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. In these concertless times, that includes daily livestreams and live concert videos we love. 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.
DÖDSRIT - "SHALLOW GRAVES" & "APATHETIC TONGUES"
Sweden's Dödsrit will follow 2018's very good Spirit Crusher with a new four-song album, Mortal Coil, on May 28 via Wolves of Hades. Two songs are out now, and they find this band's blend of post-black metal, crust punk, and melodeath in fine form. Hear "Shallow Graves" below and "Apathetic Tongues" at Decibel.
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LION BABE - "FRIDA KAHLO"
NYC R&B duo Lion Babe are gearing up for a new album, Rainbow Child, and its first single is the groovy, funky "Frida Kahlo."
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WILLOW SMITH - "T R A N S P A R E N T S O U L" (ft. TRAVIS BARKER)
Pop punk is back in the mainstream, and Travis Barker has been helping a handful of current stars embrace the genre. The latest is Willow Smith, whose new single "t r a n s p a r e n t s o u l" has some definite hints of Travis' main band.
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COLD CAVE - "PRAYER FROM NOWHERE"
Cold Cave will release Fate In Seven Lessons in June and they've just shared a new song from it. "Prayer from Nowhere" has a nice balance of menace and dark romance.
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CHAI - "PING PONG" FT YMCK
“We’re channeling our inner playful selves, challenging ourselves to fun, and bringing you that nostalgic-feel with this song," CHAI exclaim about their new single, a collaboration with Japanese chiptune artists YMCK, and its very cute video. "There’s just something about old video games that’s super cute, a little tacky, yet at the same time fancy. Something that you think is 'old-school' but at the same time super refreshing. YMCK collaborated with us on this and created the ultimate 8bit World of CHAI!” CHAI's new album WINK is out May 21 via Sub Pop.
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METRONOMY - "FRIENDS"
Metronomy are reissuing The English Riviera for its 10th anniversary and it comes with a bunch of unreleased songs from the sessions, and here's one of them. "Friends" is a queasy quasi slow-jam, loaded with slap bass and woozy synths. The video takes the album's artwork and makes a 3-D world out of it, not to mention cool Swatch-type watch which they should actually make.
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LAWRENCE ROTHMAN - "SUNNY PLACE FOR SHADY PEOPLE" FT SON LITTLE
“Summer 2020 had me in a tailspin," says Lawrence Rothman of this new collab with Son Little. "I was recording in my home state of Missouri and the area I was in was full-on Trump country. It felt as if the country was in for a demolition and I felt extremely nervous that Trump could win a second term. I sat at the piano to write a slow track to purge myself from the barrage of the delusional shady world of megalomaniac Donald Trump. What started as a Johnny Cash like hymn song quickly morphed in tempo and anger. I was dumbfounded at the spell he had casted on America and how at that time it felt his influence was a threat to the future of our country. I hoped there were enough of us to take him out office and his kind." Good Morning, America is out July 16.
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HMLTD - DON'T LEAVE ME EP
Maximalist, genre-defying dance-punks HMLTD have followed their 2020 debut LP West of Eden with a new EP, featuring the glittery new wave of the title track, the dream pop-ish "Love Is Not Enough" (ft. Tallulah Eden), and the glitchy, experimental "Do This By Yourself" (ft. Seth Evans).
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ORPHAN DONOR - "MY FRIEND, THE HORNET"
Pennsylvania screamo/metalcore blenders Orphan Donor are following last year's Old Patterns with Unraveled on June 11 via Zegema Beach Records. Your first taste is the caustic "My Friend, The Hornet."
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GOOD MORNING - "MOLLYDUKER" & "KEEP IT"
Australian duo Good Morning have signed to Polyvinyl and released their first new music in two years, the laid-back singles "Mollyduker" and "Keep It."
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DEAD HISTORY - "EMPTY EYES"
Minneapolis emo/post-hardcore band Dead History (members of Gratitude, Book of Dead Names, Story of the Sea, Justin Courtney Pierre's band, and more) have shared the second taste of their upcoming self-titled debut LP, and this one shows off a different side of them than the anthemic lead single "Sleep Safe"; this one's way more in atmospheric Hum-gaze territory.
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JACK INGRAM, MIRANDA LAMBERT, JON RANDALL - "GERALDENE"
Here's the latest taste of Jack Ingram, Miranda Lambert, and Jon Randall's album The Marfa Tapes, which is made up of bare-bones performances that were recorded live and outdoors in Marfa, TX. It's some of the most bare-bones stuff we've ever heard from Miranda Lambert (who sings lead on this one), and like on the previous singles, you can really hear the wide open Texas air in this recording.
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KALI - "DO A BITCH" (REMIX ft. RICO NASTY)
Kali's subtle, ominous rap song "Do A Bitch" has gone viral on TikTok, and now it's gotten a remix featuring a verse by another rapper whose career was boosted by TikTok: Rico Nasty.
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DAICHI YAMAMOTO - "KILL ME" (ft. MICK JENKINS)
Jamaican-Japanese rapper Daichi Yamamoto is gearing up to release an album called WHITECUBE, and its newest single is the dark, percussive "Kill Me" with Mick Jenkins.
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MORDRED - "DEMONIC #7"
Bay Area crossover thrash vets Mordred will release their first album in over 25 years, The Dark Parade, on July 23 via M-Theory Audio. "Timing on the release of ‘Demonic #7’ comes at a point when the USA and many countries around the world seem more divided than they've ever been in our lifetime," says guitarist Danny White. "As we begin to hopefully and tentatively emerge from the self-imposed cocoon of covid, we ask ourselves if things will start to get better, or will it be a case of just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, ’There are realms even lower than hell.’"
