Kevin Bronson on August 16th, 2024

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Here, on the eve of Echo Park Rising, we bring you Greatest Hits … This Week (Vol. 303), featuring music from new albums by Starflyer 59, Foster the People and Hazel English, as well songs from forthcoming albums by Mo Dotti, The Linda Lindas, Ginger Root, Fashion Club, Bishop Briggs, Jerry Paper, FIDLAR, Gardens & Villa, Cold Cave, Current Joys and Jesse. Plus No. 303 in our weekly series includes two kinds of flame (Blondfire and Nitefire), two powerful pop anthems (Emma Cole and MILCK) and singles from Leo Lauren, Dev Ray, Jackson Rau and more. Find info on the track in the “liner notes” beneath the player.

Keep up with Buzz Bands LA’s playlisting here and find all the notes/info on the tracks here.

■ Starflyer 59, “Lust for Gold” — The album “Lust for Gold” marks the 17th full-length with Jason Martin at Starflyer 59’s helm. This is one of the band’s top four, nodding to their early heavy shoegaze days. We will never not advocate for a Starflyer 59 album; maybe we are simply struck by music that is unassumingly, resolutely, even stubbornly great. ICYMI, watch the film for the album’s lone single, “909.”

■ Mo Dotti, “Lucky Boy” — L.A. noise-maestros Mo Dotti this week announced the Sept. 20 arrival of their debut album, “Opaque.” The quartet (Gina Negrini, Guy Valdez, Andrew Mckelvie and Greg Shilton) evoked shoegaze greats My Bloody Valentine on “For Anyone and You.” New single “Lucky Boy” is equally dreamy and heavy.

■ Blondfire, “Dirty Fingers” — Another dose of kinetic pop from an artist with a vast reservoir of them, “Dirty Fingers” is Blondfire’s second single of 2024, following up “Foolish.”

■ Nitefire, “I’m in Love With Myself” — Britpop-channeling Nitefire unveil their third single of 2024, “I’m in Love With Myself.” See also “Feeling (Making American Love)” and “LA’s Got Gorgeous” and catch them live at 9:10 p.m. Saturday at the Echoplex as part of Echo Park Rising.

■ Leo Lauren, “Lovesick” — Leo Lauren (aka Leonardo Lawrence) already has an estimable body of work as a visual artist, and that’s him in the video for Phoebe Bridgers’ pre-“Killer” EP single “Waiting Room” from 2013. His propulsive debut single, “Lovesick,” was made with producer Heather Liz Baker (Chappell Roan’s musical director) and sounds made for ’90s FM, which means it should find a lot of ears today. The animated video is worth your time.

■ Ariella, “Now” — After releasing “Ready” and “Blindsided” this spring, Ariella has announced that her debut album “CryBaby” will be out Oct. 11 via Lauren Records. The heart-rending breakup song “Now” is the new single. Live at 7:15 p.m. Saturday at the Echoplex as part of Echo Park Rising.

■ Cold Cave, “Siren Song” — Since March, Cold Cave has released a song on the 15th of every month. “Siren Song” is August’s dancefloor-shaker, yet another entry from their album “Passion Depression,” out in October (on the 1`5th, of course). Live Sept. 20 at the Observatory and Nov. 2 at the Belasco as part of the Substance festival.

■ The Linda Lindas, “Yo Me Estreso” — The follow-up to “All in My Head,” “Yo Me Estreso” features “Weird Al” Yankovic on accordion. Now there’s a guest (he’s in the video, too). Anyway, “‘Yo Me Estreso’ is a song about always being stressed, always being anxious and thinking that people are mad at you when they really aren’t,” Bela Salazar explains. “It was inspired by listening to a lot of corridos tumbados, banda and Duranguense and doing that in our own punk style.” The Linda Lindas’ second full-length, “No Obligation,” is out Oct. 11. Live Sept. 14 at SoFi Stadium, supporting Green Day, Smashing Pumpkins and Rancid.

■ Current Joys, “They Shoot Horses” — Nick Rattigan slows it down on “They Shoot Horses,” the latest single from the new Current Joys album, “East My Love,” out Oct. 11. Live Nov. 22 at the Bellwether.

■ Emma Cole, “Hollow” — Emma Cole’s new single (and video, directed by Fiona Grey and Celeste Tauchar) “Hollow” takes a bald look at the abortion rights issue. Read the artist’s statement here.

■ Fashion Club, “Forget” (feat. Perfume Genius) — Fashion Club, the solo project of Pascal Stevenson (of Moaning), will release their sophomore album, “A Love You Cannot Shake,” on Oct. 25. Perfume Genius guests on the new single, “Forget.”

■ Ginger Root, “Only You” — “Only You,” Cameron Lew’s latest single as Ginger Root, is aural candy at its sweetest — but, somehow, not cloying. Ginger Root’s new album, “Shinbangumi,” is out Sept. 13. Live Sept. 26 at the Observatory and Nov. 3 at the Palladium.

