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 publish a monthly playlist of some of our favorite tracks. Here's a daily roundup with a bunch of interesting, newly released songs in one place.
LOYLE CARNER - "YESTERDAY" (PROD. MADLIB)
UK rapper Loyle Carner has just released a new Madlib-produced single, which he says actually was recorded before 2019's Not Waving, But Drowning came out but was delayed due to sample clearance, and it's a gorgeous dose of jazz-rap with a powerful message. "It’s really just about what it is to be black and white, in a world where you pretty much have to be one or the other," Loyle says. "It hurts the way I felt about my race back then, is the same way I feel now. Nothings changed since my last entry, nothing’s changed since the last century."
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BRASSTRACKS - "SWERVE" (ft. PELL)
Nu jazz duo Brasstracks and New Orleans rapper Pell have once again teamed up, this time for "Swerve," a lively, groovy song that reminds you how good these two go together.
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ISAAC PELAYO - "OFF THE CANVAS" (ft. BENNY THE BUTCHER)
Even if you don't know Isaac Pelayo by name, you've probably seen his paintings grace the covers of Griselda albums. He's also a rapper, and he's now got a new single featuring Griselda's Benny the Butcher. It finds both MCs in fine form over a lush, pitched-up soul sample.
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PROJEXX - "PAID IN FULL"
Fresh off appearing on the new WizKid album, rising Jamaican artist Projexx signed to Warner and dropped his new mixtape Fully Vol. 1 and a video for the track "Paid In Full." It owes as much to Jamaican music as it does to US and UK hip hop, and it's very promising stuff.
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TOBI LOU - "OKAY" (ft. DREEZY)
Rapper/R&B singer Tobi Lou is gearing up to release his new album Parrish Blue, and he's prefacing it with this very smooth song that features fellow Chicago artist Dreezy.
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THUNDERCAT - "FAIR CHANCE" (FLOATING POINTS REMIX)
Thundercat and Floating Points both make music that incorporates jazz, electronic music, and more, so it's cool to hear that Floating Points has remixed this Ty Dolla $ign and Lil B-featuring song from Thundercat's latest album. Usually it's a jazzy slow jam, but Floating Points turns it into something for the dancefloor.
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TH1RT3EN (PHAROAHE MONCH) - "FIGHT" (ft. CYPRESSS HILL)
th1rt3en is the new project of Queens rapper Pharoahe Monch, Jack White drummer Daru Jones, and Robert Glasper/Pete Rock/etc guitarist Marcus Machado, and their new album A Magnificent Day For An Exorcism comes out January 22. New single "Fight" features Cypress Hill and it's an impactful dose of hard-hitting, live-band rap rock.
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FUCK THE FACTS - "AN ENDING"
Fuck The Facts have released yet another song off their first album in five years, and this one finds the band deviating from their usual grindcore sound and going in a slower, more melodic direction inspired by "the early days of bands like Paradise Lost, Katatonia, Enchantment and Cemetary."
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FROZEN SOUL - "TORMENTED BY TIME"
Frozen Soul's anticipated debut album Crypt of Ice arrives in January, and while you wait for that, the Texas death metallers have released a whiplash-inducing non-album track, "Tormented by Time," as a Decibel flexi.
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BERHANA - "GOLDEN PT. 2" (ft. MEREBA)
R&B singers Berhana and Mereba put their sweet-as-molasses voices together for this very chill, lightly psychedelic new jam.
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SCAVENGERS (ex-FROM ASHES RISE) - "RIDDLE OF STEEL"
Scavengers is an Albany hardcore band with members of From Ashes Rise, Maggot Brain, Recon, and more, and their new album Anthropocene drops in early 2021 on Patient Zero Records. Lead single "Riddle of Steel" is a total scorcher.
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SIBILLE ATTAR - "HURT ME"
Sweden's Sibille Attar, who has been in bands [ingenting] and Speedmarket Avenue, will release her new album, A History of Silence, on February 22 via PNKSLM. First single "Hurt Me" has an early-'90s breakbeat video to it, which she says is intentional. "I was aiming for something like the Saint Etienne version of 'Only Love Can Break Your Heart." Spiked through with cello that circles around Attar's soaring vocals, "Hurt Me" is a striking first taste for the album.
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HAIM - "FEEL THE THUNDER"
Haim wrote "Feel the Thunder" for the The Croods: A New Age soundtrack with regular collaborator Ariel Rechtshaid, who Danielle Haim says is "the biggest Guns ‘n’ Roses fan" -- something that definitely comes across in this song.
