5 Songs to Hear This Week: Shintaro Sakamoto, Bruno Capinan, Tamino, and more

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Hey! Did you know that there’s an entire aspect of KCRW music discovery that you might be missing out on? Fear not, because our 5 Songs to Hear This Week newsletter is now a weekly feature on our website. Watch this space for rundowns of the five songs that you need in your life immediately, curated by KCRW Music staff. Don’t want to wait for your latest taste of fresh tunes? Sign up for the Friday newsletter here, and always be the first to know.

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Bruno Capinan – “Qualquer Lugar”

Here’s one to command your full attention. Queer and non-binary singer-songwriter Bruno Capinan originally hails from Salvador, Brazil and is now based in Toronto, bringing Afro-samba elements to a deeply fresh take on bossa nova. Capinan crowns it with an awe-inducing video pairing natural beauty with its human counterpart.


André Bratten – “Ballroom”

Heads up, we’ve got just the track for that immersive sound bath egg you’ve been building in your garage. Norway’s André Bratten whips up creamy beats that could be described as cosmic disco, but the listening experience lends itself more to internalized escapism than euphoric dance floors. Click to experience the mesmerizing visualizer made to accompany the song, and go get the album, “Picture Music”, out now via Smalltown Supersound. 


Shintaro Sakamoto – “Like A Fable” 

Ready for some vintage lounge lizard vibes? Osaka psych-rock icon Shintaro Sakamoto is back with a brand new album in his follow-along storybook style. Its title track offers a grab bag of brass, percussive rarities, and smile-worthy samples. It’s the ticket to the sweet throwback experience you didn’t know you were missing.


Tamino – “Fascination”  

Antwerp-based Egyptian-Belgian musician Tamino is taking multi-instrumentalism to a new level. He’s long been an accomplished practitioner of piano and guitar, with his new work incorporating the oud, a traditional Arabic lute. The instrument compliments a vocal style that is right at home on the indie-rock/post-punk sound spectrum, and which had us double-taking for Mark Kozelek (Red House Painters, Sun Kil Moon). It all blends together into a magical elixir, and we’re so ready for his sophomore album “Sahar” to drop in September.


Barry Can’t Swim – “God Is The Space Between Us (Feat. Taite Imogen)” 

Miss your rave days? Throw on this beat-laden epic to find yourself transported to the field, warehouse, or playa of your dreams. An electronic dance track that’s at once energizing and deeply calming, this one from London producer Joshua Mannie — the man who asserts that Barry Can’t Swim — is your surefire soundtrack to soulful reconnection.