20 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…

TIERRA WHACK – “GLORIA”

Tierra Whack is one of the most exciting new rappers around, and she’s continuing her recent trend of dropping a new single a week. Her third, “Gloria,” is out now, and Whack shows off a more kinetic flow on this one than usual, which works wonders with the song’s bouncy production.

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STRAND OF OAKS – “KEYS”

Strand of Oaks has shared a third single from his upcoming album Eraserland (which he made with 4/5 of My Morning Jacket). “Keys” is more of a twangy, melancholic ballad than the other songs released from the album so far, and it’s good stuff.

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FACS – “TOTAL HISTORY”

Chicago’s FACS, which grew out of Disappears, will be back with LP#2, Lifelike, on March 29. It’s another unflinching look into the abyss, heavy and rhythmic and powerful. They’ve just shared “Total History,” which is the closing track on the album, and a real powerhouse that, in particular, is a showcase for drummer Noah Leger’s skilled pummelling.

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FREDDIE GIBBS & MADLIB – “BANDANA”

Freddie Gibbs and Madlib are gearing up to release their second collaborative album Bandanda, and they’ve now shared the title track. As usual, Gibbs’ biting delivery just sounds even better than ever when it’s accompanied by Madlib’s beats.

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ANDREW BIRD – “MANIFEST”

Andrew Bird releases his new album, My Finest Work Yet, on March 22 via Loma Vista. Its latest single, “Manifest,” “traces our evolution from single celled organisms to modern man,” Bird says, “then takes it further, post-mortem, to when a plant or animal becomes a fossil fuel fracked from the ground and released into the atmosphere from combustion engines like ghosts. The after-life of energy.”

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PILE – “BRUXIST GRIN”

Pile, who recently announced a tour, are releasing their new album Green and Gray on May 3 via Exploding In Sound. Leda single “Bruxist Grin” is out today, and it’s a driving, catchy song that fans of ’90s rock may dig.

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FREE THROW – “TODAY IS ESPECIALLY DELICIOUS”

Three Throw have shared a second single from their upcoming album What’s Past Is Prologue, and like the first single, it’s a very instantly satisfying blend of punk, emo, and post-hardcore. Free Throw are clearly swinging for the fences on this one, and the results are enticing.

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GLEN HANSARD – “FOOL’S GAME”

“This song originated with a line I’d been rolling round my head: “It’s a fool’s, fool’s game, lover, that we have to play. I wanted to build something that felt like The Shangri-Las or Velvet Underground in their ‘Pale Blue Eyes’-period,” says Glen Hansard of “Fools Game” which is from his forthcoming album This Wild Willing. It’s a complex song, at first lush and ethereal, then very loud, and then comes a surprising coda.

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BARRIE – “DARJEELING”

Brooklyn dream-pop quintet release their debut full length album, Happy to Be Here, on May 3 via Winspear. Its latest single, “Darjeeling,” is about “moving to New York and the origins of the band,” vocalist and guitarist Barrie Lindsay says, and is accompanied by a whimsical video directed by Zach Stone and Madeline Leshner.

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WASTOID – MARS IS HEAVEN (ALBUM STREAM)

Wastoid is the solo project of Morgan Herrell (of Hard Girls and Classics of Love), and he just released his new solo album Mars Is Heaven on Jeff Rosenstock’s Quote Unquote Records. It’s just Morgan’s sugar-sweet croon and fuzzed-out guitars (no drums), and it works out really well. Fans of Smoking Popes might wanna check this one out.

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QUELLE CHRIS – “STRAIGHT SHOT”

Indie rapper Quelle Chris has shared another song off his upcoming album Guns (due 3/29 via Mello Music Group). “Straight Shot” features Cavalier, Bilal Salaam, Eldar Djangirov, and James Acaster, and it’s a soulful rap ballad that shows off a very different side of this album than the lead single did. It’s cool stuff.

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COM TRUISE – “EXISTENCE SCHEMATIC”

Com Truise, aka electronic musician Seth Haley, is releasing a new “mini-LP,” Persuasion System, on May 17 via Ghostly International. The release began as an experiment, with Seth switching digital audio workstations. About lead single “Existence Schematic,” he explains that the song is about “looking down at the landscape, seeing the lights in a schematic sort of way, wondering who or what is looking back up at me wondering the same things I am, the impact of a single existence, the end, the beginning, where it’s gone and going.”

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THE MYSTERY LIGHTS -“SOMEONE ELSE IS IN CONTROL”

Brooklyn garage-psych combo The Mystery Lights will release their second album, Too Much Tension!, on May 10 via Daptone imprint, Wick Records. The first single is the paranoid, groovy “Someone Else Is in Control” which has great sonics (as you’d expect from Daptone).

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SWIMMING BELL – “1988”

Swimming Bell, aka Brooklyn-based folk singer Katie Schottland, will release her new album Wild Sight on April 5. The new single is the lovely, layered, gossamer track “1988.”

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THE NATIONAL – “YOU HAD YOUR SOUL WITH YOU”

“You Had Your Soul With You” is the very promising first taste of The National’s upcoming album I Am Easy To Find, which we wrote more about here.

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VERSUS – “INVISIBLE LOVE”

It’s been nine years since indie rock greats Versus released a record, but they’re back in force in 2019 releasing a new EP and then an album. They sound great as ever here.

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MAC DEMARCO – “NOTHING”

Whether he’s trolling Mitski or not, Mac DeMarco’s first single from his forthcoming album Here Comes the Cowboy is a nice bit of understated romance.

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DEFEATER – “MOTHERS’ SONS

Defeater’s first album in four years is due this May, and we wrote more about lead single “Mothers’ Sons” here.

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CLINIC – “RUBBER BULLETS”

After a seven-year absence, masked UK indie rock band Clinic are back with a new album, and they’re just as creepy and paranoid sounding as you remember. In a good way.

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RINGWORM – “DEATH BECOMES MY VOICE”

Cleveland metallic hardcore vets Ringworm have announced their new album Death Becomes My Voice (due 5/3 via Relapse), and shared the title track. It starts out with a triumphant, slow-building guitar riff, but eventually turns into the kind of breakneck-speed metallic hardcore that Ringworm helped define in the ’90s. Read more here.

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