Kevin Bronson on September 19th, 2025

0

Here’s Greatest Hits … This Week (Vol. 356), boasting music from St. Panther, The Favors, Bennett Coast, Giant Waste of Man, Rocket, Massage, The Two Lips, Curt Barlage, Peel Dream Magazine, Magic Wands, Chatterton, Rosy Nolan, Dear Boy, Jordan Patterson and a bunch more. We like it when you listen.

Past playlists and our notes here.

Note: Anita Mills contributed to this roundup.

■ Massage, “No North Star” —  The follow-up to “Daffy Duck” and “Fading Out,” “No North Star” is the final single before the Oct. 10 release of “Coaster,” the third full-length from L.A. five-piece Massage. File under: thoroughly addictive guitar-pop to make Anglophiles swoon. Live Oct. 9 at Permanent Records Roadhouse.

■ Rocket, “Another Second Chance” — L.A. quartet Rocket flexes with yet another memorable chorus on “Another Second Chance,” the latest single from their debut album “R Is for Rocket” (out Oct. 3). The song is “an ode to never feeling good enough,” singer Alithea Tuttle says. (Hang around for the outro, too.) Live Nov. 22 at the Roxy.

■ Giant Waste of Man, “Goldeneye” — Giant Waste of Man (for our money, the indie-rocker’s indie-rock band) have announced that their third full-length, “Fighting With Time,” will be out Nov. 14. The band — Cameron Dmytryk, Benji Heywood, Heather Heywood and Brandon Hardy with Scott Mercado & Robert Cheek — introduced the Robert Cheek-produced LP with “Goldeneye,” a song that calls out nostalgia as a weakness, and as a habit we just can’t break.

■ St. Panther, “Strange World” (feat. Rae Khalil) — O.C.-bred polymath Daniela Bojorges-Giraldo — aka St. Panther — has dropped the title track of a new EP, “Strange World,” out Nov. 7. Featuring Grammy-winner rapper Rae Khalil, “Strange World” has an almost Stevie Wonder-like euphoria. “In ‘Strange World’ you can hear us all in the studio together, laughing in between takes so often it bled into the actual recording, which we decided to keep because the spirit of that felt important,” St. Panther says. “I truly believe that hope and joy can alter the state of anything, especially when the world feels most divided / needs healing. It’s all in the lyrics, I’m still rooting for us.”

■ Bennett Coast, “Being There” — Bennett Coast (NorCal native Bennett Christensen) makes indie-rock with the warm intimacy of bedroom pop but the emotional and lyrical heft of something much larger. He released his first EP, “Where Are You Going?,” in 2023, and on Oct. 24 he’ll return with another, “Fashion for the Mourning.” The gently propulsive single “Being There” will carry you into his world.

■ Cinnamon, “Is This As Good As It Gets” — Cinnamon is an L.A. band fronted by Harley Quinn Smith, joined by Luke Maze and Nick Morrison. Though authors of just three singles so far, their sound is drawing comparisons to ’90s stalwarts such as Hole, Veruca Salt and tghe Breeders. Here’s their first show: Live Sept. 27 at Permanent Records Roadhouse.

■ Dear Boy, “The Address” — We’re a month away from the release of the sophomore album from Dear Boy, “Celebrator” (Oct. 17). Not quite the scorcher of “After All,” “The Address” is the third single. Live Jan. 16 at Zebulon.

■ Agriculture, “Dan’s Love Song” — L.A. beautiful-noise merchants Agriculture return Oct. 3 with a new full-length, “The Spiritual Sound.” Three singles in, the quartet — Dan Meyer, Leah Levinson, Richard Chowenhill and Kern Haug — display their formidable ability to thread the listener through the coarsest of emotional fabric. “Dan’s Love Song,” which Meyer describes as “a love song to a future child,” is one of the quartet’s dialed-back moments. Live Dec. 5 at the Lodge Room.

■ Curt Barlage, “8 Billion” — Curt Barlage fronted the psychedelic post-punk outfit the Bixby Knolls before moving on to other projects such as Red Hearts White Ribbons and Strange Phases. Barlage’s first solo album, “Sans Yesterday,” came out this week, full of overcast yet enchanting rock noir.

■ Magic Wands, “Time to Dream” — Post-punk/dream-pop duo Dexy and Chris Valentine, dba Magic Wands, return with “Time to Dream,” the latest taste of their album “Cascades,” out Oct. 24. Live Nov. 7 at Day 1 of Substance LA at the Belasco.

■ Peel Dream Magazine, “Venus in Nadir” — Serial mesmerizers Peel Dream Magazine have announced they are releasing a companion album to last year’s gem, “Rose Main Reading Room.” “Venus in Nadir” is the first single from the mini-album “Taurus,” out Oct. 1. Live Dec. 4 at the new Sid the Cat Auditorium in South Pasadena.

■ Katie Alice Greer, “Talk to Leslie” — On the heels of August’s release of her “EP A,” Katie Alice Greer (ex-Priests) returns with a new single, “Talk to Leslie.”

■ Loser Demon, “Two Times” — Loser Demon (Keith Beshwate, Zach Mullen, Kyle Delaney and Dan Ambriz) is an indie-rock band from Riverside. “Two Times,” a unique surf-rock-style track with a killer guitar hook, is the latest single from their forthcoming “EP2,” dropping Sept. 30. Says Keith Beshwate: “The world’s a weird place right now, and as much as you try to tell the people in your life something’s gonna be a problem, they don’t listen until it’s too late. Even if you tell them twice.”

