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.
ALVVAYS - "EASY ON YOUR OWN?"
Here's a second early taste of Alvvays' long-awaited third album, Blue Rev. "Easy on Your Own?" is a post-breakup anthem, with a soaring chorus and roaring guitars.
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MAX TUNDRA - "MBGATE" (KERO KERO BONITO REMIX)
To go along with reissues of his 2000s albums, Max Tundra is releasing Remixtape which features new remixed of his songs by artists who were inspired by them. “For me, Max Tundra was a foundational fixture in a teenagedom spent discussing MilkyTracker and charity shop expeditions in between romance and house parties,” says Kero Kero Bonito's Gus Lobban who has put a new spin on "MBGATE." “He was possibly the first musician to collate the references that later codified our corner of pop music, like trance supersaws, jazz fusion chords and hated General MIDI sounds. Such tropes represent pop's capacity to spin wit and craft into impossible compulsion, and also - crucially - challenge arbitrary cultural orthodoxy (especially in the '00s, but even now).”
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GOLD PANDA - “I’VE FELT BETTER (DANIEL AVERY REMIX)”
Daniel Avery has remixed Gold Panda's recent single and, in his words, pushing it "a bit deeper into the strobe light.” Says Gold Panda, "We worked together at the legendary north London record shop Pure Groove a long time ago when I still had hair. I remember him arriving at the store fresh faced even after his long nights djing at hip places like the Lock Tavern and The End, its great to see him taking his love and knowledge of music worldwide and turn that energy into some of the most exciting music around. I've been lucky enough to work with him on a few tracks but its great to finally get an official Daniel Avery remix (and it's a banger!) from a good friend and all round lovely person."
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KIWI JR - "THE SOUND OF MUSIC"
Kiwi Jr's new album Chopper is out this week and here's one last sneak peak, not to mention one of the highlights of the album. Yes the song is inspired by the classic movie musical and its star. “Some names are so loaded that I can’t resist inserting them into a song, and Julie Andrews is one," says frontman Jeremy Guadet. "Her name brings up a certain feeling. I didn't rewatch the movie before writing the song, so it’s from memory, but I knew 'So Long Farewell' and 'I Have Confidence.' There’s this idea of her marriage falling apart after the success of the movie - she was married young to a production designer. I don't really know how it all went down, but my version makes for good drama. This is Kiwi Jr at our most melodramatic. The song borders on fanfiction, which is something I usually try to avoid, however this started to get juicy and I had to follow it through.”
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TITUS ANDRONICUS - "GIVE ME GRIEF"
Titus Andronicus have shared a new song off their upcoming seventh album The Will To Live, and this one finds Titus delivering arena rock pomp, but still with their usual ragged exterior.
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RUSSIAN CIRCLES - "GNOSIS"
Russian Circles have shared the title track off their upcoming album Gnosis, and this one's a gradual slow-burner that starts out quiet and somber before reaching a sludgy climax. It also comes with the band's first-ever music video.
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JR SLAYER (THE BLOOD BROTHERS) - "NOT ROTTEN"
JR Slayer, the project of The Blood Brothers' Cody Votolato, has announced a new EP, Not Rotten, due September 9 via Will Yip's Memory Music label. It was produced by Yip, and it features Deaf Club's Jason Klein on bass, Tigers Jaw's Ben Walsh on drums, and additional vocals from Cody's sister Brandi Jo Votolato. The first single is the anthemic, power-poppy rock of the title track.
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THE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH - "METAL FIRECRACKER" (LUCINDA WILLIAMS COVER)
The Tallest Man on Earth recently signed to ANTI-, and his second release for them is a gorgeous, reverential cover of Lucinda Williams' Car Wheels on a Gravel Road classic "Metal Firecracker."
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UNKLE – “THE WAY BACK HOME”
James Lavelle's UNKLE project is back with this orchestral, downtempo single that comes in both the original mix and a "Ronin Edit".
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DISQ - "IF ONLY"
“This is a song to listen to when you're confused about somebody's intent in a relationship,” says Disq's Isaac deBroux-Slone of the group's heartland rock-leaning new single. “It started as a sort of ‘British invasion’ vibe but I wanted to take it in a more interesting direction. The feeling of the song is longing and I thought some of the wistful chords and moods from the plethora of ‘90s and 2000's indie I'd been listening to at the time would fit just right, so I pulled those influences in. The band and I fleshed it out into something close to its current state after I had the initial idea in the Summer of 2020 but something was still missing... It felt ‘boring’ to me so I had my friend Matthew Sanborn come over and help me figure out some new chords to insert into the middle of the song. I added the synth guitar solo over it all and what we now internally refer to as the ‘freak out’ section was born. We attempted to inject as many nostalgic moments and sonic sighs into ‘If Only’ as we could. Hopefully the results tug on your heartstrings.” Disc's new album, Desperately Imagining Someplace Quiet, is out October 7 via Saddle Creek.
