Ankor, courtesy.

This week we’ve got metal from Ankor and Klokwise, some guitar-driven instrumentals from LA LOM, a bit of throwback funk and soul from Moonalice and Mallow Hill, and Beauty in Chaos bringing the ’80s back.

LA LOM, “Danza de LA LOM” — First thing’s first: that’s LA LOM, not La Lom. It’s not “the hill” in Spanish but spelled wrong; the band’s name stands for the Los Angeles League of Musicians. And, obviously, the league is pretty great. I try to avoid instrumental songs for Tuesday Tracks, but in this case, the guitar playing is just way too good, and there was nothing I could do.

Beauty in Chaos featuring Wayne Hussey and Cinthya Hussey, “Diving for Pearls” — Beauty in Chaos is a music collective in L.A. founded by Michael Ciravolo with his friend Michael Rozon, which basically means it’s a bunch of musicians who get together who do stuff. I for one love a collective of any sort. This time around the featured artist is Wayne Hussey, who was in a whole bunch of bands you may know. He was in Dead or Alive before they really broke out; he played guitar on the first Sisters of Mercy album before leaving with a bunch of songs he wrote for them; and he’s been in goth rock band The Mission since the late ’80s. If you don’t know those, learn more about British music. If you need motivation, listen to this song, on which he’s very good. If you want a truly good neo-’80s vibe, you need someone who was in the actual ’80s to do it right.

Mallow Hill, “Thinkin’ Bout My Baby” — I’m famously a sucker for blues rock, so Mallow Hill had my attention right off the bat. Mikayla Joseph’s vocals really make it; she’s got that Adele soulfulness but with a far more American feel, with more bluesy-ness. “Soulfulness” is one way to describe Mallow Hill. “Bluesyness” wasn’t a word, but it is now. Listen if you don’t believe me.

Ankor, “Embers” — If you’ve read any of my Tuesday Tracks columns before, you may be asking, “Where’s the metal?” While I love all music, I have a soft spot for metal, and it’s because of bands like Ankor. It’s not as hard or crazy as what you may be thinking of, but its alt-metal blend of excellent clean vocals, melodic guitar strains and just a little electronic flare on the back end is absolutely my jam.

Moonalice, “Happy Here Now” — We’re pretty big fans of Moonalice here at RIFF, and I personally am a pretty big fan of Lester Chambers, so here we are. Chambers is, of course, one of the Chambers Brothers, who recorded “Time Has Come Today” back in 1967. In fact, for the record, if I cofounded Silver Lake Partners instead of band founder Roger McNamee, there’s a near-certainty I also would have hired Lester Chambers to sing for my Chambers-Brothers-inspired psychedelic soul band. We got to hear this song at BottleRock Napa a couple of weeks ago (check out the live video at the link above), and it was great seeing Chambers have so much well-deserved fun. Added bonus: This video is about Chambers’ personal musical history!

Klokwise, “DGAF” — Nu-metal isn’t always my thing, but boy do I love a good angry song. I heard this one at the tail end of a long, exhausting and stressful week, so defiant shouting was cathartic enough that I couldn’t help but share. I’m not promising Shakespeare, but I will promise that you’ll find yourself involuntarily bobbing your head, and you’ll blow off some steam just by listening. Just wonderful. Though someone has to explain to me why they bleep exactly one instance of the F in “DGAF” but not the dozen or so others.

Danny’s pick: I wavered between pretty much the whole list, but when I ran out of time and our editor asked for my pick I went straight to Ankor’s “Embers.” I enjoy all of these songs situationally, they all match at least one mood, but “Embers” is the one I can see myself listening to whenever it comes on no matter what I’m feeling.

Follow publisher Daniel J. Willis at @bayareadata.press on BlueSky.