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.
TIMESHARES - "THE BOOT (GTFO)"
Philly punks Timeshares bid adieu to Trump's presidency with "The Boot (GTFO)." It's a pissed-off punk rager, but it's not just aimless anger; Timeshares pack the song with incisive lyrics and it often feels uplifting, triumphant, and hopeful about the Trump-less future.
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PNB ROCK - "ROSE GOLD" (ft. KING VON)
Auto-tune hook master PnB Rock offers up another one of his infectious choruses on this song, which also features a posthumous verse by the late, great King Von.
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THE BROTHER BROTHERS - "ON THE ROAD AGAIN"
The Brother Brothers will follow their debut album Some People I Know with their sophomore LP, Calla Lily, on April 16 via Compass Records. They've gotten many comparisons to Simon & Garfunkel for their close-harmony-fueled folk, and this new song should very much appeal to fans of that iconic duo.
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JOEBOY - "LONELY"
Nigerian singer Joeboy follows collaborations with Mr. Eazi, Major Lazer, and others with his debut album, Somewhere Between Beauty & Magic, due February 4 via Banku/emPawa Africa. Promising new single "Lonely" explores the chilled-out, R&B-tinged side of Afro-pop.
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SHEER MAG - "CRUSHED VELVET"
Sheer Mag's latest track — which features on the soundtrack for the Hulu original film, The Ultimate Playlist of Noise — features punchy guitars and snarling bass, alongside vocalist Tina Halladay's gritty, powerful delivery. It's an anthemic, feel-good track and a perfect complement to the coming-of-age film it will be featured on.
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THE BESNARD LAKES - "OUR HEADS, OUR HEARTS ON FIRE AGAIN"
The Besnard Lakes' anticipated new album -- their first in five years -- is out next week and here's another towering epic from it. The band say "Our Heads, Our Hearts On Fire Again" started "as an Oggy Film Song. A skeletal version of the song had been in the Besnard vault for several years after we initially rejected it for a film soundtrack. It went through a couple drafts before we tore it apart, rejiggered some parts and resurrected it to its new form. The song is an ode to logic and intuition and being able to learn from the past.”
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RIVULETS - "CUTTER" FT JARBOE
Denver's Rivulets just released Happy New Year, a five-song EP that kicks off with this dark folk number featuring former Swans member Jarboe.
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GENTLE DOM (MGMT) - "I MISS DANCING IN NEW YORK"
Under the alias Gentle Dom, Andrew VanWyngarden (of MGMT) has returned with another all-too-relevant dance hit entitled "I Miss Dancing In New York." The track, which chimes in with pulsing house beats and disco charm, is reminiscent of those times when heading out on the dancefloor and tuning out the world amidst a crowd of sweaty bodies was a regular occurrence. Nowadays, as its title suggests, such an activity is but a thing of the past, at least for the foreseeable future. Hopefully, though, this track can help listeners get into the groove in their living rooms all the same.
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SMALL BLACK - "DUPLEX"
NYC group Small Back are back after a seven-year absence and will release new album Cheap Dreams on April 9 via 100% Electronica. They've just shared the first single. "We finished writing & recording ‘Duplex’ way before the world shut down last March,” says lead singer Josh Kolenik, “but the lyrics seemed oddly prophetic to me as we were doing the final mix. ‘Walking in the house alone - Pray on the ottoman - Amen for one’ I was originally thinking about the absurdity of feeling alone amid the 9 million of us in NYC and yet suddenly, we were all isolated without much of a choice in the matter. In those weeks spent listening to the quiet out our Brooklyn windows, only broken by the occasional siren, unsure where the city or the world was headed, the song took on a new meaning."
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PAUL JACOBS (POTTERY) - "HALF RICH LONER"
Paul Jacobs, who plays drums in Montreal band Pottery, will release his debut solo album, Pink Dogs on the Green Grass, on April 30 via Blow the Fuse. First single is "Half Rich Loner," a rambler of a track that comes with a video that was directed and animated by Paul.
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WRITHING SQUARES - "ROGUE MOON"
Writhing Squares - the Philadelphia duo of Kevin Nickles (sax, flute, synth) & Daniel Provenzano (bass, vocals) - are gearing up to release third album Chart For The Solution on March 27 via Trouble in Mind. It's a double and packed with wigged-out spacerock-jazz-komische overload, as you can hear on first this single.
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NEW BUMS - "TUNED TO GRAFFITI"
New Bums — Six Organs of Admittance's Ben Chasny and Skygreen Leopards' Donovan Quinn — return after a seven year absence to release their second album, Last Time I Saw Grace, which will be out March 19 via Drag City. Check out this slice of slacker folk from the album.
