stereolab
Stereolab, early '90s

24 New Songs Out Today

Stereolab, early '90s
Stereolab, early ’90s

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…

STEREOLAB – WOW AND FLUTTER [7″/EP VERSION – ALTERNATIVE MIX]

Stereolab’s reissue campaign continues with 1993’s Transient Random Noise-Bursts With Announcements and 1994’s Mars Audiac Quintet on May 3 and both come with a whole load of extra tracks, including rare alternate mixes. Like this other version of “Wow and Flutter” from Mars Audiac Quintet. “It doesn’t differ that much from the released version, a few things were tweaked along the way for the later mix but I really like this version of the song and think it’s far superior to the LP version so I wanted it on the bonus disc,” says co-founder Tim Gane, adding. “In some ways I consider this the beginning of the 2nd phase of the Lab, it’s the kind of treatment we should have given ‘Outer Accelerator,’ to get it to the next level. It’s definitely the approach that we would take on many of our later records. Many additional parts and sounds were added to make the track really complete – the LP version sounds like we’re just bashing it out in comparison.”

BIG THIEF – “CATTAILS”

Big Thief’s anticipated 4AD debut U.F.O.F. comes out on May 3, and today they shared the gorgeous second single “Cattails.” Read more about what singer Adrianne Lenker says about the song and see all tour dates here.

BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE – “BIG COUCHES”

Toronto collective Broken Social Scene have shared another track off their forthcoming Let’s Try the After Vol. 2 EP, this time via the Adult Swim Singles Series. “Big Couches” is one of the band’s more experimental songs, with heavy use of vocoder and an emphasis on rhythm, but still with that anthemic BSS vibe.

JPEGMAFIA – “THE WHO” (ft. EYAS)

Rising rapper JPEGMAFIA has released his new song “The Who” as part of the IHC 1NFINITY singles series. It was recorded during the sessions for last year’s Veteran, and he says: “‘The Who’ is one of the last songs I recorded for Veteran. It didn’t end up on the album, but I always wanted to use it in a creative way because I really enjoy the song. There’s an innocence to it that I hope is relatable to people. I made the beat naked.”

EZRA COLLECTIVE – “WHAT AM I TO DO?” (ft. LOYLE CARNER)

UK jazz group Ezra Collective’s anticipated debut album You Can’t Steal My Joy comes out April 26, and they’ve now shared the collab with UK rapper Loyle Carner, “What Am I To Do?” EC basically let LC take the lead here, and they provide him with shimmering keys, swelling horns, and head-nodding hip hop drums.

MYSTERY LIGHTS – I’M SO TIRED (OF LIVING IN THE CITY)”

Brooklyn garage-psych combo Mystery Lights will release their new album Too Much Tension in May via Daptone’s Wick imprint. That tension can be heard on this new track that takes a look at the pressures urban life and filters then into this organ-fueled, Nuggets-style ripper.

FRANKIE COSMOS – “RINGS ON A TREE,” “ALLOWED,” “TODAY’S SPECIAL”

Frankie Cosmos has shared another three tracks off Haunted Items, a digital-only collection of short songs that feature Greta Kline solo on piano.

LILY AND HORN HORSE – “UNIT AND BUCKET”

Duo Lily and Horn Horse (aka Lily Konigsberg and Matt Norman) will release 4 Partners Split, a split LP with Banny Grove, on April 30. “Unit and Bucket” closes the album and is a delicate little pop song led by a lovely melody and Lily’s charming vocals.

HOLY GHOST – “ESCAPE FROM LOS ANGELES”

Holy Ghost! are back with their first album in six years — check out the new single and read more about the record here.

BRACKET – “CANNED FROM THE FOOD DRIVE”

California punk vets Bracket are back on Fat Wreck Chords for the first time since 2002, and they’re following 2016’s The Last Page (a one-song, 70-minute album that sounded like Beach Boys’ Smile meets pop punk) with a new album, Too Old To Die Young, on May 31 via Fat. “We recorded it with Fat Mike’s encouragement to stop overthinking our music and record a punk album again,” the band says, and you can get a taste of that from lead single “Canned From The Food Drive.”

SAINTSENECA – “WAIT A MINUTE” (THE SELDOM SCENE COVER)

Harmony-fueled indie-folk group Saintseneca have covered The Seldom Scene’s 1974 progressive bluegrass classic “Wait A Minute.” They keep the original’s charm intact, but they really make it their own too. If you didn’t know any better, it could pass as a Saintseneca original.

BILLYBIO – “GET UP, STAND UP” (BOB MARLEY COVER)

BillyBio (the solo project of Biohazard’s Billy Graziadei) is releasing the Freedom’s Never Free EP on May 10 via Bridge Nine, and the first single is this hardcore punk style cover of Bob Marley’s reggae classic “Get Up, Stand Up.”

