honey-harper
Honey Harper

31 New Songs Out Today

Honey Harper
Honey Harper

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…

WAR ON WOMEN – “THE ASH IS NOT THE END”

Baltimore punks War On Women, who released one of the best albums of 2018 and are touring with Jawbreaker soon, are back with a new one-off single for the Adult Swim Singles Program. As you’d expect from this band, it’s a total ripper.

LADY LAMB – “DEEP LOVE”

“Deep Love” is the second single off Lady Lamb’s upcoming album Even in the Tremor. It’s a little folkier than the lead single/title track, and lyrically it finds Lady Lamb in gripping storytelling mode. She says: “I had just gone into Manhattan and I felt like an alien seeing all the workers on their lunch break. I spent my train ride home to Queens, wondering if we’d lost our purpose. I started singing the first line, ‘I’m not convinced we should strive for midtown,’ and by the time I got to the chorus refrain I was full of a deep, volcanic kind of love which poured out of me and filled the song. It felt like it was writing itself, and when I realized I was singing through tears, I knew the album was finished.”

HISS GOLDEN MESSENGER – “EVERYBODY NEEDS SOMEBODY” AND “WATCHING THE WIRES” FT. AMELIA MEATH

Ahead of his soon-to-start solo tour, Hiss Golden Messenger (aka M.C. Taylor) has shared two brand new tracks, both of which feature Amelia Meath of Sylvan Esso and Mountain Man. “I wrote ‘Watching the Wires’ and ‘Everybody Needs Somebody’ in the basement of a house just outside of Portland, Maine, last summer,” says Taylor. “2018 was a hard year—for myself and, as it turns out, most people that I know—and I was thinking a lot at that time about how to cope with what felt like an unnameable existential crisis: Run for the hills, or hug the nearest stranger? As it turns out, I’ve been doing a bit of both. Singing these songs has been helpful to me.”

ALL WE ARE & ALEX KAPRANOS – “HEART ATTACK”

UK trio All We Are have teamed up with Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos will release a collaborative single on April 5. They worked with producer Dan Carey (Hot Chip, Kate Tempest) and it’s heavy on the rhythm and funk while being nicely understated, with Kapranos delivering an almost whispered vocal.

LEE ‘SCRATCH’ PERRY – “AFRICAN STARSHIP” (PROD. ADRIAN SHERWOOD)

Post-punk dub producer Adrian Sherwood, who runs famed On-U Sound and has worked with Mark Stewart + Maffia, The Fall, The Slits, Ministry, Dub Syndicate and more, has reactivated his Pay It All Back compilation series that feature his productions. Pay it All Back Volume 7, out March 29, is the first in the series since 1996 and features Roots Manuva, Mart Stewart, African Head Charge, Little Axe, Coldcut and more. You can check out “African Starship,” featuring the iconic Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry and Sherwood’s distinctive claustrophobic dub plate sound. The song will also appear on LSP’s new album, Rainford, which is out May 10 via On-U Sound.

CARLY RAE JEPSEN – “NOW THAT I’VE FOUND YOU,” “NO DRUG LIKE ME”

Carly Rae Jepsen’s anticipated follow-up to 2015’s E•MO•TION is expected to drop sometime this year, and today she’s dropped a pair of new singles, which follow the previously-released “Party For One.” The first track “Now That I’ve Found You” is an upbeat synthpop anthem, while “No Drug Like Me” is a slower, more seductive cut that recalls the strong ’80s pop nostalgia heard on her last record.

HONEY HARPER – “STRAWBERRY LITE”

Honey Harper, the dreamlike country project of onetime Mood Rings frontman William Fussell, has a new EP coming out in April via ATO. The first single is the ethereal, sun-dappled “Strawberry Lite.” Will says the was “written on the couch in my living room and on the floor of Dean Street Studios, where I record most often. I lay on the ground of the studio with Mick and Gus, two of my band members, as we discussed the song and what we all thought it meant. We talked about the past and the future, stress and letting go, The Grateful Dead, old hippie slogans, and hip new t-shirt companies and I wrote out new lines and transcribed mumbled demo verses to finish the lyrics.” Musically, “Strawberry Lite” is Fred Neil via Cocteau Twins and Slim Whitman.