■ Jerry Paper, “Moonstruck” — Speaking of things that make us smile, Lucas Nathan will release his latest Jerry Paper album, “INBETWEEZER,” on Sept. 27. “Moonstruck” is the new single, arriving just past the announcement of a tour that visits the Teragram Ballroom on Oct. 11.

■ Foster the People, “See You in the Afterlife” — Friendly reminder that Foster the People’s new album, “Paradise State of Mind,” is out today. “See You in the Afterlife” is the opening bop.

■ FIDLAR, “Sad Kids” — A month away from the release of their fourth album (and first in five years), “Surviving the Dream,” FIDLAR return with its fourth single, “Sad Kids.” In case you don’t get their drift, sad kids like to party, too, y’know.

■ Dev Ray, “When You Smile” — The sublimely breezy “When You Smile” is, basically, a bonus track to Dev Ray’s self-titled debut album, released almost a year ago. Like the songs on the LP, it was co-written with and produced by Andy Petr. In fact, it was the first song the pair worked on together.

■ Mal Not Bad, “AP” — Last week, Mal Not Bad (Mal Hauser) released the new album, “This Is Your New Life,” a collection of spare (and affecting) art-pop/jazz/folk.

■ Jackson Rau, “Last Thing I Said” — Songwriter-producer Jackson Rau extracts maximum emotion from seemingly simple arrangements. He’s released four songs this year (“Vampire” came out this week), and we’ve matriculated to the lovely July single “Last Thing I Said.” His new EP, “God Cursed the Artist With Eyes,” is on the way.

■ Lola Bllue, “Carlisle” — Lola Bllue is the nom de tune of Lola Koepke, an art-schooler who debuted in April with the single “Forever Means Nothing.” “Carlisle,” released in late July, is her third dose of confessional pop.

■ Almost Monday, “She Likes Sports” — “We really didn’t take this track too seriously and were just having fun with the writing process, which translated into an odd head-turner of a song that we love,” the lads in Almost Monday confess about their new pop volley “She Likes Sports.” It’s the latest single from the San Diego band’s debut album, “Dive,” out Sept. 25.

■ Jonathan Thomas Maiocco, “Be Alright” — Singer-songwriter, producer and film composer Jonathan Thomas Maiocco will release his new album “Religious Trauma Syndrome and the Other Side” on Aug. 30. Its production-heavy pop songs, he says, deal with “my experience of being rejected for being gay by religious community and my journey through to the other side.”

■ MILCK, “This Skin” — The new single from Connie Lim is a bold affirmation inspired, she says, by the goddess Kuan Yin (here’s an introduction in MILCK’s “Chinese Goddess of the Week”).
A statue of the goddess adorned the altar her family’s home. “Kuan Yin was like an oasis amidst a world that constantly messaged that women were not as valuable as men,” Lim explains. “I used to draw sketches of her, feeling a comfort, and a hope, that I too, a girl, could matter, and be a respected Chinese woman one day.”

■ Jesse, “Shoot It Straight” — Jesse Rutherford (The Neighbourhood) and four co-writers check in with a single that clock in a tick over 2 minutes, “Shoot It Straight.” His solo album, “Wanted?,” is out Sept. 20.

■ Bishop Briggs, “Mona Lisa on a Mattress” — Bishop Briggs’ new belter “Mona Lisa on a Mattress” introduces the singer-songwriter’s third full-length, “Tell My Therapist I’m Fine,” out Oct. 18. It’s her third full-length and first since 2019’s “Champion.”

■ Gardens & Villa, “Jewels” (feat. Jahsh Banks) — The follow-up to “Back to the Garden,” “Jewels” is the latest single from Gardens & Villa’s fifth full-length, “Ultra Terrestrial,” out Sept. 13. Live Oct. 13 at Zebulon.

■ Hazel English, “River Town” — Today brought the release of a new album from Hazel English; “Real Life” gathers up singles from the artist’s 2022 “Summer Nights EP, along with ensuring singles such as “Real Life,” “Jesse” and “Heartbreaker.”

■ Marella, “Silver Lake” — Friendly reminder that Daniel Marella’s new EP, “Wide Guy,” is out today. “Silver Lake” is the opening track.

■ Anna Orbison, “You Broke Me” — Anna Orbison, who fronts the Americana outfit The Sound of Ghosts, has released five singles as a solo pop artist. The breakup bop “You Broke Me” is the latest.

■ Yoke Lore, “The Score” — Last fall brought the release of “Toward a Never Ending New Beginning,” the debut album by Yoke Lore (aka Adrian Galvin). New single “The Score” is yet another example of his outsized folk-pop.

■ Austin Jay, “Teenage Runaway” — “Teenage Runaway” is the latest pop-rock single from SoCal native Austin Johnson, aka Austin Jay< who released a self-titled EP (produced by Caleb Hulin) earlier this year and whoo plays an early set Saturday, Aug. 24 at the Viper Room.

■ Matt Costa, “Let the Light Shine On” — We’ll bring this week’s playlist in for a smooth landing with “Let the Light Shine On,” from songwriter Matt Costa’s new film project, “Explorations of Sight and Sound, Vol. 1.”