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.
MICROWAVE - "STRAW HAT"
After going in a darker, heavier direction on 2019's Death Is A Warm Blanket, Microwave returned to a lighter sound on their recent Weezer-y single "Circling the Drain," and they get even lighter on the sweet, jangly "Straw Hat."
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ALEXISONFIRE - "SANS SOLEIL"
Alexisonfire's first album in 13 years, Otherness, comes out 6/24 via Dine Alone, and as the first two singles proved, it's shaping up to a step forward, rather than a re-creation of their early sound. The bluesy, anthemic third single "Sans Soleil" continues that.
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LA LUZ - "ENDLESS AFTERNOON"
"What if we told you that you hadn’t heard all the songs we recorded during the sessions for our last album?," ask La Luz. "Well that is precisely what we’re doing today with the release of Endless Afternoon,' our sweet little doom-wop dream. Perfect for your slow drive to nowhere as the late-day sun bleeds across the horizon."
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FOALS - “2001”
“‘2001’ feels like a postcard from the past." says Foals frontman Yannis Yannis Philippakis of the band's funky new single. "We moved to Brighton around that time, we were a young band, and there was the feeling of the first taste of independence. The moment you get those freedoms, you’re surrounded by temptation. The references to beachside candy and Brighton rock are symbols for drugs and hedonism. This was written in the depths of the pandemic winter, and there’s an escapist desire to break out from the feeling of being cooped up, both in terms of the pandemic and adolescence.” Foals' new album Life is Yours is out June 17.
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WORMROT - "GRIEVE / WEEPING WILLOW / VOICELESS CHOIR"
Wormrot have shared a new video with three more songs off their upcoming album Hiss, and these find them really defying the typical grindcore formula and covering tons of other ground, without entirely abandoning their blasty roots.
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MUNICIPAL WASTE - "HIGH SPEED STEEL"
Crossover thrashers Municipal Waste have shared the second single off upcoming LP Electrified Brain, and guitarist Ryan Waste says, "'High Speed Steel' is our ode to an era when heavy metal was transitioning into a faster form. We pushed the limits of our sound to channel that classic dynamic and keep the intensity high. It's about overcoming the pressure and slicing down the odds when everything is stacked against you." You can definitely hear those early speed/thrash vibes coming through, and it's a ripper.
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GO FLY A KITE: SONGS FOR RICK
Rick Dirck, DJ and long-time volunteer at Portsmouth, NH community radio station WSCA 106.1 FM, is battling cancer, and Ali Donohue and Cynthia Schemmer curated this compilation to help support his family, including Waxahatchee (covering East River Pipe), Radiator Hospital (covering Empath), The Sidekicks (covering Prince Daddy & The Hyena), Worriers (covering Motion City Soundtrack), and lots more.
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QUEEN OF JEANS - "WHY HIDE"
Queen of Jeans have shared the second single off their upcoming Hiding In Place EP, "Why Hide," and this one finds Miri Devora giving one of her most soaring, powerful vocal performances yet over Queen of Jeans' brand of folky indie rock.
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WHITE WARD - "CRONUS"
Black metal/jazz fusion band White Ward will follow 2019's Love Exchange Failure with new album False Light on June 17 via Debemur Morti Productions, and new single "Cronus" finds them toning things down at first for a more clean-vocal, "heavy rock" direction, but they eventually pull a 180 and get as brutal and blasty as ever.
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GEORGE FITZGERALD - "COLD"
Electronic musician George FitzGerald has announced a new album, Stellar Drifting, due September 2 via Double Six/Domino, and here's the gorgeously skittering new single "Cold."
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HUNDREDTH - "FANTASIZE"
Hundredth have been transitioning from guitars to synths for a few years now, but they've never gone as full-blown dance-pop as "Fantasize." It suits them well.
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SPIELBERGS - "WHEN THEY COME FOR ME" / "GET LOST"
Oslo's Spielbergs have announced a new album, Vestli, due August 19 via Big Scary Monsters, and shared two new songs from it. "When They Come For Me" is an anthemic, Japandroids-y rocker, while "Get Lost" is more of a slow-burner that eventually erupts.
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CHARLOTTE DOS SANTOS - "HELLO HELLO"
Brazilian-Norwegian singer Charlotte Dos Santos has announced her debut album, MORFO, due October 14 via Because Music, which she calls "a playful journey through my deepest inner thoughts combined with elements of music I admire, such as Soul, R&B, Funk, MBP/Samba and Classical. I am a child of the world, born in two cultures and on this album I am digging deeper into my ancestral roots and into my consciousness." You can hear all of that coming through in the remarkable new single "Hello Hello," which follows recent singles "Patience" and "Away From You." She also plays a free Prospect Park show in July with Chicano Batman.
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WINDSHELTER - "ECHOES"
Swiss post-hardcore band Windshelter are back with a new single, "Echoes," which seesaws between crisp, metallic post-hardcore verses and an atmospheric/melodic chorus.
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FROGGY - "STUPID RICH BOY"
Philly punks Froggy have put out a new single "Stupid Rich Boy," and it's a feminist punk burner with stadium-sized hooks.
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PURITY RING - "NEVEREND"
The latest single from Purity Ring's new EP Graves, due out in June, is the sparkling, cinematic "Neverend." The duo begin their spring tour in June, too.
