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. In these concertless times, that includes daily livestreams and live concert videos we love. 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.
FATIMA AL QADIRI - "MALAAK"
Fatima Al Qadiri will release Medieval Femma, her third studio album for Hyperdub, on May 14 digitally and July 23 physically. The album was inspired by the classical poetry of Arab women such as Al Khansa. Check out the dreamlike first single.
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MDOU MOCTAR - "AFRIQUE VICTIME"
Tuareg guitarist Mdou Moctar has shared the incendiary title track to his upcoming Matador debut. "’Afrique Victime’ is a message to all of the countries with money and power who come into Africa and kill the leaders who try to empower the people and lead revolutions," says Mdou. "This pushes the area into danger and instability and emboldens the terrorists, and it’s the people who suffer and have no justice. Africa is innocent. The French use our uranium, but 90% of the people here don't have electricity. Imagine." The video for the song was directed by Sabrina Nichols and shot at an impromptu performance in Niger's capital, Niamey.
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TO BE GENTLE - "IMPULSES"
Oregon screamo band To Be Gentle are gearing up for a new album, Wounded, due out later this summer, and it'll include this fantastic new song. It goes from blast of blackened screamo fury to something clean and post-rocky, with hugely emotive, impassioned screams throughout. Any purchases made on Bandcamp through Friday, April 2 (a Bandcamp fundraiser day) will benefit Northwest Arkansas Equality "to help support their important work during this difficult time."
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LAURA VEIRS - "THE PANTHER"
"The Panther" is based on Rainer Maria Rilke's poem of the same name, and Laura Veirs shared two versions of it. "In recent years I’ve been writing different versions of songs to try to find the right 'musical home' for lyrics that resonate with me," she says. "I am sharing these songs now because I like them and think listeners might find them interesting, especially because they are such radically different musical treatments of essentially the same lyrics. I also want to share them now because this song adapts words from one of my favorite poems (my favorite translation is the one by Stephen Mitchell, below). Since many of us around the world are still in quarantine, I think listeners will be able to relate to the plight of Rilke’s panther. There are times in life when we find ourselves trapped, either by external circumstances or by self-limitation, or both. Hopefully in those times we can realize that our state of confinement will change and pass, like all things, eventually.
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DROPKICK MURPHYS - "QUEEN OF SUFFOLK COUNTY"
Dropkick Murphys have shared another taste of their tenth album Turn Up That Dial, and it's the kind of anthemic Celtic folk punk that this band has mastered again and again.
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TIANA MAJOR9 - "REAL AFFAIR" (REMIX ft. VINCE STAPLES)
British soul singer Tiana Major9 is releasing the At Sixes and Sevens Remixed EP this Friday (4/2), and it features the recently released "Same Space?" remix ft. SiR as well as this just-released remix of "Real Affair" with Vince Staples. It's a syrupy soul song that was already great but Vince's verse makes it even better.
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LITTLE SNAKE - "FALLEN ANGELS" (ft. FLYING LOTUS)
Little Snake (aka Canadian producer Gino Serpentini) is releasing his debut LP, A Fragmented Love Story, Written By The Infinite Helix Architect, on May 7 via Flying Lotus' Brainfeeder label. It includes recent single "Loophole" (ft. Amon Tobin), as well as this new song, which finds Little Snake collaborating with his Brainfeeder boss. It's glitchy and psychedelic and the self-directed video follows suit.
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PERTURBATOR - "DETHRONED UNDER A FUNERAL HAZE"
French synthwaver Perturbator will release his new album Lustful Sacraments on May 28 via Blood Music, and new single "Dethroned Under a Funeral Haze" is a dose of slow-paced goth rock that Perturbator says is "about death as the great equalizer."
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S.H.I. - "IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS"
Not only is Relapse reissuing Japanese hardcore vets Zouo's discography, band leader Cherry Nishida's newer band S.H.I. (Struggling Harsh Immortals) are also releasing their new album 4 死 Death on the label. Here's the second single, which offers up six minutes of throat-shredding, noisy post-hardcore.
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BREE RUNWAY - "HOT HOT"
UK rapper Bree Runway follows her great 2020 project 2000AND4EVA with a new single, "HOT HOT," which finds her offering up a very fun dose of R&B-infused pop.
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OLIVIA RODRIGO - "DEJA VU"
Actress and singer Olivia Rodrigo has followed her debut single, the runaway hit "Drivers License," with "Deja Vu." It's from her debut album, due out May 21, and it's another appealing pop track, which should appeal to fans of Lorde.
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DEAD WITCHES - "D.I.E. (DRAGGED INTO EMPTINESS)
Dead Witches is the UK doom metal band founded by original Electric Wizard drummer Mark Greening, and -- now armed with new vocalist Spring Thompson -- they're set to release a split with France's Witchthroat Serpent on June 18 via Heavy Psych Sounds, as part of the label's Doom Sessions series. If you like Electric Wizard's fuzzed-out, psychedelic doom, you'll like this too.
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RAISED AS WOLVES - "FRAYED OUT"
Australia's Raised As Wolves make melodic punk that's catchy, anthemic, and just a little bit emo. If you're into stuff like PUP, Title Fight, Joyce Manor, Dogleg, etc, check this new song out.
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BIG SCENIC NOWHERE - "MURDER KLIPP"
Desert rock collective Big Scenic Nowhere (members of Fu Manchu, Yawning Man, Mos Generator, etc) will release their sophomore album The Long Morrow in fall 2021 and new single "The Long Morrow" has the weight of a sludge metal song but it's as catchy as a QOTSA or Foo Fighters song. There's also a trippy Pink Floyd-esque interlude in there too. Cool stuff.
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HIGHWAY SNIPER - "NEW TERRORISTS"
Skylar Sarkis of Taking Meds and Growing Stone, Eric Egan of Heart Attack Man, and George Lucarelli of Falls Apart came together last year as the D-beating political hardcore band Highway Sniper, and they're now set to release a second EP this month. Read more about this ruthless lead single here.
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DANNY ELFMAN - "KICK ME" (DEATH GRIPS REMIX)
Danny Elfman is in the midst of releasing a new song on the 11th day of every month this year, and while we wait for April's he has just shared a remix of March's single, "Kick Me," by Death Grips' Zach Hill.
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COURTNEY BARNETT & VAGABON - "DON'T DO IT" (SHARON VAN ETTEN COVER)
Sharon Van Etten has shared Courtney Barnett & Vagaon's cover of "Don't Do It" from epic Ten, where other artists take on all the songs from SVE's epic for its 10th anniversary.
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STOREFRONT CHURCH - "AFTER THE ALPHABETS"
Lukas Frank announced his debut album as Storefront Church, As We Pass, and shared the first single, which was co-written by DIIV's Cole Smith; he provided instrumentation to the track, as well.
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Looking for even more new songs? Browse the ‘New Songs archive.