American Bitch” and the EDEN cowritten “DJ.” Live Oct. 30 at the Novo.
■ Gary Calamar, “Distractions” — Singer-songwriter and radio stalwart Gary Calamar’s first single in a year and a half is the very (and somewhat tragically) “Distractions.” “I’m in a battleground state of mind,” he sings, and ain’t that the truth. Live July 12 at McCabe’s.
■ The Dumes, “Get Me Through” — Friendly reminder that the Dumes’ new EP, “Get Me,” is out today. Live tonight at Gold-Diggers, with Ramonda Hammer and Fime.
■ Honeywreck, “Famous Last Words” — Honeywreck (Andrew Bernardin, Carter Baker, Jason Michael Roberts, Jess Turner) is a theatrical pop-punk-meets band with a new single, “Famous Last Words.” Catch Honeywreck at the Hotel Café on Saturday night.
■ Sophie Powers, “Head Empty No Thoughts” — Sophia Powers follows up “Move With Me” with glitchy R&B track “Head Empty No Thoughts.” Powers plays both days at Warped Tour in Long Beach (July 26 & 27.)
■ Gunnar, “Art Of Staying Alive” — Friendly reminder that Gunnar’s sophomore album “Sun Faded” drops today. “Art Of Staying Alive,” the opening track, is a high-energy hard-rock song with country-styled vocals that sets the bar for other bangers like “Bitter.” Gunnar says of the new album: “A lot of life has happened over the last few years, and I think these new songs show that. A lot of growth, rolling with the punches as they come, and accepting that I can’t control what happens.” Live Oct. 29 at the Echo.
■ Clancy, “I Killed My Therapist” — Native British Columbian Clancy Coulter releases music as Clancy, making audacious pop-punk the likes of which you have heard before and will probably hear again, though maybe not from somebody who’s a danger to her therapist.
■ Jade Bird, “Nobody” — We’ll bring this playlist in for a landing with “Nobody,” the latest single from U.K.-bred, L.A.-based singer-songwriter Jade Bird. It’s another taste of her album “Who Wants to Talk About Love?,” out July 18.
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