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.
WILLIE NELSON - "COTTAGE FOR SALE" (FRANK SINATRA COVER)
Bob Dylan is not the only classic artist to release multiple albums of Frank Sinatra covers. That's Life is Willie Nelson's second album covering songs that had been recorded by The Chairman of the Board and it's out February 26. (His first was 2018's My Way.) The first single is "Cottage for Sale" that appeared on Frank's 1959 album No One Cares. While the orchestral backing could've been Ol' Blue Eyes, the voice could only be Willie's.
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WESTSIDE BOOGIE - "OUTSIDE" (ft. JOEY BADA$$)
Westside Boogie (fka Boogie) nods at his Shady Records boss with an interpolation of "The Way I Am" on this soulful new Joey Bada$$ collab.
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MULATTO - "SEX LIES" (ft. LIL BABY)
Atlanta rapper Mulatto has released a deluxe edition of her very good 2020 debut album Queen of Da Souf, and it includes this new jetsonmade-produced, Lil Baby-featuring melodic rap ballad.
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KEZNAMDI ft. GYPTIAN & RICKY BLAZE - "DEH YAH" REMIX
Keznamdi, whose Bloodline made our list of great 2020 reggae albums, is back with another great single that fuses traditional reggae with futuristic electronics.
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GREY DAZE - "SHOUTING OUT" (STRIPPED)
Earlier this year, the late Chester Bennington's '90s band Grey Daze released their first album, Amends, which uses vocal parts Chester recorded over 20 years ago but was finished after his death. They'll now release an acoustic EP, Amends… Stripped, on January 29 via Loma Vista, and it includes this "Disarmed"-style ballad.
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GANG STARR - "GLOWING MIC"
DJ Premier just released an instrumental version of the new Gang Starr album from last year (featuring posthumous Guru verses), and he also included this previously unreleased, non-instrumental song. It's always a treat to hear previously unreleased Guru material, and this song is great.
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HARIJAN - "SKINT"
UK ska-punks Harijan are back from hiatus and releasing their long-awaited debut album on TNSrecords next week. Here's the second single, a very cool dose of upbeat, gritty ska-punk.
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GEORGIA - "RUNNING UP THAT HILL" (KATE BUSH COVER)
Covering Kate Bush has been a regular part of Georgia's live set for a while, and now she's recorded a studio version of "Running Up That Hill." "Closing my live sets with 'Running Up That Hill' has been a pure joy, and it sparked the idea to record it," she says. "But it didn’t start there, Kate Bush has been part of my life and a major influence on my work since I could sing a note. Her music was always played by both my mum and dad, and when I began to understand the way that sound and production worked, I embarked on my own intimate and personal journey with her music. For me, it was more than just a cover, it was emotional, and an experience I’ll always treasure."
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HOLY FAWN - "THE MAZE" (MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA COVER)
Heavy post-rock/shoegaze band Holy Fawn have put their atmospheric spin on "The Maze" from Manchester Orchestra's latest album, and it's a very cool take.
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COVEY - "CUT ON THE CREASE"
Brooklyn-based British singer/songwriter Covey is releasing his new album Class of Cardinal Sin on Rise Records "soon," and this lead single is a climactic dose of folky emo that fans of Kevin Devine and The Front Bottoms should not sleep on.
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ALANIS MORISSETTE - "THESE ARE THE REASONS I DRINK" (GIRLPOOL REMIX)
Alanis Morissette released a new EP of remixes of her 2020 album, Such Pretty Forks in the Road, and included on it is this distorted rendition of "These Are the Reasons I Drink" from Girlpool.
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FUNK FLEX x KING VON - "LURKIN"
Chicago rapper King Von was tragically shot and killed at age 26 this year, but he left behind some unreleased material, including this hard-hitting collab with Funk Flex.
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HAVIAH MIGHTY - "OCCASION"
Toronto rapper Haviah Might follows up her November single "Atlantic" with another great one, "Occassion." It finds her in menacing form over some dark, airy production, and she says "this song is about the low expectations that people have of those that don’t follow or fit the status quo, and how I’ll push to overcome those doubts and surpass those expectation."
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CHIKA - "FWB"
Alabama rapper/singer will release a new project in 2021 via Warner, and it'll include this new single which finds her churning out chilled-out neo-soul.
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JER - "A MESSAGE TO MY FUTURE SELF"
Jeremy Hunter's (Skatune Network, We Are The Union) debut album as JER comes out in 2021 via Bad Time Records, and they've just released the third single. This one's more on the mid-tempo ska-punk side compared to the faster previous singles, and it's also a more lyrically introspective song. It's yet another promising taste of this anticipated LP.
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OMNIGONE - "SWALLOW POISON"
Previously heard on Ska Against Racism, Omnigone (ex-Link 80) have given "Swallow Poison" a wider release today. Like their great 2019 debut LP, it's a ska-punk ripper, and it also features organ by Steve Choi (RX Bandits, The Chinkees, etc).
