Sun Rai

KCRW DJs have jumped all over the new track from Sun Rai. One listen to “San Francisco Street” and it’s easy to see why. Stream it below and download it here.

As DJ Anne Litt described to me yesterday, it’s pure 70’s AM gold. Something she can imagine hearing on the radio as her mom drove her to school and then singing in her head all day. It’s one of those undeniably catchy tracks that’s gotten an immediate reaction from our audience, with phone calls, tweets and emails each time it’s played.

Here’s how KCRW came to discover this gem: the Australian artist, who just moved to LA a couple months ago, approached Chris Douridas at his School Night residency and handed him some music. Chris was immediately smitten.

Turns out, Rai Thistlethwayte is already a huge rock star in his native country, having been a member of the band “Thirsy Merc“, and moved to the States to launch his solo career. I hear he is putting together an EP and you can hear his music in the Showtime show “House of Lies” over the next few weeks (Chris is the Music Supervisor).

Keep an ear out for more from this artist as he puts his band together and prepares to take on LA!

RR - KCRW

Australian-born musician, Rai Thistlethwayte—who goes by the moniker Sun Rai—is currently based in LA and making quite the name for himself with his feel-good soul/pop, apparent on debut EP, Pocket Music, out today on a "pay what you want" business model via Bandcamp.

Below, we have a live version of a remix featured on Pocket Music: "Till The Lights Come On." A jam hasn't made us feel this inexplicably giddy and unstoppable—like we could walk on water, hop across clouds, or pull some real-life Super Mario Bros. shit, like jump on flying turtles and collect gold coins—since Phoenix's "If I Ever Feel Better." - Filter