Dawn
DAWN (photo by Robert Arnold)

30 New Songs Out Today

Dawn
DAWN (photo by Robert Arnold)

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…

DAWN – “JEALOUSY”

Boundary-pushing R&B singer DAWN (aka Dawn Richard) has released her first new song since 2016’s Redemption, and it’s yet another left turn for Dawn. Compared to the dance music-inspired Redemption, “Jealousy” is chilled-out and atmospheric. It’s great stuff. Dawn is also reuniting with Danity Kane for a tour soon.

CURSIVE – “UNDER THE RAINBOW”

Cursive’s upcoming album Vitriola is looking like something of a return to Cursive’s most classic era. It’s their first with original drummer Clint Schnase and longtime co-producer Mike Mogis since 2006’s Happy Hollow, and their first with cello since 2003’s The Ugly Organ. Second single “Under the Rainbow” also sounds pretty classic, and it’s keeping our hopes up for the rest of this album.

MARISSA NADLER – “I CAN’T LISTEN TO GENE CLARK ANYMORE”

Marissa Nadler shares another stunning song from her anticipated new album For My Crimes (due 9/28 via Sacred Bones/Bella Union), and, excitingly, this one features vocals by Sharon Van Etten. As for the eye-catching song title, Marissa explains: “With memories, sensory stimuli can animate the inanimate and forever assign meaning to almost anything. For me, this often happens with songs or musicians that have soundtracked a particular time in my life. One glimmer of certain songs can bring me right back to childhood, for instance. This song is about a more recent memory but the emotional time travel is real nonetheless. I think a lot of people can relate to the sentiment expressed in this song regardless of the specificity of the musical reference. Or at least that is my hope. For me it’s Gene Clark – for others – someone or something else. But, we’ve all been there. I like to turn those feelings into something beautiful as a way to process them and freeze them forever in time and space.”

THE HOLD STEADY – “CONFUSION IN THE MARKETPLACE” and “T-SHIRT TUX”

The Hold Steady are about to kick off their Toronto “Constructive Summer” run, and to mark the occasion they’ve released another of their two-song singles, their fourth since they began this trend. “Confusion in the Marketplace” and “T-Shirt Tux” were recorded alongside “The Stove & The Toaster” and “Star 18,” and they also feature contributions from Franz Nicolay, Stuart Bogie from Superhuman Happiness, and production from The National collaborator Josh Kaufman.

HARMONY ROCKETS (MERCURY REV ++ MORE) & PETER WALKER – “ATROPOS”

Folk guitarist Peter Walker, who worked with Ravi Shankar, Karen Dalton and Timothy Leary back in the day, is collaborating with Harmony Rockets — aka Mercury Rev, plus Martin Keith, Nels Cline (Wilco) and Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth) — for a new album which will be out September 12 via Tompkins Square Records. You can check out “Atropos,” one of the album’s gorgeous, verdant instrumentals.

EZRA COLLECTIVE – “REASON IN DISGUISE” (ft. JORJA SMITH)

London jazz group Ezra Collective, whose drummer Femi Koleoso is in R&B/soul singer Jorja Smith’s live band, tapped Jorja to sing on their new single “Reason In Disguise.” Jorja’s voice works beautifully over lively music like this, and it’s a nice contrast to the songs on her very solid debut album Lost and Found, which came out earlier this year.

SWEARIN’ – “FUTURE HELL”

Swearin’s first album in five years, Fall Into the Sun, will be out October 5 on Merge and the band have just shared the LP’s closing track, an upbeat number titled “Future Hell.” The band’s Kyle Gilbride says the song depicts “visions of an unseen place and time, learning lessons of disenchantment from a new and hostile world. Finding a way back, friendship and independence reveal marks on the trail.”

PETAL – “YOU GOT LUCKY” (TOM PETTY COVER)

After some delay, Kevin Devine’s split with Petal from his Devinyl Splits series has been announced. It’s due September 28 via Bad Timing Records, and both artists are doing a Tom Petty cover for it. (KD is doing “Into the Great Wide Open.”) Petal offers up a stripped-down take on “You Got Lucky” which is much more than just a retread of the original, and very worth hearing. Petal is also touring, including NYC with Okkervil River (win tickets).

TIM COHEN – “I’M A GIRL”

The Fresh & Onlys frontman will release his new solo album, The Modern World, on September 28 via Sinderyn and it’s probably the best record he’s made since F&O’s Long Slow Dance. Get a taste with “I’m A Girl,” which exemplifies the homemade pop vibe of this album.

PILL – “FRUIT”

Brooklyn’s skronky Pill will release their second album, Soft Hell, on October 26 via Mexican Summer. “Fruit” is the first single and has all of Pill’s hallmarks: spiky guitars, post-punk-style sax, and singer Veronica Torres’ insistent vocals. The video for “Fruit,” meanwhile, is a lurid, lysergic feast for the eyes:

RACETRAITOR – “BLK XMAS”

Chicago hardcore vets Racetraitor recently reunited for new music and shows (still with drummer Andy Hurley, who is now much more famous as a member of Fall Out Boy), and now they’ve announced their first full-length album in 20 years, 2042, which is due October 12 via Good Fight Music. The first single is the ripping, politically charged “BLK XMAS.” The song “is really about how absurd it is that people, like the Fox News crowd, try to insist that Jesus or even fictional characters like Santa Clause are white,” vocalist Mani Mostofi told Revolver. “On one hand it is totally absurd and laughable, but on the other hand, it goes hand and glove with the type of racist and xenophobic sense of cultural purity that gives rise to something like Trump.”

