So many artists, so many songs, 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. 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.
PHONY - "THE MIDDLE"
PHONY -- aka former Donovan Wolfington member Neil Berthier, who's also a current live member of Joyce Manor and opening their upcoming tour -- has shared a new song off his upcoming LP At Some Point You Stop. "The Middle," which is neither a Jimmy Eat World nor a Zedd/Maren Morris cover, departs from the indie-punk vibes of the previous singles in favor of dreamy emo that sounds kinda like Peripheral Vision-era Turnover.
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CARA NEIR - "UNKINDNESS"
Cara Neir (one of the many projects of Garry Brents, also of Gonemage, Homeskin, and Sallow Moth) have a new LP called Phantasmal due this Friday (7/29) via Zegema Beach Records, and here's the discordant, chiptune-grind of new single "Unkindness."
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SUNFLO'ER - "STRAIGHT TO VHS"
As mentioned, Sunflo'er are gearing up for their third LP, All These Darlings and Now Me (due 9/2 via Dark Trail Records), and now they've shared new single "Straight to VHS." It starts out with Sunflo'er screaming the hook from the Mentor Williams-penned, Dobie Gray-popularized "Drift Away" (the "Give me the beat, boys, and free my soul" song), and then it turns into riffy metalcore worthy of an Every Time I Die record. The band also calls it "a Thin Lizzy song written by Cursed."
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ED ASKEW - CROSSING BRIDGES
Ed Askew has been especially prolific lately, with multiple Bandcamp drops this summer, including the new five-song collection Crossing Bridges. Ed says, "here are 5 simple songs for voice, keys, harmonica and harmonium, made in July. keep cool everybody. cover photo from an old post card."
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TALLIES - "MEMENTO"
Toronto dreampop band Tallies have shared another track off their upcoming album, Patina, that's out this week. "I am a firm believer in 'what goes down must come up,' people usually say the opposite, but this is a motto I’ve used throughout my life," says singer/guitarist Sarah Cogan. "When things aren’t going well, they have a tendency to bounce back. 'Memento', to me, is my pick-up song. When I sing “gotta get you on your way now”, I’m saying that it’s time to move on and move forward. I’ve had many moments in my life where I’ve lost momentum and felt directionless like I’d fallen into a black hole. It’s hard to crawl out of the hole and get back on track. I think there are a lot of people who spend their time thinking about how they need to get back on track. Listen to this song and remind yourself it’s time to look forward and lean into the future."
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TAN COLOGNE - "BLUE SWIM"
New Mexico duo Tan Cologne release new album Earth Visions of Water Spaces in September via Swedish indie label Labrador and the've shared another languid track from it. The band call "Blue Swim" their "lowrider lullaby to the end of the world."
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DANNY ELFMAN FT. TRENT REZNOR - "NATIVE INTELLIGENCE (GHOSTEMANE NATURAL SELECTION REMIX)"
Danny Elfman has shared another track off his upcoming remix album, Bigger. Messier. "Ghostmane" takes "Native Intelligence," originally a collab with Trent Reznor, and gives it a wild jungle/drum-n-bass breakbeat remix, and it comes with a manga-inspired video.
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JUNE MCDOOM - "THE CITY"
Temporary Residence LTD have signed singer-songwriter June McDoom and have released her gorgeous, haunting debut single. “‘The City’ was a song I wrote during college at a time when I was having a lot of realizations about who I was and how much all the family and friendships of my life had shaped me," says June. "I was thinking a lot about my ancestry, the strong matriarchs of my family, and the impact and courage it took for my entire extended family to uproot from Jamaica and move to NYC in the 1970s. When I wrote this song I was listening to a lot of artists like Joan Baez and Judee Sill, and later when I started working on demos of the song I started to get into The Delfonics and The Supremes, and then old reggae artists like Alton Ellis and Phyllis Dillon. We recorded countless versions of the song in a home studio that my partner Evan Wright and I had slowly formed. Around this time, we met Gabe Wax, who started working with us on the track and later ended up doing the final mix for it. Working with him was an impactful experience because he understood all the nuances of what I wanted this track to be and he also taught us a lot. We would sit and watch him mix the song, which eventually helped push us to mix my forthcoming EP on our own.”
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THE ORIELLES - 'LA VITA OLISTRICA'
Liverpool band have just released this reimagined their album Disco Volador into a soundtrack for a nonexistent film. "We'd always shared an interest in writing music for film and so used lockdown as an opportunity to rewrite Disco Volador into a continuous score, which is what birthed the idea of 'La Vita Olistica.'"
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FLOSSING — HEART OF HEARTS
Heather Elle, who played bass in Bodega and The Wants, will release the World of Mirth EP as FLOSSING on August 26 via Brace Yourself. "Heart of Hearts" hits some nice '80s synthpop notes and Heather says of it: “Asking for an open relationship at the beginning of a global pandemic was the comically intense first step in figuring out I was Queer.”
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THICK - "TELL MYSELF"
Brooklyn punks THICK will release new album Happy Now on August 19 via Epitaph. "This song is an anthem for everyone who feels outshined and overlooked by the people around them," say the band of their new single. "Ultimately, it’s about using that chip on your shoulder to do better and realizing that you’re never going to be a winner if you keep using other people as your measuring stick."
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TWO MINUTES TO LATE NIGHT - "NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP" (RICK ASTLEY COVER)
With a little help from Pnut of 311, the Kaiju Big Battel monsters, and more the Two Minutes to Late Night crew have rickrolled themselves.
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SYLVAN ESSO - "DIDN'T CARE"
Sylvan Esso announced new album No Rules Sandy by playing it in full at Newport Folk Fest on Sunday. It is out August 12 and this is the new single.
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TURNOVER - "MYSELF IN THE WAY" (ft. TURNSTILE'S BRENDAN YATES)
Turnover have announced a new album, Myself in the Way, and the just-released title track features Turnstile vocalist Brendan Yates. Read more about it here.
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Looking for even more new songs? Browse the New Songs archive.