Today's Top Tune

Some say Soccer Mommy’s third album “Sometimes, Forever” is her boldest and most adventurous work yet, and we’re inclined to agree. On “Shotgun,” the gifted rocker taps into the idea that neither happiness nor sorrow are permanent.

NY-born, LA-based producer Gianluca Buccellati is the wizard behind work by a bounty of today’s most dynamic artists, including Arlo Parks ’ 2021 standout “Collapsed In Sunbeams.” Under the moniker Bien et Toi, the Grammy nominee steps into the limelight for his debut solo project. On “Rainbow Tables,” Bien et Toi taps collaborator Biig Piig for stunning vocals.

Come Sept. 9, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs fans will be able to get their hands and ears on the British electronic producer’s hotly-anticipated new album “When the Lights Go.” Effortlessly binding indie sensibilities and organic dance beats, “Never Seen You Dance” rides on a wave of romantic infatuation.

A compelling voice in global hip-hop, Sampa The Great lived up to her moniker on MBE recently. In the last couple of years, the Zambian-born, Botswana-raised poet returned to Zambia where she dug deep to find the strength she needed from her upbringing to pour into her work. “Never Forget” is an ode to the socially prolific genre of Zamrock.

Have you settled on your summer anthem yet? C’mon, it’s the end of August! But fear not — we’ve got you covered with this playful Moon Boots track, recalling a nostalgic lover wooing back their crush on “Come Back Around,'' featuring Cherry Glazerr on vocals.

Kansas City-based band Making Movies is said to make “American music with an exclamation point,” because their sound embodies both North and South America. That’s particularly exemplified on the title track of their fourth album, where wisps of zydeco, cumbia, and the polyrhythms of the Americas converge on “XOPA.”

Have you checked out the mix French house legends Braxe + Falcon recently delivered on FREAKS ONLY? According to host Travis Holcombe, they are proper dance music royalty, a moniker he does not dispense lightly. After laying down a beat on “Step By Step,” the duo reached out to Animal Collective’s Panda Bear to provide vocals, who in turn wrote and performed in the track, transforming the instrumental into a beautiful song. In its final form, the tune could be defined as a power ballad with French house DNA.

London-based artist, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Oscar Lang reached out to the Gen-Z, LA based indie-pop polymath Wallice when he penned a track about a place he’d always heard about but never visited. What feels like a precursor to Randy Newman’s “I Love LA,” “I’ve Never Been To LA” is an anthem for all of those who have only ever heard about our fair city, but only experienced it through movies and TV shows.

New York-based DJ and producer DJ Python, maker of mesmerizing instrumentals, teams up with Colombian electronic artist Ela Minus on a collaborative EP, “♡” (referred to as “corazón”), dropping in mid-September. The duo share “‘Pájaros en Verano,” or “Birds in Summer,” a song written in response to pandemic isolation.

Rounding out a week of artists playing This Ain’t No Picnic , going down Aug. 27 and 28 Brookside at the Rose Bowl, we saved New York-based collective Michelle to close out the run. Michelle’s album “After Dinner We Talk Dreams” was named by Billboard as one of the “10 Best Pride Albums of 2o22,” and their layered vocal harmonies and hooky vibes abound on the pensive “Sea Shanty.”