insect-ark
Insect Ark's 'The Vanishing' artwork.

7 New Songs Out Today

Insect Ark's 'The Vanishing' artwork.
Insect Ark’s ‘The Vanishing’ artwork.

So many artists, so little time. Each week we review a handful of 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…

JA RULE – “FYRE”

Finally, Ja Rule has written a song about the Fyre Festival disaster, and he even references his viral tweet about how he was “bamboozled” in the lyrics. Fyre Festival, the gift that keeps on giving.

SPARKS – “PLEASE DON’T FUCK UP MY WORLD”

Having just released new best-of compilation Past Tense, Sparks are back with a brand new single that feels very of the moment. While “Please Don’t Fuck Up My World” doesn’t name names, lyrics like “All that you are pursuing / please don’t fuck up my world / can’t you see what you’re doing” are clearly aimed at the head of state of your choice. Russell and Ron Mael using a children’s choir in the chorus underlines things nicely.

STEVE LACY – “JEAN JACK IT”

The Internet’s Steve Lacy has had a great year, with the release of his new album Apollo XXI and significant contributions to the new Vampire Weekend album, and now he caps off 2019 with the hazy psychedelic R&B of “Jean Jack It.”

INSECT ARK – “TECTONIC”

Insect Ark — whose current lineup is band leader (and Swans collaborator) Dana Schecter and former SubRosa drummer Andy Patterson — will release their new Colin Marston-engineered album The Vanishing on February 28 via Profound Lore. The first single is the dark, sludgy, instrumental “Tectonic.”

WINDHAND – DEMOS & RARITIES

Windhand have uploaded demos from their last three albums, a live at WFMU session from 2013, and a collection of miscellaneous demos and alternate mixes to Bandcamp. All proceeds from downloads go towards helping Windhand recover from the gear that was stolen from them on tour last month. You can stream/download all five of the new releases at their Bandcamp page, and here’s one of them:

BEACH SLANG – “JOLLY LIVER”

Beach Slang show off their holiday spirit — or lack thereof — on this sleazy new blues rocker. Read more here.

L.A. TAKEDOWN – “THE SWIMMER”

L.A. Takedown, aka Los Angeles-based composer/musician Aaron M. Olson, is back with Our Feeling of Natural High, which will be out March 13 via Castle Face. The new single is a cinematic synth workout called “The Swimmer” and comes with a video that keeps things relative. Says Aaron, “The video is an animation done by my Dad (who painted the ‘Pill’ painting on the cover of our previous album, II) in 1981 for scientific research purposes, of which I know very little about. He was looking to have me make some original music to the video so he could post it on Youtube — a kind of collaboration we’ve done in the past with another animation of his — while at the same time I was looking to make a music video for the song, ‘The Swimmer,’ and the two just matched beautifully! So we let the two merge somewhat naturally and went with the flow, so to speak.”

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