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Follow us on Spotify to keep up with our current obsessions, including 5 Songs to Hear This Week, Bent By Nature: Deirdre O'Donoghue and The Lost SNAP Archives (The Music), and our weekly sampler of KCRW’s Top 30 most played records.
Men I Trust – “Girl”
Get ready to slip into main-character syndrome: Montreal’s Men I Trust have just produced the soundtrack for your moodily meaningful close-up. More cinematic score than pop single, with a slow-flow sonic style and mesmerizing album art, this track hits like a benevolent spell cast by an unseen sorcerer. Submit to haunting choral vocals, gently-whispered lyrics en français, and a long… slow… build. Oh, girl.
ALASKALASKA – “TV Dinners”
There’s no questioning the fact that South London is now the white-hot hub of DIY music. Avant-pop duo ALASKALASKA embodies the anti-genre, pro-fluidity creative ethos of this environment. One rinse on this track may leave you flummoxed in the label department, so just toss ‘em all out and enjoy layers of moody synths, sweet acoustic riffs, hypnotic vocals, and soft-touch beats.
Clarke and the Himselfs – “SO SORRY”
An enigmatic artist sourced straight from LA’s local scene, Clarke and the Himselfs is the multitudinous moniker for an artist who is truly singular, in every sense of the word. Clarke herself plays every instrument you hear on this gloriously lo-fi, joyfully gritty track — and she plays them all at the same time. Described by one KCRW Music staffer as “a true punk with Brian Wilson’s sonic intuition,” Clarke and the Himselfs is undeniably radical, wildly in the cut, and already prolific, with over 400 tracks composed. Watch this space for more — she recently teamed up with Subpop Records, and is opening for Deerhoof at The Regent on Oct. 23.
Enny Owl – “Sandbox”
Dramatic, intuitive, and infused with a touch of magic, this track from singer-songwriter Enny Owl summons ancient energy to tackle a timeless tale of heartbreak. The London-born, LA-based “fantasy folk” artist utilizes a vocal-forward production style and song structures that evoke the ballads passed along through foregone oral traditions in her native UK. Vulnerable while composed, this modern-day fairy tale track is one for the ages.
No Age – “Compact Flashes”
Roughly 15 years ago, seminal LA art-punks No Age planted their lo-fi flag by becoming nearly synonymous with all-ages DIY space The Smell. Now into their third decade making music together, this duo of avant-garde weirdos still very much rip. “Compact Flashes,” off of their muscular, excellent new LP, People Helping People, taps a nervy-stutter-pulse, nonchalantly nonsensical lyrics, and multi-instrumental freak outs that together serve as a well-timed PSA for stayin’ strange.