Osheaga 2018 - Sunday
photo by Em Grey

13 New Songs Out Today

Blood Orange at Central Park SummerStage
Blood Orange at Central Park SummerStage (more by Angela Owens)

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…

BLOOD ORANGE – “SMOKE” (REMIX ft. YVES TUMOR & IAN ISIAH)

Blood Orange (Dev Hynes) has shared a new remix of “Smoke,” the folky acoustic song on this year’s Negro Swan. It’s a drastically different rework that features Dev rapping (including lines about the late Mac Miller), and guest vocals from his recent tourmate Yves Tumor and live Blood Orange member Ian Isiah.

THE ALCHEMIST – “E COLI” (ft. EARL SWEATSHIRT)

Not only is Earl Sweatshirt finally releasing a new album this week, he’s also on a new song off Bread, the upcoming EP by The Alchemist (who’s also had an active year). Alc provides throwback, psychedelic soul production, and Earl sounds right at home over it. Like Earl’s new album, Bread drops this Friday (11/30).

LOS UNIDADES (AKA COLDPLAY) & PHARRELL WILLIAMS – “E-LO” (ft. JOZZY)

The South African edition of Global Citizen Festival goes down this weekend with Beyonce, Jay-Z, a collaborative set from Pharrell and Coldplay’s Chris Martin, and more. The Global Citizen EP 1 compilation is being released in conjunction with the festival, and it includes a collaborative song from Pharrell and “Los Unidades,” which ColdplayXtra says is actually Coldplay themselves using a fake name. The EP comes out Friday and you can hear the bouncy “E-Lo” now.

ASTRONOID – “I DREAM IN LINES”

Astronoid, who picked up a lot of buzz for their 2016 debut album Air, are following that with a self-titled sophomore album on February 1 via Blood Music. The new song kinda sounds like a more post-metal version of Circa Survive, with maybe a little Mew in the mix too. They’re also touring with Between the Buried and Me and Tesseract in 2019.

KEVIN DEVINE – “I WROTE IT DOWN FOR YOU”

Kevin Devine’s split with John K Samson comes out this Friday, and Kevin has now shared his contribution, the new original song “I Wrote It Down For You.” It’s a gentle dose of bedroom folk, fleshed out by some nice, minimal embellishments like keys and tambourine.

SNEAKS – “HONG KONG TO AMSTERDAM”

Sneaks has just shared another new song off her forthcoming LP Highway Hypnosis. While some of Eva Moolchan’s work can seem like sketches, “Hong Kong to Amsterdam” is a fully fleshed-out quirky pop song.

CHAD VANGAALEN – “FRIENDLY ALIENS”

Longtime Sub Pop artist Chad VanGaalen says he wrote “Friendly Aliens” “to remind myself that I need be easier on people and ideas in general. To be kind and patient.” It comes out today with his recent Adult Swim single “Monopoly Arp” as the b-side.

FRENCH FOR RABBITS – “HIGHEST HILL”

New Zealand duo French for Rabbits will reissue their 2017 debut album, The Weight of Melted Snow, in January in the U.S. and have just shared this lovely, hushed song which is a new addition to the reissue. “The verses of ‘Highest Hill’ kind of play out like a movie scene – they’re quite visual,” says the duo’s Brooke Singer. “The song formed around a fascination with the way people can hold conflicting emotions at the same time, and how messy that can be.” Look for a 2019 North American tour to be announced soon.

JEFF TWEEDY – “I KNOW WHAT IT’S LIKE”

Jeff Tweedy’s new solo album is out this week and we wrote more about its latest single, “I Know What It’s Like,” here.

SHARON VAN ETTEN – “JUPITER 4”

“Jupiter 4,” a rework of the Donna Missal song “Jupiter” that Sharon co-wrote, is the second single off Sharon’s upcoming album. We wrote more about it here.

STEALING SHEEP – “JOKING ME”

“Joking Me” is the buoyant lead single from Liverpool trio’s first album in four years, due out early next year, and shows off the group’s signature vocal interplay. The video, meanwhile, is a throwback to the days of MS Paint. Read more here.

PETER STAMPFEL – “CASEY JONES”

Folk legend Peter Stampfel, along with his backing band The Atomic Meta-Pagans, will release new album, The Ordovician Era, on January 18 via Don Giovanni. You can get a taste right now with “Casey Jones” which is not, if you were wondering, a Grateful Dead cover. “This is based on the Furry Lewis version of Casey Jones, from the Harry Smith Anthology,” Peter says. “In 1970, fellow Holy Modal Rounder member Robin Remaily suggested taking an old country blues song and having the whole band play just the guitar part. Right here, the whole band isn’t playing the guitar part, but most of us are. Also featured is my long standing desire to add a harmony to a country blues song.”

JARBOE – “KARUNA”

“The song is a recording of a meditation on compassion,” Jarboe tells Popmatters of “Karuna,” from her forthcoming LP Cut the Warrior. “Karuna is the foundation of omniscience. The recording includes clanging metal percussion, gongs, chanting. The meditation was recorded inside a meditation dome and mixed by Kris Force in Pacifica at Knobsknob studio.” Jarboe also just played her first NYC in ages.

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