KITTY – “DISCONNECT”

Kitty has been busy as a member of American Pleasure Club and half of The Pom Poms, but she makes her own music as well. She’s releasing a new solo album, ROSE GOLD, on April 5; as she told FADER, it’s a collection of songs from the past three years. She’s shared the glitchy first single, “disconnect,” and its accompanying video, which she directed.

BLU & OH NO – “POP SHOTS”

Two underground rap greats, Blu and Oh No, are putting out the collaborative album A Long Red Hot Los Angeles Summer Night this Friday (3/1) via Nature Sounds. New single “Pop Shots” is head-nodding and cinematic and making this album look very promising.

FRED THOMAS – “PARKWAYS” & ANNA BURCH – “ST. ADALBERT”

Longtime friends, tourmates, collaborators, and Failed Flowers bandmates Fred Thomas and Anna Burch have a new split single out on Polyvinyl. Fred’s contribution is an outtake from last year’s Aftering, while Anna’s was written back in 2014.

BRUTUS – “CEMETERY”

Brutus’ new album Nest comes out March 29 via Sargent House, and following lead single “War,” they have now released another single, “Cemetery.” Drummer/singer Stefanie Mannaerts switches between a hardcore punk bark and a more ethereal, dream pop-ish delivery on this one, and it fits awesomely with the song’s heavy, atmospheric instrumentation.

AVEY TARE – “TAKEN BOY”

Animal Collective’s Avey Tare has shared another song off his upcoming solo album Cows On Hourglass Pond, and like the lead single, it’s more stripped-back and clean-guitar-focused than Avey’s work has been in a while.

NOISEM – “DOWNER HOUND”

“Downer Hound” is the third single off Noisem’s upcoming LP Cease To Exist (due 3/15 via 20 Buck Spin), and it’s yet another filthy taste of this LP, which is shaping up to be among Noisem’s most gruesome work yet.

UNGRAVEN (mem CONAN) – LANGUAGE OF LOVING (EP STREAM)

Ungraven is the industrial metal-tinged project of Jon Davis, who also fronts the great UK doom band Conan. His debut EP Language of Loving comes out this Friday, but you can hear the whole thing early over at Metal Injection and stream two tracks below. Davis says: “I am a huge fan of Fudge Tunnel, Ministry, Godflesh, Sepultura and Nailbomb. I fell in love with ‘For All Those Who Died’ by Bathory on Headbangers Ball and also the ‘Speed Kills’ comp. Since then I have referenced these bands in some of Conan’s material. With Ungraven I pay homage to the industrial sounds emanating from Birmingham in the 90s with a few other influences that I’ve been obsessing over for a while. It’s super heavy but sightly different from what I have done so far.”

KEDR LIVANSKIY – “KISKA”

Moscow singer and producer Kedr Livanskiy releases her second album, Your Need, on May 3 via 2MR. About its beat-heavy first single “Kiska,” she says, “the message is sharp and biting in both melody and lyrics. This song is about a girl who’s a badass. ‘Pussy gonna sit on your face’ – this is a mythical, crazy expression from the ghettos of Marino. This is a message to everyone who doesn’t believe in you, to all the haters and good-for-nothings. It means, shut your mouth. You don’t need to tell me how to dress and what to do. Some people fantasize about being a princess or a knight in shining armor, but I imagine myself as an unapologetic badass who can stand up for herself. But the lyrics shouldn’t be taken too seriously. This music above all embodies a wild dance, where you can forget and get high on yourself.”

TOTALED – “DESOLATE”

Blackened hardcore band Totaled are releasing Lament on March 29 via Profound Lore, and new single “Desolate” is streaming now. It starts out with soft acoustic guitar, but it turns into a total whiplash of a song, with every single member playing as fast as possible for about four minutes straight. If you’re into the new Devil Master album, this pairs pretty well with it.

