Artists You Should Know

This past week I received a single from Crosstown Rebels which has now turned into just about one of my favorite things I’ve heard all year. It’s unquestionably the prettiest, genuine euphoria-inducing piece of dance music I’ve heard in awhile.
A new, near perfect shimmering piece of minimal tech-house, Mathew Jonson’s “In The Stars” is absolutely stunning. The B-Side to the “Automaton” single he’s released in advance of …

Just thought I’d drop by the ol’ KCRW Music Blog to play my latest song-of-the-minute for you. “Cindy + Me” is a new single from Brooklyn’s Caged Animals.
Built around a sample from Raymond Scott’s “Cindy Electronium” (1959), this track is just the right combination of catchy, novelty and creepy.
On Caged Animals‘ Facebook page, Vincent Caccione says, “It’s a song I wrote about stealing cars …

Anyone who follows this blog knows I’m a sucker for a good soul song – old OR new.
And sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference, like in the case of a track Jason spun earlier this week by Myron & E called “If I Gave You My Love”.
LA’s excellent label Stones Throw is releasing their debut album “Broadway” on July 2 and this is …

Hot Chip is the gift that keeps on giving. Aside from frontman Alexis Taylor’s solo work, the group has given birth to side projects Booji Boy High, About Group, The 2 Bears…and the latest member of the Hot Chip family New Build.
New Build is a collaboration between Al Doyle (who was additionally in LCD Soundsystem) Felix Martin and Tom Hopkins.
Like their forebears, New Build is an …

I’m a sucker for what I call “romantic pop” – artists like Pete Yorn, Brendan Benson, Josh Rouse and this fellow Josh Ritter.
(Of course that’s not all they play, but they are specialists in the genre in my opinion)
Josh will be performing live on Morning Becomes Eclectic on Monday and I’m sharing my favorite track from his latest album as a preview.

This album has …

Mysterious London trio Hardway Bros is a production collaboration between longtime club DJ Sean Johnston, record producer Jake Davies (who’s worked with Bjork, William Orbit…and KCRW’s very own Liza Richardson on her Femi Kuti Soundclash remix) and a mysterious figure known only as “Rico.”
Longtime friends and collaborators with Andrew Weatherall (who in my opinion is the “all-time boss-of-it-all” and may or may not be …

You know how things sometimes happen in waves? You find out about something cool and then all of the sudden there are references to it everywhere and everyone is talking about it.  Well, the latest object of this cool parade in my life is the Parisian band Le Femme.
DJ Dan Wilcox played them on his show last night and I was immediately taken with …

Possibly the only thing stranger than the politics of the music industry might be the politics of the music industry in the townships of South Africa. My friend Dean went to South Africa a few months ago in search of an artist and in turn came back with another artist and some pretty intense stories about life in the townships.
A number of years back, unknown South African …

Music satisfies so many parts of us. I’m generally a happy go lucky gal, but even I get in an introspective, melancholic, contemplative place sometimes and, for that, music is my guide.
The most recent addition to that collection is the album “Muchacho” by Phosphorescent.
Talk about being transported. I listened to it for the first time on a cloudy, grey Saturday morning and I just …

London post-punk band Savages is behind KCRW DJ Anne Litt’s favorite song of the moment. A barn burner called “She Will”.
These ladies pack a punch and I cornered Anne for a moment to talk about this track.
“I heard Jason play it on MBE and it’s the only song I’ve heard from them. It’s just a powerhouse of energy charging down the freeway at a …