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.
JESS WILLIAMSON - "LORETTA" (TOWNES VAN ZANDT COVER) & "TEXAS RIVER SONG" (TRADITIONAL)
Jess Williamson, who used to live in Austin, has paid tribute to her former home state with two Texas-related covers: a melancholic, stripped-back rendition of Townes Van Zandt's "Loretta" (from 1978's Flyin’ Shoes) and a mandolin-and-fiddle-aided rendition of the traditional "Texas River Song." Both sound gorgeous.
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POPPY AJUDHA - "PLAYGOD"
UK singer Poppy Ajudha is releasing The Power of Us on April 22 via Virgin Music, and she just shared this soulful, powerful song that takes aim at Alabama's anti-abortion bill. "Abortion is still illegal in many countries around the world and is shamed in even more," she says. "I wrote this song when a group of men tried to pass an anti-abortion bill in the state of Alabama, America. I was angry at how in every corner of culture and society across every inch of the earth, men try to play God, again and again. But I am amazed at how humans are built with so much resistance and resilience for good when we know something is wrong and will always fight against it. This song is an act of resistance to those who try to control that which is not theirs to be in control of."
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YOUNG PRISMS - "OUTSIDE AIR"
Back-in-action shoegazers Young Prisms release their first album in a decade next week and here's one last early taste. '"Outside Air' is about the struggles and difficulties in modern marriage, monogamy, and parenting at a young age," says singer Stefanie Hodapp. "Resentment within a relationship can sink so deep and feel never ending but the work it takes can pull you out of a depression. At times it may feel like the only way out is to run away, but the payoff can sometimes save you from making irreversible decisions. This song was recorded during the California wildfires where the orange sky embodied these feelings of fear, anger, and disappointment."
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DANY PLACARD & JULIE DOIRON - "LYING"
"After days of turning in circles, in the kitchen, in the living room, in the bedroom, in the basement, or even in the stairs; monotony and longing can begin to sneak in, and sometimes unfortunately, maybe some paranoia," say Dany and Julie. "This song is a conversation, between two people who love each other, and have found themselves asking some difficult questions." Julie & Dany is out April 29 on Simone Records.
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RENATA ZEIGUER - "PICNIC IN THE DARK"
“‘Picnic in the Dark’ is about the process of navigating my shadows, learning to take up space, challenging fate, and finding the light within," Renata Zeiguer says of the title track to her forthcoming album. "To me the metaphor of the picnic blanket is like using a magic carpet to navigate both vast unknown territory and subconsciousness - letting things unfold with awareness while existing in an in-between state of familiarity and uncertainty, like the stillness within the eye of a storm.” Picnic in the Dark is out April 8 via Northern Spy.
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BILLY NOMATES - "SPRING"
If you're familiar with Billy Nomates' debut album and EP, you'll now that "Spring" is pretty far, sonically, from what she did on those records. And she agrees, saying, "it doesn’t belong anywhere so it’s bin or here." Glad she didn't trash "Spring," it's a lovely folk song.
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HANA VU - "PARKING LOT" & "MR. LONELY"
Hana Vu released her debut LP for Ghostly International, Public Storage, last year, and she's now followed it with a new EP, Parking Lot, with live renditions of four songs from her album along with two new tracks, "Parking Lot" and "Mr. Lonely."
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MELTS - "WALTZER"
Dublin psych act Melts will release their debut album, Maelstrom, on May 13 via Mother Sky. Powered by a nagging synth line, "Walter," soon errupts into hazy noise. (Fans of TOY or FACS, check this out.) "The influence for the lyrics came from Rob’s organ line on the track, it has the same mechanical rhythm of a fairground waltzer," says frontman Eoin Kenny. "The song is set in a fairground with people and machines moving, a couple dancing, giving ground and winning ground, and a tight rope walker diving and returning to the rope. All throwing themselves into something unknown but knowing they’ll return to the same place, like a waltzer spinning."
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FRONTPERSON - "OSTALGIE (FUR C. BISCHOFF)"
Frontperson (aka the duo of Kathryn Calder of The New Pornographers and Mark Andrew Hamilton of Woodpigeon) are releasing their sophomore album, Parade, next month, and the latest single is "Ostalgie (Für C. Bischoff)." Hamilton says the song is "softly inspired by the shadows of the formerly-separated Berlin, created as a dialogue between two characters on opposite sides of the psychological effect known in Germany as mauer im kopf (or 'wall in the head'). But it’s not just a Cold War melodrama set to music—I mean, what do we know about life on either side of the Berlin Wall? Still, there aren’t many images quite so evocative and frustrating as a wall between people who should be left together, and here we are in 2022 still building them and living behind them."
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KRISTINE LESCHPER (FKA MOTHERS) - "BLUE"
“There’s a disconnect between the music and lyrics," says Kristine Leschper of this new single from her solo debut. "Probably because the original demo of this song sounded like a medieval funeral dirge. So the words still have an unsettling quality, but the musical backdrop eventually morphed into this sexy disco track; I like the push and pull of that, it feels like the dissonance between adds a complexity to both elements”
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DROPKICK MURPHYS - "WE SHALL OVERCOME" (COVER)
Dropkick Murphys have released a cover of the traditional protest song "We Shall Overcome," which will appear on the expanded digital edition of last year's Turn Up That Dial (due this Friday), and which comes just ahead of their St. Patrick's Day run in Boston (which also streams live on St. Paddy's Day proper). "I’ve always found this to be such a powerful protest song, as we all know from its importance in both the civil rights and labor movements, but what I love the most is its positivity. The message of hope is needed now more than ever," says co-lead vocalist Ken Casey. "Also, nobody has done a loud, ballsy rock version – so it just needed to happen!" It does indeed sound pretty great in this fashion, and it's classic Dropkick Murphys.