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HONEY (mem TURNING POINT) - "DANCING WITH DEATH"
As mentioned in our recent interview with Turning Point, guitarist Jay Laughlin is now fronting the crossover thrash band Honey, and that band have now announced their debut album: Forever Fire, due May 28 via Hellminded Records. The first single is the rippin' "Dancing With Death."
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COLA BOYY - "KID BORN IN SPACE" FT ANDREW VANWYNGARDEN OF MGMT
Cola Boyy (aka Oxnard, CA's Matthew Urango formerly of The Sea Lions) has just released this new single via MGMT's label Record Makers that also features' MGMT's Andrew VanWyngarden. “When I was a kid I was convinced that no one could understand what I was going through and feeling, I was embittered and angry," says Cola Boyy. "The song is me explaining to my younger self to let go of worries about people staring or not understanding. Everyone has their struggles, and problems that shape them.”
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DANIEL DAVIES - 'BEASTS OF L.A."
Composer and guitarist Daniel Davies is a frequent collaborator with John Carpenter. You can hear that on "Beasts of L.A.," the dark, cinematic first single from Daniel's upcoming Spies EP which is out May 28 via Sacred Bones.
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MATTIEL “THOSE WORDS” / “FREEDOM FEELS”
Mattiel has a new 7" single out and you can listen to both sides now. “I think everyone can relate to a song like ‘Those Words’ - it’s really just about choosing who to give your energy to,” says Brown, “If someone isn’t treating you with respect or crosses your boundaries, you don’t owe them anything. It’s an especially good reminder if you’re a person who tends to try to please everyone. Women are taught to do this from a very young age. It’s just not possible to make everyone happy, so you might as well sing and dance those cares away.”
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SUNROOF (DANIEL MILLER) - 1.2 - 30.5.19
Mute Records founder Daniel Miller has teamed with longtime friend (and Mute Records engineer/producer) Gareth Jones for a new album as Suroof that'll be out May 1. Here's another track from it. While "1.1- 7.5.19" could be called "ambient" it's not the relaxing kind of ambient. Creepy!
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GONG GONG GONG 工工工 - "MOONSHADOWS 月後殘影 SIMON FRANK REMIX"
Beijing duo Gong Gong Gong (工工工) are releasing a remix album on June 25 and here's the Simon Frank remix of "MOONSHADOWS 月後殘影." Says Simon, "Remixing 'Moonshadows' was actually my first time doing a remix. I think I have a unique perspective, because I've actually played a lot of music together before with Josh and Tom. So I almost tried to treat it like the three of us were playing together, even though we can't do that altogether in a room right now. I had Tom's vocals, and I cut up Josh's bass into loops: these were their contributions to the song, and I tried to imagine what I would add if we were writing together, by programming a beat, adding synth lines, thinking about the rhythmic progression of the song. It's pretty direct, but I think it sounds like Gong Gong Gong and me!"
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MUI ZYU - "POUR A BRAIN"
Mui Zyu, aka London-based artist Eva Liu, has singed to Father/Daughter Records and just released "pour a brain," the woozy first single . "'pour a brain' is the thirst-quencher we manufacture, shake up and sip on when we need help but are lost for answers," says Liu.
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BEN WATT (EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL) - "COMEBACK KID" (SHARON VAN ETTEN COVER)
Everything But the Girl's Ben Watt has released a new mini album, Storm Shelter, featuring piano versions of songs from last year‘s ‘Storm Damage‘, along with covers of Sharon Van Etten's “Comeback Kid“ and Ten City‘s house classic “That's the Way Love Is." Check out his lovely SVE cover:
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JESSIE WARE - "PLEASE"
Jessie Ware is releasing the 'Platinum Pleasure Edition' of her 2020 album What's Your Pleasure (which is up for two Brit Awards). There are six brand new songs, including very catchy new single "Please," which could've easily been on the album with its '80s disco pop style.
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FREE THROW - "DOWN & OUT"
Nashville emo band Free Throw have shared the second single off their anticipated new album Piecing It Together, and you can read more about it here.
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BLACK MIDI - "SLOW"
black midi have shared the second single off their upcoming sophomore album Cavalcade, and you can read more about it here.
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ROMAN LIONS - "SMALL MOMENTS"
San Jose atmospheric post-hardcore band Roman Lions (former members of A Perfect Kiss, I Am Empire, and Octaves) are back with a new single that should appeal to fans of Pianos Become the Teeth and Thrice. Read more about it here.
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RIVERBOAT GAMBLERS - "BONZO GOES TO BITBURG" (RAMONES COVER, ft. CJ RAMONE)
Denton, Texas punks Riverboat Gamblers are releasing a 7" with Ramones and Motorhead covers called RAMOTORHEAD, and here's the Ramones cover, with guest vocals by CJ Ramone himself. Read more about it here.
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THE CUTTHROAT BROTHERS & MIKE WATT - "THE KING IS DEAD"
Garage punk duo The Cutthroat Brothers are releasing an album with Mike Watt on bass, produced by Jack Endino, and featuring album art by Raymond Pettibon. Read more about the newly-released title track here.
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GARBAGE - "NO GODS NO MASTERS"
Garbage have shared the synthy, anthemic title track to their new album, No Gods No Masters.
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HALF WAIF - "SWIMMER"
Half Waif announced a new album, Mythopoetics, and shared "Swimmer" and its accompanying video, which co-stars Nandi Rose's mom.
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Looking for even more new songs? Browse the ‘New Songs archive.