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.
BABYFACE RAY - "WHAT THE BUSINESS IS"
Detroit rapper Babyface Ray follows the recent deluxe edition of Unfuckwithable with another new single: the airy, laid-back "What The Business Is."
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WYE OAK - "ELECTRICITY"
Wye Oak are celebrating the tenth anniversary of their excellent third album, Civilian, with Civilian + Cut All the Wires: 2009-2011, with a "lost" album of previously unreleased tracks and demos from the Civilian time period. The first of those is "Electricity," about which Andy Stack says, "After playing 'Electricity' in live shows for a year or so around 2009, we made a studio recording but never mixed it, and ultimately decided to shelve the song. And so, it was relegated to the dustbin of time, AKA an old hard drive which I did not unearth until 2020 when I came looking for old photos and other memorabilia from the Civilian era. On my old drive, I found a treasure trove of material which we had both forgotten ever existed—original demos, live versions of the songs, and, most exciting, a bunch of fully realized studio recordings from this era which never saw the light of day. On 'Electricity,' I was really bashing the drums in a way that I never would now, and I hear that same abandon in Jenn’s singing. The recording has much of what defined the first phase of Wye Oak: an urgent push and pull between chaos and beauty, and a hard-hitting attempt to push out as much sound as we possibly could from our duo setup. It’s not who we are anymore, but I still relate to the old feeling, and I still get goosebumps when I listen to these recordings. Everything old is new."
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FREDO - "WANDSWORTH TO BULLINGDON" (ft. HEADIE ONE)
Fredo released his new album Money Can't Buy Happiness earlier this year, and now he followed it with this appealing new single, which features fellow UK rapper Headie One.
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WAVVES - "CAVIAR"
Wavves have shared the latest single off their upcoming album Hideaway, and this one finds Nathan Williams & co. channelling a more minimal, ethereal pop vibe than usual.
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DURAND JONES & THE INDICATIONS - "THE WAY THAT I DO"
“Whether on tour or spinning records, over the years we realized how much we love making people dance," says Indications' singer Aaron Frazer of the band's new single. "When the first notes hit or the needle drops and the whole crowd lights up, that's a feeling we held onto all through 2020. And that's what we're bringing on 'The Way That I Do.' It's a run-to-the-dancefloor song for that special person who gets you shook, makes you wanna do more and be your best self. But it's also for everyone who's missed just getting together and movin' their ass!” The video was filmed Josephine’s Southern Cooking in Chatham, Chicago, and stars Pete & Linda Frazier, the 2019 winners of Chicago's World’s Largest Steppers Contest. Durand Jones & The Indications' new album, Private Space, is out July 30
via Dead Oceans / Colemine Records.
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JOAN AS POLICE WOMAN, DAVE OKUMU & TONY ALLEN - "TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER"
Joan as Police Woman will release The Solution is Restless on November 5 which is a collaboration with Dave Okumu of The Invisible and the late afrobeat icon and drummer Tony Allen. Says Joan: "Damon Albarn introduced me to Afrobeat legend, Tony Allen, at the March 2019 Africa Express event 'The Circus' and we hit it off. Tony and I played a version of Nina Simone's 'I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free' and decided to record together. I asked my old friend and fierce musician, Dave Okumu, to join from London, and that November, in a Parisian studio, we improvised all night. When the world shut down, I used those recordings to write a record entitled “The Solution Is Restless”. This first single, 'Take Me To Your Leader,' is the most incendiary on the new record. I wrote it watching Jacinda Ardern, PM of New Zealand, navigate 2020. In my dream world, the US asks to meet her in order to learn how to better run the country. 'Take me to your leader/ ‘cause I’m ready to play/ can’t hold my breath any longer/ word on the street is she’s a healer/I know I’m down to obey/ and don’t we need a break in the chaos.'”
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XENO & OAKLANDER - "INFINITE SADNESS"
Minimal wave duo Xeno & Oaklander are back with Vi/deo, their seventh album (and first in three years), on October 22 via Dais. First single "Infinite Sadness" is an alluring first taste.
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DIET CIG - "THE UNFORGIVEN" (METALLICA COVER)
Two more covers from the massive Metallica tribute album are out. Diet Cig do an indie rock-tinged version of "The Unforgiven," and the Ha*Ash cover of the same song is also out. Metallica also released their own 1991 rough mix of the song, which is from the upcoming Black Album box set.
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BORN WITHOUT BONES - "DISAPPEARER" & "BABY"
Milford, Massachusetts emo band Born Without Bones signed to Pure Noise, and their first release for the label will be the Pictures of the Sun EP, which features re-imagined versions of four previously released songs and one song that was written years ago but never finished, "Disappearer." That song fuses clean '90s Midwest emo, climactic post-rock, and Jimmy Eat World-sized hooks, and it's great stuff. A new version of "Baby" is out now too.
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CHURCHBURN - "SCARRED"
Blackened sludgesters Churchburn will release new album Genocidal Rite on November 5 via Translation Loss, and you can listen to the venomous lead single "Scarred" over at Metal Injection.
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BAD BAD HATS - "DETROIT BASKETBALL"
Minneapolis indie rock trio Bad Bad Hats will release their new album Walkman on September 17 via Don Giovanni, and you can hear the catchy, crunchy, '90s-style lead single "Detroit Basketball" now.
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JOEY CAPE - "SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER"
Lagwagon and Bad Astronaut frontman Joey Cape has shared the second single off his upcoming solo album A Good Year To Forget. As the album title suggests, the album was inspired by the hardships of 2020, and like the first single, this new one finds Joey at his most melancholic.
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ALIEN BOY - "NOTHING'S ENOUGH"
Portland's Alien Boy have shared the second single off Don't Know What I Am (due 8/20 via Get Better Records), and it's a very cool dose of off-kilter yet catchy indie rock.
