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.
SHYGIRL - "BDE" (ft. SLOWTHAI)
Genre-defying art-rap artist Shygirl follows last year's great ALIAS EP with "BDE," which features fellow UK rapper slowthai (whose Happyland festival she plays in September). It's a rumbling, moody, experimental rap song and Shygirl and slowthai sound great together.
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LUMP (LAURA MARLING & MIKE LINDSAY) - "WE CANNOT RESIST"
LUMP, aka Laura Marling and Mike Lindsay of Tunng, will release their new album, Animal, next month and here's the new single. "We Cannot Resist" is charming and danceable but also mysterious and elusive. “It wants to be this massive pop track, but it’s been twisted," says Lindsay. "I like that when the chorus comes in you’re like ‘Wow!’ It’s this huge pop chorus, but then it becomes really creepy with the whispered ‘We cannot resist’”. Marling adds, “this is another one about hedonism. But it was tricky because it’s such American imagery. I remember we had to stop and start and redo quite a lot of the lyrical takes because saying things like ‘Down to burn rubber’ are quite awkward to say in an English accent.” The video, featuring the rainbow-colored Animal of the album's title, is fun too.
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THE BUG - "CLASH" FT LOGAN
The Bug's new album Fire is due August 27 via Ninja Tune and the record features Flowdan, Roger Robinson, Moor Mother, Manga Saint Hilare, Irah & Daddy Freddy, as well as Logan, Nazamba and FFSYTHO. Logan features on the banger of a new single, "Clash."
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LIL YACHTY - "LOVE MUSIC"
Atlanta rapper Lil Yachty goes in an almost chillwavey direction on his first single since Michigan Boy Boat, "Love Music."
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SHEFF G - "START SOME SHYT"
Sheff G remains one of the leaders of Brooklyn drill, and he's in typically hard form on his first single of 2021.
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COMBO CHIMBITA - "MUJER JAGUAR"
Brooklyn tropical futurists Combo Chimbita have shared the first in what they say is a series of new singles and video. "Mujer Jaguar" was written and recorded in Puerto Rico during the pandemic, and bassist Prince of Queens says, "it’s been a year full of change, from a deep personal level and on a global scale, so 'Mujer Jaguar' is an explosive and cathartic track molded from the energy and emotions we absorbed throughout that time."
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GIBBERISH - "SANCTIONS" (ft. CHRIS MCGRATH of MUCH THE SAME) & "YESTERDAY" (ft. HANS ROOFTHOOFT of F.O.D.)
Gibberish (members of SecondShot, Jet Market and The Evergreen) will release their debut LP Strangers on August 20 via Thousand Islands Records (Bevledere, No Fun At All, etc), and they're streaming two songs now, one featuring Much The Same's Chris McGrath and one featuring F.O.D.'s Hans Roofthooft. If you dig fast-paced skatepunk in the vein of No Use For A Name, you should give this a listen.
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SPARING - "LUSH"
Raleigh's Sparing will release a new EP, Old Dreams, on July 30 via Sunday Drive Records, and first single "Lush" is a catchy, driving hybrid of '90s emo and '90s grunge, recommended if you like anything from Jawbreaker and Samiam to '10s bands like Balance & Composure and Superheaven.
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LIL LOTUS - "THINK OF ME TONIGHT"
In addition to being one of the vocalists in the metalcore supergroup If I Die First, Lil Lotus is a solo artist who dabbles in emo-rap, pop punk, and more. His debut full-length album ERRØR BØY comes out August 20 via Epitaph, and it features production from John Feldmann, Drew Fulk, and others, drums on two songs by Travis Barker, and guest vocals from Lil Aaron and Chrissy Costanza. New single "Think Of Me Tonight" finds him delivering straight-up, unabashedly catchy pop punk, fitting right in with the genre's current mainstream revival.
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JENN CHAMPION & OYSTER KIDS - "PUSH"
The latest single off Jenn Champion (Carissa's Wierd, S) and Oyster Kids' new EP of sad pop songs, Love Nobody, is the downcast "Push," which still boasts an irresistible beat.
