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.
LITTLE SIMZ - "I LOVE YOU, I HATE YOU"
Little Simz's new album Sometimes I Might Be Introvert can't get here soon enough but "I Love You, I Have You" will have to hold us till September 3. Inflo's widescreen, soulful production is a luxurious backdrop for Simz' confessional track about “A woman who hasn’t confronted all her Daddy issues.”
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THE GOON SAX - "DESIRE"
Australian trio The Goon Sax release their third album, Mirror II, tomorrow and they've just shared one last preview before the whole thing drops. "Desire" was written and sung by Riley Jones and is one of the most ethereal songs on the album. "Desire is complex," says Riley. "Unconscious attachments hang on invisible threads. Fantasies and daydreams emerge, dangerous hallucinations cause reckless actions, misremembrance causes total distortion. I wanted it to feel as expansive as a Les Rallizes Dénudés song - to reverberate beneath waters that flood all the crevices of the earth, to leave no gap unfilled and I wanted it to be as universal as one of those crushing Elvis songs - so poignant that its sentiment seems to ring out forever, just like Desire.”
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IDK WITH MF DOOM, WESTSIDE GUNN, JAY ELECTRONICA - "RED"
IDK releases new album USEE4YOURSELF on Friday (7/9) and as one last taste before the whole thing drops at midnight, here's "Red" featuring the late MF DOOM, Westside Gunn, and Jay Electronica.
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RODRIGO AMARANTE - “TANGO”
Rodrigo Amarante has shared another song from his upcoming Drama that's due out next week. “When I wrote this song I was projecting the idea of a love that lasts, one that is mutually supportive and reliable, safe in that sense, and I can't imagine that being possible without a good dose of sense of humor,” says Amarante. “That seems to be the only way to get through it, the hard times. The song describes this love through what appears as dance instructions, pleads, the coordination of movements. When I met Julie and Angel and saw them dance I felt as if I found that love. When I turned on the camera I had a tear roll down my eyes; the film was capturing what I attempted to write, at last, a love that can be seen, one that words and melody can only hint at.”
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PRIYA RAGU - "KAMALI"
The new single from Tamil-Swiss artist Priya Ragu was inspired by a short film, Kamali, telling the story of a single mother, Suganthi, living in a small Indian village and raising her daughter, Kamali. "In so many ways I could relate to this little girl," Priya says. "Growing up, we look at the world with curiosity and envision infinite possibilities without any limitation. For a lot of us, these possibilities and dreams get blurry by the way the roles of men and women are dealt out. It is culturally rooted in ancient traditions where we are only good enough to become wives and mothers. This still exists! I want to speak to all the Kamalis in the world to think bigger than that, to look further than that."
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HOMEBOY SANDMAN - "NO BEEF"
Homeboy Sandman's Anjelitu EP, produced by Aesop Rock, is out August 6 and here's another track from it. The song was inspired by his decision to go vegan. "I had psoriasis all over my body. It was driving me crazy. I asked the doctor 'could it be something I’m eating?' She looked me dead in the eye, straight faced, 'food has nothing to do with it.' Thank God for the intuition to disregard her 'treatment plan' intended to make me a lifetime customer of the medical industry. Year and a half after removing all meat and dairy from my diet my skin is completely clear. I met a dude who told me he cured his diabetes eating plants. I talked to a guy just the other day who told me he cured his mother’s cancer. It’s all in The China Study you should read that. I’m not saying everybody is the same. I’m just saying my doctor straight lied to me. Now that’s true, that’s why I never have no beef."
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JACK NAME & AOIFE NESSA FRANCES - "WATCHING THE WILLOWS BURN"
Singer-songwriter Jack Name, who has produced Cass McComb records, and released his own music on Castle Face and other labels, has shared a new collaboration with Irish singer-songwriter Aoife Nessa Frances. Mexican Summer co-founder Keith Abrahamsson brought the two together, and they worked remotely on a lovely new single, "Watching the Willows Burn." "A lot of our conversations drifted into topics like mysticism and ancient history," they say. "We imagined a struggle between a peaceful group of moon worshipping people and maniacal totalitarian warlords. That sent us down a stream which eventually led to the different things willows can symbolize. It’s interesting how they can stand for purity and nourishment and also grief and death. So what does it mean to watch them burn in the dark? Perhaps a rebirth, whether healing or destroying, depends on who’s watching."
