2024 brings new tunes that show rock and roll is alive and well, some tripped-out Latin indie pop, and a dance-floor-ready love letter to an artist’s late mother. KCRW DJ Dan Wilcox talks all about them.
Brittany Howard - “What Now”
This is the title track from her highly anticipated upcoming second solo album, which will be released on February 2.
“[It’s] a solid indicator that she's gonna do something amazing. I mean, she's an artist who takes chances. And so I'm always going to put money on those kinds of artists that are really always pushing themselves and doing something different, never doing the same thing twice. Safe to say she falls in that category.”
IDLES - “Dancer”
The British rock band’s song “Dancer” features James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem.
IDLES has an in-your-face sound with heavy guitars, driving drums, and gritty vocals — a departure from the softer tones we’ve come to expect from much of the modern indie rock scene.
The group’s new album, TANGK, comes out on February 16.
“They have a real groove to their music. It's not just like raw power. That's what IDLES does, but they seem like they're really going to lean into that groove with enlisting the great LCD Soundsystem on their first single from this forthcoming record. … It’s got this kind of angular, post-punky sort of thing.”
Helado Negro - “LFO (Lupe Finds Oliveros)”
The lyrics of this song from the Ecuadorian American artist tell a surrealist story of getting punched by the police in a garden and losing your voice and sense of self. The song upends its conventional indie flow with glitchy ambient breaks.
“His stuff is so fresh and inventive, and sometimes feels conceptual but not overtly arty or serious. It's very playful, and he can get trippy and esoteric. His music defies categorization, and that's I think one of the things that I love about Helado Negro. He's been making music for a long time, but you never know what you're gonna get.
… With this new album, he's recently moved from New York to Asheville, North Carolina, so maybe that will have come into play somehow on this new album. Maybe it will be a little more pastoral.”
Bolis Pupul - “Completely Half”
This is the first single off of Bolis Pupul’s album, Letter 2 Yu, which comes out on March 8. The project is dedicated to his late mother.
“He plays with a lot of analog synths and has a little bit of an 80s aesthetic, which is just totally up my alley. And so that song ‘Completely Half,’ it's probably a tongue-in-cheek reference to the fact that [Charlotte Adigéry is] gone, and he's on his own on this new project. But I'm really, really looking forward to it.”
