Bad Bunny

18 New Songs Out Now (New Year’s Catchup Edition)

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. A lot of interesting music came out while we were away for the holidays, so here’s a roundup of all that newly-released music in one place…

BAD BUNNY – X 100PRE

Latin trap star Bad Bunny announced a 2019 tour in mid December which made it seem like his debut album would be coming soon, and he ended up surprise-releasing it on Nochebuena. It’s called X 100PRE (not La Nueva Religión as originally announced), and it’s 15 songs of super catchy trap including the Drake-featuring single “MIA.” The only other guests are Diplo and El Alfa.

TRENT REZNOR & ATTICUS ROSS – “OUTSIDE”

Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have lent their film-scoring abilities to Netflix’s much-talked-about Bird Box, and they’ve shared the eerie, 13-minute “Outside” from the score. An abridged, ten-track version of the score is on sale at NIN’s website and it’s expected to hit streaming services this month. There’s also a longer version of the score due out this spring.

NONAME – “SONG 31”

Noname released one of our favorite albums of 2018, and she entered 2019 with the new song “Song 31” on New Year’s Day. It’s cut from the same cloth as Room 25‘s spoken word-inspired jazz rap, and if you liked that album, you’ll instantly like this.

DEJ LOAF – ‘GO DEJ GO’ VOL. 1 (EP STREAM)

Still no word on DeJ Loaf’s highly-anticipated, long-discussed debut album, but she dropped a six-song EP right before the new year. It shows off both her tough rap side and her more sentimental, melodic side, and it just makes us even more excited for her album to finally drop.

21 SAVAGE – “OUT FOR THE NIGHT PT. 2” (ft. TRAVIS SCOTT)

21 Savage snuck in his new album I Am > I Was the Friday before Christmas, and a few days later he released a new version of that album’s “Out for the Night” and this one features Travis Scott.

POST MALONE – “WOW”

Before playing New Year’s Eve (and 12/29) at Barclays Center, the ever-popular Post Malone made good on his promise to release a new song before the year ends with “Wow.” It came with a holiday-themed video, but holiday music this is not — it sounds primed to be Post’s next big hit (it already cracked the Billboard Hot 100, obv).

UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA – “SB-06”

Unknown Mortal Orchestra have a tradition of releasing an instrumental during the holidays and this year’s is the 19-minute “SB-06.” The track covers a lot of ground in that time and isn’t so much one song as a stitched-together collage. Some of them are pretty cool…maybe they’ll turn up in other forms sometime in the future.

TWIN SHADOW – “BROKEN HORSES”

Twin Shadow dropped a new single the day after Christmas, the chilled out “Broken Horses.” It was released in two pretty similar versions — the “Santo Domingo Edit” and “Port Antonio Edit” — as well as instrumentals of both edits. His stadium rock days seem behind him, but Twin Shadow still writes anthemic hooks, just with a mellower approach here.

HELADO NEGRO – “PAIS NUBLANDO”

Helado Negro’s new album, This is How You Smile will be out March 8 via RVNG Intl. New single “Pais Nublado” is a dreamy number that Roberto Carlos Lange says explores the idea of “cloudy” places. (The title translates to “Cloudy Country.”) “The song is about knowing you’ll be around longer than the people who don’t take the time to understand what you’ve been doing,” Lange told Stereogum. “I feel like that’s been my personal experience with the music I make.”

YBN CORDAE – “WHAT’S LIFE”

The YBN crew released one of the best rap albums of 2018 with YBN: The Mixtape, and YBN Cordae wrapped up the year with this new single on New Year’s Eve. He offers up a pensive, introspective flow over laid back, soulful production — it’s way more ’90s sounding than anything on YBN: The Mixtape, and Cordae turns out to be a pro at this kind of thing too.

TORSO – “GRAB A SHOVEL”

Bay Area hardcore band Torso are releasing the Build and Break EP on January 11 via the legendary Revelation Records, and they recently shared lead single “Grab A Shovel.” It’s as crushing and pissed off as can be, and it’s got the perfect kind of raw-but-clear production from Jack Shirley (Deafheaven, Jeff Rosenstock, Joyce Manor, etc).

MARY LATTIMORE – “MARY, YOU WERE WRONG”

Harpist Mary Lattimore had a very busy 2018 with the release of her new album Hundreds of Days, her collaborative album with Meg Baird Ghost Forests, and contributions to the new albums from Kurt Vile, Hop Along, Marissa Nadler, H.C. McEntire, and more; and she capped off the year with the gorgeous, meditative new song “Mary, You Were Wrong.”

KNXWLEDGE – “CHANEL” (REWORK OF FRANK OCEAN SONG)

Hip hop producer Knxwledge (who’s one half of NxWorries with Anderson. Paak and has also worked with Kendrick Lamar, Earl Sweatshirt, Action Bronson, and more) dropped the HX​.​12​.​8 tape at the tail-end of the year, and among other things, it features a rework of Frank Ocean’s “Chanel.”

FUTURE – “NASA” (ft. FRENCH MONTANA)

The always-prolific Future wrapped up 2018 with new single “NASA” on New Year’s Eve. It features French Montana and it finds Future in melancholic R&B mode.

https://youtu.be/LrFw7LFzteI

SERENGETI – “TOM WAS SUPPOSED TO BE INDIANA” & “SUN BEATING ON ME”

Indie rock/hip hop blender Serengeti celebrated New Year’s Eve with this new two-song single featuring contributions from Jenny Lewis, Fog’s Andrew Broder, and Christian Lee Hutson. They’re both atmospheric, piano-fueled cuts, and both worth hearing.

ACID WITCH – BLACK CHRISTMAS EVIL (EP STREAM)

Detroit stoner metallers celebrated Christmas in very metal fashion with this two-song EP featuring “Black Christmas” and “Christmas Evil (You Better Watch Out!).” For those who find most Christmas songs a little too cheerful, Acid Witch have got your back.

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