HEILUNG – “NORUPO”

Heilung’s members hail from Norway, Denmark, and Germany, and they make Nordic dark folk that sometimes sounds like a cross between Dead Can Dance and Wardruna. They’re playing Roadburn this year, and they’re also releasing a new album, Futha, on June 28 via Season of Mist. The first single is “Norupo” and the band says, “‘Norupo’ is based on the poem known as ‘the Norwegian rune poem.’ The poem was preserved in a 17th-century copy of a now lost 13th-century manuscript. The Norwegian rune poem gives a complete description of all sixteen runes of the younger Futhark, also commonly known as the ‘Viking runes.’ These runes are also the foundation for the artwork of ‘Futha.'”

DROWSE – “BETWEEN FENCE POSTS”

Drowse are following last year’s Cold Air with a new album, Light Mirror, on June 7 via The Flenser. It’s the band’s first album since main member Kyle Bates left his home in Portland, OR to pursue a residency in Iceland, and like the last album, it sounds like shoegaze, slowcore, and The Microphones in a blender.

DEAFKIDS – “ESPIRAIS DA LOUCURA”

Brazil’s Deafkids are touring with Neurosis this year and recently released their new album METAPROGRAMAÇÃO on Neurosis’ Neurot Recordings, and now they’ve put out a video for “Espirais da Loucura” off that album. Neurosis’ Steve Von Till calls them “a unique psychoactive journey of Brazilian polyrhythmic percussion, hypnotic chanting, and aggressive repetitive raw punk all echoing out from another dimension,” and you can hear that description coming through loud and clear on this song.

BIG TAKEOVER – “SPEAKING OUT”

Big Takeover hail from California but channel the sounds of NYHC (and are probably named after the same Bad Brains song that Jack Rabid’s fanzine was named after), and they’re set to follow their two demos with a debut EP on Triple B Records this summer. The first song out from that EP is the crushing “Speaking Out.”

MIND POWER – Q2 (EP STREAM)

Speaking of hardcore bands who might be named after bad Brains, Wilkes-Barre metallic hardcore crew Mind Power (the new band of A Life Once Lost frontman Robert Meadows, along with members of Dead End Path, Ligeia, and Bring The Heat) are releasing a new EP for each quarter of 2019. Q1 came out back in January and Q2 is out now. If you miss A Life Once Lost, or like late ’90s/early ’00s metalcore in general, you’re probably gonna dig this too.

MISERY INDEX – “ZOMBIE PRESCRIPTION” (SNAPCASE COVER)

Baltimore death metal staples Misery Index (who recently released a new album) have recorded a cover of “Zombie Prescription” off the classic 1997 album Progression Through Unlearning by Buffalo metalcore greats Snapcase (who are in the midst of a comeback). Misery Index turn it into a death metal song, without losing the recognizable traits of the original.

CARLTON JUMEL SMITH – “THIS IS WHAT LOVE LOOKS LIKE!”

Carlton Jumel Smith was grew up in Harlem in the ’60s and used to see shows at The Apollo as a kid, including James Brown who he saw at eight years old and who became his biggest influence. Carlton released his debut single “Excite Me” in 1986, in the early ’90s he recorded under the alias Napoleon Soul-O, in the mid-’90s he was in the rock band The Thrill Cycle, and in 1999 he starred as James Brown in Barry Levinson’s film Liberty Heights. Now he’s signed to the Daptone-associated Timmion Records as a solo artist under his own name, and he’s living out his James Brown-inspired dreams by making classic-style soul music that sounds fresh today. He’s releasing his debut album 1634 Lexington Ave (named after the Harlem apartment building he grew up in), and it features his recent single “I Can’t Love You Anymore” as well as the newly-released “This Is What Love Looks Like!”. Listen to the smooth-sounding new song below and read more about Carlton’s story here.

A CERTAIN RATIO – “HOUSES IN MOTION” (TALKING HEADS COVER)

Legendary Manchester band A Certain Ratio have a new retrospective box set coming out featuring over 20 unheard tracks — including this Talking Heads cover that was originally supposed to feature Grace Jones on lead vocals.

GIUDA – E.V.A. (ALBUM STREAM)

Italian glam-punks Giuda are back with a new album and a spaceage worldview.

ALEX LAHEY – “AM I DOING IT RIGHT?”

Alex Lahey shared this crunchy, punky second single off her upcoming sophomore album, which we wrote more about here.

FRUIT BATS – “THE BOTTOM OF IT”

Fruit Bats’ first album for Merge will be out in June and you can read more about lead single “The Bottom Of It” here.

GEMMA – “MISS U”

Gemma, the project of Felicia Douglass (who’s in Ava Luna and has also recently been playing as a member of Dirty Projectors) and producer Erik Gundel, are releasing their sophomore album Feeling’s Not A Tempo on May 31 via Double Double Whammy, and you can read more about lead single “Miss U” here.

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