■ KennyHoopla, “Monalisa, We Miss You//” — Friendly reminder that KennyHoopla’s new EP, “Conditions of an Orphan//,” is out today. Live Sept. 23 at the Roxy and Sept. 25 at the Observatory, both shows supporting Soft Play.

■ 123DEATH, “Parachute Pants” — Indie-punk provocateurs 123DEATH (who go by Spencer Burner, Jeff Electric and Malcolm Sosa but also answer to Spencer Berger, Jeff Hartline and Mike Mancillas) go back a long way, but the past two years have seen the trio ramp up the output (and energy). “Parachute Pants” is their latest throwback to ’90s underground indie. Live Sept. 21 at the Fable in Eagle Rock (free show).

■ The Favors, “David’s Brother” — Today brought the release of “The Dream,” the debut album from the Favors (the collaboration between Finneas and Ashe). For fans of ’70s-era pop, sweet duets and warms-and-fuzzies.

■ Chatterton, “Explainin'” Oxnard duo Chatterton — Brock Pierce and Logan Scrivner — today released their new EP, “Tiny Empire.” “Your heart is a broken home / that nobody owns,” Pierce sings on “Explainin’.”

■ Worthitpurchase, “Lakeshore” — Omar Akrouche and Nicole Rowe are Worthitpurchase, an art-pop band originally from San Francisco. “Lakeshore” is an acoustic guitar driven song with graceful harmonies from their self-titled album, due Oct. 3. Live at Non Plus Ultra on Oct. 2.

■ Connor Cherland, “I Made a Friend in LA” — “I Made a Friend in LA” is the lead track on Connor Cherland’s new album, “It’s So Good to See You,” out this week. It’s the fourth full-length from the Santa Barbara-bred singer-songwriter.

■ Jordan Patterson,”Hey Mama!” — Following “Racecar,” solo artist Jordan Patterson shares “Hey Mama!,” from her debut LP “The Hermit,” dropping Sept. 19. Patterson says: “My mom and I have been through thick and thicker together. In my darkest moment, the thought of her reminds me that grace dreams, in its purest form, are worth desiring and already exist in my own life.”

■ Waverly Drive, “Debutante in a Limousine” — Friendly reminder that “Decadence” — Phil Galloni’s new album as Waverly Drive — arrived this week. See also: “Class,” “Roses on a Rainy Day” and “Lazy Day.”

■ The Two Lips, “Play” — Indie-pop duo The Two Lips drop “Play,” following “Clue.” The band says: “‘Play’ is an honest song about friendship breakups, explains the process of realizing some people aren’t meant to be friends forever. It wasn’t an easy thing to accept that we had drifted away from friends we thought we’d have for life. Even though things didn’t end up the way we both thought they would, it’s always love at the end of the day.” The Two Lips play Coachella on April 10 and 17.

■ Oslo, “Accidental Tourist” — Rock trio Oslo (Gabrial McNair, Kerry Wayne James and Mattia Borrani) have picked up where they left off — making overblown, atmospheric anthems à la stadium bands of the ’90s. Their EP, “The Great Divide” (out Nov. 14) is the first release in almost a decade, and No Doubt’s Adrian Young plays on new single “Accidental Tourist.” (McNair has been a touring member of No Doubt.) Live Nov. 5 at the Moroccan Lounge.

■ Avery Tucker, “My Life Isn’t Leaving You” — Following “Malibu,” “My Life Isn’t Leaving You,” co-produced by A.G. Cook, is the closing track from Tucker’s debut solo album “PAW,” out Oct. 10. Tucker says: “‘My Life Isn’t Leaving You’ is a song on the album that answers a larger question: Why journey through the storm? This song explores my devotion. How far will I go?”

■ Rosy Nolan, “Get On Me” — Smile awhile and watch Rosy Nolan ride a coin-operated horse (and fend off cowboys) in the Jack Hackett-directed video for the country artist’s new single, “Get On Me.” Nolan’s album “Main Attraction” is out Oct. 17. Live Oct. 16 at Pappy & Harriet’s.

■ Girlfriends, “Garbage” — Girlfriends are Travis Mills (fka T. Mills) and Nick Gross (Goldfinger), and “Garbage” is the latest pop-punk volley from their album “There Goes the Neighborhood” (out Oct. 24).

■ No Love for the Middle Child, “Broken Wings” — No Love for the Middle Child is the solo vehicle of Philadelphia-bred, L.A.-based songwriter producer Andrew Migliore. The emo-night-ready “Broken Wings” is a taste of the project’s debut album, coming in early 2026. Live Sept. 24 at the Echo, supporting Guccihighwaters.

■ Sherwyn, “Can’t Get Enough” — Sherwyn is a singer, songwriter and producer raised in Nashville who is one half of the duo Two Fresh, a musical project he created with his twin brother. “Can’t Get Enough” is an alt-pop track from his debut EP “Spin City,” out Oct. 14. “‘Can’t Get Enough’ is all about that rush of obsession you feel when real physical and emotional chemistry collide,” Sherwyn says. Watch him enjoy the nightlife in the music video here.

■ Ana Luna, “Bleeding Pen” — The follow-up to “Can We Pretend We Just Met in a Bar?” and “Daddy’s Empire,” “Bleeding Pen” is the latest single from Ukraine-born, Paris-reared Ana Luna’s new album “Tainted Silhouettes,” out Nov. 7.

■ Silverlake Conservatory of Music All-Stars, “Sick Love” — After releasing EPs saluting the Pretenders and Neil Young earlier this year, the Silverlake Conservatory of Music All-Stars turn to some local legends for “Our Loving Tribute to Red Hot Chili Peppers.”