ANNA ST. LOUIS – “THE BELLS”

Folk singer Anna St. Lous is preparing to release a new album, If Only There Was A River, on October 12 via Woodsist and Mare, Kevin Morby’s Woodsist imprint. Kevin co-produced the album with King Tuff, and they both play on its newest single, “The Bells.”

SPEEDY ORTIZ – “BLOOD KEEPER” (LIZ PHAIR COVER)

Speedy Ortiz kick off a tour supporting Liz Phair tomorrow (9/6) in Atlanta, GA, and they’ve covered one of their favorite Phair tracks, an outtake from Whitechocolatespaceegg, to celebrate the occasion.

AUTHOR & PUNISHER – “NIGHT TERROR”

One-man industrial band Author & Punisher has unleashed a second song from his upcoming album Beastland (due 10/5 via Relapse). While lead single “Nihil Strength” is an abrasive song of the Streetcleaner-era Godflesh variety, “Night Terror” has a lot of moments that are downright catchy, closer to a more popular industrial act like Nine Inch Nails. A&P hasn’t gone soft or us or anything though; this song has its fair share of metallic aggression too.

CULT LEADER – “I AM HEALED”

Post-Gaza band Cult Leader are following their 2015 debut album Lightless Walk with a new LP, A Patient Man, on November 9 via Deathwish. Like its predecessor, it was recorded and engineered by Converge’s Kurt Ballou, and the first single is the absolutely brutal opening track “I Am Healed.”

THE TWILIGHT SAD – “VIDEOGRAMS”

After recently releasing new single “I/m Not Here [missing face],” Scottish indie rockers The Twilight Sad have now announced their new album, IT WON/T BE LIKE THIS ALL THE TIME, due January 18 via Rock Action Records. Along with the album announcement comes the second single (and closing track), “Videograms.” The Twilight Sad are also touring.

INSECURE MEN – “A RAINY NIGHT IN SOHO” (POGUES COVER)

Insecure Men, the group formed by Saul of Fat White Family, will release a limited edition album, Karaoke for One: Vol. 1, on September 18 via Fat Possum. (Only 300 vinyl copies are being pressed.) As the title suggests, it’s a covers album, and the first single is his take on the Pogues’ “A Rainy Night in Soho” which is quite lovely.

TY SEGALL – “I’M A MAN” (SPENCER DAVIS GROUP COVER)

Speaking of covers albums, Ty Segall’s fourth record of 2018 will be all covers, including this spirited take on The Spencer Davis Group’s “I’m a Man.” Read more about it HERE.

PEEL DREAM MAGAZINE – “LEVITATION BETWEEN TWO CHORDS”

Peel Dream Magazine, the new group from Joe Stevens who used to be in band Honey Wild, will release their debut album via Slumberland Records on October 6. The record is indebted to groups like Stereolab and Broadcast which is pretty apparent on this ethereal track whose title, “Levitating Between Two Chords,” is also an accurate description of it, too.

HORRENDOUS – “DEVOTION (BLOOD FOR INK)”

Philly death metal band Horrendous have shared the third taste of their upcoming album Idol (due 9/28 via Season of Mist). Like the previous singles, “Devotion (Blood For Ink)” sees Horrendous still paying homage to the OSDM sound that inspired their earlier records, but also taking their music in other directions beyond pure revival. The band said something along those lines to Revolver: “Musically, the song is a relentless push forward, plunging headlong into the belly of the beast, ceasing only for a moment to regroup and claw its way out again. In the end, even our greatest passions can devour us, becoming yet another Idol to which we pay tribute.”

YVES TUMOR – SAFE IN THE HANDS OF LOVE (ALBUM STREAM)

After dropping a string of singles (including the great “Licking An Orchid”), experimental electronic artist Yves Tumor surprise-released a new seven-track LP, Safe In the Hands of Love.

GRADUATING LIFE – “STINKY MAN”

Fresno, CA’s Graduating Life released a new album, Grad Life, over the weekend, and there’s a lot to it: nasally Front Bottoms/Modern Baseball style pop punk, theatrical Say Anything type stuff, Fucked Up’s gravelly hardcore rock opera, and more, all topped off with unfiltered, emotionally raw lyricism. You can hear all of that coming through on “Stinky Man,” which is a punk rager that Menzingers fans will probably dig too, in addition to fans of all the other aforementioned bands.

BAD MOVES – “CRUSHED OUT”

DC-based quartet Bad Moves released their debut self titled EP in 2016, and they’re preparing to follow it with a new full-length, Tell No One, out September 21 via Don Giovanni. They say the latest single they’re sharing off the album, “Crushed Out,” is “about that queer crush you had on your best friend in middle school — the one you couldn’t identify at the time, but which in retrospect is so glaringly obvious that you start to think, ‘Was it obvious to everyone else, too?'”

THE OCEAN – “PERMIAN: THE GREAT DYING”

Our metal sister site Invisible Oranges premiered The Ocean’s new song. More info here.

WINDHAND – “DIABLERIE”

Melodic, psychedelic doomers Windhand released the second single from their upcoming album Eternal Return, which we wrote more about here.

DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE – “BACKWARDS WALK” (FRIGHTENED RABBIT COVER) and “GOLD RUSH”

Death Cab for Cutie shared a new Spotify Single with an alternate version of Thank You For Today single “Gold Rush,” and a poignant cover of Frightened Rabbit’s “My Backwards Walk.” Read more about it here.

POHGOH – SECRET CLUB (ALBUM STREAM)

We premiered a stream of indie/emo vets Pohgoh’s first album in two decades. Listen and read more here.

SINGLE MOTHERS – THROUGH A WALL (ALBUM STREAM)

Canadian punks Single Mothers surprise-released a new album called Through A Wall today. Listen and read more here.

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