Today's Top Tune

Smashup duo Wajatta (Reggie Watts and John Tejada) showcase their evolution in sound with new music. We hear them getting deeper into the groove and lyrics on “Something More Than This.”

LA-based artist Dijon gets in close for “Talk Down” as he tells the tale of a bickering couple over a careening breakbeat.

During the day, you’ll find Lucas Gorham toiling away as a librarian in the Los Angeles school system, but he’s also a thriving music maker known as Lucas/Heaven. Lucas/Heaven proves to be a gifted lyricist, having penned “Every City Has A Rhythm,” a song that tackles gentrification and recalls artists like Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. Be sure to check out his (free!) show at Zebulon alongside local favorites Harriet Brown and Tolliver on Jan. 6.

Around this time of year, we start to long for warmer weather, which is why we asked Superchunk to share “Endless Summer,” a track replete with sweet harmonies from Norman Blake and Raymond McGinley of Teenage Fanclub.

Welcome to 2022! We charge out of the gate with “Shooting Stars,” a song that shimmers with hope and makes the impossible possible, by SoCal indie-disco troubadour Woolfy.

Hip-hop guru Madlib finds rhythm in everything he touches or hears. Back in 2018, Madlib sent electronic apostle Kieran Hebden, a.k.a. Four Tet, 350 pieces of music that the DJ-producer then whittled down to forty minutes to produce their album “Sound Ancestors.” Today we share a short and sweet track to bid farewell to 2021 with “Riddim Chant.”

Yesterday, we honored Joni Mitchell with a song from Trousdale. Today, we turn to the queen herself. Her seminal album “Blue” turned 50 this year. To celebrate, a new compilation, “Blue 50 (Demos & Outtakes),” has been issued offering a different perspective on one of the greatest albums of all time, plus an unreleased song that she liked to perform but was cut from the original album. Here is “Hunter.”

Indie-folk trio Trousdale pay tribute to their musical hero, Joni Mitchell, by incorporating lines from the master’s opus to create “Always Joni.”

What are you looking forward to in 2022? We are looking forward to the debut album by London-based, pan-continental, instrumental bad-asses Los Bitchos, a band many of our DJs are digging. Take a listen to the energetic stylings of “Las Panteras.”

Inspired and encouraged by musician mentors in her native Woodstock, Jayla Kai began to write songs as a child. Melody and poetry align on the quiet sound of ‘paperread.’