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.
CROSSFAITH - "SLAVE OF CHAOS"
Japan's Crossfaith's new single "Slave of Chaos" fuses metal, hardcore, trap, and industrial in a way that puts a futuristic spin on the rap rock era. It's out now on UNFD.
--
SLEEP CYCLES - "COME ON AND SAY IT" (ft. FRED MASCHERINO)
Sleep Cycles, a new-ish emo/punk band led by Chris Newhard (Tokyo Rose, The Color Fred and Secondhand Serenade, Promise of Redemption) have put out a new single produced by Fred Mascherino (Taking Back Sunday, Breaking Pangaea, The Color Fred), and also featuring Fred singing on it. Fans of early 2000s emo-pop, take note.
--
BLUE STINGRAYS (aka THE HEARTBREAKERS & MUDCRUTCH members) - "DAWN PATROL"
In 1997, an "anonymous" surf rock band called the Blue Stingrays released an instrumental album called Surf-N-Burn on Epitone Records (aka Epitaph Records), and the long-out-of-print album is getting an expanded reissue on September 24. Along with the reissue comes the big reveal that Blue Stingrays are actually Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers members Mike Campbell and Ron Blair, along with drummer Randall Marshall who played alongside Campbell in Petty's pre-Heartbreakers band Mudcrutch. The reissue will include the previously unreleased "Dawn Patrol," a two-minute offering of classic style surf rock that would make Dick Dale proud.
--
MR. GREEN - "STREET CHAMPION" (ft. JADAKISS)
NJ hip hop producer Mr. Green (who recently worked with Westside Gunn, Rick Ross, and more) has given Jadakiss a soul sample-infused beat that early 2000s era Kanye would be proud of, and Jadakiss continues his recent hot streak.
--
DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT - "MORGEN"
German black metallers Der Weg einer Freiheit will release a new album, Noktvrn, on November 19 via Season of Mist. The first single is "Morgen," which comes with the band's first-ever music video. "Being the first actual Der Weg einer Freiheit music video ever, it perfectly supports the suppressing atmosphere the song transports, picturing the world in between reality and dreams, day and night, anxiety and hope, having control and losing grip," the band says.
--
DESTROY BOYS - "ALL THIS LOVE"
NorCal punks Destroy Boys have shared "All This Love," another single off their upcoming Will Yip-produced album Open Mouth, Open Heart (due October 8 via Hopeless), and this one's a stripped-back song with just guitar and vocals.
--
YOUNG NOBLE (of OUTLAWZ) - "LESSONS OF LEGENDS" (ft. CONWAY THE MACHINE, prod. DJ PREMIER)
Young Noble of veteran rap group the Outlawz (which counted 2Pac as a member) has put out a new DJ Premier-produced song that features Conway, and finds both rappers paying tribute to hip hop legends that we've lost.
--
GIFT OF GAB - "ALCHEMY"
Here's the second single from the posthumous Gift of Gab album Finding Inspiration Somehow, which was completed with producer Nick Andre before Gift of Gab's passing. Gift of Gab is totally in the pocket, but it's an eerie song to hear now, one that finds him grappling with the health issues that plagued his final years.
--
JUST FRIENDS - "SUNFLOWER," "OTIS" & "NEW HOUSE" (TORO Y MOI COVER)
The punky genre-fluid band Just Friends have put out the third volume of their JF Crew EP series, and this one includes the warm, sunshiney, mid 2000s-style indie pop of "Sunflower," the chillwavey "Otis," and a cover of chillwave pioneer Toro y Moi's "New House."
--
WRONG MOVE - "TRANQUILITY"
Albany hardcore band Wrong Move will release a new EP, Death Comes Swift, on October 15 via Unbeaten Records, and new single "Tranquility" channels the brutality of '90s NYHC.
--
BARRY ADAMSON - "BROKEN MOMENTS"
Composer, former Magazine and Bad Seeds member and all-around cool cat Barry Adamson will release a new EP, Steal Away, on November 5 via Mute. The EP was made at the same time Adamson was writing his memoir Up Above the City, Down Beneath the Stars – due this month via Omnibus Press – and it became a major part of the writing process. “The book is the past, the record is the past present," says Barry. "I needed to write it to get through the book, to stay present.” The EP plays with '60s pop sounds, as you can hear on lead track "Broken Moments."
