So many artists, 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.
DEFCEE & MESSIAH MUSIK - "SHORTCUTS" (ft. PREMROCK & ARMAND HAMMER)
Illinois rapper Defcee and Baltimore producer Messiah Musik have released a collaborative album, Trapdoor, on Backwoodz Studios, and one of the highlights is "Shortcuts" featuring Backwoodz head billy woods and ELUCID's Armand Hammer project and Backwoodz staple PremRock. If you like the kind of left-of-the-dial rap that Backwoodz has become best known for, you'll definitely like this.
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METHOD MAN - "NEW OLD SCHOOL"
Method Man has been gearing up for a new album, and now he returns with "New Old School," which finds him rapping over maximalist, polyrhythmic production by Adam McLeer and The Lordz Of Brooklyn that sounds like a classic Neptunes beat.
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RINA MUSHONGA - "EVERYTHING = PERSONAL"
London-based experimental musician Rina Mushonga released the first of two planned singles, "To Be The Birds," last month, and now she's followed it with "Everything = Personal." "I wrote this song around the same time as 'To Be the Birds,' these two songs kind of sit together in my mind," Rina says. "The image of the body as something potentially powerful and simultaneously downtrodden really struck me. The title 'Everything = Personal' is inspired by the activist slogan 'the personal is political' which really speaks to how everything is connected, I feel. Injustice isn't something that happens way out there – it stains all of us. It all sounds a bit heavy, haha, but this song is also a song of empowerment and self-actualisation. I find it hard to write without hope – there's always hope in my music."
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EELS - "THE MAGIC"
EELS are back with another song from their upcoming Extreme Witchcraft which was produced by John Parish. "The Magic" falls somewhere between garage rock and electro, with a little orchestral mellotron thrown in for good measure. Extreme Witchcraft is out January 28 via PIAS/E Works Records.
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CAROLINE LOVEGLOW - "ZENOSYNE"
Los Angeles musician Caroline Loveglow is releasing her debut album, Strawberry, on February 25 via George Clanton's 100% Electronica label. The latest single is the crystalline dream pop of "Zenosyne," which she says "captures the eternal, and internal mind-fuck of processing the permanence of an ending, or significant change. I stumbled across this word in a book I was reading a few years ago. The proper definition is; 'The sense that time appears to be moving faster and faster--especially as one grows older.' That idea has stayed hanging around in the forefront of my brain for a while, primarily so when I made this song."
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STEALING SHEEP AND THE RADIOPHONIC WORKSHOP - LA PLANÈTE SAUVAGE
Liverpool band Stealing Sheep teamed with the BBC's famed Radiophonic Workshop to create a new score for René Laloux’s 1973 animated classic La Planète Sauvage (Fantastic Planet). "Stealing Sheep are a unique trio who have a rather wonderful and instinctive feel for the harmonies and magical traditions of art-pop," say the Radiophonic Workshop. "We are, in effect, art electronica, our music based on natural and unnatural sounds, fields and technologies, past and present. It seemed utterly natural to bring these traditions together in the live re-scoring ‘La Planète Sauvage’, itself, a wonderful piece of psychedelic folk animation." Listen to the whole thing.
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CHARLIE REED - "DON'T DROP ME"
Chicago band Charlie Reed, which features members of Spread Joy, Divino Niño, and Twin Peaks, will release their debut album in May via Earth Libraries. New single "Don't Drop Me" is nice slice of bummed out orchestral pop.
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THE NATVRAL + JEN GOMA - "THE BALLAD OF EASY RIDER" (THE BYRDS COVER)
"Last summer I went into the studio, just thinking I was making a few demos," says The Natvral's Kip Berman of this cover that features is onetime Pains of Being Pure At Heart bandmate, Jen Goma. "But when I heard Jen Goma sing this one, I just thought, “Well, as that’s perfect we might as well use it.” The original was by The Byrds’ Roger McGuinn for the 1969 film Easy Rider."
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THE BUG & JASON WILLIAMSON (SLEAFORD MODS) - "TREETOP" & "STOAT"
Electronic producer The Bug (Kevin Martin) and Sleaford Mods' Jason Williamson have released a two-track collaborative single, "Treetop" / "Stoat," that's out now via Ninja Tune. Williamson's voice and cadence is instantly recognizable but The Bug brings an entirely different dark, synthetic feel.
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BRIAN WILSON & JIM JAMES - "RIGHT WHERE I BELONG"
New documentary Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road was released last week, and the film's soundtrack is out this Friday (11/26). It features "Right Where I Belong," which is a collaboration between Brian and My Morning Jacket's Jim James that's as nostalgic as a Pacific sunset.
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FAILURE - "SUBMARINES"
Failure have shared the second single off their upcoming sixth album, and you can read more about it here.
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GUITAR FIGHT FROM FOOLY COOLY - "PYRAMID"
Tennessee emo band Guitar Fight From Fooly Cooly have announced a new EP, Drought. The first single is "Pyramid," which you can read more about here.
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TO FORGET - "PILL OF APATHY"
Charleston, SC screamo band To Forget are gearing up to release a new album, Echoes Take Their Place, on Zegema Beach Records, and you can read more about lead single "Pill of Apathy" here.
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Looking for even more new songs? Browse the ‘New Songs archive.