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.
COMATOSE - "SPREAD"
Comatose formed in late 2019 by Jacob Carlson (Fail To Decay), Daren Menz (Fail To Decay, Chrome Waves-live), Adam Carroll (Fail To Decay, Lion Sight, The Boy Will Die), and James Benson (Amiensus, Chrome Waves, Fail To Decay), and they'll release their debut album, A Way Back, on January 22 via Transcending Records. First single "Spread" is a very cool offering of shoegazy metal, as heavy and claustrophobic as it is catchy.
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JARHEAD FERTILIZER - "BAPTIZED BY FIRE"
Ocean City, Maryland deathgrinders Jarhead Fertilizer will drop their debut LP Product of My Environment on February 26 via Closed Casket Activities, and lead single "Baptized By Fire" is a no-frills dose of pure butality.
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TOXIC CROW - "NO PUEDEN" (ft. FREDDIE GIBBS)
Freddie Gibbs released our favorite rap album of the year, but he's great over more than just vintage-style boom bap beats, as he reminds you on this new song by Latin drill rapper Toxic Crow.
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MAC DEMARCO - "HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS"
One of the all-time great holiday songs and written for Judy Garland's Meet Me in St Louis, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" has just a splash of melancholy that Mac DeMarco makes the best of in his version that's very much in his dreamy style.
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LYDIA LOVELESS - "MERRY CHRISTMAS"
All proceeds from Lydia Loveless' melancholy new Christmas song go to Mid-Ohio Foodbank.
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BLACK MARBLE - ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU" (MARIAH CAREY COVER)
"Given all that's happened in the last year It struck me as likely that many of us are in the same boat right now," says Black Marble's Chris Stewart of this cover of Mariah Carey's holiday classic. "Thinking about this idea of missing our friends and loved ones and wondering when we will be able to gather together again, I usually take it for granted that I'll be able to see my family for instance at this time, but for me and a lot of us this year, those plans were put on hold. The original intent of the song seems more playful, but because of these ideas, it took on, for me, more of a tone of longing and wishing to be with the people you care about and not having much appetite for the usual more commercial trappings of the season in light of this thing we're all going through. Also, I mean who doesn't love some Mariah Carey around this time - and I thought it would be fun to do a more synthy take on such a well-known classic pop song as well as update it tonally to reflect this current reality." Stewart makes the song very Black Marble-y and you might not even realize it was the same song unless you were paying attention to the words.
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SONDRE LERCHE – “RAIN ON ME” (ARIANA GRANDE & LADY GAGA COVER) & “I CONTAIN MULTITUDES” (BOB DYLAN COVER)
Sondre Lerche is wrapping up his 2020 with two covers. "More than ever, I’ve also appreciated songs other than my own, this year," Sondre says. “'I Contain Multitudes' by Bob Dylan hit me so hard that I’ve been performing it live any chance I got this summer — which was more often than I first thought possible. To me it’s the greatest Bob Dylan song I’ve ever heard, so I had to include a small rendition in my gift to you this year." As or "Rain on Me," Sondre says "As has become tradition since 2009, my proper gift is a cover of a big hit of the year that I’ve enjoyed. And the further I got into this year, I gravitated towards Lady Gaga’s “Rain On Me.” By the end of the year, as even Norway started shutting down again due to a surge in infection rates, it was a no-brainer. So I recorded my version last night, with my buddy and producer Matias Tellez, in the hope that it’ll give you joy, relief and escape this season, extending as far into the new year as it needs to. 'I’d rather be dry, but at least I’m alive' seems like an efficient enough way of summing up the sentiment of 2020, as we seek to leave it behind forever."
FORHIST - "I"
Forhist is another project of Vindsval of French black metal vets Blut Aus Nord, and their upcoming self-titled album is due February 26 via Debemur Morti Productions. Vindsval says the album was inspired by the ‘90s Norwegian Black Metal scene, and you can very much hear that on the tornadic lead single.
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BLACK DRESSES - "WORLD PEACE" FT. ESPER99
Black Dresses, the experimental duo of Devi McCallion and Ada Rook, broke up earlier this year, but they're shared this 2019 track which they collaborated with Los Angeles artist ESPer99 on. "This song was composed and recorded in November 2019," they write, "a time of great turmoil for everyone involved. ESPer99, having been coerced out of their LA sublet by repeat SWATings, joined us for a month in our new Hamilton apartment. While ESPer99 & Rook finished the album rook&nomie – me&you, this triune collaboration took shape as well."
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GRAVESEND - "NEEDLE PARK"
NYC black/death metallers Gravesend will follow their Preparations for Human Disposal with a full-length album, Methods Of Human Disposal, on February 19 via 20 Buck Spin. The album was mixed by Power Trip collaborator Arthur Rizk, who helps Gravesend sound crisp and clear without sacrificing any of their filth, as you can hear on lead single "Needle Park."
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ALLEGAEON - "LAST CHRISTMAS" (ft. TRAVIS RYAN & TREVOR STRNAD)
Last week, we posted a screamo cover of "Last Christmas" by floral patterns., and now here's a brutal death/grind cover by Allegaeon with help from Cattle Decapitation's Travis Ryan and The Black Dahlia Murder's Trevor Strnad.
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BNLX - "WHAT DO YOU HAVE UNDER THE TREE FOR ME?"
Minneapolis' BLNX, the band led by the late Ed Ackerson, has brought his 2010 holiday rarity out of cold storage. "What Do You Have Under the Tree for Me?" is a delightfully playful song, a post-punk Xmas song that's as cold as December. "The composition incorporates thematically appropriate acoustical elements (Lapland sleigh bells, chimes from Hallgrimskirkja in Reykjavik) along with a list of requests for material objects directed at a theoretical provider of gifts," says the BLNX report that accompanies the song. "The content of the composition is based upon analysis of popular thematic elements in seasonal music as expressed in Western popular culture of the 19th-21st centuries, and as such should prove to be enjoyable to a wide range of individuals."
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GRANDADDY - "FOX IN THE SNOW" (BELLE & SEBASTIAN COVER) & "IN MY ROOM" (BEACH BOYS COVER)
Along the same lines as Grandaddy's The Software Slump on a Wooden Piano, Jason has just shared covers of Belle & Sebastian's "Fox in the Snow" and The Beach Boys' "In My Room" is a similar spare manner, with just a little more accompaniment than the Slump songs.
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DARKSIDE - "LIBERTY BELL"
Nicolas Jaar and Dave Harrington put Darkside in deep freeze back in 2014, not long after releasing their excellent debut, but they've thawed it out and will release their second album, Spiral, in spring 2021 via Matador. Here's the first single.
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BILL CALLAHAN, BONNIE 'PRINCE' BILLY @ MEG BAIRD - "I HAVE BEEN THE ONE" (LITTLE FEAT COVER)
Bill Callahan and Bonnie 'Prince' Billy continue their collab-a-thon weekly series with this delicate version of Little Feat's "I've Been the One" from their 1971 debut. As always, they bring in a third collaborator for the music and this week it's Meg Baird. It's a spare, acoustic version of the song with Callahan on lead and Will Oldham singing backing vocals.
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IGGY POP - "DIRTY LITTLE VIRUS"
Iggy Pop released a swaggering new rock song inspired by you-know-what. "If there was still a man of the year, it'd be the virus," he said. Read more here.
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BURIAL - "CHEMZ"
Following his recent collaborative single with Thom Yorke and Four Tet, electronic great Burial has released his first new solo song of 2020. It's 12 and a half minutes of exactly the kind of clattering bliss that Burial does so well, and you can read more about it here.
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Looking for even more new songs? Browse the ‘New Songs’ archive.