--
PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING - "LICHTSPIEL III: SYMPHONIE DIAGONALE"
UK group Public Service Broadcasting will release new album Bright Magic on September 24 via Play it Again Sam. An album in three parts (Building A City / Building A Myth / Bright Magic), the group describe it as their most ambitious undertaking yet. "It’s become an album about moving to Berlin to write an album about people who move to Berlin to write an album." This contemplative track comes from the third act of the album. "The sound is heavily influenced by Vangelis," says the group's J. Willgoose, "the patterns and light in Eggeling’s work remind me of some of Blade Runner's incredible production design (for example the famous Frank Lloyd Wright balcony and some of the neon imagery), and there’s very much a through line from Fritz Lang’s Metropolis to Ridley Scott’s film.”
--
HANNAH GEORGAS - "CHANGE" (ACOUSTIC)
Vancouver artist Hannah Georgas recently reworked her 2020 album All That Emotion with the help of Matt Berninger, Bartees Strange, Owen Pallet and others on a new EP, All That EmotionVersions. Now she's announced another reworked version of the album, this time a mini album of acoustic editions, All That Emotion (Acoustic), due out September 17 via Arts & Crafts/Brassland. The first single from it is a beautiful piano and string rendition of "Change."
--
LOCAL H - "HACKENSACK" (FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE COVER)
"Fountains Of Wayne’s 'Hackensack' has always been famous for being the song with the lyric about Christopher Walken in it," says Local H's Scott Lucas, "but in the wake of Adam [Schlesinger]’s death it was the lyrics to the chorus ['And if you ever get back to Hackensack
I’ll be here for you'] that took on a new heartbreaking depth. It no longer felt like a song about a guy who carries a torch for an old high school crush. Suddenly, it was a hymn to the people we’d lost." Local H's all-covers Awesome Quarantine Mix-Tape #3 is out October 8.
--
SILVERBACKS - "WEAR MY MEDALS"
“From the very start, we’ve always wanted to be a ‘career band,'" says Kilian O’Kelly who is one of three guitarists in UK group Silverbacks. "We don’t see the point in not constantly making music - if you’re lucky enough to be able to make music you like and enjoy it, why put restrictions on it?” Following their debut last year, Silverbacks are right back at it, having signed to Full Time Hobby and have just released their first single for the label, a skronky, mathy number titled "Wear My Medals."
--
POP 1280 - "BRENNSCHLUSS"
NYC-based industrial/post-punk duo Pop. 1280 release new album Museum on the Horizon later this month and here's another preview of it, the anthemic "Brennschluss." "For 'Brennschluss,' we explore deeper our vision of industrial dance music as interpreted by Pop. 1280," say the duo. "This song proved a giant leap forward for Ivan's drum programming and sequencing and our on-going study of the language of midi: an exciting development in the journey of Museum on the Horizon. Here, you can hear influences like Trisomie 21 and Wax Trax stuff, but as usual we retain the curiosity and self-awareness that has defined Pop. 1280's creative output over the years. The lyrics are narrative, describing a kind of first-contact-gone-wrong, influenced in part by Fiasco by Stanislaw Lem. The symbolism felt appropriate."
--
FOR THOSE I LOVE - "YOU STAYED / TO LIVE" (ELA MINUS REMIX)
Ela Minus has remixed "You Stayed / To Live" by For Those I Love (aka Dublin producer and songwriter David Balfe). The original, from his debut album released earlier this year, is more laid back but Ela transforms it into a dark banger.
--
MOUNTAIN MAN - "KID LIKE YOU" (ARTHUR RUSSELL COVER)
Mountain Man are reissuing their 2010 debut album, Made the Harbor, due out on November 5 via Psychic Hotline and accompanied by an LP of unreleased songs, live sessions, covers, and more. From that they've shared a cover of Arthur Russell's "Kid Like You," recorded in 2011 at Big Car Gallery in Indianapolis, IN.
