So many artists, so many songs, 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.
LADY GAGA - "HOLD MY HAND"
The long-awaited Top Gun sequel Top Gun: Maverick arrives on May 27, and it'll include this new Lady Gaga song, a big, sweeping ballad that is of course being compared to Berlin's "Take My Breath Away" from the original film. But it's also unmistakably a Gaga song, and it should come as no surprise that she's got the powerhouse pipes to pull this off.
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J STONE - "WEEKEND" (ft. YOUNG DOLPH)
J Stone, who was an affiliate of the late Nipsey Hussle, is releasing a new album, The Definition of Sacrifice, on June 15. It includes two tracks with the late Young Dolph, plus Swizz Beatz, Jadakiss, Mozzy, OT Genasis, Styles P, K Camp, and Lumidee. Dolph is on new single "Weekend," and J Stone says, "Working with Dolph was like working with Nipsey, the chemistry, sharing game of the independent grind with each other, and us having the same drive. Dolph would FaceTime me almost every other day about shooting the video. Sadly, the unbelievable tragedy happened that hit me almost just as hard as Nip’s passing. But I’m sticking to the script and the plans we both had for 'Weekend,' because that’s what Dolph would have wanted."
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PINK MOUNTAINTOPS - "NIKKI GO SUDDEN"
Black Mountain's Stephen McBean will release his new Pink Mountaintops album, Peacock Pools, on Friday and here's one more early taste. "Nikki Go Sudden" is a tribute to Swell Maps co-founder Nikki Sudden who died in 2006. “I wrote that song just after Nikki Sudden died," says McBean, "a tribute to a fallen-rogue unsung hero who existed in his own weird outsider world.”
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DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS - "EVERY SINGLE STORIED FLAMEOUT"
Mike Cooley says he wrote "Every Single Storied Flameout" when his son was turning 16 and "going through a rough patch for a bit. Luckily, he’s turned it around and he’s doing great now, but it was a tough time for a while. Part of my way of dealing with it was to take ownership of the example I might’ve set, in the hope of leading him out of it.” The song is on Drive-By Truckers upcoming album Welcome 2 Club XIII that's out June 3 via ATO.
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FRESH - "GOING TO BED"
UK indie-punks Fresh (mem ME REX, Cheerbleederz) have shared another track off their upcoing album Raise Hell, and it's a great song that brings punk energy to bright, melodic indie pop.
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JUICY J - "STEP BACK" (ft. DUKE DEUCE)
Juicy J's group Three 6 Mafia helped pioneer crunk in the '90s, and Duke Deuce has been reviving it recently, so it should come as no surprise that the two of them sound great together.
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ANXIOUSHUM - "READ YOU"
Long Island emo duo anxioushum will release their debut EP, Scratching On The 8, on May 20 via Dead Broke Rekerds. It was recorded by Billy Mannino (Bigger Better Sun, oso oso), and the soaring indie-emo anthem "Read You" is a promising taste of it.
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ANNE MALIN - "PINK BLUR"
Nashville singer/songwriter Anne Malin is releasing Summer Angel on June 17 via Dear Life Records (the label run by Friendship's Michael Cormier), and its opening track is the lovely indie folk nugget "Pink Blur."
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MAPACHE - "TEND YOUR GARDEN"
Mapache have been rolling out singles off their upcoming LP Roscoe's Dream (due 6/10 via Innovative Leisure), and here's the sun-kissed folk-pop of new single "Tend Your Garden."
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FLORIST - "SPRING IN HOURS"
Florist's new self-titled album is due out July 29 via Double Double Whammy, and the latest single from it is "Spring in Hours," which Emily Sprague says is "a love song for cycles, seasons, growth, bugs, flowers, friendship, all the atoms in the universe, the chaos that created us, and the void which everything returns to. Musically for Florist, it’s our collaboration as a group in full spectrum. We arranged, played, produced, and recorded the song ourselves. Often at night alongside the crickets you can hear playing along."
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ELCAMINO - "BETTER THAN LOVE" (ft. CUREN$Y)
Buffalo rapper Elcamino has shared the smooth, glistening Curren$y collab off his previously announced project Let There Be Light, which arrives next week.
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ATARAXY - "DECLINE"'
Spanish death metallers Ataraxy are releasing new LP The Last Mirror on June 17 via Dark Descent Records, and compared to their earlier material, lead single "Decline" has an increased level clarity that only makes it hit even harder.
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MICHAEL RAULT - EXACTLY WHAT I NEEDED"
Montreal musician Michael Rault has announced a new self-titled album which will be out June 10 via Daptone's rock imprint Wick Records. There's a distinct ELO-style '70s pop feel to new single "Exactly What I Needed" that also comes with a '70s-ish animated video by Mark Neeley. "There was something about the song that seemed reminiscent of Harry Nilsson," says Michael, "so I wanted a video that had a bit of the vibe of The Point.”
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MARCI (TOPS) - "IMMATERIAL GIRL"
Marci, aka TOPS’ Marta Cikojevic, has announced her self-titled debut album which will be out August 5 via Arbutus Records, The new single is this wink towards Madonna. "Stuck in a trance where money and status rules the world, ‘Immaterial Girl’ wants what’s true,” says Cikojevic. “As greed taunts her, she tries to escape the trapping of such superficial things.”