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ZORA - "RUNNITUP" (ft. MYIA THORNTON)
Minneapolis rapper/singer/producer Zora has announced her new album, Z1, due May 20 via Philly queer punk label Get Better Records. It's a loud, brash, rap/dance music fusion, and Zora says, "We wanted to make a song about metaphorically running up on somebody who didn’t give us what we were owed. In reality, this song is pretty explicitly about US Capitalism and how we need to just overthrow it."
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SUPA BWE - "SERENGETI" (ft. MICK JENKINS)
Chicago rapper Supa Bwe is releasing a new project, No Thanks, on March 25 via Freddy Got Magic, and it'll include this distorted, punk-rap protest song featuring Mick Jenkins.
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CRANE LIKE THE BIRD - "ALL I CAN DO IS RIDE" (ft. BUCK MEEK)
Crane Like the Bird (aka Kyle Crane) has released another cool collaboration, this time with Big Thief's Buck Meek, and it's a gorgeous, string and horn-aided indie folk song with some lovely vocal harmonies.
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LUSTMORD & ZOLA JESUS - "PRIME"
Zola Jesus has shared her rework of Lustmord's "Prime" from his upcoming box set, and it's an eerie, heart-pounding rework. She says, "As a longtime fan of Lustmord’s work, the opportunity to combine landscapes was like a dream. I’m so inspired by the space and stillness within his music. I wanted to experiment with his way of keeping music on a slow boil, mostly to challenge my own propensity for maximalism."
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MAD HONEY - "ODDS" & "EUPHORIA"
Oklahoma City shoegazers have just put out this two-song promo on Sunday Drive Records, with a video for "Odds." They cite Lush, My Bloody Valentine, DIIV, and Beach House as influences, and you can hear that coming through in these hazy, syrupy songs.
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TALES OF A THERION (NUCLEAR ASSAULT, DEATH ANGEL, ENTOMBED) - "THIS MEANS YOU DIDE"
Tales of a Therion is a new band featuring vocalist Jörgen Sandström (The Project Hate MCMXCIX, ex-Grave, ex-Entombed), guitarist Scott Sargeant (ex-Skinlab, ex-Lȧȧz Rockit), bassist Danny Lilker (Nuclear Assault, ex-Anthrax), and drummer Will Carroll (Death Angel, Scarecrow), and they specifically take influence from Celtic Frost, as you can hear on this new rager.
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DANIELLE PONDER - "SO LONG"
Rochester, New York soul singer Danielle Ponder has signed to Future Classic, with plans to release her debut album this summer (and plans to play SXSW this week), and her first single for the label is "So Long," which was produced by Arlo Parks collaborator Gianluca Buccellati. It's got a vintage-meets-modern soul vibe, kind of in the vein of something like Michael Kiwanuka, and Danielle's powerhouse pipes really seal the deal.
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PURE HEX - "PEDESTAL"
Bay Area shoegazers Pure Hex have announced a new album, Pure Dark, produced by Gleemer's Corey Coffman and due June 3. You can hear the hazy, melodic lead single "Pedestal" now.
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PYRITHE - "GLIOBLASTOMA"
Pittsburgh experimental sludge trio Pyrithe have announced their first full-length, Monuments To Impermanence, due April 29 via Gilead Media. It features guest vocals from their former singer Vicky Carbone (on lead single "Glioblastoma") and Pyrrhon's Doug Moore, found percussion from Jason Cantu, Max Johnson (Noltem), and Shalin Shah (Noltem), and artwork by Caroline Harrison. "Glioblastoma" is genuinely killer and impossible to pin down, and it's the kind of heavy-yet-welcoming song that should appeal to metalheads and nonmetalheads alike.
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CAVE IN - "NEW REALITY"
Cave In have officially announced their new album Heavy Pendulum, and you can read more about lead single "New Reality" here.
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MAVIS STAPLES & LEVON HELM - "YOU GOT TO MOVE"
Soul legend Mavis Staples and the late Levon Helm (of The Band) recorded a session together at Levon's Woodstock studio in 2011, which ended up being their last performance together and one of Levon's last-ever recordings before his death. Over ten years later, that session is now getting released as an album. Read more about the lead single, a rendition of gospel traditional "You Got To Move," here.
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MUNA - "ANYTHING BUT ME"
MUNA announced a new self-titled album and shared another addictively poppy single from it, which you can read more about here.
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STÖNER (ex-KYUSS) - "PARTY MARCH"
Stöner, the new-ish band with former Kyuss members Brant Bjork and Nick Oliveri, have announced a new album, Totally..., and you can read more about lead single "Party March" here.
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MUSH - "GET ON YER SOAPBOX"
Leeds, UK band Mush have announced their third album, Down Tools, which will be out July 8 via Memphis Industries. The first single off the album is "Get On Yer Soapbox," which is powered by an off-kilter earworm riff and frontman Dan Hyndman describes as "a righteous wig-out number, like 'Alternative Facts' but with more cowbell."
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FLASHER - "SIDEWAYS"
Flasher, the band led by former Priests bassist Taylor Mulitz, are back with Love Is Yours, their first album since their 2018 debut. Their sound has mutated, too, from fuzzy indie rock to more of a beat-driven dreampop style, as you can hear on this first single.
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Looking for even more new songs? Browse the New Songs archive.