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DAVE ALVIN (THE BLASTERS) - "INSIDE" (BILL MORRISSEY COVER)
“The late, brilliant songwriter Bill Morrissey was a very close and treasured friend of mine, says The Blasters' Dave Alvin of this song. “I was also honored to play lead guitar on his last album before his untimely death in 2011. We actually got to be close pals years before because he approached me one day claiming that a song of mine, "Bus Station," was a rip off of his beautiful composition, "Inside." I just laughed and said, ‘I wrote Bus Station in 1982. What year did you write Inside?’ Bill started giggling in his charming way and then said, ‘Hmm. I wrote “Inside” much later than that so I guess I ripped you off.’ We were tight comrades ever since. After Bill's passing I started performing “Inside” at some of my shows and eventually went into the studio to record my version with my band, The Guilty Ones. I wanted to pay tribute to Bill and his amazing talents as a songwriter by recording his bittersweet ballad that cemented our friendship forever.“ This cover is from Alvin's upcoming rom An Old Guitar: Rare and Unreleased Recordings which is out November 20 via Yep Roc.
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EL PERRO DEL MAR - "DREAMERS CHANGE THE WORLD"
Swedish artist El Perro Del Mar will release the Free Land EP next week via The Control Group. The record was created after MOMA in Stockholm asked her to spend time at the museum and create music from the experience and includes "Alone in halls," a reworking of Black Sabbath's "Changes" featuring Dev Hynes. "Dreamers change the world" is the first single and she says it's "about resisting giving in. It’s about freedom of creativity and freedom of thought. It’s also an appraisal of the free artist as well as a reclaiming of creative integrity in an over-commercialized world."
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POM POKO - "LIKE A LADY"
Pom Poko were set to release their second album, Cheater, earlier this month via Bella Union, but it's been postponed to January 15. They've shared skronky new single "Like a Lady," which they say "was one of the first songs we wrote for the album – we started writing it in a cabin near Oslo and finished it in Piemonte in Italy, where we also started recording it. The whole song actually started with a long, jam-like sort of noise-rock intro, but when it was time to record it our friend/engineer/co-producer Marcus Forsgren suggested more of a Breeders/grungy intro that we just went with on the fly. The lyrics for the song slowly grew out from just jamming together, and are about what makes, or what one thinks makes, a woman, what even being a woman means, and it’s also a kind of tribute to all the different ways of being a woman that are out there."
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JESSE KIVEL - "BURNING MAN"
Jesse Kivel releases new album Infinite Jess this week and here's one last early taste, with a video shot in Small Point, ME and featuring a rather dramatic pullback shot. "This is the exact spot where I married my wife and I bring my kids out here every year to connect with this magical and natural space,” says Kivel who adds, “I also have desperately wanted to find a reason to use a drone even though I think drones are dumb.”
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LE VOLUME COURBE - "MIND CONTORTED" (DANIEL JOHNSTON COVER) FT TERRY HALL & NOEL GALLAGHER
Le Volume Courbe, aka Charlotte Marionneau, will release new EP Fourteen Years this Friday. It's her first record in five years and the first of three EPs she's releasing that will also make up her new album that's due next year. The EP features a cover of Daniel Johnston's "Mind Contorted," performed as a duet with The Specials' Terry Hall and also features guitar from Noel Gallagher. It's a lovely cover, gentle and acoustic with Gallagher's lightly psychedelic playing woven throughout.
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TEENAGE FANCLUB - "HOME"
Teenage Fanclub have announced Endless Arcade, their 11th album, which will be out March 5, 2021. It'll be their first in and first since 2016's Here and is their first since the departure of co-founder Gerard Love. The first single is "Home," which opens the album, a bright Norman Blake number that that does indeed sound like home -- aka Teenage Fanclub's signature sparkling, harmonious, jangly style.
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BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE - "THE CAROUSEL SWINGS"
Anton Newcombe has been dropping new BJM tracks on the regular via the group's YouTube account -- "As the Carousel Swings" was written and recorded just yasterday.
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HOT WATER MUSIC - "SIR DUKE" (STEVIE WONDER COVER)
Gainesville punks Hot Water Music have released a cover of Stevie Wonder's classic "Sir Duke" with horns by JR of fellow Gainesville band Less Than Jake, and you can read more about it here.
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AC/DC - "REALIZE"
AC/DC's new album drops this Friday, and you can read more about its latest single here.
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FRND CRCL - "JOYRIDE 2.0"
NJ indie-pop punks FRND CRCL have signed to Lost Music Collective and their first single is this re-imagined version of their 2017 fan fave "Joyride." Read more here.
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Looking for even more new songs? Browse the ‘New Songs’ archive.