20 New Songs Out Today
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 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…
KELLY LEE OWENS – “CORNER OF MY SKY” FT JOHN CALE
Kelly Lee Owens has shared “Corner of My Sky” from her upcoming album Inner Song. It’s a collaboration with onetime Velvet Underground member John Cale, who bonded over creative approaches and their Welsh heritage. The song has Cale singing/speaking in both English and Welsh. “It’s not usually this immediate that a productive afternoon brings a satisfying conclusion to a task,” says Cale. “Kelly sent me a track she’d written – an instrumental that was a gentle drift – something comfortably familiar to what I’d been working on myself. On the first listen, the lyrics came with ease and a chorus and melody grew out of it. Even the Welsh phrases seemed to develop from a place of reflective memory which was a surprise since I hadn’t written in Welsh for decades. Once finished, I realized there existed a built-in thread we’d created together and apart – and her kind spirit pulled it all together and in quick order.”
—
WHITNEY – “STRANGE OVERTONES” (DAVID BYRNE/BRIAN ENO COVER)
Whitney are releasing a covers album, Candid, next week and here’s their take on David Byrne & Brian Eno’s 2008 single “Strange Overtones.” They don’t mess with it too much, just gently Whitney-fy it with a little more pedal steel.
—
BENT ARCANA (OH SEES, TVOTR) – “OBLIVION SIGIL”
Bent Arcana, which includes Oh Sees’ John Dwyer, Kyp Malone of TV on the Radio, drummer Ryan Sawyer (Gang Gang Dance), and more, will release their self-titled debut album on August 21 via Castle Face. Here’s another taste of the group’s jazzy, highly improvised sound — “Oblivion Sigil” has more than a little Can krautrock vibese running through it.
—
BUDOS BAND – “LONG IN THE TOOTH”
Budos Band are celebrating their 15th anniversary this year and are set to release new album Long in the Tooth via Daptone. The title track is seriously groovy, mixing ’70s soul and soundtracks with a little surf. Cool stuff.
—
HELLO FOREVER – “EVERYTHING IS SO HARD”
Based out of a communal compound in Topanga, California, Hello Forever are a loose psych rock collective led by Samuel Joseph whose debut album, Whatever It Is, will be out October 2 via Rough Trade. The group’s new single is widescreen psych track “Everything is So Hard,” which Joseph says came from a place of “deep suffering” and changed the way Hello Forever thought about playing together. “A lot of our songs emerge through a narrow aperture of a very specific experience that drags up a feeling with broad roots — so everything is so hard kinda revealed itself in a moment when I was in a relationship that wasn’t working, but It hurt too much to leave. You know when you want to stay, even though the sadness you feel starts to taint even the good moments?”
—
WASHED OUT – “PARALYZED”
Washed Out’s new album Purple Noon comes out Friday, and ahead of that he’s shared one more new single, which is accompanied by an NSFW video directed by Caroline Koning.
—
CULTS – “NO RISK”
Indie pop duo Cults have shared another single off their upcoming album, Host. “Antithetical to the title,” notes the band, “No Risk” is “all about the benefits of taking risks, and how difficult that can be as a woman when being constantly told in both transparent and subliminal ways that you’re “second best” or not worthy of the same voice. The song transforms the title from a place of complacency to a challenge to empower yourself.”
—
RACHEL HADEN – “HEARING VOICES” (GALAXIE 500 COVER)
In anticipation of the first-ever vinyl release of Galaxie 500’s live album Copenhagen, 20 artists are covering 20 of the band’s songs in the days leading up to it. Rachel Haden, who has played with Beck Jimmy Eat World, The Rentals, Weezer and her sister Tanya’s band That Dog, has covered this deep cut from Galaxie 500’s final album, This is Our Music. Says Rachel, “I used to listen to them everyday in high school!”
—
DABABY – BLAME IT ON BABY (DELUXE EDITION)
Dababy has released a deluxe edition of Blame It Baby with 10 new tracks, including one with Young Thug (“Blind”) and one with Gunna (“TLC”).
