So many artists, so many songs, so little time. Each week we review a handful of new albums (of all genres), round up even more new music that we’d call “indie,” and talk about what metal is coming out. We post music news, track premieres, and more all day. We update a playlist weekly of some of our current favorite tracks. Here’s a daily roundup with a bunch of interesting, newly released songs in one place.
PAINT IT BLACK – “SAFE”
Paint It Black’s first album in 10 years arrives next month, and here’s another powerful, instantly-timeless taste of it.
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CAROLINE POLACHEK – “DANG”
Caroline Polachek’s glitchy new electro-pop track comes from the sessions that produced her fantastic 2023 album Desire, I Want To Turn Into You, and she produced it with Cecile Believe, with Danny L Harle providing additional production.
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KEVIN ABSTRACT – “WHAT SHOULD I DO?”
Speaking recently about his upcoming album Blanket, Kevin Abstract said, “I wanted to make, like, a Sunny Day Real Estate, Nirvana, Modest Mouse type of record, but I wanted it to hit like a rap album.” While you await the full results, here’s the second single.
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SAY SUE ME – “4AM”
South Korean band Say Sue Me are gearing up for a brief tour of the Northeastern US in November, and before that begins they’ve shared a new single, “4am.” “Byungkyu wrote the intro line of the song about five years ago, and it was finally completed this year,” the band’s Sumi Choi says. “This is a song about anxiety and sleeplessness. It contains the sadness and anxiety that come at that time when you close your eyes to fall asleep at night, and the restlessness of not being able to easily.”
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DAWN RICHARD – “BABE RUTH” & “YOUR LOVE / LEGENDS”
Dawn Richard has just released the three-song single/EP The Architect, featuring the previously-released “Bubblegum” and two other new songs. “Babe Ruth” finds her seesawing between experimental R&B, hip hop, and thumping house beats, while the nearly-seven-minute “Your Love / Legends” is a total journey through psychedelic, electronic R&B.
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TANUKICHAN – “NPC”
“‘NPC’, non-player character, is about exactly that,” Hannah Van Loon says of Tanukichan’s hazy new single, which they’ve shared ahead of their fall tour. “Feeling like one person in a million, blending in and being a spectator to the mundaneness of life. Maybe avoiding some responsibilities. I wrote NPC with my live band as well, so this video is so special and perfect for the song. We toured for months and got to play huge venues together. It’s a full circle moment with this song as the soundtrack.”
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OFFICE DOG – “GLEAM”
New Zealand’s Office Dog, the new band lead by Kane Strang, will have their debut album reissued in the US by New West in January and they’ve just shared this new video for “Gleam” directed by Sophie Black.
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HARP (EX MIDLAKE) – “A FOUNTAIN”
Former Midlake frontman Tim Smith’s upcoming solo debut as Harp finds him putting aside ’70s folk / rock and diving deep into ’80s mope. There are strong Treasure-era Cocteau Twins guitar shimmer vibes on “A Fountain.”
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BANANARAMA – “FEEL THE LOVE”
’80s hitmakers Banarama are releasing a new Best Of comp, Glorious: The Ultimate Collection, that will be out March 8. In addition to classics like “Cruel Summer,” “Venus,” “Shy Boy,” and “Robert De Niro’s Waiting,” the album includes this new song, “Feel the Love.”
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MARIA BC – “LACUNA”
“I struggle with words, generally speaking,” Maria BC says of this new song. “Lyrics are tough for me. I’ll often start working on a piece of music thinking it’s going to be instrumental, but then, I don’t know, it ends up feeling incomplete, so I give it some words to flesh it out. This instrumental, though, ended up sounding self-contained to me, or like even the most interesting lyrics would diminish it. The gated vocals, the cryptic textural sounds – it all evokes a kind of preverbal state. Hence the title.” Maria’s new album, Spike Field, is out this week.
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THEY ARE GUTTING A BODY OF WATER – EXPANSION PAK
The hard-to-pin-down TAGABOW exist somewhere between shoegaze, noise pop, or just the more broadly-defined “experimental rock,” and their latest project is a new visual album that’s just as far-out as you’d expect from this band.