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NO AGE - "TRIPPED OUT BEFORE SCOTT"
No Age's new album People Helping People is out next month and here's the second song we've heard from it. "Tripped Out Before Scott" starts like twee-punk but slowly builds to a noisy head of steam.
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HEILUNG - "TENENT"
"Our third single release is a palindrome," Heilung say of "Tenent," the latest advance track from their new album Drif. "All individual musical parts, melodies and instruments (and even at times the lyrics) play the same both forward and backwards. The song is based on the 'Sator Square', the earliest datable two-dimensional palindrome, first found in Herculaneum (Italy), a city buried under the ashes of the erupting Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, at that time part of the flourishing Roman Empire. What is particularly interesting with this palindrome is that not only does it read forwards and backwards but also vertically in both directions. The unusual melody of the piece is created with a special code system employing numbers, runes and Latin letters taken from the square itself, and deciphered in a complicated system to give birth to Heilung’s first melodic palindrome."
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SAM PREKOP – “FALL IS FAREWELL”
Sam Prekop (The Sea And Cake, Shrimp Boat) has announced new solo album The Sparrow which will be out September 30. Sam says this track was inspired by the score to '70s thriller Klute.
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RUNNNER - "VINES TO MAKE IT ALL WORTH IT"
Los Angeles singer/songwriter Noah Weinman has shared a warm new track as Runnner via Run for Cover. "I wrote 'Vines' a few years ago," he says. "It’s a tiny song about placing a lot of weight on seemingly small memories, and living with the love and frustration of those moments, both then and now. The title was inspired by a conversation with my sister and I want to thank her for that because I write most of my songs starting with the title."
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GIRLPUPPY - "I WANT TO BE THERE"
"I wrote ‘I Want To Be There’ about the pain I felt when my old landlord kicked me and three of my best friends out of our dream home, and all three of my roommates moved to New York,” Girlpuppy says. "I was left all alone in Atlanta and it was a really bad time for me. I was jobless and I felt like I had no friends which made me wonder what was wrong with me, which kind of made me spiral into self-hatred. I like to call this one the ‘self hate anthem’ of the album." It's from her debut album, When I'm Alone, due out in October on Royal Mountain.
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JESCA HOOP - "SUDDEN LIGHT"
The latest single off Jesca Hoop's new album Order of Romance is the orchestrated "Sudden Light." "It's a wild wild world," Jesca writes. "We seek safety. We need to belong. Beliefs are a ticket for the turnstile...marked with an Icon that tells you which side you are on. We are Us and They are Them... but somehow, it works both ways. There is a crack in veil and I know... in actual truth there is no such thing as an enemy."
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THE MURLOCS - "COMPOS MENTIS"
“After a long day of truck stop fights, hitchhiking and getting kicked off trains, our beloved rapscallion protagonist decides to spend the night in an abandoned junkyard," says Murlocs frontman Ambrose Kenny-Smith. "Finding peace within the garbage that surrounds him, he begins to question his purpose in life and whether or not he’s in control of his own mind.” The Murlocs' Rapscallion LP is out September 16 via ATO Records.
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ALTOPALO - "LOVE THAT 4 U" FT. BARTEES STRANGE
"I was really excited to contribute to this song because I believe in Altopalo so much," Bartees Strange says. "They’re so bril. Also—I know how much they have been through as a band. So contributing a verse to a song that’s really about their journey to become closer was a gift." It's from Altopalo's new album Frenemy, due out September 23 via Nettwerk.
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MOBY & SERPENTWITHFEET - "ON AIR"
serpentwithfeet adds his gorgeous, soulful vocals to this new collaborative track with Moby, the second release on Moby's new Always Centered at Night label. "serpentwithfeet has an approach to music and vocals that I find to be fascinating and beautiful," Moby says.
