5 Songs to Hear This Week: Panda Bear x Sonic Boom, Sango, Tom Vek

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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.

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


Panda Bear & Sonic Boom – “Danger”

Ready for the collab of your psychedelic dreams? Longtime collaborators Panda Bear (Animal Collective) and producer Sonic Boom (Spacemen 3) just released a proper debut LP made in each other’s sweet musical company. Offering a delightful, sometimes incongruous combination of layered, harmonic vocals and gentle guitar strums with purely electronic elements, this stirring single points to the success of the overall album, which has claimed the number one spot on KCRW’s Top 30 Chart.


Tom Vek – “Survive”

Here’s one to fill any remaining negative space in your head. A full-bodied, unrelenting wall of sound, this single from homegrown UK all-arounder Tom Vek (producer, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist) is big-big, even when it’s lying low. Featuring hard guitars, stacks of digital choral layers, and a drum machine on fire, this track’s purpose is clear: Survive or die.


King Isis – “ FANTASEA” 

Hats off to King Isis, staying centered in all their many forms: a multitudinous young artist crafting genre-bending music at once wholly new and deeply retrospective. With a confident, straightforward structure, steady few-frills production, and casual-cool vocalization reminiscent of a bathroom mirror pep-talk, this track from the self-proclaimed “counter-culture weirdo” is a no-brainer to stay icy cool in these hot summer days. 


Eddie Chacon – “Holy Hell”  

Angelenos tap in! Here we have a groovy cruiser made for a long, meandering trek across town on surface streets. Eddie Chacon’s got analog radio cred — after a long break from music, the ‘90s soul crooner has made a triumphant return supported by Stones Throw Records. This single’s both rootsy and fresh, so click in for some mellow funk to guide your current journey.


Sango – “Tongue Tied (Feat. asante)” 

DJ-producer Sango belies his Pacific Northwest roots with finely-tuned tropical sonic instincts. This sun-soaked track, which blends together influences from R&B, jazz, and samba music like a beachside piña colada, will perfectly suit any pleasure-seeking plans you may have for the near future… or inspire you to make some.