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SHAKEY GRAVES - "CHEERS" (THE WILD REEDS COVER)
Nashville indie label Dualtone Music Group are releasing Amerikinda: 20 Years Of Dualtone, a collection of covers from their artists and alumni, for their 20th anniversary, and from that comes Shakey Graves' new cover of The Wild Reeds. "The Wild Reeds are a truly righteous group, wonderful folks with insane talent," he says. "I'll always remember hearing ‘Cheers.’ We were on tour together right before their record of the same name came out. After a show we got to preview some of the unreleased tracks and my jaw was on the floor the whole time. I'm a sucker for melody and I jumped at the opportunity to get to sing some of their music into my own microphone."
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SHOVELS & ROPE - "DEARLY DEPARTED" (SHAKEY GRAVES COVER)
Also off the Amerikinda: 20 Years Of Dualtone compilation is Shovels & Rope's cover of Shakey Graves. "Shakey has been a dear pal to us for many years now and we have a lot of really sweet history with him,” they say. “We did our first headlining tour with him. We’ve been to Australia together. He has been a true friend and provided us support and encouragement when we had our kids. He’s as lovely and genuine as you think he is. We wanted to cover his song to return some of that love and reach through the heaviness of this pandemic and give him an audible hug.”
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BIG D AND THE KIDS TABLE - "TOO MUCH"
Ska-punk veterans Big D and the Kids Table have announced their first new album of original material in eight years, Do Your Art, due October 22 via SideOneDummy. Lead single "Too Much" finds them in fine form, and the band spoke to Consequence about the influences behind the track.
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HOVVDY - "TRUE LOVE"
Austin duo Hovvdy announced a new album, True Love, due out October 1 via Grand Jury. The first single is the title track, and Charlie Martin says, "For each Hovvdy record there’s always been a song that kinda shocks my system, kinda jolts me into a brand new and inspired place. This was definitely that song for me. I remember writing it and feeling a rush of excitement — crying a lot honestly. it feels so good to express love and appreciation when you really fucking mean it. but it’s hard to feel worthy of love, of something so rare, and all we can do is try to measure up — that’s what that last part is all about."
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CHIEF KEEF - "THE TALK"
Chicago drill pioneer Chief Keef has been dropping singles lately, and that continues today with "The Talk."
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ALLIE - "LISTLESS"
allie, the moniker of Nashville musician Allie Cuva, has shared the second single off their upcoming debut LP Maybe Next Time, and it's a warm blend of emo and dream pop that wraps around you like an old sweater.
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ZERO TRUST (mem COHEED & CAMBRIA, BULLDOZE, etc) - "PORTRAITS"
Zero Trust, a new supergroup with members of Coheed and Cambria, Bulldoze, Full Scale Riot, Agents of Man, Skarhead, and more, have shared this new single via Equal Vision, and it'll take you right back to mid '90s alt-metal.
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POORSTACY - "CHILDREN OF THE DARK"
Poorstacy is among the recent wave of artists bridging the gap between 2010s emo-rap and early 2000s pop punk, and his latest single "Children of the Dark" brings some 2000s pop-screamo into the mix too. It's off his upcoming album Party at the Cemetery, due this fall.
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THALIA ZEDEK BAND - "REVELATION TIME"
Thalia Zedek Band will release new album Perfect Vision on August 27 and they've just shared this new track from it. "This song was written pre-pandemic," says Thalia, "The revelation in question is not the apocalyptical/biblical one, but rather the revealing that happens when people take off their masks and show their true selves and intentions. I was struggling with distance and separation in the context of relationships, and the anxiety and paranoia that it can cause. How no matter how close we are to another person, we can never fully know what they are experiencing or thinking."
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ANA EGGE - “WAIT A MINUTE”
Ana Egge will release new album Between Us via StorySound Records. She made it with producer Lorenzo Wolff and it features Irish singer-songwriter Mick Flannery. The soulful first single is "Wait a Minute."
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LALA LALA - "DIVER"
Lillie West has announces a new album as Lala Lala, I Want The Door To Open, which will be out October 8 via Hardly Art. She made it with Yoni Wolf of WHY?, who she's collaborated with regularly before, and the album features contributions from drummer and fellow Chicago musician Nnamdi Ogbonnaya, as well as poet Kara Jackson, OHMME, Adam Schatz (Landlady), Sen Morimoto, Christian Lee Hutson, Kaina Castillo, Meg Duffy (Hand Habits), Will Miller, Gia Margaret, Josiah Wolf, and Ben Gibbard. "DIVER" is the first single and "the thesis of the album."
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SUUNS - "C-THRU"
Montreal's SUUNS will be back on September 3 with The Witness, and they've just shared a new single from it. "C-Thru" is a dark, slinky groover with lots of atmosphere. “A lot of the slower and more delicate songs on this record required quite some finesse, and after all that careful work we needed a good romp,” says Liam O’Neill. “SUUNS at our best is always secretly a little bit ‘fun,’ so when Ben writes an uncomplicated song with a good melody, we try not to overthink it - we try and get the sound of us having fun with it on tape."
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XENIA RUBINOS - "WORKING ALL THE TIME"
Xenia Rubinos has announced her new album Una Rosa, and along with the announcement comes new single "Working All The Time." Read more about it here.
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TYCHO & BEN GIBBARD - "ONLY LOVE"
Tycho and Ben Gibbard have teamed up for a collaborative new track, which you can read more about here.
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LANTLÔS - "IDONTKNOW"
Lantlôs' upcoming album Wildhund comes with a companion album called Glitchking, and you can read more about the glitchy, electronic "IDONTKNOW" from Glitchking here.
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Looking for even more new songs? Browse the ‘New Songs archive.