Today's Top Tune

Thirteen is a lucky number for David Gray who recently announced a robust world tour to coincide with his forthcoming 13th album Dear Life (due on Jan. 17, 2025). Gray defines the album by saying: “A lot has happened to me. There’s been change on so many levels, all the ups and downs and dramas and tragedies and joys that the slow movement through life brings. This record has been a reckoning with stuff that’s been building up like static for years. But I say this with joy and a smile on my face. I know what I’ve done is as good as anything I could possibly do.” And on that note, here’s a duet from the forthcoming album — a duet with newcomer Talia Rae called “Plus & Minus.”

Mapache songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Sam Blasucci swerves into his love of Motown as you’ll hear on the song “Flower.” You can find the track on Blasucci’s sophomore solo album Real Life — a place where he navigates new sonic territory.

We’ve got a beast of a track to share today by New Zealanders Lips. It’s called “The Wolf” and it features the sinister sound of E from EELS. We’ll let the band explain. “E had heard us on KCRW in LA, and reached out on Instagram,” recalls Lip Fen Ikner. “[It was] right around the time we had this track on the boil and were looking for a cool way to end it." "I’ve been an Eels fan for the longest time, and was truly honored to hear from him. I still can’t believe he was nice enough to go along with our nonsense.”

A child of Los Angeles, Ariella has been nurturing her creativity and fine tuning her songwriting since early on. This indie folk artist recently released her debut album Crybaby. From it, we share “Call Me Your Angel.”

Pablo Drexler (aka pablopablo) is the son of Academy Award-winning/Grammy-darling songwriter and guitarist Jorge Drexler. And pablopablo is shaping up to be a major player in the awards space himself, with two Latin Grammys already under his belt. The London-based indie artist connected with Helado Negro at a festival last year where they were playing on the same line-up. They quickly decided they wanted to work together. Pablo shares this insight: "What's incredible is that, no matter how much you love someone's work, there's no guarantee that when you get together one afternoon to make music, something worthwhile will come out of it. However, in this case, we were very lucky; I felt that every idea we had was enhanced in the hands of the other. I wish it were always like this!" You can hear their bond on “Lejos de Más,” or “Far From” in English.

We’re excited by the prospect of a new album by Sharon Van Etten, but this one is a little different. The self-titled LP (due Feb. 7, 2025) will be the debut of her collaborative work with her band The Attachment Theory — adding a new dimension to the sound and songwriting. “For the first time in my life I asked the band if we could just jam,” Van Etten muses. “Words that have never come out of my mouth, ever! But I loved all the sounds we were getting. I was curious. What would happen?” Magic, apparently. Van Etten went on to share that two tracks from the forthcoming album were written within the span of an hour through this process. We’ll have to wait to hear those, but we can all enjoy “Afterlife” right now. It’s a good preview of what’s to come with its weighty message boosted by a rapturous melody.

With Halloween around the corner and our Masquerade blowout at the Mayan tonight(!), we turn to a haunting track written by Z Berg (a founding member of The Like). “Better The Devil” is a song she constructed for the sleeper hit, summer thriller Strange Darling. We offer it here for your listening and downloading pleasure.

For Joseph Mount, mastermind behind the UK outfit Metronomy, The Posse EP Volume 2 represents a way of connecting with new music and new artists. It’s his way of championing newer performers and connecting with them. “The more I do stuff with other people, the more excited I get about doing my own music again…” explains Mount. “For me it’s a way of separating myself from the last 20 years of what I’ve done. You want to be proud of it and then move on.” To prove it, today we’re sharing “Contact High (Feat. Miki & Faux Real).”

It’s been roughly twenty years since London-based Tunng crept onto the scene with their genre-defying and timeless “pagan folktronica” debut album — This Is… Tunng: Mothers Daughters and other Tales. To celebrate, the band will release their eighth studio album Love You All Over Again on Jan. 24, 2025 via Full Time Hobby. It’s a record brimming with crunchy textures, nods to renaissance folk, and (maybe) a dash of Simon & Garfunkel. Enjoy this first foray into the LP — “Didn’t Know Why.”