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I FEEL FINE - "SELFSAME"
I Feel Fine hail from the UK but they channel the sounds of '90s American midwest emo, as you can hear on their yearning, soaring, noodly new song "Selfsame." It's the first single off their new LP The Cold In Every Shelter, due September 10 via Refresh Records.
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MOLLY BURCH - "TOOK A MINUTE"
The latest single off Molly Burch's new album, Romantic Images, is the disco-hued "Took a Minute," which is accompanied by a video featuring drag queen Cynthia Lee Fontaine.
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BENDIK GISKE - "FLUTTER"
Norwegian saxophonist and composer Bendik Giske will release new album Cracks on August 27 via Smalltown Supersound. “The tracks wedge themselves into the cracks of our perceived reality to explore them for their beauty,” says Giske of the title. “A celebration of corporeal states and divergent behaviours.” Corporeal states come to mind with the video for single "Flutter," that may remind some of Matthew Barney's Cremaster series.
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ANJIMILE - "COYOTE CREEK" (ESTHER ROSE)
An EP reimagining Esther Rose's new album How Many Times, How Many More Times, is due out July 16 via Father Daughter, and the latest single is Anjimile's version of "Coyote Creek," which gives the original a dark folk feel.
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ALEXALONE - "EAVESDROPPER"
"This song is a cover of my old band, and it’s so fun to see it reinterpreted through this group of people," Lomelda and Hovvdy bassist Alex Peterson says of the last single from their new album as alexalone, ALEXALONEWORLD. "Since we didn’t know if we’d be able to play shows when the album came out, it seemed like a fun idea to do a live version of ‘Eavesdropper’ so folks could see what our band sounds like live. Working with Brittany Reeber (the director) and crew was a dream, and Lazy Bones Audio in Silsbee, TX was the most comfortable / best sounding place to go which made things very easy for us. It was great to get out of town after a year in one place."
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LIP TALK - "SOLAR RETURN"
Sarah K. Pedinotti already released a couple of new singles as Lip Talk this year; here's a third, "Solar Return." "It's a snapshot of how we celebrated a birthday during 2020," Sarah says. "It's about memory and the present moment; witnessing your own life reflected back through an old friend."
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ELECTRIC SIX - "YAH MO B THERE" (JAMES INGRAM & MICHAEL MCDONALD COVER)
Detroit's Electric Six will bring their unique, bravado-laden magic to songs by other artists on their new album Streets of Gold. The album features covers of songs by INXS, Fleetwood Mac, Alice Cooper, The Jam, Pixies, Talking Heads, and more. "We did not cover The Vaccines," E6 note, "though we concede they are uniquely positioned for this moment." Here's their take on James Ingram & Michael McDonald's yacht-friendly 1983 hit "Yah Mo B There."
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STEVE GUNN - "OTHER YOU" & "REFLECTION"
Steve Gunn will release a new album, Other You, on August 27 via Matador. The album features appearances by Julianna Barwick, Mary Lattimore, Bridget St. John, Jeff Parker, Bill MacKay, Ben Bertrand, drummer Ryan Sawyer, and more, and you can listen to two tracks now.
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BADGE EPOCH - "CONSENSUS REALITY"
Max Turnbull has made albums as Slim Twig, collaborated with U.S. Girls and leads Toronto's Badge Époque Ensemble, but in addition to those things, he's got a related but separate project, Badge Epoch, that's set to release Scroll later this summer. The 90-minute double-disc odyssey is what Turnbull calls a "journal album," "a cosmic hodge podge of funk, jazz, ambient techno, aggressive guitarmonized rawk, musique concrète, and hip hop.”
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VANISHING TWIN - "BIG MOONLIGHT (OOKII GEKKOU)"
London-based band Vanishing Twin are following up their great 2019 album Age of Immunology (one of our favorites of that year) with new album Ookii Gekkou on October 15 via Fire Records. Check out the otherworldly first single.
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JOHN LINNELL (TMBG) - "HAEC QVOQVE EST RES"
"I can hear some of you screaming, 'why songs in Latin?' and I admit I’m scrambling for a cogent explanation. There isn’t one," says They Might Giants co-founder John Linnell of Roman Songs, his first solo record in two decades. "All I can tell you is that I’m deeply jealous of people who are fluent in a second language and can apply that skill to their creative work in a way that doesn’t seem like cultural appropriation of the most offensive and embarrassing kind."