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ANTELOPER (JAIMIE BRANCH & JASON NAZARY) – “EARTHLINGS”
Jaimie Branch and Jason Nazary will release their new Anteloper album, Pink Dolphins, on June 17 and they've just shared this groovy, woozy new track from the album. “We’re improvisers first and we’re bringing 'moment music' into these other zones of hip hop and electronic music, drum-machine music, sound-system culture," says Branch. "Acoustic musicians sun-kissed by electro-magnetism, flowing out into everything. This is the shit that we want to be playing on big ass systems. Omnivorous, energy space time, mosh pit dance-music. Get it in the subwoofers so you can feel it hit, cuz the music has to begin in the body!” The video for "Earthling" was directed by Bear in Heaven frontman (and in-demand film and TV editor) Jon Philpot.
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SYLVAN ESSO - "SUNBURN"
"Sunburn" is: eating candy til you're sick, riding your bike too fast down a hill, when you're five years old and don't want to get out of the water, and by the end you're shivering and all your fingers are pruney and your lips are turned purple, an undertow that sneaks up unsuspectingly, the painful pulsing pink of swollen eyelids leftover after a day lying in the sun, plunging forward without time for second-guessing," Sylvan Esso write. The dancefloor-ready new single arrives ahead of their trio of shows at Durham Athletic Park.
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KATE CLOVER + BRANDON WELCHEZ "YOUR PHONE'S OFF THE HOOK, BUT YOU'RE NOT" (X COVER)
Garage rock artist Kake Clover and Crocodiles' Brandon Welchez bring a lot of moxie -- and a little new wave energy -- to this fun cover of X classic "Your Phones off the Hook, But You're Not."
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HAZEL ENGLISH - "ALL DRESSED UP" FT. DAY WAVE
Hazel English's new EP Summer Nights is out next month, and the latest single is the floaty "All Dressed Up," which features vocals from co-producer Jackson Phillips, aka Day Wave.
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PETER MATTHEW BAUER (THE WALKMEN) - "KNIFE FIGHTER"
This is the first single from former Walkmen member Peter Matthew Bauer's new album Flowers.
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LAURA VEIRS - "SEASIDE HAIKU"
The latest single from Laura Veirs' new album Found Light is pensive folk song "Seaside Haiku." "This song captures the feeling I had of my emerging independence as a solo woman in the world during that wintry time,” she says. “It’s been a learning curve for me to figure out how not to give too much of myself in relationships at the expense of my own needs. This is a song to remind myself of that, and also to remind all women who are socialized to give so much to others. It’s a call to hold onto our strength and power and to share it reciprocally instead of blithely giving it away.”
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SPECIAL INTEREST - "(HERMAN'S) HOUSE"
New Orleans no wave/disco group Special Interest signed to Rough Trade last year, and have finally released their first single for the label. "(Herman's) House" is indeed a house jam, very early-'90s style by way of industrial party starters My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult. Lyrically though, the song tackles heavier themes.
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DANIEL AVERY - "CHAOS ENERGY"
“Ultra Truth finds me in a different place to where I’ve been before," says Daniel Avery of his forthcoming album. "My previous albums have all focused on the idea of music being an escape or a distraction from the world but that’s not the case this time. For me this album is about looking directly into the darkness, not running away from it."
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BEVERLY KILLS - "AMOUR FOU"
Swedish band Beverly Kills are releasing their debut LP this fall, and the latest single is the dreamy, shoegazey "Amour Fou."
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THE SHENANDOAH ELECTRIC COMPANY - "N. HOWARD ST"
The Shenandoah Electric Company is a new band fronted by former Octaves guitarist Wes Young that also features Pianos Become the Teeth members Michael York and David Haik. And through all three members are best known for playing in post-hardcore bands, this band has more of an atmospheric Americana feel, with songs that would fit in next to anything from Springsteen to Band of Horses to Orville Peck. Read more about their new single here.
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DIANA ROSS & TAME IMPALA - "TURN UP THE SUNSHINE"
The upcoming Jack Antonoff-produced Minions: The Rise of Gru soundtrack includes a collaboration from Diana Ross and Tame Impala, and that song is out now. It's called "Turn Up the Sunshine," and it takes clear notes from Diana's classic '60s/'70s period, and Kevin Parker helps modernize that without losing the charm of that era. Read more here. The soundtrack also features covers of '60s/'70s songs by Phoebe Bridgers, St. Vincent, Weyes Blood, and more, and you can pre-order a vinyl copy now.
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EARLY JAMES - "WHAT A STRANGE TIME TO BE ALIVE"
Alabama singer/songwriter Early James is gearing up to release his second album, Strange Time To Be Alive, on 8/19 via Dan Auerbach's Easy Eye Sound label. Dan also produced it, and you can read more about this new single here.
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JOHN MORELAND - "CLAIM YOUR PRIZE"
Oklahoma folk/country singer John Moreland has shared a new song from upcoming album Birds In The Ceiling, and it pairs John's usual Americana with skittering electronic percussion and is about "the lie of the 'American Dream,' trying to understand how the people who taught you right from wrong are now supporting racist, misogynist, morally bankrupt leaders, etc." Read more about it here.
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THE WONDER YEARS - "SUMMER CLOTHES"
The Wonder Years are gearing up for their fourth album (title and release date TBA), and they've shared this excellent second single. Read more about it here.
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Looking for even more new songs? Browse the New Songs archive.