Bonnaroo 2018 - Sunday
Thundercat at Bonnaroo 2018 (more by Alison Green)

15 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…

THUNDERCAT – “KING OF THE HILL” (ft. BADBADNOTGOOD & FLYING LOTUS)

Thundercat, BADBADNOTGOOD, and Flying Lotus are all musicians who have one foot in hip hop, one in jazz, and one in electronic music, so it’s a pretty exciting thing that all three of them came together for this collaboration, “King of the Hill.” With Thundercat’s soulful falsetto vocals leading the way, it’s a gorgeously subdued and subtly funky song that’s very worth your time. It’ll appear on the 36-track Brainfeeder X compilation, which comes out on November 16.

D’ANGELO – “MAY I? STANDING UNSHAKEN”

Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption 2 is out now if you haven’t heard (there’s been, like, no ads for this!), and they quietly snuck a new D’Angelo song onto the soundtrack. With somber acoustic guitar backing and powerful, uplifting vocal harmonies, it’s a bluesy gem.

https://youtu.be/obJuKmMjFG4

BLOCBOY JB – DON’T THINK THAT (MIXTAPE STREAM)

Memphis rapper BlocBoy JB has been one of the year’s biggest rap breakouts, thanks to his “Shoot” dance (which showed up in Childish Gambino’s “This Is America” video) and his very enjoyable album Simi (home to BlocBoy’s big Drake collab “Look Alive”), and today he’s keeping the momentum going with a new 7-song mixtape. Guests include Lil Uzi Vert and HoodRich Pablo Juan.

PLANNING TO ROCK – “BEULAH LOVES DANCING”

DFA artist Planningtorock has a new album, Powerhouse, out next week and has just released new single “Beulah Loves Dancing.” It’s an ode to her sister, Beulah, who stars in the video along with their mom. “It’s because of Beulah that I know anything about dance music,” says PTR’s Jam Rostron. “Her passionate love of house music back in the ’90s literally shook our house for years and simultaneously gave her a safe space to live out the difficulties of living in a society ignorant to differently abled people. Beulah loves the song and after listening, laughing, she reminded me that I’d forgotten to mention the time when a picture fell off the wall and hit the TV.”

PORCUPINE (FT GREG NORTON) – WHAT YOU’VE HEARD ISN’T REAL

Veteran Minneapolis indie rock band Porcupine now includes mustachioed chef and onetime Hüsker Dü bass-player Greg Norton. Their first release with this lineup is What You’ve Heard Isn’t Real which is out November 9 but is streamable in its entirety right now:

AUDIOBOOKS – “DEALING WITH HOARDERS”

UK duo Audiobooks (Evangeline Ling and producer/mixer David Wrench) will release their debut album this week and it’s not quite like anything else out there. However, “out there” is definitely a way to describe “Dealing with Hoarders” which features an especially unhinged vocal performance by Ling. “’Dealing with Hoarders’ was written when we realized we were both being driven mad by living with people who hoard,” Ling and Wrench say of the track, which is one of the strangest on the album. “We got so angry we had to channel this into a song.”

DEERHUNTER – “DEATH IN MIDSUMMER”

Deerhunter and the antelope play in this video for the first single from Deerhunter’s forthcoming Cate Le Bon-produced LP.

BILL RYDER-JONES – “DON’T BE SCARED, I LOVE YOU”

Bill Ryder-Jones’ new solo album, Yawn, is out this week and here’s one more preview track before we can here the whole thing: the brooding, building “Don’t Be Scared, I Love You.”

VESSEL – “POPLU (LOVE THAT MOVES THE SUN)”

London-based producer Vessel will release new album, Queen of Golden Dogs, next week via Tri-Angle Records. New single “Paplu (Love That Moves The Sun)” is a sun-drenched, effervescent instrumental, and its video, directed by Pedro Maia, is based on Remedios Varo’s 1956 painting “Les Feuilles Mortes.”

PEDRO THE LION – “YELLOW BIKE”

“Yellow Bike” is the first single off Pedro the Lion’s first album in 15 years, and we wrote more about it here.

MATT POND & CHRIS HANSEN – FREE FALL (EP STREAM)

Long-running indie rocker Matt Pond has returned today with a new free EP, Free Fall, which was a collaboration with his Matt Pond PA bandmate Chris Hansen. The songs range from gentle and folky to upbeat and driving, and the whole thing is pretty enjoyable. “The purpose of the expedition was to connect. Even now, it’s the reason I wake up and wrestle the knots out of the bird’s nest on my head. I require songs because I fall all over my words when I try to speak. That’s the reason for all of it. Every drive, every show, every broken string and every break-up. It’s always been this way, even when I act like Steve Martin in The Jerk. This is my thermos, from me to you. It’s all free,” Matt told Relix.

VARSITY – “THE DOGS ONLY LISTEN TO HIM” & “UFO”

Chicago indie pop band Varsity have signed to Run For Cover, who will release their new album in 2019. Most details are TBA, but they released two new songs along with the news of the signing, “The Dogs Only Listen To Him” and “UFO.” Both are scrappy, twee-ish songs that fans of Alvvays might like.

SUNFLOWER BEAN – “COME FOR ME”

Brooklyn’s Sunflower Bean will be back with a new EP, King of Dudes, which will be out January 25. The first single, “Come for Me,” is out now and is one of their poppiest songs yet (and cribs just a little melody for Madonna’s “Express Yourself.”) Sunflower Bean are also on tour with Interpol next year.

THE BOY LEAST LIKELY TO – “ONE OF THESE DAYS”

Twee pop group The Boy Least To, who had such mid-’00s blog hits as “Be Gentle with Me” and Monsters,” are releasing a Greatest Hits LP on November 30. The record also contains new single “One of These Days” which finds their sound updated just a bit.

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