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17 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…

PANDA BEAR – “TOKEN”

Panda Bear shared a second single off his upcoming album Buoys (due 2/8 via Domino), the whimsical, psychedelic, very Panda Bear-ish “Token.” It comes with a video directed by and starring Dean Blunt.

THE KILLERS – “LAND OF THE FREE”

The Killers are back with a new song and Spike Lee-directed video, “Land of the Free.” Both the song and video have a powerful, political message — the video was shot at the U.S./Mexico border and includes footage of migrant families being tear-gassed while trying to make their way to “the land of the free,” and the lyrics take on Trump’s wall, racism, incarceration, gun control, and more.

H.C. MCENTIRE – “HOUSES OF THE HOLY” (LED ZEPPELIN COVER)

H.C. McEntire has shared a cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Houses of the Holy” (which shares a name with and was written for Zeppelin’s 1973 album but ended up appearing in 1975’s Physical Graffiti), and she takes the boogie-rockin’ original and turns it into a stripped-down folk song. Led Zeppelin themselves, especially Robert Plant, would probably appreciate this rendition. We definitely do.

CHAKA KHAN – “HELLO HAPPINESS”

The Queen of Funk is back with her first album in 12 years, Hello Happiness, due February 15 via Diary/Island. It was produced by former Major Lazer member Switch (who also runs Diary Records), and it includes 2018 single “Like Sugar” as well as the more recently released title track. “Hello Happiness” is an awesome slice of funk that shows off Chaka Khan’s ever-powerful pipes and fits in with 2019 music seamlessly. Check it out.

FLAT WORMS – “SHOUTING AT THE WALL”

LA band Flat Worms, who released their great debut LP in 2017, dropped a 7″ single last year that was produced by Ty Segall. Now they’re back with a new EP that’s not only produced by Ty, but also out on 2/8 via his GOD? imprint though Drag City. Lead track is “Shouting at the Wall” is a nice dose of overdriven garage punk, with a sharp melodic kick.

DENT MAY – “WHY I CAME TO CALIFORNIA” (LEON WARE COVER)

Dent May is heading out on a West Coast tour, and to promote it he’s covered “Why I Came to California,” the 1982 track by songwriter/producer/artist Leon Ware. The smooth disco/jazz original fits in perfect with Dent’s version, which is a duet with Joey Joey Michaels.

DAPHNI – “THRILLER”

While Dan Snaith is finishing up the new Caribou album, he’s just shared the new Daphni track “Thriller,” which uses a sample of Michael Jackson’s hit as backbone for this jazzy disco number. Not so much a remix or a rework as a jumping off point. You can download it for free on Caribou’s bandcamp.

SUSANNA – “ECSTASY X”

Norwegian artist Susanna’s new collaborative album with The Brotherhood of Our Lady is out next month and they’ve just shared a new track from it. The album was inspired by Dutch master Hieronymus Bosch. “While this is not a soundtrack to his paintings,” Susanna says, “I feel a resemblance between the absurdity in his pictures and today’s existence. Humanity has never been more enlightened and competent to make sustainable solutions for everyone, but we still close our eyes to poverty, environmental issues and lack of equality.” You can hear their interpretation of Bosch’s darkness and light on the ethereal “Ecstasy X.”

TOWNES VAN ZANDT – “ALL I NEED” (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)

Cult country/folk artist and songwriting great Townes Van Zandt died back in 1997 but had such a large collection of unreleased material, that it’s still coming. Sky Blue is his fifth posthumous collection and features 11 songs he recorded in 1973 with friend Bill Hedgepeth. It features songs that would end up on official albums, covers, and two previously unheard songs, one of which is “All I Need.” Sky Blue will be out March 7 on Fat Possum.

NARDEYDEY – “FREEFALLING”

London-based musician Shirley Tetteh (a member of the UK jazz collectives Maisha and Nérija) released her debut single as Nardeydey, “Speedial,” late last year, and now she’s back another, the buoyant, textured, and eclectic pop track “FreeFalling.”

LOWLY – “BAGLAENS”

Danish band Lowly are following their 2017 debut Heba with a new album this spring. Hifalutin is due out April 12 via Bella Union, and the band has shared its first single, the atmospheric, melancholy “Baglæns.”

PIROSHKA – “WHAT’S NEXT”

“‘What’s Next’ started life as a guitar-and-drums demo from Justin that he’d called ‘Protest’ – the drums being inspired by the idea of a protest march,” says former Lush frontwoman Miki Berenyi of Piroshka’s new single. “It’s one of the very first songs Piroshka worked on together. The lyrics are inspired by the shock and fallout regarding current political upheavals – how this finger-pointing and rage and blame are so damaging, how we need to get back some kind of solidarity if we possibly can because the divisions between us are playing into certain people’s hands. Funnily enough, the song was called Time’s Up when it was first recorded, but that title then got taken so we thought we’d better change it! It’s the only track on the album mixed by Alan Moulder – before we got picked up by Bella Union, we had an album’s worth of demos but we only had enough money to get one of them mixed!” Piroshka, which also features members of Elastica, Moose and Modern English, will release their debut album in February.

BLAQK AUDIO – “THE VILES”

Blaqk Audio, the synthpop side project of AFI’s Davey Havok and Jade Puget, are releasing their new album Only Things We Love on March 15 and the lead single is “The Viles.” Like past Blaqk Audio releases, it’s very late ’80s / early ’90s (think Depeche Mode, New Order, Pretty Hate Machine, etc). They’re also touring.

TAKE A DAYTRIP – “STRESSED” (ft. OCTAVIAN)

NYC production duo Take A Daytrip (who produced Sheck Wes’ “Mo Bamba”) are working on a project called Take A Daytrip vs. London, where they’ll be collaborating with various UK artists, and the first single is “Stressed” featuring UK rapper Octavian (who just won BBC Sound of 2019). “Stressed” injects some Atlanta trap influence into Octavian’s UK-style rap, and it’s good stuff.

ELIZABETH COLOUR WHEEL – “23”

“23e” is the first single off dark, genre-defying band Elizabeth Colour Wheel’s upcoming debut album (due 3/15 via The Flenser), which we wrote more about here.

STEVE GUNN – “ASTRO ZOMBIES” (MISFITS COVER) & “AMONG THE TREES” (MICHAEL CHAPMAN COVER)

Steve Gunn offered up a folky cover of this Misfits classic and it’s pretty awesome. Listen to that, as well as a cover of folk legend Michael Chapman (who Steve now frequently collaborates with), at Aquarium Drunkard.

Looking for even more new songs? Browse the ‘New Songs’ archive