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LOWERTOWN – “ROOT CANAL”
Lowertown’s new EP Skin of My Teeth is due out on October 27, and they’ve given us a second early taste with “Root Canal.” Olivia Osby says it “was written from a point of reflection after having recently left a very toxic relationship. The person I had been dating was very manipulative and jealous and would jump on any opportunity to put me down. They got a lot of enjoyment from my failures and would get extremely upset when anything in my life would start to go well.”
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SUNDAY CRUISE – “OH LOVER, WHY?”
Sunday Cruise signed to Lauren Records and their first release for the label is the sweet-sounding indie pop of “Oh Lover, Why?.”
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BARRIE – “HARD CANDY”
Barrie’s self-released new single previously appeared in a January 2022 episode of Single Drunk Female, and has now arrived on streaming services for the first time.
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VINCE CLARKE (ERASURE, DEPECHE MODE) – “WHITE RABBIT”
Depeche Mode, Yazoo and Erasure co-founder Vince Clark will release his first-ever solo album, Songs of Silence, on November 11. “White Rabbit” is not a Jefferson Airplane cover, nor is it “synthpop.” Instead, Clarke has used his signature synthesizer arpeggiations to craft a moody soundscape worthy of a dystopian sci-fi film. The animated video by Daniele Arcuri is terrific.
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ONEIDA – “HALLOWEEN” (SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES COVER)
Indie label Joyful Noise is relaesing Halloween Party, Vol 1 which will be out October 27 and features artists on their roster (Deerhoof, SUUNS, Swamp Dogg, Danielson, more) offering up appropriately spooky covers. The album closes with Oneida’s driving cover of Siouxsie & The Banshees’ Juju classic, “Halloween,” featuring KATIEE on vocals.
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BADBADNOTGOOD & CHARLOTTE DAY WILSON – “SLEEPER”
Charlotte Day Wilson and BADBADNOTGOOD are a nice pairing, as “Sleeper” is chill and groovy, with some lovely flute wafting through. Sleeper wrote itself,” Charlotte says. “We were in the studio just messing around and the guys came up with the colorful instrumental while I freestyled the lyrics. The song portrays someone who chooses the path of least resistance and finds themselves in a lifeless, loveless relationship.”
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MY MORNING JACKET – “FEELIN SORRY”
My Morning Jacket are reissuing their 2013 Happy Holiday! EP for Record Store Day Black Friday. For this new vinyl pressing, they’ve added a few more songs, including this blue Christmas original.
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HOORSEES – “IKEA BOY”
French indie guitar band Hoorsees will release new album Big on January 12 via Kanine. “IKEA Boy” is immediately catchy dreampop, dropping in a little ’80s soft rock into their hazy miasma.
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JUAN WAUTERS – “P.O.V.”
With a European tour tour starting on November 1, Juan Wauters has a new EP, Limbo, that rounds up a few b-sides. It’s also got this new song that laments L.A.’s lack of public bathrooms.
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FRANÇOIS J. BONNET & STEPHEN O’MALLEY – TROISIEME NOIR”
Kassel Jaeger’s François J. Bonnet and Sun O)))’s Stephen O’Malley have been collaborating since 2018 and the fruits of that will be released as Cylene II on November 10 via Drag-City. O’Malley’s guitar and Bonnet’s synths work in harmony on the searing, ambient “Troisième noire.”
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VIDEO AGE – “IS IT REALLY OVER?”
Video Age’s new album Away From The Castle comes out next week (October 27 via Winspear), and their sophisti-pop revival sounds as smooth as ever on new single “Is It Really Over?.” They also announced a tour that has them back in NYC on March 9 at TV Eye, following their sold-outs how at The Broadway on 11/11.
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PURE BATHING CULTURE – “THE SUN”
“The Sun” is another dreamy, entrancing early taste of Pure Bathing Culture’s new album Chalice. “‘The Sun’ is a song about the lengths we go to experience progress, satiety, and hopefully some kind of deliverance from whatever haunts us,” Sarah Versprille and Daniel Hindman say. “It juxtaposes the idea expressed in the river, that love and trust may be enough to achieve a state of grace. Sometimes a situation becomes too dire and when things become unendurable a radical transformation must take place.”
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SAVE FACE – “SONG THE BULLETS SING” (ft. HEART ATTACK MAN)
Save Face will release a new EP on November 15, featuring recent single “Found Dead at the Crime Scene,” new single “Song the Bullets Sing,” and one other not-yet-released song. If you miss the My Chemical Romance of Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, give this song a listen.
