Today's Top Tune

As summer festivals wind down, we turn to ever prolific Afro-funky Ibibio Sound Machine and frontwoman Emo Williams delivering a heart-pounding, foot stomping, floor burning EP, The Black Notes. That comes on the heels of their album Pull The Rope, released earlier this year. What better way to celebrate than dropping the needle on the title track. 

Karl Blau came up in the Anacortes, Washington scene making music alongside artists like Laura Veirs and The Microphones before heading across the country to settle in Philly. 

While putting the finishing touches on his new album, Vultures Of Love — slated for release Oct. 18 — Blau delivers “Pasadena,” an alt-country song inspired by a friend-breakup and the yearning to reconnect. 

Jana Mila pulls from a lot of different sources to write her songs, a poised and nuanced songwriter; it's the sound of Laurel Canyon folk or Nashville twang. A cross between Fleet Foxes and Kurt Vile, the Amsterdam-based singer steps into her own on her debut album Chameleon. 

When Eric Clapton says that Mk.gee “found things to do on the guitar that are like nobody else,” you tend to pay attention. Turn to the sonic architect’s debut album Two Star & The Dream Police, and start with “Are You Looking Up.” 

LA-based soul and funkster Nikka Costa invites you into her current heart and headspace and navigates you into joy on her new album, Dirty Disco. “I know I need it and figured we all do sometimes,” declares Costa. “It's up, it's dancy, it's happy, it's funky, it's positive, and it's not taking itself too seriously, which is how I want to feel most days!” 

20-year-old Riverside native Ivan Cornejo began taking mariachi classes at church and learned to play guitar through YouTube lessons. Launching his staggering headlining tour with a new album, Mirada, Cornejo folds his growing pains, both personal and as a rising star, into intimate songs. 

Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ellen Reid’s work spans opera, film scoring, avant-pop, and more. A new album, Big Majestic, collects work from Ellen Reid SOUNDWALK, a famed public art project reimagining urban parks as interactive soundscapes that not only travel through ambient, jazz, and minimalism, but has been featured in legendary places like New York’s Central Park, LA’s Griffith Park, as well as Tokyo’s Ueno Park. Let’s check out the heady sound of “Spiritual Sun,” featuring a star of the jazz scene, Shabaka Hutchings, on the shakuhachi flute. 

Titans of Malian music Amadou & Mariam have been making and shaping the African music landscape for nearly 50 years. To celebrate their illustrious career, they’re issuing a retrospective compilation of their greatest hits, plus a new track composed by nomadic artist and activist Manu Chao. “Mogolu,” meaning “people” in Bambara, echoes their commitment to world peace while inviting us to dance. 

Greatish Hits, a new compilation of classics culled from Father John Misty’s five prestigious albums, includes an appropriately-titled brand new song “I Guess Time Just Makes Fools of Us All,” clocking in at eight whopping minutes. 

Channeling a fusion of ‘60s French pop, Brazilian tropicalia, and slinky reggae, Claude Fontaine’s new album La Mer echos a dreamy utopia-by-the-sea. Be prepared to sway to a samba beat on “Vaquiero.”