34 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…
ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN – “THE KILLING MOON” (‘TRANSFORMED’)
Alt-rock vets Echo & The Bunnymen’s new album The Stars, The Oceans & The Moon has them “transforming” some of their most famous songs with “strings and things attached.” Here we get to check out what is arguably their most famous song, “The Killing Moon,” or as singer Ian McCulloch calls it, “the greatest song ever written.” This “transformed” take starts off a bit like Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” with spare piano, but gets into more familiar territory. The new string arrangements are indeed gorgeous, even if Mac’s voice ain’t what it used to be.
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JOHN PRINE – “HOW LUCKY”
Speaking of transformed, John Prine reworks his song “How Lucky” (originally on 1979’s Pink Cadillac) for Amazon’s new “Produced By” series that pairs artists and producers. Prine is one of a few in the series (including Margo Price, Al Green, and William Bell) to work with Memphis-based Grammy-winning producer Matt Ross-Spang, who engineered Prine’s The Tree of Forgiveness.
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JOJI – “SLOW DANCING IN THE DARK”
Joji recently announced that his anticipated debut LP BALLADS 1 is on the way, and he’s just shared the record’s atmospheric lead single, which sports a heavily intense, NSFW-ish music video. Joji’s vocals sound much cleaner and up front this time around, compared to the distant, hazy vocal approach heard on 2017’s In Tongues.
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LCD SOUNDSYSTEM – “I WANT YOUR LOVE” (CHIC COVER)
LCD Soundsystem have been covering Chic’s disco classic “I Want You Love” live, with Nancy Whang on lead vocals, for a while now but they just recently put it to tape thanks to a new Spotify session. Listen all the way to the end for a hat tip to The Smiths’ “Barbarism Begins at Home,” and learn more HERE.
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ARCTIC MONKEYS – “FOUR OUT OF FIVE” & “(UNTITLED STEPHEN FRETWELL COVER)”
LCD Soundsystem are not the only ones with a new Spotify Singles session out today. Artic Monkeys also stopped by Electric Lady studios in NYC to lay down live takes on “Four Out of Five” (from this year’s Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino) and a cover of the untitled closing track from singer-songwriter Stephen Fretwell’s 2004 record Magpie (Stephen plays bass in Alex’s other band, The Last Shadow Puppets).
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EXPLODED VIEW – “DARK STAINS”
Exploded View, the dark, dubby band featuring Annika and Mexico City-based multi-instrumentalists Hugo Quezada and Martin Thulin, will release new album, Obey, on September 24. A pulsing synthline drives this paranoid track that Annika tells Fader is “about a body who sees in themselves the errors of the past, yet flaunts behind the veils of inheritance and fails to take full responsibility for the present.”
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LIARS – “TOTAL 3 PART SAGA”
In addition to their new album, Liars have one side of a split-7″ with fellow Aussies Tropical Fuck Storm, which is part of Famous Class’ “LAMC” series. “Unlike an album track, I wanted it to function in a self-contained way, where the listener is moved from beginning, middle to end, cyclically,” Angus Andrew told Stereogum. “The subject matter therefore is death, life and rebirth.”
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JIM JAMES – “YOU GET TO ROME’ & “OVER AND OVER”
Jim James released Uniform Distortion back in June and now releasing an acoustic companion album titled Uniform Clarity. Jim calls it, “A crystal clear illustration of the flawed beauty of what a song starts off as or sometimes remains- a thought. a seed. a light from the womb of the universe brought to life down here on earth.” You can check out two tracks from the album which is out October 5.
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FRED THOMAS – “ALTAR” (ft. ANNA BURCH)
Fred Thomas’ anticipated new album Aftering comes out this Friday (9/14) via Polyvinyl, and he has released another single from it, “Altar,” which features great backing vocals by his Polyvinyl labelmate and upcoming tourmate Anna Burch. It’s one of the album’s more driving indie rock songs, and it comes with a cool Ben Collins-directed video featuring backyard performance footage.
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MEWITHOUTYOU – “ANOTHER HEAD FOR HYDRA”
mewithoutYou have shared a second single off their anticipated new album [Untitled] (due 10/5 via Run For Cover). This one’s very indicative of the heavier vibe that the band talked about — it’s the closest they’ve come to Fugazi-ish post-hardcore since their 2002 debut, but also has plenty of the more art rock tendencies they developed later on.
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DAWN – “DREAMER”
After releasing her first song in two years last week, DAWN (aka Dawn Richard) has now released another new one, “Dreamer.” This one’s for the Adult Swim Single series, and it’s more of a ballad than its predecessor, and while it sounds like the song is building to a huge chorus, Dawn throws a curveball and reels it in instead.
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KELELA – “LMK_WHAT’S REALLY GOOD” (ft. PRINCESS NOKIA, JUNGLEPUSSY, CUPCAKKE, MS. BOOGIE)
Kelela is releasing TAKE ME A_PART, THE REMIXES — an album of remixes of songs from last year’s great Take Me Apart — and the first single is a new version of “LMK” with an all-star cast of guest rappers.
