Today's Top Tune

Americana duo Marfa makes music that ties Laurel Canyon to West Texas. Their vibrant sound is a proverbial hay bale of beautiful harmonies and foot-stomping good times. No matter how bad their hearts might be breaking, as you’ll hear on “Little Miss Two Time,” Marfa makes being left high and dry (almost) sound fun.

Discodelic-funk-punk trio Say She She just dropped “Under The Sun,” a tasty treat from their forthcoming third album Cut & Rewind (out Oct 3). It’s their dreamiest, most sway-ready song to date. Written during the WGA strike in 2023, the song is a summery ode to standing up to the man. Plus, it leaves plenty of room for the cognitive dissonance that comes from living in an idyllic setting… while also struggling under the weight of immense pressure.  

“Until the End of the World,” the first single from electro-wizard John Tejada’s forthcoming album The Watchline, is contemplative yet propulsive. Its shifting rhythms and saturated atmospheres are expertly woven together by Tejada’s steady hands. The result is a piece that’s both deeply felt and ultimately elusive.

Iconic troubadour Grant-Lee Phillips—best known for his songwriting achievements with 1990s band Grant Lee Buffalo—is just weeks away from dropping his 12th solo LP In The Hour of Dust. “She Knows Me,” comes to us from that album and is one of his most personal songs yet; an ode to his longtime partner and an acknowledgement of the fears and insecurities that come knocking in the wee hours of the night. 

P.S. In The Hour of Dust has a very cool backstory that was inspired by a visit to the Norton Simon Art Museum in Pasadena. There, Phillips wandered the elegant halls to look at a collection of detailed paintings from India, one of which shares the title to this new record. Read about the insights gleaned from the experience in his own words here. And catch Grant-Lee Phillips for an intimate performance at McCabe’s Guitar Shop on Saturday, Nov. 8.

What do you get when Hermanos Gutiérrez teams up with Leon Bridges? “Elegantly Wasted,” the Ecuadorian-Swiss, guitar wizard brother duo’s first song ever to feature English lyrics. By tapping their recent tourmate Bridges for the project, they’ve treated us to a sonic expansion of each artist's signature sound. The result is undulating rhythms,  silky vocals, and impeccable vibes. P.S. Prepare to swoon, because Hermanos Gutiérrez will be live at The Libbey Bowl in Ojai on Saturday, Sept. 20.

Sofie Royer spent a long time as the opening act for NYC multi-instrumentalists Rebounder. Naturally, they decided to join forces on the sexy new single “Tennis Bracelet.” Pick up this bouncy little number for a signature summer song ready to fulfill all of your playlisting needs.

Yola hit the music scene hard and fast with her 2019 debut, Walk Through Fire. Lately she’s been showing off her acting chops—as Sister Rosetta Tharpe in Baz Luhrmann’s 2022 Best Picture nominee ELVIS, and Persephone in Hadestown on Broadway.

Despite the detours, her songwriting skills are as potent as ever. Check out the high power track “Amazing.” This song, from her new EP My Way, is one she penned while dating stateside and imagining her future partner. Yola says: “I was in a function of actively manifesting those lyrics, and then when I met my person, the lyrics made sense.”

History of Silence (due Sept. 19) is the first new album from Icelandic outfit múm since 2013’s Smilewood. The new LP became something of a puzzle, taking two years to record, deconstruct, and put back together. The title hints at the album’s tone, but even though the songs are delicate, their color and boldness shines through. “Mild At Heart” reveals a carefully handpicked palette of electronic and analog sounds; an intricate introduction to the album. Immerse yourself in múm’s world when they play The Regent Theater on Thursday, Oct. 9.

Yttling Jazz is the heavy-hitting project of Swedish producer and songwriter Björn Yttling (Peter Bjorn & John). With help from luminescent singer Joshua Idehen, Yttling Jazz’s instrumental  “Illegal Hit” is reimagined into a new shape; a fabulously unpredictable spoken word dance track. 

RAKEL is steadily becoming a singular presence in the Icelandic soundscape. Her debut album a place to be is part diary and part landscape. It’s shaped by the acoustics of her family’s farm and all the birds, clocks, and creaky floorboards that add to the atmosphere. Opening track “rescue remedy” is a quiet anthem in which RAKEL reclaims herself from someone’s tight hold.