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JUAN WAUTERS - "PRESENTATION" W/ NICK HAKIM
Juan Wauters' new single is a little different from the Jackson Heights folk troubadour, pairing him with Nick Hakim and Benjamin, paying homage to early NYC hip hop. The video does the same and features Bronx breakdancers, and a Queens basketball court. "It was filmed during the summer of 2020," Juan says. "At that time, there weren't many people around the city, a lot of transplants had left and there were no tourists, so that painted the city in a very special tone."
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GABRIEL RIOS & DEVENDRA BANHART - "LA TORRE"
Gabriel Rios’ 5th studio album, Flore, is an ode to the Caribbean and Latin American music he grew up hearing as a child. This track features Devendra Banhart.
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DARK TEA - "HIGHWAY MILE"
NYC musician Gary Canino will release his second album as Dark Tea on April 30 via Fire Talk. The first single is the wistful, folky "Highway Mile," which Gary says " "was born from a memory of walking on Long Island in 2007, truly a land of no sidewalks. With that starting point in mind, the second verse cancels out the past by evoking the present day. Some of those old feelings never really go away.”
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KATY KIRBY - "JUNIPER"
Texas-based songwriter Katy Kirby is releasing her debut album, Cool Dry Place, out February 19 via Keeled Scales. The latest single is "Juniper," which Katy says "is a song about motherhood, mostly. It sometimes seems like there’s far more material written on how dads can be terrifying and awful, or everyone is just less surprised about it. I’m uncommonly open and close with my mom, (and she’s asked several times if it’s about her — if you’re reading this Lisa, I swear, it’s not!!), but I was trying to work out how many distinct ways that sort of dynamic can uniquely harm. I wound up thinking a lot about vacancy, sort of how abandonment can happen even if someone technically sticks around. I heard Greta Gerwig say in an interview about Ladybird that 'nobody doesn’t have a complicated relationship with their mother.' That feels pretty reasonable to me as far as super-broad statements go, and is maybe (probably) part of what scares me to death about raising a kid."
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GENEVA JACUZZI - “DO I SAD?” AND “LOVE CABOOSE”
Low-fi electronic pop artist Geneva Jacuzzi's 2010 album Lamaze has been out of print pretty much since it was released and these days regularly fetches for high prices online. So it's good that Mexican Summer is reissuing it on February 26 via Mexican Summer.
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THE DICTATORS - "GOD DAMN NEW YORK"
NYC punk legends The Dictators (whose current lineup includes founding members Andy Shernoff, Ross "The Boss" Friedman, and Scott "Top Ten" Kempner) have released their first new song in 20 years, and it laments what New York has turned into in the years since The Dictators formed, while making topical political points too.
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THE LASSO - "2121"
Hip hop producer The Lasso (whose album with Elucid as Small Bills was one of the best rap albums of 2020) is releasing his own new album, 2121, on February 19 via Mello Music Group. The album was made with vocalists A. Billi Free, Rachele Eve, cellist Jordan Hamilton and saxophonist The Saxsquatch (Jared Seiner), and it features appearances by Hemlock Ernst (Samuel Herring of Future Islands), Fat Tony, Ill Camille, Namir Blade, Nelson Bandela and others. The just-released title track is the second single, and like "Satellite," it's a psychedelic mix of jazz, funk, and soul with a modern twist.
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GRIFF - "BLACK HOLE"
UK alt-pop singer Griff has been on the rise, and she continues rolling out singles with the new "Black Hole," which she calls "a bittersweet heartbreak track."
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J.U.S. - GOD GOKU JAY-Z (ft. DANNY BROWN & MORE)
J.U.S. is part of Danny Brown's Bruiser Brigade crew and he has just released his new album GOD GOKU JAY-Z on the Bruiser Brigade label. Danny appears on three tracks, and it also features production on multiple songs by Black Noi$e. If you dig Danny's stuff, you'll probably like the dark psychedelic rap of this album too.
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KALI MASI - "TROPHY DEER"
Chicago's Kali Masi have unveiled another single off their upcoming LP [laughs] (due 3/26 via Take This To Heart Records), and it's yet another great example of their anthemic, gritty punk. Fans of Hot Water Music, Gaslight Anthem, etc, take note.
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YOUNG DOLPH - "LARGE AMOUNTS"
Memphis rapper Young Dolph will release a deluxe edition of his great 2020 album Rich Slave this Friday (1/22) with eight new songs, this being one of them.
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JARHEAD FERTILIZER - "SILENCE THE NARC"
Jarhead Fertilizer have shared another dose of brutal deathgrind off their upcoming debut LP Product of My Environment (due 2/26 via Closed Casket Activities).
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URBAN SPRAWL - "SLAUGHTERED"
Bay Area hardcore up and comers Urban Sprawl will drop the Concrete Altar 7" on Friday (1/22) via Revelation, and here's a new ear-piercing ripper from that.
