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.
MICK JENKINS - "DESIGNER FRAMES" (prod. KAYTRANADA)
Fresh off Kaytranada becoming the first-ever Black artist to win the Best Dance/Electronic Album Grammy, Mick Jenkins released a new song that Kaytranada produced. It appears to just be a SoundCloud loosie for now, but it's genuinely great stuff, with a maximalist, polyrhythmic beat from Kaytranada that kinda feels like a lo-fi version of classic Timbaland/Neptunes beats, and killer verses from Mick.
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MYKKI BLANCO - "FREE RIDE"
Mykki Blanco has released their first new music of 2021, "Free Ride," which was co-produced by FaltyDL and Hudson Mohawke. It's Mykki's first single for Transgressive Records, which they just signed to. "Some of the most intimate moments and conversations I have ever shared were with my mother on long drives in the Southern countryside when I was a teenager," Mykki says. "The music that soundtracked these memories on our daily journeys was the stuff of my mother’s generation. I would find myself daydreaming, reflecting and envisioning the kind of life I would like to create for myself. These memories and the music of Luther Vandross were the first inspirations behind the creation of my new song 'Free Ride.'"
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L'ORANGE & NAMIR BLADE - "CORNER STORE SCANDAL"
Nashville rapper Namir Blade teamed with producer L'Orange for a new album, Imaginary Everything, due May 7 via Mello Music Group, and first single "Corner Store Scandal" finds Namir delivering tongue-twisters over a psych-rock-fueled beat.
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PAUL JACOBS (POTTERY) - "DAY TO DAY"
Paul Jacobs, who plays drums in Pottery, will release new solo album Pink Dogs on the Green Grass on April 30 via Blow the Fuse. From the singles released so far it's shaping up to be pretty good, which goes for this one as well. "Day to Day" is earthy and just a little dark, with a baroque psych quality to it as well. Paul made the video, featuring some lovelsy rotoscoped-enhanced animation.
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ROSE CITY BAND (RIPLEY JOHNSON) - "SILVER ROSES"
Ripley Johnson of Magic Shjips and Moon Duo will release Earth Trip under his Rose City Band guise in June. While fond of drone, Ripley goes for more of a folky twang here, as you can hear on the pedal-steel inflected "Silver Roses."
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FLOCK Of DIMES - "HARD WAY"
Wye Oak's Jenn Wasner releases her new album as Flock of Dimes, Head of Roses, on April 2 via Sub Pop, and the latest single is "Hard Way." "Although I didn't fully understand when I wrote it," Jenn says, "'Hard Way' song is an example of the power of the subconscious mind to hide truths from ourselves that we're not yet ready to see. When I wrote this song I was still in the throes of new love, and I thought I was writing a straightforward, earnest love song. But when I tried to record it, something about the tone of it was eerie, strange, a bit darker than I would have expected. It wasn't until long after I wrote it that I became aware of its odd foreshadowing of what was to come -- that something I intended to be bright and hopeful in the moment was floating on top of a deep current of unease."
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WRITHING SQUARES - "ROGUE MOON"
Skronky Philly duo Writhing Squares (Kevin Nickles [sax, flute, synth] & Daniel Provenzano [bass, vocals]) release new double album Chart for the Solution on March 26 via Trouble in Mind. Opening cut "Rogue Moon" gives you a good idea of what they're about -- an 11-minute jam that incorporates psych, jazz, krautrock, punk, prog and more across one-chord jam.
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ANDRÉ ETHIER - "WILD GOLDFISH"
Toronto's Andre Ethier, who you may know from The Deadly Snakes, will release new album Further Up Island on May 28 via Telephone Explosion. It's a collaborations with Sandro Perri and the album's first single is the charming and low key "Wild Goldfish" that quotes the Beatles as it rambles along. The video for the song was created by Eva Michon who dropped Andrew into the videogame Stardew Valley.
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KISHI BASHI - "WAIT FOR SPRINGTIME"
Kishi Bashi is releasing a new EP, Emigrant, due out April 2 via Joyful Noise Recordings. It's a companion to his 2019 album Omoiyari
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PAIN OF TRUTH / AGE OF APOCALYPSE SPLIT
Two up and coming Northeast hardcore bands, Pain of Truth and Age of Apocalypse, have teamed up for this very cool split. Pain of Truth is straight-up, in-your-face, tough-guy hardcore shit, whereas Age of Apocalypse have bellowed melodic vocals and sound a little more like '90s alt-metal. Both bands rip.
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CANAL IRREAL (MARTIN FROM LOS CRUDOS/LIMP WRIST) - "PESTES"
Canal Irreal is a new-ish band from Martin Sorrondeguy (Los Crudos, Limp Wrist), and as No Echo points out, they've got an LP arriving this spring. First single "Pestes" applies Martin's vicious hardcore bark to a post-punk backdrop, and the result is as awesome as just about everything he does.
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BOWERBIRDS - "SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE"
Bowerbirds' first album in nearly a decade, Becalmyounglovers, is due out next month, and the latest single is the folky "Seems Impossible."
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FOG LAKE - "DAKOTA"
Canada's Fog Lake (the project of Aaron Powell) are releasing a new album, Tragedy Reel, on April 23 via Orchid Tapes. New single "Dakota" is a somber, melancholic song with classic Americana instrumentation that's somewhere between, like, Broken Social Scene, The Decemberists, and Elliott Smith.
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DARK TEA - "FINALLY ON TIME"
“Bands tend to bemoan the long drive from San Francisco to Portland, and this song celebrates it," says Dark Tea's Gary Canino. "It’s about coming home from tour but wishing you were still on ‘the 105,’ whichever road that might be.” Dark Tea's new self-titled album will be out April 30 via Fire Talk.
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SORRY - "CIGARETTE PACKET" & "SEPARATE"
UK duo Sorry are back with their first new music since their debut album and let's hope there's more with this came from.
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SQUID - "PADDLING"
Here's another new single from UK group Squid's upcoming debut album.
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LAMBCHOP - "A CHEF'S KISS"
Kurt Wagner is back with a new Lambchop album, titled Showtunes, that's out May 21 via Merge / City Slang. Following a couple records heavy on vocoder and the all-covers Trip, Wagner made this one during lockdown with a new set of collaborators, including Ryan Olson of Gayngs and Poliça, James McNew of Yo La Tengo, co-producer Jeremy Ferguson, DJ Twit One, and more.
CRUELTY - "A LIE THAT MAKES LIFE BEARABLE"
UK metallic hardcore band Cruelty's debut album is coming in April via Church Road, and you can read more about this intense lead single here.
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CARLOS NIÑO & FRIENDS - "PLEASEWAKEUPALITTLEFASTER, PLEASE…"
Jazz musician/producer Carlos Niño announced a new album, and shared their gorgeously meditative lead single, which you can read more about here.
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GENGHIS TRON - "PYROCENE"
Genghis Tron's anticipated comeback album arrives next week, and here's the third single, which you can read more about here.
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FIDDLEHEAD - "MILLION TIMES"
Fiddlehead, the Boston post-hardcore band who share members with Have Heart and Basement, announced their sophomore album and you can read more about lead single "Million Times" here.
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T-TOPS - "BURN THE RIVER"
Pittsburgh's T-Tops make scuzzy, fuzzy, riffy punk that exists somewhere in between Mudhoney, The Stooges, the Melvins, and Motorhead, and you can read more about their new single here.
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Looking for even more new songs? Browse the ‘New Songs archive.