Kevin Bronson on April 17th, 2026

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Our 383rd edition of Greatest Hits … This Week features songs from new album/EP releases by Sean Solomon, Sam Blasucci, Tender Misfit, Foxtide, MacGregor Burns, Beaming, Nick Flessa and Lø Spirit. Plus, check out tasty singles from Blond in Car, Lauren Lakis, Young the Giant, HOTT MT, Bedouine, Devlin and the Harm, Livingmore, Jesse Lynn Madera, Maya J’an, Ear Ringers, Jessy Fury and a bunch more. There’s a killer cover by Jesika von Rabbit as the cherry on top.

Previous Buzz Bands LA playlists, with liner notes, here.

Anita Mills contributed to this roundup.

■ Sean Solomon, “Finish Line” — We’ve reached the “Finish Line” — and Sean Solomon has a typically brilliant animated video for it. Solomon (previously of Moaning and Moses Campbell) today released is solo debut LP, “The World Is Not Good Enough,” about which he says: “These songs are almost coming from a place of childlike expectations.” Indeed, something in this eight-song collection (highlighted by “Car Crash” and “Remember”) elevates deeply contemplative songwriting beyond mere bummerdom or neurosis. Engage. Live May 16 at Pappy & Harriet’s, opening for Unknown Mortal Orchestra.

■ Blond in Car, “Bad Dad” (feat. Mannequin Pussy) — Robin Schorr, aka Blond in Car, the self-proclaimed “groovy aunt of dream-pop,” returns with her first single in two years, “Bad Dad.” It’s produced by Jay Som and features Missy Dabice from Mannequin Pussy, and if you’ve ever busted a grin watching Blond in Car do Omnichord covers (or originals, for that matter) on social media, the sight of her busting out the profane chorus in Trader Joe’s is pure bliss. People, have fun with this. 

■ Devlin and the Harm, “Kingdom Comes” — Devlin McCluskey (ex-Dead Ships) has released the second single from his solo project Devlin and the Harm, with the project’s self-titled album arriving May 22. “Kingdom Comes” (no AI was involved in the the self-animated video) was, McClusky says, “a turning point for me. My last band faded away, I’d lost touch with my friends, we were in this new dark era of American society, and I just felt like if I didn’t squeeze with all my might I’d float off into the abyss. I’d tried to write songs in the past that explore themes of sobriety, white knuckling, shame, failed relationships, and sort of battling personal demons while society crumbles in the background, but I never quite found the sound that makes me feel the depth of all those things.” He adds: “It’s the first song I send to anyone I hope to work with, it was the song that made Alex Newport want to produce the album, and I don’t know if it’s the best thing I’ve ever written but it’s certainly the first song I want to listen to on these dark cloudy days.” See also: “No Havana.”

■ HOTT MT, “Time Banisher” — The follow-up to “All Along,” “Time Banisher” is the latest single from HOTT MT’s new album, “Haunted House,” out May 13. On the new single, the duo (Nick Logie and Ashleigh Allard) tap into the spacey wonder of ’60s psychedelia (and later in the album, connect the sonic dots between that era and what is now called dream-pop). Live May 17 at Sid The Cat Auditorium, opening for Vinyl Williams.

■ Young the Giant, “Already There” — “A song about distance, longing, and the quiet ways we stay connected to the ones we love, no matter how far we roam,” Young the Giant say about the third single from their sixth album, “Victory Garden,” arriving May 1. Live July 17 at the Kia Forum, along with Cold War Kids and KennyHoopla.

■ Tender Misfit, “Stargirl” — Today brought the release of “Stargirl,” the seven-song EP from Tender Misfit, the solo project of Ariel Beesley. Her pop confections are equal parts sugar and caffeine, smartly produced by Dave Katz and sung with a certain je ne sais quoi. See also: “I Touch Myself” and “An Act of God.” Listening party tonight at the Elysian.

■ Livingmore, “Ready to Escape” — Livingmore (Spencer Livingston and Alex Moore) continue to roll out singles from their self-titled album (out next month), today unveiling the spirited rocker “Ready to Escape.” It’s one of those gotta-get-away moments. Highlights of the album so far: “Away Away Away,” “Not That Nice” and “Undone.”

■ Bedouine, “Always on Time” — File under: Simply heavenly. The follow-up to “Long Way to Fall,” “Always on Time” is the second single from Bedouine’s fourth album, “Neon Summer Skin,” releasing June 5. Live June 6 at Largo at the Coronet.

■ Sam Blasucci, “Physical Dream” — Friendly reminder that “Physical Dream,” the fourth album (and first double-LP) from Sam Blasucci (of Mapache). Of the title track, the 28th and final song on the album, Blasucci says: “It’s just me praying, which I don’t even really believe in anymore, but for some reason I feel compelled to ask of any god or any power in the universe to merge my physical world with my dream world.” Live April 22 at El Cid. Also live June 4 at the Observatory and June 5 at Pappy & Harriet’s, both opening for Allah Las.

■ MacGregor Burns, “Lay Down on Me” — Speaking of friendly reminders, “My Corner,” the sophomore album from MacGregor Burns, is out today. Produced by Luke Temple, the LP looks at love from all sides, with the punchy rocker “Lay Down on Me” serving as kind of an outlier.

■ Jesse Lynn Madera, “Woke Up in LA” — Singer-songwriter Jesse Lynn Madera was born in West Virginia, reared in Houston and has called many cities home before her latest move from New York City to Los Angeles. Her folk gem “Woke in LA,” she says, “is a testament to resilience and the persistence of love, even through the dog days.”

■ Joey Quiñones, “Don’t Let Go” — Big news: Modern day Chicano soul artist and the pride of East L.A. Joey Quinones (of Thee Sinseers) will finally drop his debut album, “Inna Soul Steady Situation” May 29 via Colemine Records. Soul meets rock steady in the latest track, “Don’t Let Go.”

■ Vinyl Williams, “Soulgaze” — “Star Harmony,” the new album from psychedelic whiz Vinyl Williams, will be released May 15, and Nailah Hunter joins Williams on the latest single, “Soulgaze.” It’s in the cards for you to hear this. Live May 17 at Sid the Cat Auditorium, supported by HOTT MT.

■ Foxtide, “Heart in the Ground” — San Diego’s Foxtide today released their third album, “Entropy,” which arrives full of unabashedly tuneful power pop and … a grand achievement in hype. The band vowed that if their LP got 10,000 pre-saves, bassist Oey James would run a marathon wearing a Canadian tuxedo and carrying his bass. It happened. Meanwhile, Bowen Moreno’s video for “Heart in the Ground” is a trip. Live May 23 and May 27 at the Echo, with Hana Eid supporting.

■ Maya J’an, “New June” — Alt-pop solo artist Maya J’an releases “New June,” the third single off her upcoming EP “Blindfaith County,” dropping May 15, via Soulpower Records / Warner Records. J’an says of the track produced by Riss: “This one is for the hopeful, the blind-faithers, and the local angels who can’t help but look up into the sky.”

■ Jessy Fury, “Something Bout a Broken Heart” — We’ve been there, you’ve been there, and so has Jessy Fury, who tapes into ’80s-styled pop for his new single “Something Bout a Broken Heart.”

■ Hunx and His Punx, “Dead To Me” — Hunx and His Punx follow up their album “Walk Out on This World” with the two-track, 7-inch “The Punkettes,” dropping May 29 via Get Better Records. “Dead To Me” is a girl-group inspired rock song filled with stylized monologues. Live June 4 & June 5 at Alex’s Bar.

■ Ear Ringers, “I Don’t Need It” — East L.A. quintet Ear Ringers have announced the May 15 arrival of their new album, “Keep It to Yourself.” They released “Midnight Love” in March and followed this month with “I Don’t Need It.”

■ Primitive Ring, “Lies From the Other Side” — Primitive Ring’s new ripper “Lies From the Other Side” follows “Heads Will Roll” as the latest single from the band’s self-titled album, arriving May 16. Watch the trio (Bert Hoover, Charles Moothart and Jon Modaff) cut loose in the video. Live June 9, June 16, June 23, June 30 at Zebulon.

■ Lauren Lakis, “Heaven Felt Too High” — The second slab of shoegaze from Lauren Lakis’s forthcoming album “Deadlights” (out May 8) is “Heaven Felt Too High.” Just ask the angel in the video. Live June 12 at Permanent Records Roadhouse.

■ Modern Time Machines, “No Heart of Gold” — Long-running (and maybe time-traveling?) shoegaze quintet Modern Time Machines return with the new single “No Heart of Gold,” their wall of sound as formidable as ever. Live Sunday at Gold-Diggers, supporting Giant Waste of Man.

■ Casi, “Jumper” — Eli Edwards and Xay Young of the genre-bending duo Casi met over 12 years ago during elementary school in Spanaway, a military-base town located in Washington. Their self-titled debut LP drops June 19 by way of Carpark Records. The lead single “Jumper” is the product of a canceled show in DTLA due to ICE protests: “We ended up spending most of the day driving around the city trying to find something to do, seeing some really upsetting stuff. You’re on the freeway and a squad of 10 cop cars will fly by filled with 4 guys with AR’s, and we’re all thinking ‘for what?.’ They were putting peoples grandparents in cuffs and kids getting tear-gassed, it just was all so dehumanizing. We were charged up, and it really comes through on this track.” Watch the boxer wear Muay Thai shorts in the music video here.

■ Beaming, “Bug Bite” — Friendly reminder that “Horseshoe” drops today, the new LP from indie-pop duo Beaming (Derek Ted and Braden Lawrence) via Rose Garden. The band says of “Bug Bite,” following “Stuck (here)”: “This is a song about finding balance in a relationship and figuring out your capacities and willingness to give.” Live May 9 at Scribble.

■ Paper Pools, “Gentian” — Solo artist Paper Pools (Allen Orr) drops his nine-track debut LP “Everything” on May 29. “Gentian” is a pulsing ambient electronic track. Orr says: “Gentian is both a flower and the name of the hill where I lived in Ireland — a rocky stretch of coastline right on the water. That place holds a special meaning for me. It’s where many of my formative memories were made, and in some ways, it still feels alive inside me.”

■ Grey DeLisle and Les Greene, “The Pieces” — Singer-songwriter and voice actress Grey DeLisle teams up with soul man Les Greene on “The Pieces,” the first single from the album “Grey & Greene,” produced by James Intveld and out June 5.

■ Westerner, “Slow Burns” — The follow-up to “Villain” and “Doppelganger,” “Slow Burn” is the latest dose of synth-pop from Westerner, whose third album “Villain Era” is out later this year.

■ Able Machines, “Everybody’s in a Band” — Yep.

■ Bad Motivator, “Information Overload” — Classic punkers Bad Motivator (Brian Von Wolfe, Javier Zuniga, David Ayon, Christopher Westcott and Michael Garcia) drop “Information Overload” from their upcoming album, “The Album,” dropping May 8.

■ Nick Flessa, “Rise of John Wayne Bobbitt” — Yes, the stories are in the music on Nick Flessa’s new instrumental album, “A Different Kind of Energy” (out today), but the song titles match his frisky Americana in their meaning and humor. We heard singles such as “The Terror, the Traitor and the Tastemaker” and “Ira Louvin’s Inner Child.” So behold “Rise of John Wayne Bobbitt” (video), and if that name doesn’t ring a bell, a smile is only a web search away.

■ Lø Spirit, “See Me Now” — Alt-rock artist Lø Spirit (Joshua Landry) debut album “Isn’t Life Beautiful” drops today. Landry says: “This album is a journey through my true lived experiences over the last several years. It’s about the realization that all of my worst moments have led me to my best life.” The final single, “See Me Now,” is a hard rock anthem with ardent vocals. Watch the dark fantasy music video here. Live July 25 at Warped Tour.

■ Jesika von Rabbit, “Drive” — This week’s playlist-ending cover song comes courtesy of Jesika von Rabbit, who takes R.E.M.’s “Drive” for a spin and … well, enjoy the ride. “I’m a big R.E.M. fan,” she says. “I love many of their songs, but ‘Drive’ has such a lonely, haunted feel and I wanted to do something even more sparse with it.”