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NYCK CAUTION - "PRODUCT OF MY ENVIRONMENT" (ft. KOTA THE FRIEND & ERICK THE ARCHITECT)
Nyck Caution will release a new album, Anywhere But Here, on January 15 via Pro Era, and this new single is a great dose of throwback New York rap that features Kota The Friend and Flatbush Zombies' Erick The Architect.
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TH1RT3EN - "666 (THREE, SIX WORD STORIES)"
th1rt3en -- the new rap rock trio of Pharoahe Monch, Jack White drummer Daru Jones, and guitarist Marcus Machado -- sample Black Sabbath's "Hand of Doom" on this new track, and Pharoahe Monch delivers hard-hitting rhymes worthy of Sabbath's classic riff. Their new album A Magnificent Day For An Exorcism drops in January.
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FREDO BANG - "BIG STEPPA" (ft. SADA BABY)
Two rising rappers -- Baton Rouge's Fredo Bang and Detroit's Sada Baby -- put their heads together on this infectious new song.
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APOSTLES OF ERIS / PIQUE - SPLIT
Richmond's Apostles of Eris and Brooklyn's Pique both make different kinds of raw, intense screamo, and they go together well on this new split 12", out today on Zegema Beach.
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BARRY GIBB - "BUTTERFLY" FT. GILLIAN WELCH & DAVID RAWLINGS
The Bee Gees cofounder Barry Gibb is releasing GREENFIELDS: The Gibb Brothers Songbook, Vol. 1, due out January 8 via Capitol, and the latest single is this folky take on "Butterfly,"
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HARAKIRI FOR THE SKY - "AND OCEANS BETWEEN US"
Harakiri for the Sky offer up nine minutes of melodic, addictive post-black metal on the latest single off Mӕre.
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KOJEY RADICAL - "GOOD"
UK rapper Kojey Radical wraps up 2020 with this melodic new song that looks back on this crazy year. "It’s been a crazy year of turbulence and self-reflection," he said. "I wrote 'Good' as a personal reminder that we are still going strong despite the pressures and anxiety that life offers."
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MF DOOM & BADBADNOTGOOD - "THE CHOCOLATE CONQUISTADORS"
BADBADNOTGOOD and MF DOOM fuse jazz, funk, psych-rock, and underground rap on this new song from the upcoming Grand Theft Auto Online expansion.
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BENNY THE BUTCHER - "3:30 IN HOUSTON"
Benny the Butcher addresses the recent shooting that left him wounded on this new song, which is from the soundtrack to the upcoming Griselda movie.
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KID CUDI - "LOVIN' ME" (ft. PHOEBE BRIDGERS)
Kid Cudi and Phoebe Bridgers duet on "Lovin' Me" off his new album, which you can read more about here.
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KID CUDI - "SHOW OUT" (ft. SKEPTA & POP SMOKE)
Cudi's new album also includes this great collab with UK rapper Skepta and the late Brooklyn rapper Pop Smoke.
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STEVE EARLE & THE DUKES - "CHAMPAGNE COROLLA" (JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE COVER)
Here's a second track from Steve Earle's tribute album to his son, Justin Townes Earle, who died this summer. "Champagne Corolla" was originally on J.T.'s 2017 album Kids In The Street and Steve's take puts a similar rockabilly coat of paint on car.
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CEVIN KEY (SKINNY PUPPY) - "NIGHTFLOWER" FT EDWARD KA SPEL
Skinny Puppy founding member cEvin Key will release new solo album X̱wáýx̱way on February 19. The dark and dreamy "Nightflower" features vocals from another industrial legend, Edward Ka Spel of Legendary Pink Dots.
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JONNY PIERCE (THE DRUM) - "AMBULANCE"
"This song was written in a time of spiritual transformation for me,” sasy The Drums' Jonny Pierce of this this ethereal new single. “The first half is an ode to that all too familiar pattern that has been a mainstay in my life for decades now. That is, to look only outward for love, a sort of a constant, desperate hunt for intimacy as a result of a loveless childhood.” As for the second half of the song, it does get a little dance-y at the end.
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BILL CALLAHAN & BONNIE 'PRINCE BILLY' W/ DAVID PAJO - "I LOVE YOU" (JERRY JEFF WALKER COVER)
This week's Bill Callahan/Bonnie 'Prince' Billy collab-a-thon entry tackles "I Love You" by the late Jerry Jeff Walker. As always with these, they bring in a third collaborator to provide the backing and this week it's David Pajo (Slint, Papa M). They keep things in the Texas vibe of the original, but take it just a little south of the border with some lovely horns, stretching things out just a little too. Will Oldham sings lead, with Callahan providing backing vocals. As they sing "Gettin' out of bed just ruins my whole day," with horns a blazin', it sounds like a sunset. But lets hope there are more of these to come.
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GAZELLE TWIN - "BLOOD SPORT"
UK electronic artist Gazelle Twin did the score for Nocturne, one of the films in Amazon's "Welcome to the Blumhouse" series. Director Zu Quirke told GT's Elizabeth Bernholz that she wanted to convey a "sense of malignant determination" with the score. "There is always the presence of an evil, dissonant force running through each piece, sort of like the sound of a burning, screaming migraine." More here.
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Looking for even more new songs? Browse the ‘New Songs’ archive.