Today's Top Tune

Eddington Again is an artist that spent some time on KCRW’s Top 30 charts this year, and whose album Naomi9 made Travis Holcombe’s Top 10 albums with the song “Cake Code,” among his very favorites this year. Check out more of our DJ picks at Best Of 2023 .

2019 started out as a year full of optimism for Zach Condon, best known by his moniker Beirut . But after suffering from persistent throat issues, Condon was unsure of his musical future.

You might have come across a sweet viral hit recently called “If I Were A Fish” by corook featuring their partner Olivia Barton , which has been turned into a children’s book . The Nashville based singer/songwriter has recently shared a new five-song EP, Big Sad, capturing several epiphanies she’s experienced in the last couple of years. There are songs about insecurity, avoidance, and being embarrassingly serious, but on “Sonic,” Barton leans into love instead of away from it.

The final song written and produced by Peter Gabriel for his new album i/o, “Live and Let Live” is also the last song on the recording. A perfect way to end the album, the song is about forgiveness, tolerance, and optimism. As we head toward the end of 2023, we turn to the Bright-Side Mix by Mark “Spike” Stent, the English producer who has worked with everyone from Beyonce to Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

This one sounds like a classic that has been around for decades and to which you’re sure you know all the words, but it’s actually an infectious new track from UK/Jamaican artist Liam Bailey . “Dance With Me” has the sway of tenderhearted early reggae, but that’s the golden touch musician/producer Leon Michels brings to the mix.

While they are not related, Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig create beautifully kindred harmonies together as the indie-pop duo Lucius, and were hand-picked to grace the stage at the Hollywood Bowl when Brandi Carlile brought Joni Mitchell out to join them.

The first new music since their 2022 album Second Nature, “Stranger Danger” is written in response to the idea that “humans have imagined a backup plan — a ‘savior’ to forgive us, to save us, to lean on… for ourselves, if and when things go wrong, but who/what/where is the backup plan for Mother Earth?”

A progressive collective of jazz and hip-hop heads hailing from Virginia, Butcher Brown says their new album Solar Music, “has something for everyone under the sun.”

Assimilating a rich collection of bending sonic influences, take a sip of “No Way Around It.”

An LA treasure, Mia Doi Todd can be heard on André 3000’s recent album New Blue Sun, but she’s also released a beautiful new single, “Island in the Storm” along with her band.

Yard Act , the art-rocking quartet from Leeds, gave us their sophomore album Where’s My Utopia? earlier in the year, co-produced by the band and Gorillaz’ Remi Kabaka Jr.