Kevin Bronson on May 24th, 2024

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Here’s something to enjoy while enjoying your holiday weekend: Greatest Hits … This Week (Vol. 292) features new songs from, among others, Trapdoor Social, Annabel Lee, Jagged Baptist Club, Night Talks, Redd Kross, Fana Hues, Nitefire, Sparkbyrd, Storefront Church, Former Child Actor, Dream Phases and Catpack. Plus, we have tracks from new album/EP releases by Wallows, Frank Lenz, Low Hum, Young Jesus, Escape Artist Lovers and Winter. Enjoy.

■ Trapdoor Social, “Loneliness” — Brassy indie outfit Trapdoor Social (Skylar Funk, Louie Gonzalez, Gene Dickerson and producer Curt Schneider) have hooked up with Pasadena Records, and the band’s first release on the label has as much bounce to the ounce as any Saint Motel single. Trapdoor Social’s new album, “Echobloom,” is out Aug. 23.

■ Annabel Lee, “Mother Mary” — A year since her debut album, “Mother’s Hammer,” singer-songwriter Annabel Lee returns with a double-dose of visceral pop. The songs “Mother Mary” and “Colorful Kid” comprise “Couplet No. 1: The Panic & the Nightmare,” two songs that score a short film Lee made with collaborators Ivan and Gabriel Ovalle. “The songs and the film are a visceral and surreal capturing of how it can feel for me when I suffer from panic attacks that often cause me to black out, struggle to breathe and see, and also have very violent nightmares,” Lee says.

■ Storefront Church, “Melting Mirror” — Oozing with orchestrated splendor, “Melting Mirror” is the third single from songwriter-composer Lukas Frank’s debut album as Storefront Church, “Ink & Oil” (out June 28). Live June 28 at the Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever.

■ Former Child Actor, “Apples” — Former Child Actor is the solo project of Nate Paul, who fronted the short-lived but excellent indie-rock outfit Northern American.

■ Fana Hues, “Rentals” — Fana Hues bops into summer with “Rentals,” the follow-up to “Paper Tigers” and the launch single for her third full-length, “Moth,” out June 14. Live Aug. 28 at the Greek Theatre, opening for Lucky Daye.

■ Gigi, “María” — Gigi is a new indie-rock outfit combining the talents of Kristianne Bautista, Katherine Wall, James Aranda, Matt Maruskin, Dylan Marx and Paul Carter. Their first two-song release is titled “Cut Along … Line” (get it?) and there’s a lot to like. Live tonight on a huge bill at Genghis Cohen and June 9 at Non Plus Ultra.

■ The Mad Walls, “Who Wants to Die for Religion” — Musical mad scientist Christopher Mercado has restarted the engines on his project the Mad Walls, with a new album, “Have You Heard the News?,” out June 21 on U.K. label Big Potato Records. Get your ears bent with “Who Wants to Die for Religion.” 

■ Jagged Baptist Club, “Bull on a Chain” — Two and a half years after giving us “Temptation Death House” — an album that sounds as, er, jagged as its title — the L.A. quartet is back with the menacing but concise “Bull on a Chain,” their first release for U.K. label Nice Swan Records. Live Saturday at Permanent Records Roadhouse, with Hurt Hawks and Boy Deluxe.

■ Daniel Davies, “Ghost of the Heart” — Rocker-turned-film composer Daniel Davies is back to rocking again, with dynamic results. “Ghost of the Heart,” the follow-up to “I Know Why,” is the title track of his new album, out June 21 via Sacred Bones.

■ Babe Ruthless, “Black Cherry Gang” — Babe Ruthless is the quartet helmed by Mark Martino, who make full-tilt rock with one foot in the garage and the other in the surf. “Black Cherry Gang” is the latest single from the prolific foursome, who have released three albums (two in 2022 alone) and two EPs since debuting in 2018.

■ Dream Phases, “Speed of Light” — Shifting tempos as it zig-zags through space, “Speed of Light” introduces L.A. psych explorers Dream Phases’ new album, “Phantom Idol,” out July 12. Live July 6 at Gold-Diggers, along with Little Galaxies.

■ Ginger Root, “No Problems” — Multi-instrumentalist, producer, songwriter and visual artist Cameron Lew has announced that his new album, “Shinbangumi,” will be out Sept. 13. “No Problems” is a playful refinement of the sound he called “aggressive elevator soul” when he debuted six-plus years ago. Of “No Problems,” Lew says, “All the sonic logos of Ginger Root are in this song.”

■ Frank Lenz, “Living From a Song” — God bless Frank Lenz, who has written the perfect songwriter’s song. Lenz’s new EP, “Blending In,” is out today.

■ Escape Artist Lovers, “Heavy With Stars” — Here’s the title track to the new EP (out today) from Escape Artist Lovers, the duo of Kirk Hellie and Rain Phoenix. It’s includes an alternate version of their killer 2023 single, “Follow the Leader.”

■ Fashion Club, “Rotten Mind” (feat. Julie Byrne) — Pascal Stevenson’s first Fashion Club release since the 2022 album “Scrutiny” is the dreamy, layered “Rotten Mind.” Live May 29 at the Moroccan Lounge.

■ Night Talks, “Applause” — The follow-up single to “Double Vision,” “Applause” is the latest slice of pulsing pop-rock from Night Talks, the trio of Soraya Sebghati, Jacob Butler and Josh Arteaga. Live June 20 at the Paramount, with Child Seat and Broken Baby.

■ Redd Kross, “Born Innocent” — The follow-up to “Candy Coloured Catastrophe,” the fond-look-back “Born Innocent” is the second single from Redd Kross’ self-titled double-LP, out June 28. (The documentary “Born Innocent: The Redd Kross Story” has a sold-out premiere in L.A. on Thursday night.

■ Café Tacvba, “La Bas(e)” — The first single from Café Tacvba in seven years, “La Bas(e)” is an immigrant rights anthem that leads nicely into the band’s date with Caifanes on June 5 at the Hollywood Bowl.

■ Estevie, “La manera que me ves” — Twenty-one-year-old Mexican-American Estevie (the new nom de tune of Beaumont-reared Sarah Silva) is quickly becoming a pop It Girl for how she’s hybridizing regional Mexican music and pop. No surprise her 2023 EP was titled “Cumbalicious,” and now “La manera que me ves” is the new single she’s rolled out in advance of her appearance at Day 2 of Viva! Pomona on July 21 (not to mention a headlining show at the Paramount on July 18).

■ Wallows, “You (Show Me Where My Days Went)” — Friendly reminder that Wallows, the trio of Dylan Minnette, Braeden Lemasters and Cole Preston, today released their third album, “Model.” Featuring tracks such as “Your Apartment” and “Bad Dream,” it’s chock full of cherub pop-rock spanning many sub-genres. Live Sept 12 at the Kia Forum. Also: In-store appearances at 4 p.m. May 28 at Amoeba and at 5:30 p.m. at Fingerprints in Long Beach.

■ La Luz, “Always in Love” — Friendly reminder that “News of the Universe,” the fifth album from La Luz, arrived today, featuring goodies such as “I’ll Go With You,” “Poppies” and “Strange World.” Live Nov. 8 and Nov. 9 at the Lodge Room.

■ Low Hum, “Sultry” — Friendly reminder that “Terra Incognita,” the new album from Low Hum, is out today, showcasing Collin Desha’s penchant for fusing wonky synths, stabbing guitars, solid grooves and falsetto vocals. See also: “Dead Weight,” “Hints” and “Only If You Say So.”

■ Winter, “Anything at All” — Friendly reminder that Winter today released a typically dreamy new EP, “… And She’s Still Listening.”

■ Young Jesus, “MOTY” — Friendly reminder that Young Jesus’ new album, “The Fool,” is out today. Live June 6 at Scribble.

■ Untitled (Halo), “sKill isSue” — The trio of Jack Dione, Jay Are and Ariana Mamnoon — untitled (halo) is how they like to lowercase it — make cloudy dream-pop that’s like shoegaze on sedatives. Oddly compelling, no matter if you make sedatives a habit. Their first EP, last fall’s “Towncryer,” earned plaudits, especially for the Best Echo Park Song Title Ever, “El Prado Freestyle.” There may or may not be a hidden message in the capitalization of their new single, “sKill isSue.” Live June 29 at the Wiltern, opening for DIIV.

■ Nitefire, “Feeling (Making American Love)” — After extolling the City of Angels’ virtues last month on “LA’s Got Gorgeous,” it’s guitar pop, once more, with feeling, on “Feeling (Making American Love).”

■ Sparkbyrd, “Ruby Red Clementine” — Following “Arrow,” “Ruby Red Clementine” is the second single from the duo of Lauren Willow White and Chelsea Davis.

■ Laurel, “Only One” — U.K.-born, L.A.-based pop balladeer Laurel Arnell-Cullen will release her new album, “Palpitations,” on June 14. Live June 6 at El Cid.

■ Kaitlyn Olson, “Winter’s Here” (feat. RMR) — L.A. native Kaitlyn Olson has announced that her debut EP, “After the Rain,” will be out June 14.

■ Catpack, “The Top” — Awash in synths, beats and intertwining vocals, “The Top” is the new single from Catpack (Amber Navran [of Moonchild], Jacob Man and Phil Beaudreau), who will release their self-titled album on June 21 via Tru Thoughts. (See also: “What I’ve Found” and “Midnight.”)

■ Swerve, “I Wanna Be Adored” — Swerve’s version of the oft-covered Stone Roses hit (happy 25th birthday, album of our dreams) will appear on the L.A. quartet’s new EP, “The Darkroom,” out June 21. (Tip of the cap to the Raveonettes’ version, too.)