22 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…

STRAND OF OAKS – “RUBY”

Strand of Oaks has shared a second single off his upcoming album Eraserland, which sees main member Timothy Showalter backed by 4/5 of My Morning Jacket (everyone but Jim James). “Ruby” is a nice, Springsteenian rocker, and it comes with a video featuring old Showalter home movies. “This past year my little brother Jon spent countless hours trying to convert my family’s collection of home movies. Somehow my dad in 1988 got a camera with ‘Buick Points’ and then proceeded to have a side career as world-class cinematographer,” Tim says.

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TIERRA WHACK – “ONLY CHILD”

Philadelphia’s Tierra Whack has shared her first new song since the release of her acclaimed 2018 audiovisual album, Whack World. “You must be the only child because you’re so stingy,” Tierra sings on “Only Child.” “It’s not your fault, it’s how you were raised.”

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VAURA – “THE RUINS (HYMNE)”

Vaura — the Brooklyn collective featuring Josh Strawn (Azar Swan) on vocals, guitar and synthesizers, Kevin Hufnagel (Gorguts, Dysrhythmia) on guitar, Toby Driver (Kayo Dot) on bass, and Charlie Schmid (Tombs) on drums and electronics — are releasing their first album in six years, Sables, on April 26 via Profound Lore. The first single is “The Ruins (Hymne),” which sorta sounds like a slightly proggier version of The Cure.

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MC REN – “KING VILLAIN”

NWA’s MC Ren returns with his first solo single in five years, “King Villain,” which sees Ren delivering booming, classic West Coast rhymes over ominous modern production. “A lot of people from my era stick to the script a lot of the times and don’t want to go from that blueprint,” Ren told Ambrosia For Heads. “I just wanted to do something totally different, get out of my element and try something totally new.”

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KEHLANI – “NUNYA” (feat. DOM KENNEDY)

Kehlani releases a new mixtape, While We Wait, on Friday. Ahead of its release she’s shared another new single, “Nunya,” featuring Los Angeles rapper Dom Kennedy.

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HANNAH COHEN – “THIS IS YOUR LIFE”

New York singer songwriter Hannah Cohen will release her new album, Welcome Home, on April 26 via Bella Union. She made the album with her partner, Sam Owens (aka Sam Evian), and cites soulful singers such as Marvin Gaye and Bill Withers as inspiration here. You can hear that on this lush first single.

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HELADO NEGRO – “RUNNING”

Roberto Carlos Lange will release his new album as Helado Negro, This is How You Smile, on March 8 via RVNG Intl. It’s a lovely, loping song led by a piano pattern played on a vintage Steinway, but inspired by a trip to Mexico. “The song started as a voice memo recording I made while on a trip to Mexico City in 2016. I was waiting outside of a restaurant to eat dinner, and I was feeling awkward and anxious, so I decided to be still and listen to everything around me and come up with a melody to sing into my phone,” Roberto says. “I started vocalizing an ‘oooh oooh oooh’ type phrase in a melodic pattern, with ambiance in the background. It stayed on my phone until March 2018 when I went to Sylvan Esso’s studio in Durham to jump-start the process of finishing song ideas I was working on [for the album].”

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AMANDA PALMER – “VOICEMAIL FOR JILL”

Amanda Palmer’s anticipated new album, There Will Be No Intermission, comes out March 8. About its second single, “Voicemail for Jill,” Amanda writes, “I have been trying to write this song since I was 17….my white whale of songwriting. How, how…how do you write about something as complex and complicated and touchy as abortion without being too….sentimental? Too preachy? Too heavy-handed, too political? And my most difficult question: who speaks? Who’s the voice? Who SINGS? It wasn’t until I went to Dublin, and found myself in the company of Roisin Ingle and the other Irish women who had fought with blood, sweat and tears for their human rights….that it all clicked.”

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IOANNA GIKA – “OUT OF FOCUS”

Former Io Echo frontwoman Ioanna Gika has announced her debut solo album, Thalassa, due out April 5 via Sargent House. The album was “written in Greece during a period of familial grief and romantic dissolution,” she says, and “documents an unanchored soul facing nature at its most unforgiving.” “Out of Focus” features Ioanna’s haunted, skeletal vocals over a palette of murky, minimal beats.

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CLUB NIGHT – “VILLAGE”

Bay Area band Club Night will release their debut album, What Life, on April 5 via Tiny Engines. New single “Village” is sweet and hazy guitar pop with a fondness for crunchy riffage and big choruses.

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PALEHOUND – “KILLER”

We last heard from Ellen Kemper when she covered The Magnetic Fields’ “I Can’t Touch You Anymore” for You Can Sing Me Anything: A Tribute to 69 Love Songs. Now she’s back with a new single, “Killer.” “Quite frankly,” she says, “this song is about the murderous fantasies I have about all of the people who have abused my friends and how they continue to live their lives unpunished.”

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EMPATH – “SOFT SHAPE”

Philly band Empath are releasing Active Listening: Night on Earth on April 2 and they’ve just shared the album’s lead track. Powered by crashing drums and blown-out instruments, “Soft Shape” recalls the joyous noise of ’90s Flaming Lips.

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CHROMATICS – “TIME RIDER”

Eventually, Chromatics are going to release every song from the long-delayed Dear Tommy and people will realize, “Hey, they whole record is out now!” Here’s another step towards that, with this “Rider” owning a little bit to talking supercar KITT’s much-sampled theme song.

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ALDOUS HARDING – “THE BARREL”

Aldous Harding worked with some of Cate Le Bon’s band on her upcoming album Designer and you can hear a little musical kinship with Cate in “The Barrel.” Learn more here.

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THE DREAM SYNDICATE – “BLACK LIGHT”

Steve Wynn says J Dilla was a big influence on The Dream Syndicate’s new album. Read more about that here.

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HAUNT – “DEFENDER”

Having already released the Mosaic Visions EP this year, Haunt (the classic-metal revival band of Beastmaker frontman Trevor William Church) are set to drop their new full-length If Icarus Could Fly on May 17. They’ve also now shared its third single, “Defender,” a triumphant rocker that should transport you right back to the NWOBHM era.

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LOW LIFE – “LUST FOREVERMORE”

Sydney’s Low Life have shared another track off their upcoming sophomore LP Downer Edn (due 3/15 via Goner Records). Following the scuzzy psych-punk ripper “The Pitts,” new song “Lust Forevermore” is a much cleaner, more atmospheric song that sees them paying homage to ’80s goth and post-punk.

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LOW DOSE – “LOW”

“Low” is the third single off the upcoming debut album by Low Dose (ex-Fight Amp, Legendary Divorce), and we wrote more about it here.

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NIGHTMARATHONS – “CLOSER”

Pittsburgh punks Nightmarathons are releasing their debut album on A-F Records this March, and we wrote more about new single “Closer” here.

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BUCK MEEK – “HALO LIGHT”

Big Thief’s Buck Meek is back with a new solo single, which we wrote more about here.

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MASKED INTRUDER – “ALL OF MY LOVE”

Masked punks Masked Intruder’s new album comes out in March and we wrote more about new single “All Of My Love” here.

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BLACK ANVIL – “IRON SHARPENS IRON”

NYC black metallers Black Anvil are releasing the Miles EP on March 4 via STB Records, and they’re now streaming lead single “Iron Sharpens Iron.” Their black metal fury is still in very fine, very heavy form, but Black Anvil also work a melodic side into this song. Listen at Decibel.

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