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YON - ORDER OF VIOLENCE
The incredibly reliable screamo label Zegema Beach Records does it again with this LP from YON, which nails a balance between aggression and beauty.
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TRZTN - "HIEROGLYPHS" (ft. KAREN O)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Karen O and Tristan Bechet go way back. Tristan used to front the Brooklyn noise rock band Flux Information Sciences (that Nick Zinner was sometimes a member of), and he was also part of Karen O And The Kids, who released the Where The Wild Things Are soundtrack. Now they've teamed up again for a track on Tristan's upcoming album as TRZTN, which you can read more about here.
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ADULT MOM - "SOBER"
Adult Mom have announced their first album for Epitaph, and you can read more about new single "Sober" here.
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SNACKING - "BLACKED OUT ON A TRAIN"
Florida indie/emo band Snacking will release their new EP Painted Gold in February via Chillwavve Records, and you can read more about its lead single here.
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ALFA MIST - "RUN OUTS"
Alfa Mist has become a staple of the UK jazz renaissance, and -- fresh off appearing on last year's Blue Note: Reimagined -- he has announced his fourth album and first for ANTI-, Bring Backs. Read more about lead single "Run Outs" here.
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MIKE WATT + THE BLACK GANG - "REBEL GIRL" (BIKINI KILL COVER)
Iconic Olympia/Portland indie label Kill Rock Stars turns 30 this year, and to celebrate the anniversary, they've launched a covers series with over 30 artists covering songs from KRS' catalog. This new one finds Mike Watt + The Black Gang (aka Nels Cline and Bob Lee) taking on Bikini Kill's "Rebel Girl." Read more about it from Mike Watt himself here.
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STURLE DAGSLAND - "DREAMING"
Sturle Dagsland is a Norwegian art pop musician whose is music is glistening and ambient at times, and loud and abrasive at others, and it's all fueled by his jagged, soaring vocals that bring to mind powerhouses like Jonsi and Bjork. Read more about his new single "Dreaming" here.
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BOYHOOD - "DON'T YOU DARE"
Ontario artist Caylie Runciman, aka Boyhood, has shared the first track off an upcoming album. Speaking to Gorilla vs Bear about the accompanying video, she says, "Monika Kraska shot, directed and edited the video on two separate occasions. During the first shoot, we spent the day in a haunted house in Belleville, Ontario. After that shoot, I had what I can only describe as a paranormal experience which informed how we shot the rest of the video and what the general vibe and storyline ended up as. There's a character in the video wearing a suit behind me in the dark and smoke, reminiscent of an apparition that I saw at the foot of my bed, of a man's suit - no body. It felt and looked real, but it could've just been that state of in-between-sleep-and-wake playing tricks on me. That sentiment is relatable to the song itself, as well."
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YAWNING SONS - "SHADOWS AND ECHOES"
Yawning Sons, the transatlantic collaborative project from desert rock pioneers Yawning Man and UK band Sons of Alpha Centauri, will follow their 2009 debut LP with their first album in 12 years, and this lead single features guest lead vocals by Wendy Rae Fowler (who's also done guest singing for Queens of the Stone Age, Mark Lanegan, and more). Read more about it here.
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FONTAINES DC - "A HERO'S DEATH" (SOULWAX REMIX)
Fontaines D.C. hhave given the title track of last year's excellent A Hero's Death over to Soulwax's David and Stephen Dewaele to have them work their remix magic. The original version leaned toward The Strokes, but in Soulwax's assured hands, Grian Chatten's spoken vocals provide inspiration to take the song into Blondie "Rapture" territory, with the "bah bah bah" backing vocals working perfectly here as icing on the cake.
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GOAT GIRL "BADIBABA"
Here's one last pre-release single from Goat Girl's new album On All Fours before the whole thing drops.
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HAND HABITS - "4TH OF JULY"
Meg Duffy is back with this new Hand Habits single that was co-produced by Sasami Ashworth.
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CHAI - "ACTION"
Where CHAI's first two albums have been over the top, sonically, their third album (and first for Sub Pop), will feature more chilled out sounds -- like this new single.
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YARD ACT - "DARK DAYS"
Leeds outfit Yard Act, which includes former Menace Beach member Ryan Needham, have released a few singles since debuting "The Trapper's Pelts", and have just shared their fourth, "Dark Days" that may remind you of mid-'00s post-punk revivalists Franz Ferdinand and Maximo Park.
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TINDERSTICKS - "MAN ALONE (CAN'T STOP FADIN')"
Tindersticks have announced new album Distractions which will be released February 19 via City Slang. This new single, which opens the album, is unlike anything they've ever done before. It's also their longest song to date.
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Looking for even more new songs? Browse the ‘New Songs’ archive.