As July wraps up, KPFA’s Interim Music Director, Mike Biggz, reflects on the top 5 songs he obsessed over this past month.
Songs to Obsess Over & Over
July 2025
The Altons – Love You Like That
(Daptone)
Mere months after releasing their debut album on the always reliable Daptone Recordss, The Altons are back with a new single, striking while the iron is hot. “Love You Like That” is a smile inducing, feel good, mid tempo jam with lead vocalist, Adriana Flores’s soulful voice brushes the strokes on this beautifully crafted musical painting. This band has been blowing up, selling out shows everywhere and showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
Mae Powell – Contact High
(Karma Chief)
This song piggybacks so well off the new Alton’s joint, as B ay Area singer songwriter Mae Powell returns with another fire single off the equally fire label, Karma Chief. They’ve been putting out some amazing music in the last few months and “Contact High” is one to truly obsess over. I really love this era of bringing back those classic vibes of the 60’s and 70’s that hit the soul unlike any other era. Mae really beings a Bay Area 60’s hippie vibe with it’s organs chord changes and Mae’s smokey vocals.
Durand Jones & The indicators
(Dead Oceans)
Sticking with the classic soul vibe, we take it Bloomington Indiana, where Durand Jones & The indicators return with a new album filled with sexy soothing soul vibes. Files under: Bands I didn’t know existed til recently and now I am hooked. Paradise, the album opener is truly a vacation away from modern R&B and takes it back to the late 70’s early 80’s era with clear inspiration by songs like Free from Denise Williams.
Clipse – E.B.I.T.D.A feat. Pharrell
(Roc Nation)
The last few years has been a truly inspiring for Hip-Hop releases from OG and longtime established artists. Last month Slick Rick dropped an incredible new album and now we get a new full length from VA’s legends Clipse, who’s been active since 1998, returns with the highly anticipated, “Let God Sort EM Out”. The over all opinions on Clipse may varry, depending on what kind of Hip-Hop head you ask but for me, I became a fan after their sophomore album. I’ve said for all intensive purposes, this is the EPMD for Millennials. And this is coming from a Gen X, big time EPMD fan. Give em their credit. E.B.I.T.D.A is one of the album’s top cuts for me. Probably the best Hip-Hop beat Pharrell has done in a long time, and their back to back flow compliments it so well. Don’t sleep on this head nodder.
Fcukers – “Play Me”
(Ninja Tune)
My favorite group with name you can’t say on the radio is back with a new banger. Fcukers, which if you mispronounce it as Fuh-Cuckers, allows you to say it on the radio is one of the more interesting groups to come out of the electronic music scene. So far everything they’ve made has worked well and you can’t contain them to one specific genre in all of Electronica. They’ve made some hard house bangers, some cool chill out and dancehall inspired tunes and now with their new single, Play Me, they dip back into the Drum n Bass world. I wasn’t sure where the track was going as the intro is just claps and a vocal sample and then that bass and full drums pop in and we are at the festival. There’s also some NOLA bounce hidden in the track as well as their DJ, cuttin it up, which is always a plus. Their formula is so simple yet so effective. 2025 is half way over and these kids are on the cusp of being household names, even if you can’t say their name around your parents.