Nell Smith and Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips, courtesy Blake Studdard/Atria Creative.

Momma and the Ting Tings slow things down, the Gully Boys and Raue bring the rock back, Kurt Deimer brings us a new classic and Nell Smith wows with her first and final album.

Momma, “Bottle Blonde” — Written about the friendship between Momma’s co-founders, co-vocalists, co-guitarists and co-songwriters Etta Friedman and Allegra Weingarten, “Bottle Blonde” is a brilliantly chill alternative track that serves as a love letter to their past and present selves. The video reinforces that friendship with some shots of them doing friend things. Not gonna lie, I wonder what the other two members of the band think about it. This song follows just a week after their current tour mates Wishy made this column. The two bands play San Francisco’s August Hall on May 10.

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Kurt Deimer, “Live Or Die” — Deimer’s song is new classic rock, which doesn’t make sense from a logical perspective but is probably the only fair way to explain his style. Let me put it this way: He’s about to go on the road opening for Tesla (the band, not the car company run by a drug-addled maniac) then a different tour opening for Steel Panther and Buckcherry. That pretty much sums up the sound. That was all complimentary.

Gully Boys, “Love Me 2” — Fun fact: The Gully Boys don’t have any boys involved. Two women (Kathy Callahan and Natalie Klemond) and two nonbinary people (Nadirah McGill and Mariah Mercedes) make up the band. There’s something even more punk about that and I can’t put my finger on why. It’s not the most punk thing about the band, though; that would be the music. It’s smooth but it’s punk nonetheless. Here’s a taste of their latest.

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Nell Smith, “Boy in a Bubble” — I’m going to warn you, this one is sad. Not the song, but the story. This tune is from 17-year-old Nell Smith’s debut album and it’s fantastic. It shows a level of skill and polish artists twice her age haven’t reached yet. The keyboard melody and off-kilter alt-pop beat help the song float. But it’s a posthumous first album; Smith died in a car crash late last year. The video is a tribute to her friendship with her mentor, Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips, who worked with her and guided her music. All that said, this is an impressive mark to leave on the world.

Raue, “Escape” — First off, the duo’s name is pronounced “roo-AY,” since I’m sure you were wondering. Second, originally from Santa Cruz, Raue manages to balance a really heavy riff with much lighter vocals without feeling like it’s trying too hard. It’s impressive artistry, outside-the-box experimentation that works really well.

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The Ting Tings, “Good People Do Bad Things” — The band says this song is inspired by the likes of Fleetwood Mac and, look, nobody is Fleetwood Mac nor will they ever be. That was a singular collection of talent that can never exist again. But I can hear it. Even getting close is extremely impressive. It’s a really, really good from this band, even if you can’t remember what the name is.

Danny’s pick: My favorite of the week is Nell Smith’s “Boy in a Bubble” and it’s both sad and frustrating that we won’t get 20-years of follow-ups to find out whether she could get even better from her first album.

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