Sharing is caring is creepy. The world is a wasteland, the Amazon is soot, and Selena Gomez is still singing about Justin Bieber. Let it go, girl! In a world where being guarded is the move, Talk2Strangers—a.k.a. Lori LeChien—dares you to bare it all. Or at least to like ... be open to the world around you. She’s one of L.A.’s—nay, the world’s—most gripping vocalists, and her songs are bristling with hooks and unimpeachably earnest. I mean, I’m biased cuz she’s a respected friend and colleague. But check for yourself, jerk! We talked about privilege, sex, guitars, chicken and connection. This interview by Tolliver. ►

Vōx’s piety-purging new I Am Not a God EP feels like the Resurrection. It sounds like a death, production wise: ominous and low and lurching, like some fantastic creature in its final throes. Lyrically, though, it’s a testament to resilience. She’s replaced her lace-whites with curdling reds, her questions with declarations, her hymn with HIM. We talked about the EP, her recent extended stay in Europe, and her multidimensional approach. This interview by Tolliver. ►

The rose that grew from concrete, the vine grown from the desert: South Central soliloquist def.sound has built a career around lush, buoyant instrumentation and polysyllabic re-imagination of a life anchored in L.A. And what a unique life it’s been. A lifelong vegan born in a food desert, he’s well-versed in contradiction and in the work it takes to water oneself until fully grown. The song—from COLORED Disc 1ne, out July 23—is built around a Vine of Shiloh Dynasty singing and playing guitar, a recent-aughts reference too good to not mention here. (From apps to slaps—damn.) For all the rhapsodic, confessional bars in his oeuvre, this is the strongest return to his roots. ►

Jackhammering, jackhammering, jackhammering: Chinatown, which borders cranes-in-the-sky booming downtown L.A., is lousy with construction. The tempestuous Mimi Temptestt grew up in this neighborhood. Her album Rough Diamond demarcates a two-year period of growth, thrills, sadness and love. Rough Diamond dropped earlier this year, and she's releasing the first video from that project at The Lash on Tues., June 18, at I Do What I Want, a queer art extravaganza. This interview by Tolliver. ►