Let’s just jump right into this fresh version of Weekly Tune-Up, where I’ve curated 15 new tunes and placed them into a Spotify playlist for your convenience. Play on. 


California five-piece Young the Giant is back with a new lead single titled “Amerika,” from their upcoming third studio album Home Of The Strange — available August 12th. “Amerika” comes at you with a familiarity that sounds like it was plucked from their self-titled LP, but with some subtle electronic backdrops that accompany the head-nodding beat and driving bass. Oh, and Sameer Gadja’s vocals never disappoint. 

After months of hype building, Alt-R&B crooner Gallant has finally released his debut record, Ology, and it deserves some of your attention. I’m not going to make bold statements about him being the new Frank Ocean, but he very well could be. Gallant’s voice is impressive and his songwriting skills are ahead of their time. Combine that with ’90s R&B influenced beats and Ology shines. 

The Range (aka James Hinton) is an interesting artist and Potential, his new album, will only prove that. Hinton sifts through thousands of voice samples from YouTube, edits them and then arranges them into a song. He then uses his excellent production skills and builds a beat around those samples. Certainly a different approach to making music, but one that I can appreciate and am definitely a fan of. Potential plays well with long rides in the car or maybe a quiet evening alone where your mind wonders and thoughts are born, almost like a score for the motion picture of your life.

1. Young the Giant, “Amerika”
2. Car Seat Headrest, “Fill in the Blank”
3. Dinner, “Turn Me On”
4. Bear Hands, “Too Young”
5. Gallant, “Episode”
6. Miserable, “Violet”
7. Yumi Zouma, “Keep It Close To Me”
8. Mr. Lif, “Don’t Look Down”
9. Bibio, “Town & Country”
10. Andrew Bird, “Capsized”
11. Bleached, “I’m All Over the Place (Mystic Mama)”
12. Wet, “All the Ways” (Branchez Remix)
13. Suuns, “UN-NO”
14. Hammock, “Everything and Nothing”
15. The Range, “Falling Out of Phase”

https://embed.spotify.com/?uri=spotify:user:leilanipolk:playlist:6hfAwd3A42GwW9zqdn7la5

This article appears in Apr 14-20, 2016.