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JOCKSTRAP & TAYLOR SKYE – “GOOD GIRL”
Taylor Skye’s inspirations for “Good Girl” from Jockstrap’s new remix album <3UQTINVU,, include Disclosure and James Blake. Esme Creed-Miles, who directed and starred in the accompanying video, says, “Taking Georgia’s initial concept of a girl dancing and using her lyrics for inspiration, I wanted to make something sexy, pining and internal, and to create a scene of privacy. It’s a glimpse into the urgency of dancing alone, the onanistic and liberated self that comes alive without an audience, or perhaps even acting out a version of the self which you want to share with someone special. I run out of superlatives when it comes to Jockstrap and it was an honour to make something for them.”
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MICHAEL NAU (PAGE FRANCE, COTTON JONES) – “SHIFTSHAPING”
Michael Nau will release a new solo album, Accompany, on December 8 via Karma Chief Records. Lead single “Shiftshaping” is a gorgeous, airy indie rock ballad.
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CRIME IN STEREO – “GOLIATHETTE”
Long Island emo vets Crime In Stereo share a dark, art rock-ish taste of their first album in 13 years.
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VIAL – “JUST FINE”
VIAL are really good at charismatic, punky alt-rock songs that sound like 2023-via-1997, and “Just Fine” is no exception.
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HELMET – “BIG SHOT”
Influential post-hardcore / alt-metal vets Helmet unleash another head-pounding taste of Left.
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IDLES – “DANCER”
IDLES have announced a new album, TANGK, which will be out Febraury 16 via Partisan. The band’s Mark Bowen co-produced the album with Nigel Godrich and Kenny Beats (who also worked on 2021’s CRAWLER). First single “Dancer” features backing vocals from James Murphy and Nancy Whang of LCD Soundsystem.
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LOL TOLHURST X BUDGIE X JACKNIFE LEE – “WE GOT TO MOVE” FT ISAAC BROCK
Lol Tolhurst (The Cure), Budgie (Siouxsie & The Banshees) and Jacknife Lee release their debut album, Los Angeles, on November 3 which features James Murphy, The Edge, Bobby Gillespie, Mary Lattimore, and more. Check out this song featuring lead vocals from Modest Mouse’s Isaac Brock, and its video starring Fred Armisen.
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CRAIG WEDREN – “FINGERS ON MY FACE”
The Dream Dreaming is the former Shudder to Think frontman’s first album in six years and will be out in January and you can check out the first single now.
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CAR SEAT HEADREST – “BODYS” (LIVE)
In March 2022, Car Seat Headrest played three consecutive sold-out shows at Brooklyn Steel as part of their Masquerade Tour. Those shows are now the basis of Faces From The Masquerade, a new live double album that will be out December 8 via Matador. Check out this version of “Bodys.”
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JOYCE MANOR – “I SAW WATER” (TIGERS JAW COVER) / TIGERS JAW – “CONSTANT HEADACHE” (JOYCE MANOR COVER)
Back in 2021, Joyce Manor played their self-titled album in full in Central Park, and they were supposed to have Tigers Jaw open, but Tigers Jaw had to drop off after the show was rescheduled due to weather, so Joyce Manor made up for it by covering “I Saw Water” in their encore. Now, they’ve released a split with Tigers Jaw featuring the live recording of that very moment on one side and a newly-recorded studio version of Tigers Jaw covering “Constant Headache” on the other. Read more here.
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BLINK-182 – “YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’VE GOT”
You didn’t think blink-182 would roll out their new album without an “Adam’s Song”/”Stay Together for the Kids”-style power ballad, did you?
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JULIE BYRNE – “VELOCITY! WHAT ABOUT THE INTERTIA!?” & “THESE DAYS”
Julie Byrne unveiled the first two singles from her new collaborative EP Julie Byrne with Laugh Cry Laugh, which you can read more about here.
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BRAT – “SOCIAL GRACE”
New Orleans’ self-proclaimed “bimboviolence” and “barbiegrind” band BRAT have signed to Prosthetic Records and revealed that their debut album, Social Grace, will arrive in 2024. Most album details are TBA, but the title track is out now. Read about it here.
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JUNE MCDOOM – “THE CITY”
June McDoom shared another track off her new EP With Strings, which you can read more about here.
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Looking for even more new songs? Browse the New Songs archive.