—
YOUNG JESUS – “MAGICIANS”
Young Jesus’ new album The Whole Thing Is Just There comes out next week via Saddle Creek and they’ve shared the third single, the 10-minute “Magicians.” It goes off into sprawling post-rock and freeform jam territory a few times but it always finds its way back home.
—
BURIAL ETIQUETTE / COMA REGALIA – HELD TIGHT IN FRAGILE EMBRACES
Modern-day screamo staples Coma Regalia have a new split on Middle-Man Records with a newer, promising screamo band, Burial Etiquette, and both bands shine on this new record.
—
EXCIDE – “ACTUALIZE” & “RADIATION REEL”
There are a lot of great new bands offering up exciting takes on classic metalcore, and Excide is one that very much deserves your attention. They just dropped this new two-song single via New Morality Zine, and it’s like chuggy Earth Crisis meets soaring Deftones choruses meets bits and pieces of a lot of other stuff too. (It’s also not too far away from what Higher Power are currently doing.) The ingredients are familiar, but Excide fuse them together in a way that feels new.
—
PRIMITIVE MAN – “ENTITY”
We’re one week away from the arrival of Primitive Man’s anticipated new album Immersion, and here’s another song to tide you over. It’s noisy, gloomy sludge with an appropriately eerie video.
—
VENOMOUS CONCEPT (NAPALM DEATH, BRUTAL TRUTH) – “SIMIAN FLU”
It’s a busy year for Shane Emburry and Danny Herrera, who have a new Napalm Death album on the way but first a new Venomous Concept album. Here’s the latest shit-ripper from that.
—
SAD13 – “OOPS…!”
Speedy Ortiz’s Sadie Dupuis releases her second album as Sad13, Haunted Painting, on September 25 via her own Wax Nine label, and she’s shared the second single, “Oops…!” “Just before writing it, on tour with CHVRCHES, a venue employee became physically and verbally violent with one of my Speedy Ortiz bandmates,” Sadie writes. “He directed his fake apology at me instead of the person he harmed, presumably because I am smaller and present feminine. My vengeance complex kicked in and I got a scary adrenaline high making sure this unsafe person was removed from the show. While I’m glad I have protective instincts, I wrote the song to process ways in which I’ve used people’s assumptions about me and my body to wield my own version of toxic masculinity.”
—
PAUL INSTITUTE – SUMMER 2020
Jai Paul and A.K. Paul’s Paul Institute just released this new EP with A.K.’s new snigle “Be Honest” and songs from five other artists associated with the Paul Institute: Hira, REINEN, Ruthven, Fabiana Palladino, and Pen Pals.
—
645AR – “SUM BOUT U” (ft. FKA TWIGS)
645AR is a buzzed-about, Bronx-born, Atlanta-based rapper who sounds like he ingested copious amounts of helium and then still digitally pitched-up his voice after that, and he tapped FKA twigs for his latest single.
—
ANAAL NATHRAKH – “ENDARKENMENT”
UK extreme metallers Anaal Nathrakh are releasing their new album Endarkenment on October 2 via Metal Blade, and the lead single/title track is a jackhammering sonic assault that comes with an animated, social commentary-fueled video (by David Brodsky).
—
SOULSIDE – “THIS SHIP”
DC post-hardcore vets Soulside are releasing their first 7″ in 31 years, This Ship, later this month via Dischord, and you can stream the title track now and read more here.
—
BLACK SABBATH COVER BAND REHEARSAL (MEMS YEAH YEAH YEAHS, DERADOORIAN, INTERPOL) – “SWEET LEAF”
Black Sabbath Cover Band Rehearsal, the all-star and seriously good Sabbath tribute act that features Deradoorian, Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs), Mick Barr (Krallice), Brad Truax (Interpol), and Greg Fox (Liturgy, Uniform, Ex Eye), got together as a lark for the 2018 37d03d Festival in Berlin but had so much fun they’ve continued to play the occasional show in NYC. They’re now releasing a single with the a-side being a pretty sick version of Sabbath classic “Sweet Leaf.”
—
Looking for even more new songs? Browse the ‘New Songs’ archive.
