Hey! Did you know that there’s an entire aspect of KCRW music discovery that you might be missing out on? Fear not, because our 5 Songs to Hear This Week newsletter is now a weekly feature on our website. Watch this space for rundowns of the five songs that you need in your life immediately, curated by KCRW Music staff. Don’t want to wait for your latest taste of fresh tunes? Sign up for the Friday newsletter here, and always be the first to know.
Gossip – “Real Power”
Alert the girlies and the gays, Gossip is BACK, baby. Led by the utterly un-ignorable icon and vocalist Beth Ditto, this power-packed single is the title track from the upcoming album Real Power, their first since 2012. And it’s an epic re-launch: Ditto’s big, brassy vocals streak across pop-punk synths, disco samples, funky basslines, and a megawatt live-show production style that transports you right into the pit. Grab your boots and gather your glitter — the album’s out March 22.
Maggie Rogers – “Don’t Forget Me”
Here for a good time, but not a long time? Here’s your ballad. Maggie Rogers sings a gorgeous tribute to the temporary in this new single, a track firmly planted in country soil, a genre (among several) where she’s beyond capable. A true musical savant, Rogers handles this traditionally-structured track with aplomb, from the big-belt chorus to the delicate promise-laden lyrics. Forget me not!
Laetitia Sadier – “Panser L'Inacceptable”
You likely first met Laetitia Sadier back in the ‘90s, when (in our imagination) you may have asked, “What’s your sign?” Based on this remarkably wet music video, we’re guessing it’s a water sign. Not only does this gently flowing track’s visual accompaniment feature plentiful waves, streams, and suggested petrichor, but the song itself has a serene, uplifting, nursery rhyme quality to it — a nurturing song to sing with your bébé about navigating the trials of life.
Holy Sun Opera House – “Attic”
Indulge your deepest and darkest with this unapologetically goth single from LA music project Holy Sun Opera House. Hit play for operatic vocals, church organ synths, and a foreboding drum pattern punctuated by gleaming glam-metal guitar riffs. Vast and booming, this track’s not one for casual listening, so apply your headphones and soak it in. And for all you Lynch heads, HSOH self-identify as a band that “would play the Roadhouse in Twin Peaks.”
Nubya Garcia – “Fortify”
KCRW listeners are a creative bunch, so we’ll drop an art school term here: flow. Whether it’s in yoga, free-writing, visual mediums or live performance in music or movement, the state of flow is a fluid, ecstatic, and egoless state of pure expression. And we believe this contemporary jazz track from Nubya Garcia can take you there. From the majesty of Garcia’s saxophone to invigorating piano chords and absolutely mind-blowing percussion, this track’s your ticket to nirvana.