Today's Top Tune

La Vacanza, which translates to "The Vacation", is an Italian pop band based in Bergen, Norway. Led by Sofia Guidi’s dreamy vocals, their debut EP In Riva Al Mare, Italian for "by the sea", is exquisitely produced and getting a lot of love at KCRW. One of our favorites, "Tuoi Occhi", is about getting lost in your loved one's eyes. 

Dutch multi-instrumentalist ZEP channels punk, alt-rock, hip-hop and electronic music into a restless, genre-blurring sound. Raised around live music and originally trained as a drummer, he brings raw energy and a mischievous edge to “FIGURE IT OUT,” a bass-heavy blast about trying to make sense of a relationship that’s veered dangerously off course. 

New Jersey-born, Nashville-based country crooner Nicole Atkins returns with Drama, her seventh album and first all-new full-length in over six years. A standout is “Cue the Symphony,” featuring guest vocals from longtime friend Chris Isaak. Atkins calls the song the "sadness but sexy" centerpiece of the new album, and it's Today's Top Tune. 

Dragonflies is the new collaboration between Dhani Harrison and acclaimed producer Nigel Godrich - best known for his work with Radiohead. Built on decades of shared influences, their music blends experimentation, guitar-driven songwriting and atmospheric production. Their self-titled debut is out now and features "Setting Sun", which is Today's Top Tune. 

Now 75 years old, American blues singer Seasick Steve has teamed up with Grammy-winning producer Martin Terefe for his latest album, “The Last Season of America”. The title song was born out of a 2024 road trip across America, where Steve found himself confronting poverty, division and a country he fears is losing its way, and it's Today's Top Tune.

Toronto's Kazdoura fuse Syrian and Lebanese musical traditions with psych rock, funk, soul and jazz. Vocalist Leen Hamo is a Syrian war refugee, which explains why their songs explore cultural migration, memory and the feeling of being caught between two places. Their Juno-winning debut Ghoyoum features our favorite song Khayal, and it's Today's Top Tune. 

On his fifth solo album, his first in eight years, My Morning Jacket's Jim James builds “Lost Child” around a loop of Maxine Brown’s 1964 take on Gerry Goffin and Carole King’s “Oh No Not My Baby.” Soulful and gently shuffling, the song finds James reflecting on feeling lost in a fractured world and searching for a way back to hope. 

Orchestrator and arranger Arthur Fischl reimagines Carl Stone's glitchy sonic odyssey as an exuberant orchestral work. Created in close collaboration with the composer and performed by the Fischl Fresser Ensemble, the new "Figli" gives us a playful collision of big-band, classical and avant-garde textures, while retaining Stone's inimitable style.

Haruomi Hosono is the last surviving member of the pioneering Japanese ensemble Yellow Magic Orchestra. At 79, his 23rd solo album is out today, his first in seven years. KCRW is proud to present his LA stop at the Greek Theatre on Sunday, September 20th, with support from Toro y Moi. 

Australian psych-surfers Babe Rainbow blend ’60s psychedelia and ’70s surf-pop with folk, funk, dub and global grooves. Formed in Byron Bay in 2015, the trio has built a cult following through their playful, sun-soaked sound. We're loving “Mangoes,” from the new album Acid and Honey, with its lo-fi leanings and funky drive.