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THE UMBRELLAS - "PICTURES"
San Francisco has a long, rich indiepop tradition, including such jangly bands as The Mantles, The Aislers Set, Grass Widow and, recently, The Reds, Pinks & Purples. Add to that The Umbrellas, who will release their self-titled debut album on August 6 via Slumberland Records. You can get a taste of the sparkling melodies and mid-fi DIY style via new single "Pictures," which the band says "explores the soreness one feels teetering in-between infatuation and reality."
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ALAN VEGA, BEN VAUGHAN, BARB DWYER, PALMYRA DELRAN - "NOTHING LEFT"
The Alan Vega archives already gave us one album's worth of unreleased material, Mutator, this year, and another is on the way. Alan Vega After Dark dates from a one single-night 2015 session with Ben Vaughn (who, along with Alex Chilton, played on 1996's Cubist Blues), Barb Dwyer and Palmyra Delran, all of whom played in Pink Slip Daddy.
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MEATBODIES - "REACH FOR THE SUNN"
Chad Ubovich, who regularly collaborates with Ty Segall (Fuzz) and Mikal Cronin, is back with his first Meatbodies album in four years. It's titled 333 and will be out September 3 via In the Red. This is the album's opening track.
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WE WERE PROMISED JETPACKS - "FAT CHANCE"
We Were Promised Jetpacks have announced new album Enjoy the View which will be out September 10 via Big Scary Monsters and "Fat Chance" is the album's anthemic new single.
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KOYO - "MORICHES"
Koyo, the Long Island emo-inspired band with members of hardcore bands SeeYouSpaceCowboy, Typecaste, Rain of Salvation, Hangman, and Adrenaline, are one week away from releasing their sophomore EP Drives Out East, and second single "Moriches" is out now. Read more about it here.
Pre-order the 7" on limited clear blue vinyl in the BrooklynVegan store.
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NOUN - "IN THE SHADE"
Marissa Paternoster of Screaming Females is releasing a new EP as Noun, and she shared the first single and title track, plus a video directed by Dawn Riddle.
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ONE STEP CLOSER - "PRINGLE STREET"
Wilkes-Barre melodic hardcore band One Step Closer have announced their anticipated debut album This Place You Know, and shared the very good lead single, which you can read more about here.
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GULLY BOYS - "RUSSIAN DOLL"
Minneapolis indie-punks Gully Boys recently signed to Get Better Records and today they've released their first single for the label, "Russian Doll." Read more about it here.
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BIG RED MACHINE - "LATTER DAYS" (FT. ANAIS MITCHELL)
Justin Vernon and Aaron Dessner announced their anticipated, guest-filled second album as Big Red Machine, How Long Do You Think It's Gonna Last? (pre-order on red double vinyl), and shared the beautiful title track, where Anais Mitchell duets with Justin.
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SMILE MACHINE - "PRETTY TODAY"
Smile Machine is the solo project of Jordyn Blakely, who's drummed in Stove, Maneka, Bartees Strange's band, and more, and she's releasing her debut EP Bye For Now on 7/16 via Exploding In Sound. Read more about new single "Pretty Today" here.
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ST. VINCENT - "SAD BUT TRUE" (METALLICA COVER)
Metallica are celebrating the 30th anniversary of The Black Album with a box set reissue and a tribute album called The Metallica Blacklist that features 53 different covers of Black Album songs and benefits 52 different charities, all chosen by the artists who contributed to the record. Three "Sad But True" covers came out today, including this art pop rework by St. Vincent...
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JASON ISBELL - "SAD BUT TRUE" (METALLICA COVER)
...this countrified cover by Jason Isbell...
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SAM FENDER - "SAD BUT TRUE" (METALLICA COVER)
...and this bare-bones piano ballad cover by Sam Fender.
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PENDANT - "BLOOD RITE"
Christopher Adams signed to Saddle Creek for his new album as Pendant, due out in 2022, and for now he's shared a dark, dancey new track, "Blood Rite."
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Looking for even more new songs? Browse the ‘New Songs archive.