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MOTORISTS - "THROUGH TO YOU"
Toronto band Motorists will release their debut album, Surrounded, on September 3 via Bobo Integral, We Are Time and Debt Offensive Records. Fans of Kiwi Jr and Rolling Blackouts CF (or Cheap Trick, for that matter) will probably dig "Through to You."
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SELF ESTEEM - "PRIORITISE PLEASURE"
Self Esteem, the project of Rebecca Lucy Taylor of Slow Club, has announced her second album, Prioritise Pleasure, and shared the dancefloor-ready title track, which she says is "a wide screen mantra, remembering to put myself first and in turn making myself a better, more present person. My journey to accept myself is far from over, but over the last few years some of the age old simple shit has started to finally kick in. Love yourself, be in the moment, put your needs first – that all used to feel so abstract and impossible but with a bit of will power (and writing a tonne of songs about it), I finally not only see the benefits but am actively enjoying them."
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LOS LOBOS - "JAMAICA SAY YOU WILL" (JACKSON BROWNE COVER)
Los Lobos celebrate the rich Los Angeles music scene on covers album Native Sons that's out at the end of the month. "I used to go over to David [Hidalgo]’s house after school and listen to records with him, and this song always resonated for me—such a beautiful melody," says Louie Perez Jr of their take on this Jackson Browne classic. "The narrative was something I was attracted to. The storytelling. This song in particular inspired me to write from introspection—and I saw that my songs could be personal, but I could still write them to be universal. To this day, that’s been the template."
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STUNNA GIRL - "WHERE YOU BELONG"
Sacramento rapper Stunna Girl has shared a new video, directed by Azzie Scott, for the final track on her debut project, STUNNA THIS STUNNA THAT, which we named one of the best rap albums of February 2021.
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CENTRAL HEAT EXCHANGE - "DIRECTLY DOWN"
Central Heat Exchange is a collaborative project by musicians spread across Austin, Chicago, & Winnipeg, with its core members being Adam Soloway (Living Hour), Santiago RD (Daphne Tunes), and Jacob and Paul Stoltz (Varsity and Pool Holograph). Their debut album, however, also features members of Broken Social Scene, Lala Lala, Fran, The Weakerthans, Sun June, Do Make Say Think and many others. Here's the first single, "Directly Down," which features lead vocals from Stephanie Smith of Varsity and drums from Lala Lala's Abby Black. Fans of Broadcast, take note.
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NOLAN POTTER - "GREGORIAN CHANCE"
Nolan Potter (Knife Ritual, Lake of Fire) is back with his second album for Castle Face, Music is Dead, on September 24. Fans of groovy, flute-laden baroque psych will want to dig into "Gregorian Chance." Like everything on the record, Nolan played it all.
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PAGEANTS - "WHERE DID THE TIME GO"
Long Beach-based indie pop duo Pageants are releasing their sophomore album, Sun and Settled Days, on July 30, and the latest single is the sunny, breezy "Where Did The Time Go." One half of the band, Rebecca Coleman, says the lyrics "recall fleeting memories of the sense of aimlessness I was feeling in the years after touring as a teenager in the early 00’s. I felt stuck in a lot of ways. Influenced by the promise of an up-and-coming band and an ailing industry, I felt pressure to catapult my music career to the next level but found myself struggling to cope. It’s about feeling so close to something you want so badly, but it’s just out of reach. It’s about breaking free from the grip of past trauma and coming out on the other side with a fresh perspective."
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LUCA WILDING "BOOK OF FATE"
South East London singer songwriter Luca Wilding evokes Sufjan Stevens vibes on "Book of Fate," the title track from his upcoming EP.
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JORDANA - "HUNGRY GHOST" (WORMY COVER)
Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Wormy released "Hungry Ghost," featuring vocals from Samia, in April, and now Jordana has shared a sincere, heartfelt cover. "Now that I have some distance from the frustrating feelings that became ‘Hungry Ghost,’ it’s really special to hear another voice sing it," Wormy says. "Jordana captured an element that didn’t exist when I wrote the song: a softer, calmer approach to accepting the end of a romantic experience. I like the idea that Jordana is taking on my perspective and reflecting on those experiences, while adding a playful and profound element she brings to everything she does. Most of the Wormy project was done remotely, even pre-covid, and this was the first thing we got to do in person so it felt really incredible. My great friend and collaborator, Johnny Frohman and I wanted to make a video that reflected the nature of the song but also the experience that comes from someone else taking something already written and making it their own."