PENELOPE ISLES – “GNARBONE”

Brighton, UK indie rock quartet Penelope Isles are releasing their debut album, Until The Tide Creeps In, this summer via Bella Union. They’ve shared a new live session of “Gnarbone” on Stereogum, a nine-minute long chunk of ambitious, driving indie rock. “‘Gnarbone’ was conceived a few years back whilst living and recording in a tiny cubpboard bedroom in a friend’s house in Falmouth, Cornwall,” band member and producer Jack Wolter says. “It’s funny thinking how the song has grown so big sonically, considering how small that space was! I was daydreaming about the uncertain future with a life of making music and the decision to try, falling in love and hoping to get good at surfing again. I always knew ‘Gnarbone’ would exist and come to life when i found the right people to play it with me.”

PRINS THOMAS – “FEEL THE LOVE”

Norwegian producer Prins Thomas will release new album, Ambitions, on April 5 via Smalltown Supersound. “The sun rises, the sun sets,” says Prins. “This collection of new songs wasn’t intended as an album at first. It gathers up loose ideas sketched down on my computer or hummed into my handheld recorder in the last 2 years with a shifting work environment, from hotel rooms in San Francisco, backstage in Osaka, on a plane from Miami to Chicago, my garden patio, and finally my B15 Studios in Asker.” This balaeric first single samples “Feel a Love” by ’70s/’80s Norwegian artist Alex and its synthetic orchestra stabs are infectious.

STELLA DONNELLY – “TRICKS”

Australia’s Stella Donnelly releases her debut full-length album, Beware of the Dogs, on March 8 via Secretly Canadian. “Tricks,” its third single, is “a playful zoom-in on the ‘Australian Idenitity’ and a loose dig at the morons that used to yell shit at me when I played cover gigs on Sunday afternoons,” Stella says. “It probably served me right for singing ‘Wonderwall’ every weekend.” The accompanying video is directed by Julia Jacklin, whose new album Crushing came out last week.

KEVIN MORBY – “NO HALO”

Kevin Morby’s new album, Oh My God, is a full-blown concept album about spirituality, though Kevin stresses he’s not a religious person. “It’s a cohesive piece; all the songs fit under the umbrella of this religious theme,” says Kevin. “I was able to write and record the album I wanted to make. It’s one of those marks of a life: this is why I slept on floors for seven years. I’ve now gotten the keys to my own little kingdom, and I’m devoting so much of my life to music that I just want to keep it interesting. At the end of the day, the only thing I don’t want is to be bored. If someone wants to get in my face about writing a non-religious religious record? Thank god. That’s all I gotta say.” This first single, laden with flute, sax and handclaps, is heavenly. Read more about it here.

DUB TRIO – “WORLD OF INCONVENIENCE” (ft. BUZZ OSBORNE)

Dub Trio’s fifth album The Shape of Dub To Come comes out April 26 via New Damage Records, and lead single “World Of Inconvenience” is a sludge metal-inspired track that features guest lead vocalist Buzz Osborne of the Melvins. More info here.

HEY GUY – “STEREO”

Gogol Bordello offshoot Hey Guy is prepping a new album, and we wrote more about lead single “Stereo” here.

SAINT VITUS – “12 YEARS IN THE TOMB”

Doom legends Saint Vitus have announced their first album with original vocalist Scott Reagers in 24 years, and shared the fuzzed-out lead single “12 Years in the Tomb,” which we wrote more about here.

BARS OF GOLD – “SOMETIMES”

Bear vs Shark offshoot Bars of Gold are back with their first album in six years, and we wrote more about lead single “Sometimes” here.

PIG DESTROYER – “THE CAVALRY”

Pig Destroyer return to their grindcore roots for this whiplash of a new song, which we wrote more about here.

SINKANE – “EVERYBODY”

Sinkane announced his new album Dépaysé and we wrote more about the powerful, lively lead single “Everybody” here.

PUP – “FREE AT LAST”

PUP have shared a second single from their anticipated new album Morbid Stuff, and the video features footage from 250+ people who tried to cover the song without hearing it first, including Stranger Things‘ Finn Wolfhard and Charly Bliss singer Eva Hendricks. Read more about it here.

DEAFHEAVEN – “BLACK BRICK”

Deafheaven have shared an outtake from last year’s Ordinary Corrupt Human Love, and it’s one of their heaviest songs yet. Read more about it here.

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