Las Palabras, or Words in English, is the Spanish-language solo project of punk-scene veteran and member of !!! (Chk Chk Chk) — Rafael Cohen. Of his sophomore album Fe (Faith), Cohen says: “[it] deals with what it means to have faith, what it means to have doubts, and what it means to stay open to the idea that something untouchable and unknowable may exist”.

Each song on Bon Iver’s new EP SABLE reveals an autobiographical imprint of a different point in frontman Justin Vernon’s healing process. The title suggests the projection of built-up darkness and, ultimately, its release. “Things Behind Things Behind Things,” dates back to 2020 — a song born from a restless anxiety brought on by Vernon’s uncertain future as an artist. It’s a song through which he unpacks the past while puzzling himself back together.

We’ve got a new one from alt-country singer Margo Price! “Too Stoned To Cry” finds the singer sharing a mic and guitar duties with her friend Billy Strings. Price is a natural storyteller and this song illustrates why country music has always been a comfort to her, even in her darkest days. And it signals more to come as she prepares new music to be delivered in 2025.

If you’re a skeptic about love, it’s time to take a listen to the collaborative work of songwriters and producers Baba Stiltz and Okay Kaya. The pair’s aloof, anti-folk hymn “I Believe In Love” is “about loneliness, longing, and safety,” Baba Stiltz explains. “[It’s about] the joyful silliness of coupling and the fear it inevitably can lead to.” Kaya adds: “I am very lucky to get to sing this banger of a song with Baba. He makes me believe in all the silly things.”

Here’s the latest anthemic ballad from Katie Crutchfield, the mastermind behind Waxahatchee. “Much Ado About Nothing” is the first new song she’s shared since releasing Tiger’s Blood earlier this year. And we’re grateful that she did because it’s a fan favorite the band has been playing throughout their recent tour.

Ry Cuming, best known as RY X, was working on the song “You” when he realized he kept hearing ghostly smidgens of Hermanos Gutiérrez. But that audio imagery was only in his mind until he reached out to share the song with them. The duo loved what they heard and lept at the chance to collaborate, they even made the trek to Cuming’s Topanga Canyon studio to record.

London-based duo Kit Sebastian were motivated by their desire to fuse Indonesian and Turkish music. While most of their work is tempered by harmony, “Bul Bul Bul” is grounded by the track’s rhythm. Most of their music is written in recording sessions, but their approach here is to explore the spontaneous combustion of textures that tend to arise during soundchecks when they are out on the road.

Let’s get right to Yola telling us about her new recording in her own words: "From covering Soul II Soul for a reputable outlet, to my covers on tour and reworkings of my songs — the broad church of soul music through the ages has always been the narrative. This time I’m exploring my love of soul music through influences like Chaka Khan, Janet Jackson, Sade, Prince, Minnie Riperton, and various luminaries of rare groove and progressive R‘n’B. Layering programming and synths with organic instrumentation is at the core of the sonic landscape, and as usual I have metabolised these elements into a concoction very much of my own."

Fresh from a headlining set at NorCal fest Portola, and SoCal’s CRSSD Festival earlier this summer, Four Tet shares his latest collaboration with the help of Ellie Goulding — “In My Dreams.”

Bonobo (aka Simon Green) shares the record for most nominations (seven) in the Dance/Electronic recording category at the Grammys — alongside Madonna and The Chemical Brothers. On his latest single, “Expanders,” Green weaves his signature organic vocals and instrumentation into a yummy treat for those hankering for a heady throwdown in between album releases.

Effers, as we like to call them (thanks to the FCC), are a duo out of NYC delivering the latest surge of dance music. Their new EP Baggy$$ is sure to make many Top 10 lists this year. This EP features the downtempo beat of “Tommy,” said to be a one of the many scorchers when played at their off-the-radar and impromptu live shows.