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Plenty of new things to get excited about this week — in particular, new singles from Warpaint, Hana Vu, Communicant, Dent May, Blondfire and King Mala. But in our Spotify missive Greatest Hits … This Week (Vol. 278), also find the latest from Wallows, Crêpe Girl, the Dandy Warhols (feat. Slash), Meatbodies, Jacklen Ro, Claire Rousay, Pride Month Barbie and Jake Sheppard, along with tracks from recent album/EP releases by TwoLips, Gaby Moreno and Veronicavon. And, as always say, more.
Handy info about the songs beneath the player. And you can find our previous playlists on Spotify.
■ Hana Vu, “Care” — Twenty-three-year-old indie-rocker Hana Vu has announced that her new album, “Romanticism,” will be out May 3. On the provocative first single “Care” (watch the video), she wonders about the notion of giving a damn. Or, as she says, “I wrote this song while staring out the window wondering if everyone considered things as much or more or less than I do. Also ruminating on whether or not it mattered.”
■ Meatbodies, “Billow” — A heady, Creation Records-style jam, “Billow” is the third single from Meatbodies’ “Flora Ocean Tiger Bloom” (out March 8 via In the Red Records), … Live March 23 at the Lodge Room, as well as May 18 at the Wayfarer.
■ Warpaint, “Common Blue” — Raise a glass to Warpaint, celebrating their 20th year as a band. To mark the anniversary (Valentine’s Day 2004, to be precise), the quartet is releasing a 7-inch, “Common Blue” (b/w “Underneath) on March 22. Catch them live at the Just Like Heaven festival in Pasadena on May 18.
■ TwoLips, “Winonha’s Daughter” — TwoLips is the solo project of New Mexico native Kianah LongChase (aka Kianah Jay, born Kiana Stover-Saterfield), a painter, dancer, actress, singer and rapper whose electro-funk (“tribal jazz” is her apt description) bubbles with an almost magical energy. Her latest release is the seven-track EP, “Monogamy Heaven,” and she’s been selected to play this year’s SXSW. (Not to be confused with the French-American sister duo of the same name.)
■ Slow Hollows, “Soap” — The release of Slow Hollows’ new album “Bullhead” is nigh — March 8, to be exact. Of the third single, “Soap,” Austin Feinstein says: “This song is my homage to Modest Mouse.” Live March 14 at the Constellation Room and May 10 at the Lodge Room.
■ The Dandy Warhols, “I’d Like to Help You With Your Problem” (feat. Slash) — The Dandys’ new album, “Rockmaker,” is out March 15. Frank Black guested on the previous single, “Danzig With Myself,” and now comes Slash to put some teeth into their new acid-rocker. Live March 19 at the Fonda Theatre.
■ Blondfire, “Foolish” — Erica Driscoll is back with a typically dreamy pop confection, this one about the audacity to take a chance on love.
■ Communicant, “The Day” — Songwriter Dylan Gardner’s first Communicant single in two years is a splendid piece of classic pop, right down to its otherworldly orchestration. It’s the lead track on Communicant’s new album, “Harbor Song,” release date TBA.
■ Gaby Moreno, “New Dawn” — Gaby Moreno’s ninth full-length, “Dusk,” arrived this week, expanding the Grammy-winning songwriter’s palate into vintage Americana and blues. There are more songs in English than Spanish on this week, but whatever the language, it’s engaging, and, yes, maybe a “New Dawn.”
■ Jake Sheppard, “Bird Clock” — Fun fact: Prior to diving into art school and music, Jack Sheppard was a scientist (a cancer geneticist, to boot). Secondly, we know from firsthand experience that the titular bird clocks exist. How did they become the subject of Sheppard’s debut as a folk singer/humorist? “I got dumped in a mall and my girlfriend, in her haste to leave the food court, and our relationship, left without the Singing Bird Clock she’d bought at Sharper Image,” the songwriter explains. “The clock was a gift for her grandma, whose 90th birthday I was no longer invited to. I hung the clock in my room, and for the next several months, the hourly cries of orioles and house wrens mixed with my own, eventually leading to an intervention of roommates and other tenants, sick of the noise. We all agreed I could at least take out the batteries.” Watch the video; Sheppard’s debut album, “Midwest Marlin,” is out March 29.
■ Dent May, “Coasting on Fumes” (feat. Jordana) — This dose of uplifting dude-next-door power-pop is a co-write with Jordana (who appears in the video) — and it introduces Dent May’s new LP, “What’s for Breakfast?,” out March 29. In January, May released “One Call, That’s All.”
■ Veronicavon, “Heartbreak Feels Good in a Place Like This” — Shame on us for taking so long to give two thumbs up to the dreamy, Euro-styled pop of L.A. duo Veronicavon, the project of Chris Hackman (Human Barbie) and Xuan Nguyen (Xuan). Go off the “Deep End” and enjoy their beguiling new album of bedroom pop behind your closed bedroom doors, headphones on.
■ Wallows, “You Apartment” — First single in a year and a half from the L.A. trio of Dylan Minnette, Braeden Lemasters and Cole Preston, and, notably, co-written with songwriter-producer Nate Mercereau. Here’s the video.
■ Magana, “Paul” — The solo project of multi-instrumentalist and Bakersfield native Jeni Magaña (bassist for Mitski and Lady Lamb), Magana will release their sophomore album, “Teeth,” on March 25. The grief-stricken “Paul” is the latest of four singles, which cover plenty of sonic and emotional ground. (See also: “Girl in Chains.”)
■ Nate Ward, “Don’t Give All Your Love Away” — The onetime drummer for Pacific Range and Glenn Annie, Nate Ward has the sound (not to mention the look) of a ’70s AM radio folk-rocker. His debut album, “Truth Takes Time,” made made in capable hands for that aesthetic; it was engineered and mixed by Dan Horne and recorded at his studio.
■ Jacklen Ro, “Drifting” — Jackie Giroux and Caelen Perkins have that chemistry, right? The duo return with another buoyant single, and if you’ve misplaced your smile, this’ll help you find it.
■ King Mala, “Hypothetical” — The follow-up to last fall’s “Spilt Milk” EP, “Hypothetical” is just that — a song, King Mala says, that she wrote “nearly two years ago after reading a sci-fi novel about alternate universes and thinking ‘Hmm, I bet there are some universes out there where me and [REDACTED] worked out.’”
■ Pride Month Barbie, “Obsession” — Pride Month Barbie is the duo of Tyler Holmes and Josephine Shetty (aka Kohinoorgasm), each of whom worked as solo artists in Bay Area DIY circles. They debuted their left-field synth-pop last year with the single “Withheld” and followed this week with “Obsession,” a paean to all you haters.
■ Blame My Youth, “Running” — It’s been 3 1/2 years since Sean Van Vleet launched his alt-rock project Blame My Youth, and an EP and handful of singles later he’s still churning out angsty rockers for Big Loud Records.
■ Crêpe Girl, “Keep It Simple!” — The follow-up to the January single “Drug,” “Keep It Simple!” is a brief plast of power-pop from “Stargazing” (out March 22), the third EP from songwriter Eliza Grégoire. Live March 24 at Gold-Diggers.
■ Lovecolor, “Hearts on Fire” — Actor Ryan Carnes and singer-songwriter and producer Vanessa Silberman make up the duo Lovecolor, and with a name like that, you’d better release a song for Valentine’s Day. Here it is.
■ Claire Rousay, “Hair” — There’s an air of mystery in L.A. experimental artist Claire Rousay’s enthralling new song “Hair,” the first to be released from her new album, “Sentiment,” out April 19 on Thrill Jockey.
