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.
WILCO – “COUSIN”
Cate Le Bon produced Wilco’s new album, Cousin, and you can really feel her influence on the album’s title track.
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BETH ORTON & SKINNY PELEMBE – “WHO BY FIRE” (LEONARD COHEN COVER)
Says Skinny Pelembe: “I’ve covered a tune by one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Leonard Cohen. Sung it with Beth Orton, who has one of the best voices of all time! One of the best drummers of all time, Malcolm Catto, is keeping the time! And I sound fucking fantastic at this point in time!”
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PURE BATHING CULTURE – “THE RIVER”
“What draws us in and out of darkness and the grace and trust it takes to stay connected as we continually change,” Pure Bathing Culture say of the latest single off their new album Chalice. “It’s about our relationships with each other but it’s also just as importantly about our relationships with our muses and inspirations, what drives us to create, be well, be happy and to feel alive.”
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LAND OF TALK – “PWINTIQUES”
Land of Talk’s new single “Pwintiques” nods to “Twin Peaks,” a theme that also bleeds into the video. “It originally started as a minute-long demo when I brought it to the studio,” Lizzie Powell says. “Rena [Kozak] and Laurie [Torres] really brought me out of my shell to expand it. I remember giving Laurie so many drum references like Fugazi, Tortoise, and Trans Am, and she kept on nailing it. Rena cut and edited some of these and built them into an epic whole. She made it into a gargantuan event. The last three minutes feature me and Laurie playing drums together. I loved all these bands when I was younger so this felt like a return or at least a tip of the hat to my teenage self. You can get lost along the way sometimes so it was nice to go back to my roots.”
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IAN SWEET – “EMERGENCY CONTACT”
“‘Emergency Contact’ is biting and sarcastic at its core,” Ian Sweet’s Jilian Medford says of “Emergency Contact.” “It’s a protection song to myself mostly. Trying to convince myself that I didn’t really want what I had lost in the first place as a way of coping with the outcome. The video we made for it is one of my favorite Ian Sweet videos ever (especially since it ties in with the ‘Your Spit’ video as well). I wanted to represent the humor that often goes hand in hand with deep sadness. In the video Martin (who plays the director) keeps quickly snapping me out of those deep dark moments and pushing my buttons to try to get a rise out of me so in turn I’ll put on the best performance possible.” It’s from her new album Sucker.
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DESIRE MAREA – “IF YOU KNOW”
South African artist Desire Marea has announced a new three-song EP, The Baddies of Isandlwana, due November 9 via Mute. Desire describes the EP as “a trio of songs inspired by my time living in Amandawe, KZN” and “an infusion of sounds that dominate nightlife in SA such as Gqom, Amapiano and Afrobeat,” and your first taste is the stirring “If You Know.”
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DENZEL CURRY – “SKED” (ft. KENNY MASON)
We’re still waiting for official word on Denzel Curry’s next album, but meanwhile, here’s another grimy banger. It features past collaborator/tourmate Kenny Mason (though Kenny isn’t on the music video version).
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HANNAH DIAMOND – “POSTER GIRL”
Hannah Diamond’s sophomore album Perfect Picture is out next month, and she’s giving us another early taste, “Poster Girl.” “This song is for everyone who has ever wished they could be more like the poster girl on their wall,” Hannah says. “It’s about questioning that shiny image and wondering whether their life really is as perfect as it seems, or if they’re more similar to you than you could ever imagine.”
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BRUTUS – “LOVE WON’T HIDE THE UGLINESS”
Belgian Brutus have shared a new song written during the sessions for last year’s Unison Life, and it’s a climactic, heavy/beautiful song that singer/drummer Stefanie Mannaerts says “is about how love can cloud judgment and make it difficult to remain impartial. It can cause people to blindly follow others and lose their own sense of beauty. In the worst case, it can lead to self-destruction and damage relationships.” The band also announced a West Coast/Southwest US tour for spring 2024.
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MARGO PRICE – ACT II: MIND TRAVEL
Margo Price has shared the next three songs off Strays II, her three-part expansion of this year’s Strays. “The psychedelic journey continues down the blurry rabbit hole of time and space,” she says. “We were lucky to have Mike Campbell co-write a dark rocker called ‘Unoriginal Sin.’ Working with him on some of these songs was like having a master class in songwriting. Sometimes there are dark corners you haven’t explored for some time, but it does some good to clean them out. ‘Mind Travel’ is one of the more lyrically strange songs I’ve written. Jeremy and I wrote it in South Carolina. It’s pretty much beat poetry on drugs with a back beat – it was influenced by having an out of body experience on psilocybin. We both had some pretty incredible breakthroughs about accepting death and just reckoning with how fast it’s all going. It’s okay to be reflective and remember the past as long as you don’t get stuck back there. This part of the trip is where you learn to be satisfied with the present. I love how these songs came together. ‘Black Wolf Blues’ in particular, Jeremy started writing the words from my exact point of view – he found myself reflecting on my ancestors, my grandparents (Paul & Mary Price) and their love and how it grew despite the drought and the loss of their farm. I wrote the chords and the melody and helped finish the verses and chorus. Even though it has a sweetness and a nostalgic way about it, there is a looming darkness – the wolf who’s been watching and weaving his way like a stray throughout the entire album. Look for him. It’s like an invisible plague hanging in the air, it’s the man in the suit and tie who’s lying to you through his straight, white teeth. He hides in shadows.”
