lakeith-stanfield
Lakeith Stanfield in "Mango" video

13 New Songs Out Today

So many artists, so little time. Each week we review five 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…

MOORS (LAKEITH STANFIELD) – “MANGO” FT. TUNE-YARDS

Lakeith Stanfield and Tune-Yards’ Merrill Garbus became friends when working on opposite sides of the camera on Boots Riley’s terrific new film Sorry to Bother You. They talked about collaborating on something and here it is: “Mango” by Lakeith’s Moors project and featuring Tune-Yards. “He had really specific ideas about the track, different characters he wanted to give voice to, and we worked together to keep amping up the weird,” says Garbus. “Times are weird. Lakeith is reflecting his universes and creating new ones — it’s fascinating and important and we’re grateful and lucky to be a part of amplifying his voice.” Listen to the amplified weirdness — it’s pretty funky too — and check out the music video featuring Lakeith (who you may also know from Atlanta).

NICKI MINAJ – “BARBIE DREAMS”

After delaying it and planning it to release it next week, Nicki Minaj ended up dropping the much-anticipated Queen today. There’s a lot to like about the 19 songs on this album, but one that instantly is getting people talking is “Barbie Dreams.” With all of the different types of music that Nicki’s made over the years, sometimes she needs to remind you that there’s almost no one at her fame level who can rap in a pure, traditional sense like she can, and this song does that. In a time where young SoundCloud rappers think it’s cool to not care about Biggie, Nicki drops old school-style bars over the beat to Biggie’s “Just Playing (Dreams)” (and references Lil Kim’s “Dreams” too), and she takes shots at pretty much everyone on it. It’s ruthless, and it’s awesome.

JEFF THE BROTHERHOOD – “CAMEL SWALLOWED WHOLE”

JEFF The Brotherhood had a ripper of a song called “Mellow Out” on their 2011 album We Are the Champions, but now they seeming to be taking the title to heart, musically, on their forthcoming Magick Songs. “Camel Swallowed Whole” has an almost Pavement “Here” vibe to it, and features some lovely backing vocals from Jenna from Daddy Issues. JEFF’s new direction is becoming more intriguing by the moment.

JOEY PURP – “MARCH 12TH”

Chicago rapper Joey Purp had a breakthrough with his great 2016 mixtape iiiDrops (which features his pals from the thriving Chicago rap scene like Chance the Rapper, Saba, Mick Jenkins, and Vic Mensa), and he’s presumably planning to follow it with a new project soon. No real word yet, but he did just drop a very promising new single, “March 12th.”

CUBAN DOLL – “BIG CHOP” (ft. YBN NAHMIR)

Dallas rapper Cuban Doll is one of a few rising young rappers with “Doll” in their name, but the more she progresses, the more she stands out from the pack. One of her attempts to stand out was by naming her last mixtape Aaliyah Keef (“There are other female rappers with the name ‘Doll.’ I wanted to separate myself, so I came up with Aaliyah Keef. I made a mixtape so people can get used to seeing the name everywhere. People think that’s my real name. Aaliyah is my sweet side, it’s girly-girl, and then Keef is like Chief Keef,” she told Paper Mag), but mostly her music speaks for itself. She’s planning a new mixtape, Cuban Link Part II (the sequel to hear early-2017 release Cuban Link), and ahead of that, she teamed with another rising rapper, YBN Nahmir, for this new banger “Big Chop.”

MOLLY NILSSON – “A SLICE OF LEMON”

Swedish synthpop artist Molly Nilsson will be back with new album 2020 which will be out October 21 via Night School. Much like her former collaborator John Maus, Molly never really strays too far from her standard operating procedure, which is sub-zero tropical pop, but no one else quite does what she’s doing so that’s ok. “A Slice of Lemon” fizzes like the soda seen in the song’s lyric video:

A CERTAIN RATIO – “DIRTY BOY” FT. BARRY ADAMSON

Manchester / Factory Records legends released their first new single in 10 years featuring onetime Bad Seeds member Barry Adamson. More info HERE.

METHOD MAN – “GRAND PRIX”

Method Man is releasing his new album The Meth Lab II: The Lithium “later this year” (the sequel to 2015’s The Meth Lab), and today he released its lead single “Grand Prix.” It doesn’t have the Wu-Tang member messing too much with his longtime formula, though the production is a little closer to modern trap than you might expect from Meth.

SAY SUE ME – “JUST JOKING AROUND”

Surf-inspired South Korean indie-rock quartet Say Sue Me follow their sophomore album Where We Were Together with this nearly six minute romp through various styles, from mellow indie pop to more straight ahead rocking. It’s in tribute to the band’s drummer, Semin Kang, whose absence while recovering from an injury affected vocalist Sumi Choi deeply.

HEY JELLIE – “PET BEAR”
Erase Errata released one final album in 2015 before breaking up. Two thirds of the band, Jenny Hoyston and Ellie Erickson, now based in Austin, continue to make music as Hey Jellie, and they released a new self-titled EP today. The highlight of those tracks is the minimal, eerie, yet surprisingly groovy “Pet Bear.”

QUAVO – “LAMB TALK,” “BUBBLE GUM,” and “WORKIN ME”

Quavo, along with the rest of Migos, have been all over the place over the last few years, and if you still can’t get enough, he just released three solo tracks this morning. All three tracks sound similar to what you’d expect, containing the familiar ad-libs, autotune, and triplet flows Quavo built his name on. No word if Quavo is working on a solo album or anything, but if so, we’ll probably find out soon enough.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNNjJVWnFXA