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, show recaps, track premieres, and more all day. That includes a lot of tour announcements, a list of tonight’s NYC shows, and NY shows that just went on sale. We publish a monthly playlist of some of our favorite tracks. Here’s a daily roundup with a bunch of interesting, newly released songs in one place…
KID CUDI - "THE ADVENTURES OF MOON MAN & SLIM SHADY" (ft. EMINEM)
Kid Cudi and Eminem have put their heads together for "The Adventures of Moon Man & Slim Shady," which is very much in Cudi's comfort zone and a little outside of Eminem, but it's Em's verse that's been making headlines for references to COVID-19, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Drew Brees, and more.
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YG - "SWAG"
Last month, YG shot a video at a protest for his new song "FTP ("Fuck the Police"), and now he has kept the protest vibe going with the video for his new song "Swag," in which he plays Colin Kaepernick.
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SNOH AALEGRA - "DYING 4 YOUR LOVE"
Iranian-Swedish R&B singer has released a new single and launched a new merch line which will support Until Freedom, "an intersectional social justice organization rooted in the leadership of diverse people of color to address systemic and racial injustice." The song finds Snoh's airy, chilled-out R&B in very fine form.
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KAYTRANADA - "LOOK EASY" (ft. LUCKY DAYE)
Kaytranada follows last year's great BUBBA with the gooey electro-funk of "Look Easy" featuring Lucky Daye.
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TOOTS AND THE MAYTALS - "WARNING WARNING"
Reggae legend Toots Hibbert release his new album with the Maytals, Got To Be Tough, in August and here's new the new single that's a welcome dose of positive energy. "I want to ask everyone to keep their focus in this time of wonders," says Toots. "Make such focus be of good faith. Love each other, take it as a warning and exercise brotherly and sisterly care for each other of all race, religion and creed."
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CRICKETS (JD SAMSON/RODDY BOTTUM) - "INTENTIONALLY PASSIVE"
"We do best when we create within our parameters of shouting, repeating and holding back," says Roddy Bottom of the latest single from CRICKETS, his band with Le Tigre's JD Samson. "This song is us getting comfortable with that formula for the first time. It works best played loud in a big empty room." CRICKETS' self-titled debut album is out next week.
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BETTYE LAVETTE - "ONE MORE SONG"
The great Betty LaVette will release Blackbirds on August 28 which has her interpretting songs originally performed by Dinah Washington, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Nancy Wilson, Della Reese, and Ruth Brown. Today she's shared "One More Song," which is one of the newer songs on the album but Bettye imbues a worldweariness that is timeless.
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BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB - "TWO LIVES" (BONNIE RAITT COVER)
Bombay Bicycle Club have released the Bonnie Raitt cover from the acoustic EP they've been gradually rolling out, which benefits two charities. "My dad introduced me to this beautiful song on one of our long car journeys and I instantly fell in love with the harmonies," they tweeted. BBC have always had a knack for pulling off tender folk music, and this cover is no exception.
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ILLUMINATI HOTTIES - "WILL I GET CANCELED IF I WRITE A SONG CALLED, 'IF YOU WERE A MAN YOU'D BE SO CANCELLED"
Last week, a Soundcloud link to a release from a band calling themselves "Occult Classic" began making the rounds on social media, only to swiftly be deleted. As many guesses, based, among other things, by their name appearing the lyrics, "Occult Classic" is really Illuminati Hotties, and the album that leaked is their new mixtape, Free I.H.: This Is Not The One You’ve Been Waiting For, due out next week, July 17. It's self-released, after the band fought to freed themselves from their Tiny Engines contract, and the first single, "will i get canceled if i write a song called, 'if you were a man you'd be so cancelled," is a blast of snarling guitars and scornful lyrics.
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BEACH HOUSE - "ANOTHER GO ROUND"
The soundtrack to Drake Doremus' 2019 film Endings, Beginnings came out today, and included on it is this song from Beach House.
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MICHAEL KIWANUKA - "FINAL DAYS" (BONOBO REMIX)
Bonobo has turned "Final Days" from Michael Kiwanuka's excellent 2019 album KIWANUKA into a dancefloor banger, and it's a genuinely cool rework that really adds to the already-great original.
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BURT BACHARACH & DANIEL TASHIAN - "MIDNIGHT WATCH"
Pop legend Burt Bacharach is teaming with Grammy-winning Kacey Musgraves collaborator (and Silver Seas cofounder) Daniel Tashian for new EP Blue Umbrella that'll be out July 31. Burt tells Variety that the song began as a very personal song, "looking to a woman, waiting for her to come back," but has now taken on new meaning during COVID-19. "We’re all on that form of midnight watch, you might say." It's a gorgeous song, as swoony as you'd hope from the man who wrote "Walk on By."
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FORETOKEN - "THE RETRIBUTION"
Virginia Beach thrashy, symphonic death metallers Foretoken have signed to Prosthetic and they'll re-release their debut album Ruin on September 4 via their new label home. The album originally came out earlier this year but has since been pulled offline, but while you wait for the re-release you can hear "The Retribution," which is pretty killer stuff.
