Essential tracks: Shuggie Otis, Bleached, and Devendra

Below are a few choice Spring releases that have been getting high-volume rotation on the stereo of one particular Volvo rolling the streets of Los Angeles.

Bleached, “Ride Your Heart� (Dead Oceans)

The two sisters who co-founded Bleached first earned ears in Mika Miko, the incendiary punk band whose sweaty nights at the downtown L.A. club the Smell in the mid-00s helped solidify a small movement. As Bleached, Jennifer and Jessica Clavin have calmed a bit and have a new appreciation for texture, harmony and restraint. That doesn’t mean they’ve toned it down; the first song is called “Looking for a Fight,� and it’s about bad mood and a life “not right.� On it and other songs, the sisters deliver a well-balanced sound that understands both both surf and punk rock, heavy on singalong harmonies and precise structures.

For fans of: Best Coast, Buzzcocks, Lesley Gore

Shuggie Otis, “Inspiration Information�/�Wings of Love� (Sony Legacy reissue)

Shuggie Otis as a boy was the prodigal son of Los Angeles rhythm & blues, a guitarist whose father, Johnny Otis, helped define a West Coast sound in the ‘40s and ‘50s as both a band leader and talent scout. While still in his teens, the younger Otis played in his father’s band. In 1974 Shuggie released “Inspiration Information,� a delicate, tripped-out bedroom funk record that used early drum machines, keyboards and Otis’ guitar playing to create magic. It was a commercial flop but, gradually, deservedly found an audience.

A comforting record, “Inspiration� is an ideal companion on days when you’re too depressed to make listening decisions or too down on humans to interact with any of them save a man with faraway voice and a heart. This double disc reissue features “Inspiration,� a few surprising out takes and a bonus disc of some of Otis’ work from 1975 to 2000.

For fans of: Marvin Gaye, Roberta Flack, early ‘70s Stevie Wonder, Frank Ocean

Devendra Banhart, “Mala� (Nonesuch)

Devandra Banhart’s new “Mala,� is a pleasant return to form. The Venezuelan-American (and longtime Californian) bard, who for a few years nearly became a parody of himself as the figurehead of the unfortunately named “freak-folk� movement, has relocated to New York, shaved his beard and cut his hair — prompting some of the best work of his career. Mixing folk, rock, beat-based experiments, Brazilian pop and touches of synthpop with his confident, and often beguiling, lyrics, Banhart on “Mala� has offered an utterly charming, witty, honest record about love’s successes and failures.

For fans of: Caetano Veloso, Beck, Leonard Cohen, Gal Costa