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DC GORE - "I LIKE YOU"
Onetime Little Cub member DC Gore will release his solo debut, All These Things, on July 29 via Domino. With the news comes this new single, a synthpop litany of all the things he doesn't like and one thing he does. He calls it an "anti 'losing my edge' - for someone on the periphery."
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HOVVDY - "HIDE"
Hovvdy announced a new EP, Billboard for my Feelings, due out May 27 via Grand Jury and made up of songs written during the sessions that produced their 2021 album True Love. From it they've shared the mellow "Hide," which Will Taylor calls "a lighthearted song about learning when to let your thoughts run wild and when to batten them up."
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EMILY YACINA - "DB COOPER"
Emily Yacina is looking back at the past decade of her career in music with a new retrospective compilation, All The Things, due out July 29 via Danger Collective Records. She's also shared a new single, "DB Cooper," which was co-produced by Jay Som's Melina Duterte and features Gia Margaret on bass. "This song is about the experience of losing my dear friend and musical collaborator Eric Littmann in July of 2021," Emily says. "He was a master story-teller, and the last time I saw him in L.A. he told me the story of D.B. Cooper with such life and vivaciousness. The song itself is about losing him, and how grief forces you to stop whatever you're doing and re-evaluate your life. It's also about finding meaning when that person is gone- even when it seems like an impossible thing to do."
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COLA - "DEGREE"
Birthed from the ashes of Ought, Cola will release their debut album Deep in View on May 20 via Fire Talk & Next Door and here's another preview. "The character in 'Degree' is cycling in and out of these dreamscape states (movie theater, meditation, etc) and then trying to catch up to something in their day to day life," says Tim Darcy. "I picture what it feels like running to catch the bus when you're in a daze and suddenly have to sprint."
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MARLON WILLIAMS - "MY BOY"
New Zealand musician Marlon Williams has shared his first taste of his new album. "My Boy" is nice n' breezy, with Marlon's falsetto front and center. “‘My Boy' is a pop song with a Māori folk strum," he says. "The urge to turn every song on the planet into a Māori strummer descended on me like a fever sometime during the long and winding tour cycle of Make Way for Love. So writing it into my artistic life became the only way to get the fever to lift."
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THE AFGHAN WHIGS - "THE GETAWAY"
The Afghan Whigs have announced a new album, How Do You Burn?, which is their first in five years and will be out September 9 and features the late Mark Lanegan on two songs.
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GUIDED BY VOICES - "UNPRODUCTIVE FUNK"
The indefatigable Guided By Voices have announced Tremblers and Goggles by Rank, their 36th album and second of 2022, which will be out July 1 via Rockathon Records.
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CHAI - "SURPRISE"
CHAI are back with a new single, a mellow jam titled "SURPRISE" that's powered by a gently house-y piano riff. “We all have that precious 'something' that we can’t express in words," the band say of the song. "But sometimes those things happen to make it out as words, and we want to feel and love that 'surprise.' Those become the surprises of our lives, and I become a brand new me♡.”
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PORRIDGE RADIO - "END OF LAST YEAR"
"'End Of Last Year' is a love song for my bandmates and for myself," says singer/songwriter Dana Margolin. "It’s about not trusting my intuition, not trusting my body to heal itself, not trusting the people closest to me, but it is also an ode to all those people, and to difficult platonic love. It came out of a particularly painful period of communication breakdown and high pressure that hurt a lot, but ended in reconciliation and understanding." Porridge Radio's new album is due later this month.
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SERVICE (RUSSELL SIMINS) - "HEY"
Former Jon Spencer Blues Explosion drummer Russell Simins has a new group, Service, that also includes Jilly Weiss (We Are Hex) -- their debut album is out this week. "Hey" is a punchy slab of '90s-style alt-rock.
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BLUNT CHUNKS - "PART OF ME" FT BRENDAN CANNING OF BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE
Blunt Chunks, the project of Caitlin Woelfle-O'Brien (Jaunt), will release their self-titled debut EP this week and here's an ethereal ballad featuring Brendan Canning of Broken Social Scene.
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CANDY - "HUMAN CONDITION ABOVE HUMAN OPINION"
Richmond metallic hardcore band Candy have announced a new album, Heaven Is Here, and you can read more about this killer lead single here.
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POST-SKELETON (ex-JAZZ JUNE) - "SEA ISLE CITY"
The Jazz June offshoot Post-Skeleton's debut EP is on the way, and you can read more about new single "Sea Isle City" here.
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JOYCE MANOR - "DON'T TRY"
Joyce Manor have shared "Don't Try," the second single off their upcoming album 40 oz. to Fresno, and you can read more about it here. The album is up for pre-order on opaque pink vinyl.
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THE SUFFERS - "YADA YADA"
Houston soul band The Suffers have shared a new album off It Starts With Love, and you can read more about it here.
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Looking for even more new songs? Browse the New Songs archive.