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SHORELINES – “NEEDLES”
There have been a good amount of German post-hardcore bands stirring up buzz in America lately, and one of them is Shorelines, who just signed to US label Pure Noise (making them the label’s first mainland European artist) and recorded this new single with TWIABP’s Chris Teti. It’s a catchy, anthemic, emo/punk/post-hardcore song and a promising taste of whatever else is to come.
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FAZERDAZE – “BIGGER”
Fazerdaze follows last year’s Break! EP with the haze new single “Bigger.” “I have often felt that ambition and being in the public eye can be a point of tension in my romantic relationships,” she says. “I think this song is me trying to explore and overcome that with someone I cared about. For the production, I was exploring writing an anti-chorus. The synths do all the work and the vocal melody drops into a talk. I wanted to experiment with strange bendy synths and lean into a cinematic night time world.”
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BAD HISTORY MONTH – “TOUCH THE RIFF”
Bad History Month have shared another taste of God Is Luck (due 9/29 via Exploding In Sound), and this one’s a twisted version of Americana with some ’90s Modest Mouse vibes.
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MYRKUR – “MOTHLIKE”
Myrkur’s new album Spine is out in October (pre-order our exclusive evergreen vinyl variant), and the she’s given us another early taste with “Mothlike.” David Fitt, who directed the accompanying video, says, “Early on in the process, I knew that translating ‘Mothlike’ into a video required the notion of transformation—like caterpillars do turning into moths. It led me to think about artists, how they are often met with defiance and rejection when they bring something new to the table, before getting recognized after perseverance and determination. The video is quite literally the illustration of this process, until the eye-opening reveal of a new truth expanding your vision.”
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MIKE DONOVAN (SIC ALPS) – “SADFINGER MEETS THE MIGHTY FLASHLIGHT”
Former Sic Alps singer/guitarist Mike Donovan has temed up with Mike “The Mighty Flashlight” Fellows (Royal Trux / Silver Jews) for new album Meets the Mighty Flashlight that’s out October 13 via Drag City. This is a little different than what Donovan has done before as “Sadfinger Meets The Mighty Flashlight” shows.
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DARK DARK DARK – “SOMETHING WAS THERE”
Dark Dark Dark are back with their first new music in 10 years. They played “Something Was There” often in their last year of touring, and it’s from a new split 10″ with vocalist Nona Marie Invie, due out OCtober 13 via Melodic.
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UPCHUCK – “FREEDOM”
Here’s another ripper from Upchuck’s new Ty Segall-produced album Bite the Hand That Feeds that’s out October 13 via Famous Class.
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YEULE – “SOFTSCARS”
yeule has unveiled the title track of their new album softscars, the final advance single before its release next week. “In the garden of my mind, it’s dark and prickly sweet and sticky,” they say. “And just like that the scar in my heart slashed across the center, the most precious one was made.”
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LAURA MISCH – “LISTEN TO THE SKY”
London saxophonist and producer Laura Misch has offered up another preview of her debut album, Sample the Sky. Featuring some gossamer harmonies, and lots of sax, “Listen to the Sky” is subtly alluring.
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OFFICE DOG – “BIG AIR”
New Zealand singer-songwriter Kane Strang, who has released albums of Dead Oceans and Ba Da Bing!, now leads Auckland trio Office Dog, whose debut album, Spiel, will be out January 26 via New West / Flying Nun. This is the first single.
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L7 – “COOLER THAN MARS”
L7 are back with a new single, “Cooler Than Mars,” that’s out digitally and as a flexidisc 7″ limited to 1000 copies. The song is plea for climate change action, done of course in the band’s playful, riff-driven style.
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DEREK SMALLS (SPINAL TAP) – “MUST CRUSH BARBIE”
Says Derek of this topical tune: “Been spending the last year or so as Brand Ambassador for BruegelCoin, the Dutch crypto currency. Since it was cratering this past spring, I was following the news more than usual, which is where I got bombarded by all the Barbie b.s. I don’t know which angered me more, but it’s really hard to write a song about crypto. But the overwhelming shroud of pinkness definitely deserved a major pricking. And that’s where I came in.”
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ANTHONY PIROG (MESSTHETICS) – “RIPPLES OF LIGHT” FT. NELS CLINE
Anthony Pirog, who you may know as the 1/3rd of The Messthetics who wasn’t in Fugazi, will release new solo album Nepenthe Series Vol. 1 on November 11 via Otherly Love. The album features a ton of impressive guests including Andy Summers (The Police), John Frusciante and Wilco’s Nels Cline who contributes to “Ripples of Light.”
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AESOP ROCK – “MINDFUL SOLUTIONISM”
Underground rap lifer Aesop Rock has announced a new album, Integrated Tech Solutions, and you can read about lead single “Mindful Solutionism” here.
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MCLUSKY – “UNPOPULAR PARTS OF A PIG” ETC
Welsh post-hardcore vets Mclusky have released a double A-side single with their first four new songs in 19 years. Read more here.
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Looking for even more new songs? Browse the New Songs archive.