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NATION OF LANGUAGE – “WOUNDS OF LOVE”
“'Wounds Of Love' is a song about getting caught in a mental feedback loop when a relationship ends," say Nation of Language of their new single. "It’s an endless inner argument — wanting to move on defiantly, but feeling utterly lost about how to do it when the other person has informed so much about how you see yourself. For every bit of progress there’s just as much retreating, and eventually it seems like this back-and-forth becomes the new root of your identity — still tied to the same person, just without them actually being there."
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MEDIA JEWELER - "TIGHTROPE"
L.A. trio Media Jeweler will release The Sublime Sculpture of Being Alive on August 13 via Fire Talk. "Tightrope" is a weirdo jam, that pulls equally from Pavement and Primus.
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TOGETHER PANGEA - "ONE WAY OR ANOTHER"
Together Pangea have a new album, DYE, due out on October 22 via Nettwerk, and the latest single is the crunchy "One Way or Another."
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LONELY GUEST - "PRE WAR TENSION" FT JOE TALBOT, TRICKY, MARTINA
Tricky's False Idols label has shared "Pre War Tension," the debut single by Lonely Guest. The track features IDLES' Joe Talbot, recent Tricky collaborator/vocalist Marta, and Tricky himself, who produced it and contributes a verse.
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SMERZ - 'FØR OG ETTER' MINI ALBUM
Oslo based experimental pop duo Smerz have released a new mini-album titled Før og etter, with all Bandcamp proceeds going to GiveWell which "searches for charities that save or improve lives the most per dollar." Smerz recorded the mini-album in the spring and summer of 2020 in Copenhagen and Oslo, and it's out via the duo's own Shopping label.
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JD PINKUS - "GITTIN' IT"
Says Butthole Surfers and Melvins bassist of this track: "When I was workin as a hand at a horse ranch in Lockhart, TX. The ranch paid us an hour for lunch, so we’d eat Smitty’s BBQ and drive around smokin weed yellin 'Get it Hand!' to anyone we saw workin….Glad to have had our dogs sing along on this recording."
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KODO & RUFUS WAINWRIGHT - "YOU CAME TO ME"
Japanese drumming collective Kodo are releasing a new album, Kodo Together, this week. Inspired by this year's Olympic Games, the album features collaborations with a disparate group of international artists, including Elkka, Rufus Wainwright, Kevin Saunderson & Justin Cholewski, The Colorist Orchestra & Emiliana Torrini, Andrea Belfi, Equiknoxx, Skream, and more. This is the Rufus collab.
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FEELS - "NIGHT WALKER"
Los Angeles band FEELS are putting the finishing touches on their their third album which will be released by Wichita Recordings. To hold you over till then, they've got an EP titled Subversive Reaction which will be out July 22 via local art publication Deemed Printable. Here's the first single.
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THE BOO RADLEYS - "A FULL SYRINGE AND MEMORIES OF YOU"
Shoegaze/Britpop vets The Boo Radleys are back with their first new music since 1998's Kingsize. One caveat up front: Guitarist Martin Carr, who wrote pretty much every song in Boos original era, is not part of group now. Still, "A Full Syringe and Memories of You" sounds like mid-'90s Wake-Up-era Boo Radleys when they stopped being so noisy and embraced their melodic side.
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FACE TO FACE - "NO WAY OUT BUT THROUGH"
Punk veterans Face to Face unleashed the title track of their new album, No Way Out But Through.
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ANGEL OLSEN - "GLORIA" (LAURA BRANIGAN COVER)
The first single from Angel Olsen's new 80s cover EP is a woozy, atmospheric take on Laura Branigan's "Gloria." The EP is available for pre-order on vinyl in our store.
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DEAFHEAVEN - "THE GNASHING"
The second single from Deafheaven's anticipated fifth album, Infinite Granite, is, like the first, almost entirely clean-sung, and leaning more into their shoegaze side than metal.
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TEAMONADE - "WEIGHED DOWN" & "YOUNG"
Ohio's Teamonade are releasing a new EP, Borderline, laster this month via Counter Intuitive Records, and you can get a taste of it from its first two singles, the band's first songs in over a year.
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Looking for even more new songs? Browse the ‘New Songs archive.