--
MILD HIGH CLUB - "A NEW HIGH" FT WINTER
Here's another new track from Mild High Club's upcoming Going Going Gone, this one featuring Brazilian psych artist Winter. "We linked up with our mutual fascination with Brazilian music and the musical and poetic quality of the Portuguese language," says MHC's Alex Brettin. "I had the joyful challenge of writing and fitting notes and rhythms to another language’s nuance and meter, with all the linguistic and grammatical differences from writing in English, while Samira had the challenge of working around my ideas.”
--
ABBA - "I STILL HAVE FAITH IN YOU" & "DON'T SHUT ME DOWN"
Swedish pop royalty ABBA announced Voyage, their first album in 40 years, which will be out in November. With the announcement comes two new songs: "I Still Have Faith in You" which feels like a more positive cousin to "The Winner Takes it All," and "Don't Shut Me Down" which is more in the "Dancing Queen" vein.
--
JON HOPKINS - "SIT AROUND THE FIRE"
Jon Hopkins will release a new album, Music For Psychedelic Therapy, on February 11 via Domino. Following his albums Immunity and Singularity, Hopkins said, “It felt like time for a reset, to wait for music to appear from a different place.” A life-changing trip to the Tayos Caves in Ecuador in 2018 inspired the the album.
--
BLUNT BANGS (EX BLACK KIDS) - "ODESSA"
Blunt Bangs is the new group led by Reggie Youngblood, who used to front Black Kids, that also includes guitarist Christian “Smokey” DeRoeck (Woods, Deep State) and drummer Cash Carter (Tracy Shedd, The Cadets). “Like quite a lot of artists before me, after committing a significant amount of time to one project, I wanted to switch up my mode of songwriting and work on ideas that didn’t quite feel right in Black Kids,” says Youngblood. This is the new single from Blunt Bangs' upcoming debut album.
--
BEAK> - "AH YEH"
BEAK> -- the trio of Geoff Barrow (Portishead), Billy Fuller (Robert Plant's Sensational Space Shifters) and Will Young (Moon Gangs) -- have a new double a-side single out, featuring the previously shared "Oh Know" and the groovy, decidedly Can-esqe (right down to the title) track "Ah Yeh."
--
OSS (THE ORB) - "DISCO BOMBING"
Originally known as Orb Sound System, OSS is The Orb's Alex Patterson and Fil Le Gonidec, and they've got an album, Enter The Kettle, on the way via Patterson's Obscure imprint through Cooking Vinyl. OSS are a little dancier than the Orb have been lately, and more playful too, as you can hear on the new single "Disco Bombing."
--
FINNEAS - "THE 90S"
Billie Eilish's brother and collaborator FINNEAS is releasing his debut solo album, Optimist, in October, and the latest single is the autotune-heavy "The 90s."
--
CHARLI XCX - "GOOD ONES"
Charli XCX has released her first single of 2021, and you can read more about it here.
--
THE DODOS - "ANNIE" & "THE SURFACE"
The Dodos will release their eighth album, Grizzly Peak, this fall via Polyvinyl, and you can read more about the two lead singles here.
--
ABRASKADABRA - "CATTLE LIFE"
Brazilian ska-punks Abraskadabra have released "Cattle Life," the second single off their anticipated new album Make Yourself At Home (pre-order our limited gold vinyl variant), and this one gets political, speaking critically about Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro. Read more about it here.
--
DAVID CROSBY - "RIFF 1" (DEMO)
David Crosby has announced a 50th anniversary reissue of his classic debut solo album If I Could Only Remember My Name (vinyl pre-order), and the CD/digital versions include previously unreleased bonus tracks, including this demo. Read more about it here.
--
SWIM CAMP - "MELT"
Philly lo-fi slowcore/folk artist Swim Camp (aka Tom Morris) will release his debut full-length Fishing in a Small Boat this fall via Know Hope Records, and you can read more about lead single "Melt" here.
--
THE TROOPS OF DOOM (ex-SEPULTURA) - "THE MONARCH" (ft. POSSESSED's JEFF BECERRA)
Former Sepultura guitarist Jairo “Tormentor” Guedz's new band The Troops of Doom have announced a new EP, and the lead single features guest vocals by Jeff Becerra of death metal progenitors Possessed. Read more about it here.
--
Looking for even more new songs? Browse the ‘New Songs archive.