Today's Top Tune

Seventeen-year-old Brayden Nguyen is a junior in high school, focusing on music with an emphasis on songwriting, but his musical prowess extends beyond his years. Piano lessons started at age 5, followed by drums, keys, and guitar. His passion to create songs from his life experiences is what keeps him focused. Nguyen is a young creator to be watched. Let’s check out the sophisticated sound of “Take Me Away.”

“Songwriting felt like the perfect combination of all my favorite things as someone who grew up around music and loved storytelling,” explains Raine . Her song “Never Tell” unpacks what she describes as a “complicated flurry of emotions of grief and loss [that] became major themes in my music, because it became the only place I could be comfortably vulnerable.”

When you watch The Treedome’s video for “Beauty of It,” the first thing you notice is the pure joy of playing together. They say their music is “soft but colorful,” and it’s true. Behold: a tasty trumpet solo, an enthusiastic drummer, a bass player smiling from ear to ear, and their lead singer pouring her feelings into song.

Get ready for a head-bobbing post-punk groove from Montreal art-punkers La Sécurité via their song “Serpent,” serving up a pulsing beat to navigate through knotty friendships.

Energized by a trip to Costa Rica during which he jammed with local musicians after sunset, pianist John Carroll Kirby fills us in on his adventure on the Calypso-influenced song “Oropendola.”

Multi-Grammy winning artist, producer, and beloved KCRW champion Ben Harper has a new studio album, WIDE OPEN LIGHT, dropping in early June. This prolific icon shares the first track, featuring long-time friend and collaborator Jack Johnson joining in on vocal duties and guitar picking on their heart-melting love song, “Yard Sale.”

Behold the debut single from Indonesian trio Thee Marloes , “Midnight Hotline,” an intoxicating mix that sways gracefully on the dance floor and is sticky enough to have you singing the chorus.

Gotham-based DJ/producer Nickodemus has five albums and hundreds of remixes under his belt. His forthcoming album Soul And Science will be released in June, mixing all sorts of Latin, African, and Middle Eastern sounds. Get a sampling on the funky “Mama Tchipp (Follow Me),” which features Cameroonian singer Pat Kalla — a late offering in honor of Mother’s Day.

Five-time Grammy winner Keb’ Mo’ recently made his Stagecoach debut and is back on the road zig-zagging across the US this spring and summer. An engaging artist with a mellifluous tone, Mo’ serves up strong positive vibes on “Taking Me Higher.”

Recorded in a church in Arcadia, Echo Park composer Brendan Eder spent some time in deep spiritual curiosity that led to the creation of an ambient-neoclassical album fittingly called Therapy, for its collection of meditative woodwind arrangements. “Pure (Ride The World)” is a standout from it.