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ENSLAVED - "JETTEGRYTA"
Norwegian progressive black metal veterans Enslaved have shared another track off their upcoming album Utgard, and it's a mammoth of a song.
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MOLLY TUTTLE - "STANDING ON THE MOON" (GRATEFUL DEAD COVER FT. TAYLOR GOLDSMITH)
Molly Tuttle's album of cover songs, ...but I'd rather be with you, comes out on August 28, and the latest track she's shared is a take on Grateful Dead's "Standing on the Moon," featuring Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes on backing vocals. "I didn’t grow up listening to a lot of Grateful Dead music," Molly says, "but being raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Dead was part of the mythology of my family and the area I grew up in (kind of how I imagine people who grew up in Tennessee where I live now might feel about Dolly Parton). Our specific family lore was that Jerry Garcia had gone to my high school (Palo Alto High) and my mom’s older sister, my Aunt Titia, knew them and used to take guitar lessons from Bob Weir in Menlo Park. That’s a roundabout way of explaining that this song means so much to me because it brings me back to my roots. Even though I love Nashville, sometimes I do feel like I’m standing on the moon wishing I were with my friends and family in San Francisco. The line, ‘A lovely view of heaven, but I’d rather be with you’ is my favorite and it’s why I named the album ...but I’d rather be with you. Life is messy and imperfect but I’d rather be here in it with all of you!"
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INTER ARMA - "The Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill" (HUSKER DU COVER)
Inter Arma's new covers album is out today, and one of its major highlights is this blackened punk version of Husker Du's "The Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill."
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PRESENTABLE CORPSE (JORGE ELBRECHT) - "ANCIENT GRIEF"
Jorge Elbrecht (Violens, Lansing Drieden) released this new two-track single under his Presentable Corpse pseudonym featuring new single "Ancient Grief" and the previously released "Tuesday Morning." Both are jangly psych-pop with a baroque hue. 100% of Bandcamp sales from this single goes directly to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
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EMPATH - "III+"
Philadelphia noise punks, Empath were on Baby's All Right's Baby TV recently where they presented a visual remix of their track "III." You can now stream the audio of that, all 24 minutes of it in its heavily psychedelic glory.
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GREG PUCIATO - "DO YOU NEED ME TO REMIND YOU?"
Greg Puciato, frontman of the now-defunct Dillinger Escape Plan (and The Black Queen and Killer Be Killed), has revealed the details on his upcoming debut solo album and released a new song from it. Read more here.
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THE FLAMING LIPS - "DINOSAURS ON THE MOUNTAIN"
The Flaming Lips have shared a third track from their upcoming 16th album, American Head. Like "Flowers of Neptune 6" and "My Religion is You," "Dinosaurs on the Mountain" has strong Soft Bulletin / Yoshimi vibes, in that mellow psych orchestra way. "I wish dinosaurs were still here now, it would be fun to see them play up on the mountain," is a very Wayne Coyne kind of wish.
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ELVIS COSTELLO - "HETTY O'HARA CONFIDENTIAL"
Elvis Costello has released his second single of 2020. Like "No Flag" which dropped in June, "Hetty O'Hara Confidential" was recorded in Helsinki, Finland and has Elvis sounding rambunctious and energized.
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GUIDED BY VOICES - "TO KEEP AN AREA"
Guided by Voices are gearing up to release Mirrored Aztec, their 30th album, on August 21. With a big acoustic guitar riff and a killer chorus, "To Keep an Area" sounds like it could've come out on Stiff Records in 1979 alongside Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello and Wreckless Eric.
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INTO IT. OVER IT. - "LIVING UP TO LET YOU DOWN"
Evan Weiss has announced his first Into It. Over It. album in four years and released the first single, which you can read more about here.
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PALLBEARER - "FORGOTTEN DAYS"
Pallbearer have officially announced their long-discussed, highly anticipated fourth album, Forgotten Days, and released the title track, which you can read more about here.
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BLACK THOUGHT - "THOUGHT VS EVERYBODY"
The Roots' Black Thought has released the first single off his anticipated new project Streams of Thought, Vol. 3: Cane and Abel, which comes out July 31. Read more about it here.
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SUFJAN STEVENS - "MY RAJNEESH"
"My Rajneesh" is the non-album b-side to Sufjan's recent single "America," and it's a ten-and-a-half minute epic that tips its hat in the direction of Age of Adz highlight "Vesuvius." Read more here.
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CUT COPY - "COLD WATER" (LINDSTROM & PRINS THOMAS MIX)
Cut Copy have handed over their single "Cold Water" to Norwegians Lindstrøm and Prins Thomas to remix. The glistening original, with it's gently arpeggiated synth lines, was already in the right territory for Lindstrøm and Thomas, but they replace its motorik groove with more of a four-on-the-floor beat and an ecstatic feel. This remix is maybe better than the original.
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CURRENT 93 - "THE DEATH OF THE CORN"
Current 93 are giving two of their albums -- 1997's Horsey and 2000's Sleep Has His House -- the expanded and remastered reissue treatment. Both are remastered from the original tapes, come with a wealth of bonus tracks, and will be out July 24. Here's one of the unreleased songs from Horsey reissue.
Looking for even more new songs? Browse the ‘New Songs’ archive.