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NANCY - "JUDY"
Following a string of catchy DIY singles and a 2021 mini-LP, UK artist NANCY (aka Jamie Hall, who also plays in Brighton band Tigercub) has announced debut album English Leather which will be out October 28 via Blame Recordings. Nancy pulls from a wide variety of '70s sounds -- recent single "I Hate Rock N' Roll" owed a little debt to The Stooges and Motorhead, while the just-released "Would You Be My Judy" is a glammy pop confection with a pounding piano main riff.
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TFD (MEMBERS OF STARS AND YOUNG GALAXY) - "THE TFD"
Stars' Torquil Campbell and Young Galaxy's Stephen Ramsay have formed TFD (TOTAL FUCKING DARKNESS) and released their debut single. It's a match made in Montreal, but it's beating heart lies in the dreamy, gloomy world of late-'80s British dance pop, "set to the current total fucking darkness in which the world inhabits." This is their calling card debut single.
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BROKEN BELLS - "SATURDAYS"
James Mercer (The Shins) and Brian Burton (Danger Mouse) have announced details of their third Broken Bells album, Into the Blue. It's their first in eight years and out October 7 via AWAL, and the group note this is the first Broken Bells album to incorporate samples into their orchestral pop sound, which is familiar territory for Burton but maybe not Mercer. New single "Saturday" shuffles along nicely and has its sights set on other galaxies.
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JULIE - "PG. 4 A PICTURE OF THREE HEDGES" / "THROUGH YOUR WINDOW"
LA trio julie follow their buzzed-out 2021 EP pushing daisies with two new tracks: the heavy shoegaze of "pg. 4 a picture of three hedges" and the explosive, Sonic Youth-y noise rock of "through your window." Read more and check out their tour dates here.
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SANTIGOLD - "SHAKE"
"Shake" is the fourth single off Santigold's upcoming LP Spirituals, and the second track on the album produced by SBTRKT. It's a super cathartic bop that comes with a powerful music video -- the song is about human resilience, and the video is inspired by the struggle of civil rights protesters. Read more about it here.
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LITTLE DRAGON - "FRISCO"
"Frisco" is a smooth, layered electronic track that blends soulful, rhythmic vocals with a dance-ready synth instrumental. It's the second song on Little Dragon's just-announced EP Opening The Door. Read more about it here.
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YEAH YEAH YEAHS - "BURNING"
"'Burning' is a song about that feeling, smoke signals for the soul. Begging to cool it down, just doing it the best we know how. Nick and I nodded to Frankie Valli’s 'Begging,' with the line 'oooh lay your red hand on me baby.' We’ve cut a rug to many a soulful sixties bangers in our day, it was in our DNA by the time we wrote 'Burning,'" Karen O said of the single. Read more about it here.
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FOUR TET - "MANGO FEEDBACK"/"WATERSYNTH"
Today Four Tet continued his trend this year of releasing one-off tracks with a double single. Both are synth-heavy, but while "Mango Feedback" is uptempo and danceable, B-side "Watersynth" is highly ambient, with the occasional computery flourish. Read more about them here.
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COURTNEY BARNETT - "IF I DON'T HEAR FROM YOU TONIGHT (DEMO)"
Off of her just-announced compilation Here And There: B-Sides, Live Tracks + Demos, Courtney Barnett has released a demo of "If I Don't Hear From You Tonight." It's an intimate acoustic version, quieter and a little sadder than the album version. Read more about it here.
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REGULATE - "WHY CAN'T WE?"
New York hardcore band Regulate have announced their self-titled sophomore album, due in September via Flatspot Records, and you can read more about lead single "Why Can't We?" here.
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POHGOH - "WEEDS"
Emo vets Pohgoh have announced a new album, du und ich, and you can read more about lead single "Weeds" here.
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ANTI-FLAG - "THE FIGHT OF OUR LIVES" (ft. TIM MCILRATH & BRIAN BAKER)
Anti-Flag have shared the second single off their upcoming album Lies They Tell Our Children, and this one features Rise Against vocalist Tim McIlrath and Bad Religion/Minor Threat/Dag Nasty guitarist Brian Baker. Read more about it here.
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FALLFIFTYFEET - "MEET ME OVERBOARD"
West Virginia chaotic metalcore/post-hardcore band fallfiftyfeet will follow their great 2021 debut LP Twisted World Perspective with a new EP, Lonely If You Go, and you can read more about lead single "Meet Me Overboard" here.
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BEACON - "PAY MY DEBTS"
Brooklyn electronic duo Beacon have shared the third single off upcoming LP Among the Lethe, and you can read more about it here.
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Looking for even more new songs? Browse the New Songs archive.