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CHORUSGIRL – “NO GOODBYE”
UK indiepop band Chorusgirl will release their second album, Shimmer and Spin, on November 16 via Reckless Yes. The album title is a good description of the band’s sound, which is jangly with just a little surfy twang. Check out the album’s first single “No Goodbye.”
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JAAKKO EINO KALEVI – “PEOPLE IN THE CENTER OF THE CITY”
Jaakko Eino Kalevi, the Finnish tram-driver-turned-dreampop-musician, will release his new album, Out of Touch, on October 12. On the LP’s very ’80s sounding single “People in the Centre of the City,” Jaakko was inspired by his old job. “I began to notice that sometimes people in the city would have so much perfume on that the whole tram would smell really strongly but so perfectly.” Check out the single’s video which features a quartet of choreographed dancers.
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TORRES – “5TH AMENDMENT”
Torres just shared a new song, “Two of Everything,” with supporters of her Patreon on Friday, and now she’s shared another. “5th Amendment” is the latest addition to 27: The Most Perfect Album, a compilation of songs about each of the U.S. Constitution’s 27 amendments, that we’d previously heard tracks by Kevin Morby and Devendra Banhart from. Torres’s atmospheric song is about the amendment that protects people self-incrimination and double jeopardy.
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SOAP&SKIN – “ITALY” & “(THIS IS) WATER”
Austrian singer, producer and composer Soap&Skin is releasing a new album, From Gas to Solid / you are my friend on October 26, and she’s shared these first two tastes of it, the atmospheric “Italy” and haunting “(This Is) Water.”
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NATALIE PRASS – “DEJA VU” (DIONNE WARWICK)
For her new Spotify Session, Natalie Prass covered Dionne Warwick’s classic “Deja Vu,” giving it a flavor not unlike the songs on her most recent album, The Future and The Past.
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BUKE & GASE – “PINK BOOTS”
Yesterday, experimental Brooklyn duo Buke & Gase, known for their handcrafted instruments, returned with their first new single in a while, “No Land.” Today they follow it with a second, “Pink Boots.”
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ROSTAM – “IN A RIVER”
Former Vampire Weekend member Rostam released his debut solo album, Half-Light, and he’s following it now with a new single, “In a River.” “I often want the songs I produce to be meeting places for organic and electronic sounds—old traditions and new ones,” Rostam says about the new track. “‘In a River; is new territory for me, because although it’s a studio recording, it’s pulling from one of the oldest traditions in music, a live performance in front of an audience.”
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STREET SECTS – “STILL BETWEEN LOVERS”
Industrial punk duo Street Sects are releasing their new album The Kicking Mule on October 26 via The Flenser, and second single “Still Between Lovers” is out now. It has some of the pop appeal of lead single “In For A World of Hurt,” but it also has other parts that rank among the band’s harshest, most abrasive material.
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BLACK EYED PEAS – “BIG LOVE”
After dropping a few new singles, the Fergie-less Black Eyed Peas have announced their first album in eight years, Masters of the Sun, due October 12 via Interscope. Along with the announcement comes another new single, “Big Love.”
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LANA DEL REY – “MARINERS APARTMENT COMPLEX”
Lana Del Rey is teasing a new album and released a new song, which we wrote about here.
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MADELINE KENNEY – “BAD IDEA”
Madeline Kenney released a third single off her Jenn Wasner-produced sophomore album, due out October 5 via Carpark, which we wrote more about here.
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SUPER UNISON – “PARTS UNKNOWN”
Super Unison’s sophomore album Stella comes out October 26 via Deathwish, and we wrote more about second single “Parts Unknown” here.
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CUMULUS – “SING TO ME”
“Sing To Me” is the third single off Cumulus’ sophomore album Comfort World, and we wrote more about it here.
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ADRIANNE LENKER – “SYMBOL”
“Symbol” is the second single off Big Thief singer Adrianne Lenker anticipatd new solo album, and we wrote more about it here.
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DEN-MATE – “XOSO”
DC dream pop artist Den-Mate is releasing her debut album Loceke this month via Babe City Records, and we wrote more about new single “XOSO” here.
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TIM HECKER – “KEYED OUT”
Ambient musician Tim Hecker shared the chaotic “Keyed Out” off his upcoming album Konoyo, and we wrote more about it here.
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MARC RIBOT & TOM WAITS – “BELLA CIAO”
Marc Ribot’s new album of protest songs will be out this Friday, and it includes a verison of Italian anti-fascist anthem “Bella Ciao” with Tom Waits on lead vocals. Read more about it here.
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THE DISTILLERS – “MAN VS MAGNET”
Reunited punks The Distillers have released their first song in 15 years, “Man vs Magnet,” backed by a new, punked-up version of singer Brody Dalle’s 2014 solo song “Blood In Gutters.” Read more (and hear the b-side) here.
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J FERNANDEZ – “UNWIND”
Like on his 2015 album Many Levels of Laughter, J Fernandez makes melodic, understated and pleasantly glum psych-pop on the forthcoming Occasional Din. “Unwind” is the first single which you can learn more about HERE.
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Looking for even more new songs? Browse the ‘New Songs’ archive.
